SAP IT Seminar for Brunei Darussalam

Opening Address

Saturday, 18 November 2006
Rizqun International Hotel, Gadong


Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh,
Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim and a very good morning to everyone.

Mr. Kenny Wong, Business and Operation Director, KPF Comserve Sdn Bhd;

Yang Mulia Awang Haji Ibrahim bin Haji Mohd Ali, Acting Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Communications and Chief Executive for AiTi;

Mr. Francis Lee, Head of Territory Sales Organisation, SAP Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

Mr. Steven Furst, Director of Business Development, Public Services, SAP Asia Private Limited.

Distinguished speakers;

Distinguished guests;

Members of the media;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

First of all, I would like to thank the organisers for inviting me to officially launch today’s event. It is indeed a pleasure and an honour to be with you all here.

In this era of information and communications technology, knowledge is power. Embracing the technology as a tool to acquire and make use of the knowledge has become a challenge to any organisations in their quest to stay ahead of the game in any competitions, either in IT or non-IT related activities.

ICT is also changing the way we learn, work and communicate. As such, both government and private sector’s involvements in driving the ICT industry forward are very crucial.

One of the many areas that is still pursued by Brunei Darussalam, is the development of human resources in IT related skills. Having the right it-literate workforce may boost our capability and competitiveness in meeting the challenges of globalisation.

The e-Government’s project which is now being implemented will provide all appropriate information and services on line and to move Brunei Darussalam into a paperless government.

By developing e-government, it enhances internal administrative practises, deliver information and services and interface with the public in the process of governing. Under the e-Government initiatives respective Ministries are now perusing implementation of their agency services to facilitate the public. The single major challenge in moving e-Government forward is the acute shortage of ICT capability.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Government of His Majesty and Yang Di-Pertuan is conducting manpower planning exercise to ensure an adequate supply of ICT-trained manpower to develop and maintain the e-Government initiatives. There is insufficient IT Human Resource capability to support successful delivery of the program, example: there are only less then 300 IT staff working with our government while there are another 500 IT position yet to be filled. The in-country talent pipeline for IT professionals is insufficient to meet the forecast demand for the next 5 years.

We need certified IT training centers of international standard within Brunei Darussalam to produce IT certified personnel, trainers and other major IT professionals. With such centers, we will have the capability to develop local contents and produce solutions appropriate for our needs and objectives.

With the ‘AiTi Infocomm competency training programmes’ coming in place, we hope to see a significant growth in local talents and resources becoming certified ICT consultants. The competency program also hopes to provide the local talents with employment opportunities to meet the high demand not only locally but globally. This will nurture a strong human capital resource, which in the long term will attract more foreign investments into Brunei Darussalam.

We, therefore encourage partnership between foreign and local companies and solution provider in providing soft skill, management training and other certified professional certifications like Microsoft, IBM, Cisco, Apple, SAP, just to name a few. This is where corporate organisations like SAP are welcomed with their wealth of experiences and skilled consultants world wide to share their knowledge with us.

The government alone without the full support and close cooperation of the private sector will not be able to bring Brunei Darussalam into the new era of information technology. The benefits and opportunities brought about by ICT are enormous and cannot be fully realized without strong commitment of all.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To conclude let me thank SAP Malaysia and KPF Comserve for organising this seminar.

On that note and with the kalimah "Bismillahir Rahman Nirrahim", I hereby declare the "SAP IT Seminar for Brunei Darussalam" open.


Thank you.