State-owned Petroleum Sarawak Bhd (Petros) has been urged to allocate more jobs in the oil and gas industry to Sarawak Bumiputera contractors.

In making the call, Sarawak Bumiputera Entrepreneurs Chamber (DUBS) president Datu Abang Helmi Ikhwan said this is necessary to ensure their participation in the oil and gas industry.

According to him, the national oil company Petronas has its own policy and quota for Sarawak Bumiputera contractors.

“Just like in Petronas or any other agencies, they give priority to Bumiputeras. They give a certain percentage to Bumiputera contractors.

“Petros is a new kid on the block. So as a new player, maybe they are not so familiar with giving jobs. So now, we are asking them to follow other people (oil and gas companies) to give jobs to Bumiputeras in a fair way.

“The idea is to give us enough opportunity to contribute to the industry and wellbeing of the Bumiputera community in Sarawak,” he said when asked on the importance of providing an opportunity to Bumiputera contractors to venture into the oil and gas industry.

Abang Helmi was met after officiating at the Oil and Gas Contractors Transformation programme at Grand Continental Hotel here yesterday.

Commenting further, he said providing Sarawak Bumiputera contactors a portion of the contracts is critical in enabling them to strengthen and uplift their competitiveness in the industry.

“Of course, we like to hear the state to challenge us to participate in the industry.

“That’s why we have to prepare ourselves. If the government invites (and) we don’t prepare ourselves, we cannot succeed either.

“That’s why this kind of programme is very important not just for the contractors but for the workers. That’s why I mentioned just now, we have to undertake worker training programmes just like what we have done in other industries,” he said.

He said what Bumiputeras wanted was to have the contract jobs to be shared equitably.

“We want to share too. It’s a matter of sharing the cake in a fair way,” he added.

However, he reminded that Bumiputera contractors must be capable and able to play their part well.

He reminded that to ensure they remain relevant, Sarawak Bumiputera contractors, especially the small and medium enterprise (SME) industry players, must embrace the global energy transition.

They must also upgrade their skills as it is an important factor in adding value to their company, he added.

“Well, we have to grow economically. Bumiputeras have to compete, in terms of skills, in terms of human resource management (HR) skills, we have to compete.

“Not just working inside companies which are owned by non-Bumis, can still work with non-Bumis, they should also work in Bumi companies. I think in this way we can see more balanced socio economic activities in various sectors especially in high income sectors.

“To compete, we must have skills, and must be able to generate more revenue for the state. Only then will there be ‘ong’ (fortune/luck) for us as Bumiputera.

“Otherwise, we can only look up to those people who are able to make money, take everything and control the industry,” he stressed.

Meanwhile, on the programme, Abang Helmi said such sessions will encourage SMEs to be more futuristic and forward thinking towards environmental sustainability.

The two-day programme was organised by Suarah Petroleum Group and Sarawak Chamber of Bumiputera Entrepreneurs (DUBS), and was supported by the Sarawak government

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by NUR SHAZREENA ALI

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