HRDF appoints new chairman, vows to bring wrongdoers to book in 2019
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KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 3): The Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF) announced today that Datuk Noor Farida Mohd Ariffin, the former Malaysian ambassador to the Netherlands, has been appointed its new chairman, effective Jan 1 this year.

In a statement yesterday, HRDF said Noor Farida had a long and distinguished public service career. She also sits on the boards of Ecoworld Development Group Bhd and Aerospace Technology Systems Corp Sdn Bhd.

“Datuk Farida is a proven leader and her appointment as the chair will be invaluable. The fund also expresses its appreciation for the leadership of the board’s deputy chairman, Datuk Quah Thain Khan, during a period of great change for the fund,” HRDF said.

In 2018, it recorded a 23% growth in registered employers, bringing its registered tally to over 26,000 employers, who cumulatively provide jobs to 2.3 million Malaysians.

For 2019, it wants to continue its internal investigations, started in July 2018, to bring all errant stakeholders — including training providers, trainees and staff who connived with them — to book.

"The fund has already filed reports to the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission; it has also filed civil claims against trainees for submitting false particulars. In the meantime, civil claims will soon be filed against errant training providers. These efforts build on the report delivered by the five-member Governance Oversight Committee in November 2018 and made publicly available by the fund at its website," the statement read.

It also aims to strengthen its enforcement measures to ensure all liable employers are registered by end-2019 and will continue to take action against those who fail to do so.

Besides that, it aims to train 1.2 million Malaysian employees in 2019; create job-ready youths and graduates, especially from among low-income families; review and upgrade its long-standing train-the-trainer programme to raise the quality of its training professionals; and become an employer of choice that will continue to emphasise diversity and inclusion to better serve its customers and stakeholders.

These are comprised within its six-point action plan that it wants to implement in the new year to strengthen itself and increase the proportion of skilled workers within Malaysia.

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