A country with a population of more than 28 million people, of which 9.8 million make up the workforce, Malaysia cannot be said to be blessed with an abundance of labour, especially not when compared to many of its neighbours which have populations twice to even ten times Malaysia’s. However, a large population does not necessarily translate to efficiency and productivity, especially not in today’s economic environment where knowledge and technology are the driving forces.

International Business Review speaks to Mr Amirnuddin Mazlan, CEO of PSMB on his vision for the organisation, its latest projects aimed to push forth the government’s mission of creating a high income nation by 2020 as well as the upcoming PSMB 2010 Conference and Exhibition themed ‘Gearing Human Capital Development Towards Achieving High Income Economy’.

Named by then Prime Minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as the Minister of Human Resources in 2008, Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam has the task of overseeing the development of Malaysia’s human resource policy. With Malaysia striving to become a high-income economy by the year 2020, his task has been made even more urgent as the country seeks to produce the human capital capable of achieving that. International Business Review spoke to the Minister on the state of human capital development in Malaysia.