Yayasan Peneraju Marks A Decade Of Empowering Bumiputera Agenda

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) – Yayasan Peneraju Pendidikan Bumiputera (Yayasan Peneraju), an agency under the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions), this year marks its 10th anniversary - a milestone representing a decade of commitment to empowering bumiputera agenda.  

The brainchild of former Second Finance Minister Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop, the institution remains focused on building and strengthening the capacity building of bumiputera talents towards greater sustainability.

Reflecting on its 10-year journey, Nor Mohamed said the idea to set up Yayasan Peneraju was mooted when he was appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Economic Planning Unit) in 2009.

“We were in the midst of preparing the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) (2011-2015) to be presented in Parliament in 2010. I thought I should not miss out on this golden opportunity to continue with the bumiputera agenda.

“Looking at our history, we have had the New Economic Policy (NEP), a socio-economic affirmative action which was introduced during the 2MP in 1971.

“So why don’t we ignite the spirit which is almost similar to the NEP, yet more focused on the bumiputera agenda?,” said Nor Mohamed, who is Khazanah Research Institute (KRI) chairman as he shared insights into the establishment of Yayasan Peneraju during an exclusive interview with Bernama recently.

Nor Mohamed held the position of Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (EPU) from 2009 to 2013 and Second Finance Minister from 2004 to 2009.

He was also instrumental in setting up the Yayasan Peneraju which became operational on Feb 14, 2012.

 

According to Nor Mohamed, over a span of about 40 years since the NEP’s implementation till 10MP, the bumiputera community has made great strides especially in business.

“While we have yet to achieve the target of increasing bumiputera equity to 30 per cent of national wealth, the almost 20 per cent of total equity achieved, is a major accomplishment. We can also be proud of our success in producing many bumiputera professionals such as engineers, accountants and lawyers,” he added.

However, there is still room for improvement, among others, giving a “second chance” to young and capable bumiputeras who are going through life’s challenges and those living in remote rural areas, he said.

Nor Muhamed said while the number of bumiputera professionals has exceeded 50 per cent, the community has yet to achieve success in accountancy, with only 30 per cent bumiputeras in this field while only eight per cent bumiputeras are certified professional accountants.

“This is one of our primary concerns. I shared my thoughts on the need to focus on bumiputera agenda with then Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. My view was that we should set up a body focused on strengthening bumiputera talents’ capabilities in professional education, training and upskilling (after receiving approval from Parliament).

“Students who achieve academic excellence with 10A in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) can easily obtain scholarships from the government or from other organisations, but what about those with 6A, 7A or 8A in their SPM results? They are also considered good but not excellent and they are those with poor and challenging backgrounds.

“Some children living in remote rural areas face various challenges including walking through the jungle every morning just to get to school and those journeys are long and arduous. These are children who live in poverty and have much less than the bare minimum to survive and with no access to basic utilities. While their parents are illiterate and only work in the village, they can still afford to produce good results.

“As such, we took the initiative to provide scholarships for them to pursue their education to university. Alhamdulillah (praise to Allah), many of them have proven that they can be academic achievers,” he said, adding that the Penan indigenous people in the forests of Sarawak are among the beneficiaries of the Yayasan’s education programme,” he noted.

 

As of December 2021, Yayasan Peneraju has provided assistance to a total of 46,676 individuals through its various programmes namely Peneraju Tunas (14,470), Peneraju Skil (20,681), Peneraju Profesional (8,215), Peneraju Teknologi (3,163) and Peneraju Spesialis (147). 

Besides producing quality human capital, Yayasan Peneraju beneficiaries have made the nation proud through various international recognitions.  

Since the inception of the professional accounting programme in 2012, Yayasan Peneraju has received many awards - including 77 awards and to name a few, Certified Accounting Technician (CAT) and Association of Chartered Certified Accountant (ACC) World Prize Winners and four ACCA Malaysia Top Affiliates. In addition, four of its Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) scholars were placed in the Top 10 per cent of the global candidates last year.

A total of 71 students under the Peneraju Tunas (Potensi) programme have also gained admission to 50 of the world’s top universities.

Nor Mohamed said he felt a sense of dejavu as he watched its programmes reaping positive results, with students from poor families optimising their capabilities, improving their living standards and lifting their families out of poverty, noting that all these augured well for the nation’s well-being.

“What Yayasan Peneraju is doing is part of the government’s initiatives to help young bumiputeras. We are certainly proud of our achievements thus far and our challenge now is to forge ahead with new initiatives over the next 10 years.

“The world has evolved, with technology opening up avenues to new and better kinds of work. As such, we have to provide young bumiputeras with jobs of the future as well as new career fields which were previously beyond our imagination but are in demand today and the future,” he said, citing examples such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), bionic technology and other fields which can be explored.

As part of its education awareness drive, Yayasan Peneraju has taken the initiative to ‘turun padang” to reach out to their target groups, especially those in the interior.

“Our journey does not end here...we don’t just send children to educational institutions or for skills training but instead, they continue to be monitored from all aspects till they complete their studies and are gainfully employed,” he said.  

Nor Mohamed opined that cooperation between the government and the private sector should be enhanced to produce more young bumiputeras who have the “full package” such as in academic, humanities as well as communication and management fields.

 

Meanwhile, as the first individual appointed to spearhead Yayasan Peneraju, former Chief Executive Officer Raja Azura Raja Mahayuddin said the programme started with three key thrusts, namely Peneraju Tunas, Skil and Peneraju Profesional.

Peneraju Tunas is a programme to develop bumiputera students from disadvantaged and challenging backgrounds for a sustainable future. Funds are provided to potential students from primary, secondary and higher learning institutions, with a household income of RM4,000 and below.

Peneraju Skil is a programme developed to give a second chance to school dropouts or candidates who have a passion geared towards vocational skills or technical compared to academic. The programme includes certification in the industry in which the candidates will have the necessary skills to meet industry needs and opportunities.

Peneraju Profesional, which involves funding for professional accounting certifications, aims to upskill and retrain students in accounting, finance and business services.

Raja Azura who is also the joint founder of AKRAB Resources said efforts to instill the people’s confidence emerged as the foundation’s major hurdles during its infancy, with only a bank account (grant/government fund), registration letter, four staff and without an office.

“We took the initiative by going to villages including those located in the interior to look for young bumiputeras with the potential to be unleashed. The first Peneraju Tunas (Potensi) programme to help SPM school leavers who could not afford to enter university, was among the most memorable.

“At that time, we targeted 100 students from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, including the Orang Asli community, out of 250 students interviewed. Alhamdulillah, we finally selected 212 students nationwide to further their studies to universities.

“Some of them never left their kampung; there were those who took six hours to reach the place of interview. Some had to take the boat and their parents were even forced to borrow money from their kampung folks.

“We do not just choose academic achievers alone, but average students too. The criteria that we look for are high potential candidates with self-confidence and are fluent in English. We expect to see them making real progress within four to five years under Yayasan Peneraju. From average to excellence and preparations for the job market,” said Raja Azura, who helmed the foundation up to 2019.

She noted that her greatest personal achievement is when Yayasan Peneraju students are able to uplift their families’ living standards and contribute positively to society.

 

Yayasan Peneraju also offers two new thrusts namely Peneraju Teknologi – to assist eligible students financially by funding their certification and training fees in technology related certifications; and

Peneraju Spesialis – to increase the access of funding to bumiputeras to become competent healthcare specialists.  

According to Raja Azura, Malaysia needs more expertise in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) and other new spheres as well as more talents who are capable of elevating their economic status, hence fulfilling the nation’s aspirations of becoming a high income nation.

“In the digitalisation and globalisation era,we should know how to monetise our skills and knowledge in many ways. Yayasan Peneraju may be able to create new programmes or improve on existing programmes.

“Use the available skills, knowledge and technology to elevate your position to a higher level including generating income. Don’t expect to be served on a platter; embrace change, be more creative and seize every available opportunity,” she added.

 

Yayasan Peneraju Chief Executive Officer Dr Mohd Muzzammil Ismail, who held the post since Oct 26, 2020 said he remained committed to ensuring young bumiputeras are given the opportunities in professional careers, high skilled jobs, technology, medical expertise as well as achieving academic qualifications through intervention programmes and sponsorships offered.

The target groups are school children, SPM school leavers, diploma and degree holders, final year degree students, unemployed as well as new and old staff aged between seven to 45 years.

He said this is in line with the bumiputera empowerment agenda to generate competitive and inclusive human capital as well as in tandem with 12MP objectives and the Bumiputera Development Action2030 (TPB2030).  

“Our aspiration is to be the key driver in generating multi talented human capital, highly skilled and competitive workforce that can contribute to the socio economic growth of the nation.

“Within this 10-year period, Yayasan Peneraju managed to realise the aspiration of over 46,000 individuals through more than 370 funding programmes covering various bumiputera group segments throughout the country including B40, M40, rural and remote areas.

“This includes giving emphasis to groups that are easily impacted through Peneraju Impak (special projects) programmes which focus on training and placements (jobs) hence creating more high-income employment opportunities,” he said, adding that Yayasan Peneraju also focuses on preparing young bumiputeras for the various career challenges in the digital and industrial revolution 4.0 (IR4.0) world.

 

Translated by Salbiah Said

BERNAMA