FORTIFYING MALAYSIA-JAPAN BILATERAL RELATIONS THROUGH ODA FACILITIES

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Japan’s bilateral relations continue to be strengthened through various agencies and facilities sponsored by Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) to boost the economy and human capital of both nations.

Japan's ODA to Malaysia dates back to 1956, when the first technical trainees visited Japan from the Federation of Malaya. The Japanese government has, since then, continuously cooperated with the Malaysian government until now.

Recently, the local media was brought to visit two of Japan ODA’s facilities, which are the Advanced Hybrid Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan, and the Centre for Instructor and Advanced Skill Training (CIAST) in Shah Alam, Selangor.

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The experimental OTEC plant, which is being jointly developed by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) with support from Saga University of Japan, is the first of its kind in the Southeast Asian region.

UTM OTEC director Dr T. Sathiabama said the plant, which aims to promote international and interdisciplinary research for the commercialisation of OTEC, is an ongoing project which researches stable, renewable power generation by heat exchange between deep and surface seawater.

At the same time, the project aims to facilitate low-cost production of two million litres of potable water daily per megawatt (MW) of electricity generated.

“The deep seawater could also be utilised for multipurpose use such as air cooling for data centres, aquaculture, agriculture, cosmetics and many more,” she said.

The research project falls under the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS), a programme under the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) for research projects targeting global issues.

The OTEC plant is targeted for launching at the end of this year, said Sathiabama.

Meanwhile, CIAST, a training agency under the Human Resources Ministry (KESUMA), serves as a leading institution in the development and enhancement of skills training in Malaysia.

CIAST’s establishment was funded through the Malaysian-Japan Technical Cooperation under the ASEAN Human Resources Development Project in August 1983 and was inaugurated by the then-Labour Minister Datuk Mak Hon Kam on August 30, 1985.

Director of CIAST Mohd Manoj Jumidali said besides CIAST’s main campus in Shah Alam, 14 CIAST Satellite Campuses (CSCs) have been established nationwide since 2018, including Sabah and Sarawak, with the capacity to train up to 1,050 trainees annually.

“We look forward to our continuing partnership with the government of Japan to improve the quality of human resources and succeed in producing world-class Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) instructors,” he said.

In-service courses offered at CIAST are modular and customised courses on skills training, including computer technology (network and system), electronics and mechatronics, as well as instructor training, including pedagogy training and teaching methodology.

Between 1984 to 2023, CIAST has gained 277,947 participations for both full-time and part-time programmes.

-- BERNAMA