RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS SHOULD COLLABORATE WITH UNIVERSITIES, PRIVATE SECTOR TO EXPLORE NEW FIELDS - PM

MARANG, July 10 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim urged national or state research institutions to cooperate with universities and the private sector to explore and develop new fields that the people can benefit from.

Anwar said that is because Malaysia is still far behind in the field of research compared to other countries such as Brazil, India, China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which are ahead by focusing on such fields.

He said for example Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence in Abu Dhabi, UAE focuses on artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

"So we take the approach of speeding up the implementation of the Faculty of Artificial Intelligence at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and its network with all universities that have AI.

"This is an example of how there should be efforts to speed up the exploration of new fields," he said when speaking at the Cypark Hybrid Solar Power Plant Launch Ceremony at Cypark Solar Merchang, here today.

Also present were Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, Terengganu Menteri Besar Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar and Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain.

The Merchang Hybrid Solar Power Plant (LSS3) is the largest hybrid solar power plant in Malaysia consisting of 35MW of floating solar panels on the water surface and 65MW of solar panels installed on land.

The project implemented by Cypark Resources Bhd (Cypark) was developed in accordance with the natural environment of Terengganu which is prone to flooding.

In the meantime, Anwar said the research field in this country also needs to ensure that students in the field of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) are also trained in new fields such as solar energy.

"Therefore if there is a TVET (institution) for example in Merchang or Marang or nearby, I recommend that there should be expertise from Cypark to help train TVET colleagues in Merchang (or the surrounding area). -

"So that's the decision that will be implemented during these two weeks, which is to see what training institutions are available and if possible we decide on an engineer or an expert in the field of solar energy Cypark (come) once every two weeks or once a week or take over a class and the children those trained will be guaranteed to continue working with Cypark," he said.

He said in connection with that, Cypark was instructed to give a brief report on the company's plans to ensure that young people in Terengganu get special training in the field of renewable energy.

He said the report should be submitted to Fadillah within two weeks.

In the meantime, the Prime Minister also praised Cypark's efforts in advancing the renewable energy industry, especially solar energy in this country which brings benefits to the people.

-- BERNAMA