IPOH: Perak will not attain an ageing status as various efforts are being made to get the younger generation to stay back, says a confident Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad.
The Perak Mentri Besar said when the state was developing the Perak Sejahtera 2030 roadmap, research from 2011 to 2020 showed that during that period, not less than 110,000 young people left Perak in search of jobs elsewhere.
He said that under the development roadmap, the focus was to develop Perak as an industrial state, and initiatives such as the High Technology Automotive Valley (AHTV) in Tanjung Malim, Lumut Maritime Industrial City (Lumic) and the Kerian Integrated Green Industrial Park (KIGIP) are in place.
“The purpose of these projects is to attract investors to open factories, which will create job opportunities. We hope that these young talents no longer have to leave.
“In the past, if they wanted to work in Proton’s factory, they had to move to Shah Alam, but now Proton is in Tanjung Malim, and previously if they wanted to work in the electrical and electronics industry, they had to go to Batu Kawan, in Penang, but now we have KIGIP,” he told reporters after presenting the Perak Sejahtera Cards to the needy at the state secretariat building here on Saturday (Feb 22).
He said this when asked what Perak's plans were, as the state was expected to become the first state in the country to attain ageing status.
According to the Statistics Department, 14.6% of Perak's population was already aged 60 and above in 2023.
Malaysia is projected to reach this milestone by 2043, but Perak is expected to achieve it much earlier by 2030.
Saarani said the goal was to ensure that the young people do not leave and that the claim that Perak would become an ageing state is based on the fact that many people are leaving, and retirees are coming back is inaccurate.
“I am confident this will not happen. I believe that once young people are settled here, they will stay and contribute to developing Perak.
“So the idea of Perak becoming an ageing state is not correct. We have provided opportunities for young people to work in Perak,” he added.
Separately, Saarani said a total of 19,012 recipients have benefited from the Perak Sejahtera Card, aimed at providing aid to the B40 groups as of February this year.
He said the state government is also close to reaching its target of 20,000 recipients.
“We also received a total of 1,002 new applications with 915 having been already approved. The majority of the applicants are from Kinta District with 430 applications.
“Each recipient receives RM1,200 annually (RM100 per month), which can be used at 291 registered panel shops and supermarkets,” he said.
