THE Sarawak government’s foray into the aerospace industry, led by Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg, has received all-round support.
Azizul Annuar Adenan (GPS-Tanjong Datu) noted that Sarawak is preparing for a booming aerospace industry in the next few years. With initiatives like a state-run airline, students will have clear career paths in this growing sector.
The aerospace initiative, he said, will equip Sarawak with trained workforce, capable of supporting the state’s emerging aviation aspirations.
Azizul shared his insights and opinions on this matter with the Sarawak Tribune.
What is your view on Sarawak’s initiatives to venture into the aerospace industry?
First of all, I’d like to applaud or commend Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg for his farsightedness in pivoting Sarawak towards a new direction, not just in terms of resource but also in terms of education and in terms of new technologies to venture out, especially for Malaysians, specifically Sarawakians. I think aerospace, although not being a new frontier so to speak, because people have been going to space since the 1960s, but to actually start Sarawak in a direction where we can support aerospace mainly also in the aeronautics business or education is the right way to go. I believe it will give us good grounding, especially for our young aspiring students.
What our Premier is targeting is actually for students who are still looking for what course to study and things like that. It’s not exactly for the ones that have been established already. That’s my thought of it.
Premier has launched the Aerospace Academy at Centexs, and having a new Aerospace course at i-CATS University College, how will this benefit Sarawak especially the students?
We are moving towards a new direction where we are diversifying. So we don’t want to be stuck in the old TVET courses like Civil Engineering, carpentry, welding and so on. We need to move, we have to change to a new direction and this is the direction that our Premier is going towards and it’s something different.
Sarawak has already been doing differently than what everybody else is doing. Our hydrogen technology, no one else is doing it in the whole country. We are the ones starting it. So I think aerospace is also another segment which our Premier wants to focus on, which is something outside of the ordinary.
I believe with the expertise that we have, or we have to hire, and Centexs and ICATS already being there. So I believe it’s a good way to go forward. We already have a base to start our own Sarawak universities and colleges.
It’s not like other places where they have to start from square one. We already have the base to start with. So we just have to add the course and hopefully students will be more interested in pursuing this sort of career.
Should there be a plan to provide scholarships or financial aid for students enrolling in the Aerospace Academy to make these specialised programmes more accessible?
Well, if you start talking about scholarship, as you all know, our Premier is already going for free education in 2026. I would assume that aerospace engineering, aerospace design courses will definitely be in this array of the courses that are provided for free. So if you’re talking in terms of scholarship, as in for stipend, monthly allowance for the students, yeah, maybe we can give that extra. But in terms of the tuition fee, I believe that will be free come 2026.
What should be further improved in Aerospace Academy to attract prospective student so that they are interested in furthering in this field considering that this industry is still new and job opportunities are low in the state?
Okay, so that is why when you talk about education, sometimes you have to think forward, four or five years ahead. Also come to the decision-making now. So I think the state has already foreseen that in the next five years we will have a thriving aerospace industry. That’s why we start the academy now. Because you don’t see the results now, we will see the results four or five years from now.
And we know that our Premier has come up with the initiative of having our own airlines. Obviously we need engineers, we need our own maintenance crew, maintenance staff and everything. So I guess that is what the Premier is heading towards.
And creating that ecosystem is very important because we don’t want to have students from high school, from Sekolah Menengah, who take these courses and have no idea of where to go. Even now, as you can see, certain public universities, especially when you fill up the UPU form, sometimes the result came out good. But sometimes for example, the student wants to do accounting but was given theater, I don’t know where that comes, but that is the Federal Higher Education and I don’t know how they sort it. But for Sarawak, at least we have three or four universities, colleges now that we own.
At least the students have the option, I want to do aerospace, I will get aerospace. I want to do engineering, I will get engineering. So, they are not bound by what is determined by UPU.
How can the government sustain the Aerospace Academy’s initiatives, especially in terms of funding, given the state’s long-term vision of becoming a global aviation hub?
Sometimes there are certain things which the government cannot rely on the ROI for it to be successful. Some things, such as public goods, things that you spend, it is the intangible values that come to the students that will last forever.
Of course, by providing free education, you have to spend, and of course you will have, I mean, we live in the real world, have to be practical about it. There will be dropouts, there will be failures, but at least the government is starting on the right footing to ensure that all Sarawakians are educated. So I am very confident that as long as our Premier is there, and with all the extra revenue, which I don’t have to mention here, I think everyone will know, from all parts of the economy, we will be able to continue to fund, especially the education of our future generation for many, many more years to come.
