How Malaysia is preparing its workforce for the future

While observing the later stages of the second industrial revolution, a century ago, English writer Rudyard Kipling wrote a poem describing the era’s strange technologies, capable of doing so many human tasks:

We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive,

We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,

We can run and race and swim and fly and dive,

We can see and hear and count and read and write.

At the same time, in that poem, The Secret of the Machines, he warned that these technologies were anything but human. For example, they cannot distinguish truth from lies, “neither love nor pity nor forgive”.

For many of us today, artificial intelligence (AI) is as exciting and strange as Kipling’s machines were for his time.

AI promises much potential in augmenting human productivity but it also raises fears about alienating humans from what we do best within the naturally created order – our sapiential capability, the ability to acquire knowledge, form insights and make judgments.

Seventeen months ago, when I first assumed office as Malaysia’s Minister of Human Resources, the things that kept me awake at night were not cold abstract theories or dusty policy manuals. They were everyday conversations with ordinary Malaysians – from corporate leaders and white-collar workers to gig workers and street vendors, wondering if their jobs would last.

At the heart of these conversations were three difficult but necessary questions: Can I secure meaningful employment? Can I earn a dignified living? Will my role remain relevant in a world increasingly shaped by machines?

AI promises much potential in augmenting human productivity but it also raises fears about alienating humans from what we do best within the naturally created order – our sapiential capability, the ability to acquire knowledge, form insights and make judgments.

In the face of AI and rapid digitalization, these are questions that are already being asked in every corner of our society.

Technological change is reshaping the core of our economies. In Malaysia, we began by grounding our understanding of this shift in evidence rather than assumption.

TalentCorp, an agency under the Ministry of Human Resources, undertook a national study on the impact of AI, digitalization and the green economy on the workforce. We wanted a clear-eyed view of what lies ahead.

The study found that approximately 620,000 jobs are at high risk of being replaced or becoming obsolete due to automation. Workers currently in these roles will require cross-skilling, upskilling or even reskilling.

But this is not a doomsday account. The study also identified 60 emerging roles, with 70% of these roles being in AI and digital technologies. These will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs – roles that are no longer theoretical. They are already appearing in job listings, and some countries are producing workers who are more equipped to fill them.

The way forward is obvious: to ensure our workers are equipped with the skills to adapt to economic trends.

Malaysia spent an annual outlay of RM10 billion ($2.4 billion) for skills-related education and training, with about 30% of the funds coming from a statutory levy upon private corporations to be utilized for training their workers.

To facilitate government, corporate and individual decision-making in the area of skills development, we introduced MyMahir. This national digital platform offers real-time insights into job trends, skill requirements and training opportunities.

We also established the Future Skills Talent Council to strengthen partnerships between industry and government. These sector-based, industry-led councils ensure that skill standards are informed by those who understand the realities of the shop floor and server room.

In the first year of setting up the council, workers trained under its skills programmes received a 12% higher mean wage compared to the national average.

Our aim is to establish “skill universities” that are accessible, industry-aligned and provide qualifications on par with traditional degrees.

Malaysia’s challenges are mirrored across ASEAN. Our economies are growing and our populations are young but our education and labour systems must catch up with technological demands. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that ASEAN could create up to 30 million green jobs by 2030 with the right reforms. That future cannot be realized by any one country alone.

During Malaysia’s chairmanship of ASEAN, we will be organizing and hosting the ASEAN Year of Skills 2025, supported by the ILO. This will not only guide deeper regional conversations on human capital development but will direct practical resources towards it.

For a start, in June 2025, Malaysia aims to open up our annual National Training Week, offering 65,000 high-quality skills training courses by both local and global brands to all citizens of ASEAN. This is our investment in regional human capital development with the aspiration to make ASEAN the most skilled region in the world.

We are proud to partner with the World Economic Forum to co-chair the Gender Parity in the Future of Work Accelerator in Malaysia, which seeks to empower female talent in this age of AI.

It aligns with our national Madani Economic Framework’s goal to increase female labour force participation. It will propose evidence-based policy recommendations to enhance women’s economic empowerment in the labour market.

As we attempt to comprehend the present and predict the future, one thing is certain: humans write the manual for technology. Kipling ended his poem on a reassuring note – we are in control of technology and not the other way around:

Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,

It will vanish and the stars will shine again,

Because, for all our power and weight and size,

We are nothing more than children of your brain!

Ultimately, the question is not how evolving technology will impact people’s lives but how government policy can consistently empower and uplift them.

As I reflect on those early days in office, I realize that the questions that kept me up at night were never just about jobs or wages. They were about dignity and ensuring that no one was left behind.