ENSURE ENOUGH LOCALS FOR FUTURE BIG-SCALE PROJECTS - PM

TANJUNG MANIS (Malaysia), Feb 19 (Bernama) -- Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad
Badawi said Wednesday there must be enough locals to carry out big-scale
development projects instead of relying on foreign workers.

"We want our own people to be the workers, either at the ordinary, skilled
or executive level," he said at the launch of the Tanjung Manis Halal Hub, the
largest such facility in the country, here in the East Malaysia state of Sarawak
Wednesday.

As such, Abdullah called on state governments to make preparation to train
local workers.

"The skills training can be carried out either on a short-term or long-term
basis," he said.

Ideally, he said, such training should be conducted locally instead of being
held in towns or cities.

Meanwhile, Abdullah reminded the people to continue to give top priority to
working hard and maintaining political stability.

These, he said, were among the attributes treasured by investors "as when a
country is peaceful and its people are hard working, they could get the returns
on their investment."

Abdullah also wanted all state governments to utilise allocations given to
them under the economic stimulus package.

"If we do not spend the money fast, the people will not benefit.

"There must be effective spending. This is the promise of the government to
the people. We have no other choice other than to implement the projects if we
want our people to progress," he said.

At the event, Abdullah and the state's Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud
witnessed the signing of land lease, hire-purchase agreements as well as
agreements to move into the halal hub involving six Taiwanese and three local
investors.

The agreements involve almost RM4 billion (US$1.09 billion) worth of
investment.
-- BERNAMA