Oath of a Malay Marriage
Posted onThe video we recorded is a ritual of oath of marriage in Malay society in Malaysia. My niece is getting married to her man yesterday.
The Plant-Based Meat Market Part II
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The US Plant Based Food Association (PBFA) reported growing consumer interest in vegan alternatives to traditional foods. Plant-based meat had reached sales of US$670 million in 2017, showing that plant-based food industry has gone from a relatively niche market to fully mainstream.
PBFA also adds that plant-based meat and dairy alternatives are not just for vegetarians or vegans anymore; now even mainstream consumers are enjoying delicious plant-based foods.
In the UK, sales of meat alternatives are also gaining acceptance. Major supermarkets like Tesco and Sainbury’s are offering a wider range of vegan products.
A website, www.plantbasednews.org, predicted that the global meat alternative market is set to grow over the coming years, with a market forecast predicting it will reach US$6.3 billion by 2023. It is currently valued at US$4.63 billion.
The report puts the growth down to the “increased preference for vegetarians and vegan foods” as well as changing trends toward healthy diet.
Vegetarianism by country
A posting on Wikipedia lists countries with large population of vegetarians. Some countries have strong or cultural or religious traditions that promote vegetarianism, such as in India, while in other countries secular ethical concerns dominate, including animal rights and environmental protection along with health concerns. In many countries, food labeling laws have made it easier for vegetarians to identify foods which are compatible with their diets. . A study from 2010 by ESPRI, www.espri.ie/pubs/WP340.pdf, estimated that there are 1.45 billion vegetarians of necessity and another 75 million of choice. They represent approximately 22 per cent of the world’s population. The table shows the number of vegetarians in selected countries.
| Country | Approximate number of individuals |
| India | 375,000,000 to 500,000,000 |
| China | 54,428,000 to 68,035,000 |
| Brazil | 29,260,000 |
| Japan | 18,370,000 |
| Mexico | 23,370,000 |
| US | 12,646,000 to 20,233,000 |
| Germany | 8,000,000 |
| Russia | 4,380,000 to 5,480,000 |
| Italy | 4,246,000 |
| UK | 3,250,000 |
| France | 3,300,000 |
| Taiwan | 3,297,011 |
| Poland | 3,072,000 |
| Thailand | 2,300,000 |
| Israel | 1,046,000 |
| Switzerland | 1,176,156 |
| Sweden | 969,000 |
Source: Wikipedia
Malaysian vegetarian restaurant need improvement in taste
Last week we took the opportunity to sample vegetarian dishes at a restaurant in Johor Bahru, the capital of Malaysia’s southern state, Johor. We glanced through the menu and settled for a mushroom steak, together with a bowl of rice and mashed potato. When the food came, it was not visually appetising. The mushroom steak was three pieces of fried battered mushroom, which was not tasteful at all.
The restaurant was well designed as a modern café as compared to the traditional vegetarian restaurants found throughout Malaysia. Nevertheless, there is a long way to go before Malaysian vegetarian restaurants can entice typical customers to taste vegetarian foods occasionally. In the meantime, we opt for fish burger in a McDonald.
In Malaysia, the mainly Muslim Malays are still devouring meat, such as beef and chicken. In a typical Malay function, such as wedding, meat alternative is yet being served. The beef “rendang” is always the main dish, supplemented by tomato chicken.
Plant-Based Meat: From Niche to Mainstream Market Part 1
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A good indicator whether a niche market has become mainstream is to look at the merger and acquisition activities. In the last few years, major food companies have acquired growing companies in the meat alternative sector. According to livekindly.com, in 2016, there were just four global plant-based acquisitions, whereas there were seventeen in 2017.Some notable acquisitions included Daiya Foods, which was bought by Otsuka, a Japanese pharmaceutical company for US$405 million. Nestle, the giant food company bought vegan food company, Sweet Earth Food so that they can continue to expand their healthy food range.
Other companies are considering to raise their capital by the capital market instead of selling to bigger companies. An example is Beyond Meat Inc, which was covered earlier.
The road of plant-based meat from a niche food to a large market can be observed from the case of Vegetarian Butcher, a Dutch company which was recently acquired by Unilever, the food giant. Its main challenge has been to produce meat products from plants that are both visually appetizing and tasteful.
Vegetarian Butcher
The eight-year-old company was founded by Jaap Korteweg, and a business partner, Niko Kofferman, a Dutch Senator from the Party for the Animals, which champions animal rights and welfare. The company collaborated with scientists at Wageningan University , who had been working on substitutes for a long time.
Soybean is a major component of its many recipes. It also uses other bases. For example, a “ filet American” is made from wheat. A Bloomberg report by Mark Ellwood on September 14th, 2018, reported that Vegetarian Butcher’s facility uses many machines familiar to traditional mat processing. In addition, the company is developing special machines for processing plant-based meat. Most of the meat substitutes are produced by cooking specific kinds of bean until its proteins are denatured. The resulting slurry is then passed through an extruder. As it emerges from the nozzle, this bean paste expands, resulting in a spongy mass that can then be flavoured. The challenge is texture: it is almost impossible using this method to evoke the muscle and fibre in a steak. The company has successfully developed a processing machine that can be programmed to mimic protein, be it fish, chicken or pork, up to 1,000 times more precisely than extrusion. There is no limit to the size of the resulting vegan steak-they can be printed by the foot.
The difference between vegan and vegetarian
According to Alina Petre of healthline.com, vegetarian diets have been reportedly around as early as 700 BC. Several types exist and individuals may practice them for a variety of reasons, including health, ethics, environmentalism and religion.
The most common types of vegetarian include:
- Lacto-ovo- vegetarians: Vegetarians who avoid all animal flesh and eggs but do consume dairy products and egg products.
- Lacto vegetarians: Vegetarians who avoid animal flesh and eggs, but do consume dairy products.
- Ovo vegetarians: Vegetarians who avoid all animal products except eggs.
- Vegan: Vegetarians who avoid all animal products and animal-derived products.
Those who do not eat meat or poultry but do consume fish are considered pescatarians, whereas part-time vegetarians are often referred to as flexitarians. Although sometimes considered vegetarians, pescatarians and flexitarians do eat animal flesh. Therefore, they do not technically fall under the definition of vegetarianism.
Note:
The next article will focus on market for plant-based meat.
Will the giant leatherback turtle return to Rantau Abang, Terengganu, Malaysia?
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The Rantau Abang beach in the state of Terengganu, Malaysia , is one of the few places on earth that the giant leatherback turtles (leatherbacks) choose to come ashore to nest. Once, they helped put this normally quiet small village on the world map. Tourists, foreign and domestic as well as locals flocked by the thousands to this village to watch the leatherbacks come to nest and lay eggs on its beach between the months of March and October. It once had the largest nesting population in the world, hosting 10,000 nests per year.
Leatherbacks’ Facts
The Leatherbacks (Dermochelys Coriacea or Penyu Belimbing to locals) are both the largest sea turtles and the oldest living reptiles. Leatherbacks can live to 50 years or more. Male leatherbacks can reach up to 2.6 metres in length and weigh 900 kg.
A leatherback is easily distinguishable by its leathery soft shell or carapace, and by its long front flippers. Seven ridges run down the length of its white spotted carapace. All other species of turtles have hard shells. Leatherbacks are found in all of the world’s oceans except the Arctic and the Antarctic. Females spend their entire lives at sea except to nest, while males never left the water.
Leatherbacks and other turtles play an important role in the marine ecosystem. They feed on jellyfish and help check its population. The leatherback’s extra-long esophagus is lined with spines to facilitate digestion of jellyfish. Leatherbacks lay eggs on dry, sandy, tropical or subtropical beaches. They lay between two and six clutches of eggs in a single nesting season. Each clutch contains 65 to 180 eggs and is laid approximately every two weeks. Incubation takes about 60 days. As with other reptiles, the temperature during incubation will determine the sex of the turtles. For leatherbacks, temperatures above 29 degrees centigrade will result in female hatchlings. Hatchlings or baby leatherbacks are not cared for by the adults and are left to fend for themselves. The young ones that survive stay back in tropical waters until maturity. It takes 15 – 20 years for them to reach breeding age and become adults and then began their oceanic migratory journeys.
Adult leatherbacks prey on jellyfish and subsist almost entirely on them. They migrate thousands of miles in their lifetimes through ocean basins and high seas for the purpose. Migration occurs between the cold waters where mature leatherbacks feed, to the tropical and subtropical beaches in the regions where they hatch. These great swimmers complete their marathon journeys normally every 2 to 3 years to return to the same breeding grounds to nest. They can also dive much deeper than any other marine turtles. The deepest dive recorded was 1,230 meters
Odds Stacked Against Survival
Female leatherbacks lay hundreds of eggs each nesting season. Sadly however, very few of these hatchlings survive into their first year. They are very vulnerable to become prey to crabs, monitor lizards and birds while on their way out to sea, soon after hatching. In the shallow waters, many more hatchlings are eaten by fish. Only about 6% of these young leatherbacks survive their first year. Over the next 15 – 20 years more mortality among these young leatherbacks will reduce their survival rate further. And their chances of becoming adults and to regenerate will slide as well. Getting caught in trawling activities as well as succumbing to predators such as sharks are reasons for increase mortality among young and adult leatherbacks alike. Mistakenly consuming plastic bags floating in the seas and oceans as jellyfish is another contributing factor as well.
Why the Steep Drop in Nesting Numbers?
Globally, the leatherbacks are now classified as endangered while in Malaysia, where the situation is much worse; it is classified as critically endangered. Nowadays very few of these graceful leatherheads return to Rantau Abang to nest. Where 10,000 nesting was recorded in the 1950s, this had dropped to fewer than 10 nesting by 1999 and just 2 in 2008 and 2010. There was only a solitary nesting in 2017.
Poaching and human consumption of the leatherbacks’ eggs are often cited as the most significant factor for the species decline. Gross abuses towards the leatherbacks by the locals and tourists during nesting and when returning to sea, most likely discourage the leatherbacks from returning to nest. They were trapped in net by trawling activities, and these further add to this dwindling population of leatherbacks coming to nest. Mortality due to ingestion of floating marine debris like discarded plastic bags which resemble their favourite prey, jellyfish is also a contributing factor. Ineffective conservation efforts initiated in the 1960s had not helped either as exposure of the eggs to high temperatures inadvertently results in only female hatchlings.
The Department of Fisheries Malaysia (The Department) now has a Turtle Information Centre at Rantau Abang. Besides disseminating information concerning turtles; the Centre and the Department are also involved in conservation efforts: Rangers are patrolling the beaches to protect the turtles and their eggs from poachers when they come ashore to nest. Collection (except by licensed turtle egg collectors) or eating of turtle eggs are forbidden.
The Rantau Abang Fisheries Protected Area was established in 1991 covering the entire 30km beach and extends 18.5km out to sea. Gill nets of a mesh size 25.4cm, which killed up to 400 turtles a year, were subsequently banned from Malaysian waters altogether. The department is now enforcing these requirements and protective measures.
The Department is continuing and improving on its hatchery activities in its efforts to help increase the turtle population, particularly the leatherbacks
Will these giant leatherbacks make a come-back to Rantau Abang?
Rantau Abang is now returning to its quiet days of old – no more bustling with tourists as it used to be. And the reason is due to the dwindling number of turtles coming to nest at its beach, especially the leatherbacks. Given its relatively unspoiled and undisturbed stretch of beach, Rantau Abang is thought as the right place for leatherbacks to come to nest. The beach terrain is favorable. Its soft sandy beach is steep and is close to vegetation allowing the leatherbacks to quickly find suitable nesting spots – just a short crawl from the water edge. Minus the crowd of turtle watches and their attendant disturbing antics of old, the place would be ideal for the leatherbacks to return and nest again. So given time, these giants of all turtles might just come back more often. But for how soon I’m not willing to guess.
Dato’ Dr Anuar’s Comment
The lesson for Rantau Abang is that it is costly for the folks of the town and Terengganu as a whole. By selling eggs of the leatherbacks continuously over many years for a fistful of RM, the town lost its important economic assets that come onshore voluntarily. Consuming the eggs means that future generation of leatherbacks is gone forever.
About the guest contributor:
Mr Ahmad Rozi Daud is a stingless bee farmer in Kuala Terenganu, Malaysia. He resides near Rantau Abang, Terengganu . He also provides training for those who are interested to be a stingless beekeeper or apiarist. Please contact us at 6016 3220 952 for assessment of suitability of your location for stingless bee farming.
Honey from Stingless Bees – A New Superfood
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Honey of the stingless bees is a sweet, viscous food substance produced by stingless bees from floral nectar. It is quite similar to honey from the common honey bees (genus Apis) in most aspects but with its own distinctive physicochemical profiles, minerals and bioactive compounds.
There are more than 500 species of stingless bees worldwide. They can be found in most tropical or subtropical regions of the world, such as Australia, Africa, Southeast Asia and tropical America. Malaysia has its share of 33 species.
Stingless bees are closely related to the common honey bees (genus Apis) as both belong to the same Apidae family. However stingless bees are categorized under the Meliponini tribe while the common honey bees (genus Apis) are from Apini. Even though they cannot sting as their name suggests, these bees are able to protect their colonies by using their strong mandibles to grip their intruders.
Stingless bees are efficient pollinators and until recently are mainly used for such purposes, though the Mayans of Central America had been known to be using their honey for medical purposes a long time ago. Stingless bees honey is now gaining popularity and more and more people are rearing stingless bees for their honey, including Malaysia. For Malaysia this phenomenon only began around 2012.
Two Recommended Species of Malaysia
Out of the 33 Malaysian species identified so far, two that stand out more are Heterotrigona Itama and Geniotrigona Thoracica. These two have been recommended and promoted by the Malaysian Agricultural Development Institute (MARDI) as more suitable for meliponiculture – the propagation and culturing of the stingless bees for their honey. These two species are known for their high honey production, more tolerance to diseases and parasites as well as for their ease of keeping. Stingless bees of Itama species can produce 0.5 – 1.5 kg of honey per hive per month, while the Thoracica species twice as much.
By-products of Stingless Bees
Besides honey as their primary products, stingless bees also produce bee bread and propolis as secondary by-products. Bee bread is an extremely nourishing food derived from pollen and serves as the main source of protein for stingless bees and their larvae. The propolis on the other hand is produced by stingless bees from resin of trees collected by their worker bees. Propolis acts as the main building block for their hives. This includes pots for storage of honey and bee pollen as well as chambers for the queen and her brood. Studies done have shown that propolis displays antioxidant and antimicrobial properties and so has useful medicinal benefits.
Color of Stingless Bees Honey
Honeys of stingless bees originate from floral nectar with light golden color as almost always the norm. However they can exhibit any color from light brown to dark brown or almost black depending on a combination of factors. Among the factors are stingless bee species, the predominant flowers visited and stage of fermentation of the honey among others. Fermentation of stingless bee honey occurs naturally while still in the pots and continues post harvest, changing the tone of its color slightly darker in the process.
Physicochemical Composition of Stingless Bees Honey
Stingless bees honey has higher water content than honey of the Apis bees. It is less sweet and contains less sugar. It has more antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory as well as moisturizing properties than honey of the Apis bees. Stingless bees honey also contains minerals such as potassium, calcium, sodium, magnesium as well as manganese
Why Stingless Bees Honey?
Stingless bee honey is generally more palatable because it is not overly sweet or thick and is nutritious. It is also believed to have medicinal properties more than honey of the Apis bees.
Interest as well as studies done on stingless bee honey is still quite new and there lies potential for more benefits still unknown to us today to be discovered. It is comforting to know that people are opening up to accept stingless bee honey as a worthy or even superior competitor to the Apis bee honey. The Mayans were correct in pioneering its uses long time ago and they might have just helped us found the food that could well become our new superfood for today.
About the guest contributor:
Mr Rozi Daud is a stingless bee farmer in Kuala Terenganu, Malaysia. He also provides training for those who are interested to be a stingless beekeeper or apiarist. Please contact us at 6016 3220 952 for assessment of suitability of your location for stingless bee farming.
Asia Rising in GDP
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PWC, the global auditing company, regularly issued reports under the title, The World in 2050. The latest report, The World in 2020: The long-term view-How will the global economic order change by 2020? was published in February, 2017. The report showed some interesting highlights.
Among the highlights are:
- Other than the usual countries of China, US and Japan, new countries such as India, Indonesia and Brazil are moving the GDP ladder.
- Countries such as Pakistan, Vietnam and Bangladesh would move up the GDP ladder.
- Nigeria would have the largest GDP in the African continent.
- European countries such as Germany, France, Italy and Britain will move down the GDP ranking in 2050.
The projected rankings of economies based on GDP at PPP (purchasing power parity) in constant 2016 in US$ billion are shown in the table below.
2016 Rankings in constant 2016 in US$ billion
| GDP PPP ranking | Country | GDP at PPP |
| 1 | China | 21,269 |
| 2 | US | 18,562 |
| 3 | India | 8,721 |
| 4 | Japan | 4,932 |
| 5 | Germany | 3,979 |
| 6 | Russia | 3,745 |
| 7 | Brazil | 3,135 |
| 8 | Indonesia | 3,028 |
| 9 | United Kingdom | 2,788 |
| 10 | France | 2,737 |
| 11 | Mexico | 2,307 |
| 12 | Italy | 2,221 |
| 13 | South Korea | 1,929 |
| 14 | Turkey | 1,906 |
| 15 | Saudi Arabia | 1,731 |
| 16 | Spain | 1,690 |
| 17 | Canada | 1,674 |
| 18 | Iran | 1,459 |
| 19 | Australia | 1,189 |
| 20 | Thailand | 1,161 |
| 21 | Egypt | 1,105 |
| 22 | Nigeria | 1,089 |
| 23 | Poland | 1,052 |
| 24 | Pakistan | 988 |
| 25 | Argentina | 879 |
| 26 | Netherlands | 866 |
| 27 | Malaysia | 864 |
| 28 | Philippines | 802 |
| 29 | South Africa | 736 |
| 30 | Colombia | 690 |
| 31 | Bangladesh | 628 |
| 32 | Vietnam | 595 |
2030 Rankings in constant 2016 in US$ billion
| GDP PPP ranking | Country | Projected GDP at PPP |
| 1 | China | 38,008 |
| 2 | US | 23,475 |
| 3 | India | 19,511 |
| 4 | Japan | 5,606 |
| 5 | Indonesia | 5,424 |
| 6 | Russia | 4,736 |
| 7 | Germany | 4,707 |
| 8 | Brazil | 4,439 |
| 9 | Mexico | 3,661 |
| 10 | United Kingdom | 3,638 |
| 11 | France | 3,377 |
| 12 | Turkey | 2,996 |
| 13 | Saudi Arabia | 2,755 |
| 14 | South Korea | 2,651 |
| 15 | Italy | 2,541 |
| 16 | Iran | 2,354 |
| 17 | Spain | 2,159 |
| 18 | Canada | 2,141 |
| 19 | Egypt | 2,049 |
| 20 | Pakistan | 1,868 |
| 21 | Nigeria | 1,794 |
| 22 | Thailand | 1,732 |
| 23 | Australia | 1,663 |
| 24 | Philippines | 1,615 |
| 25 | Malaysia | 1,506 |
| 26 | Poland | 1,505 |
| 27 | Argentina | 1,342 |
| 28 | Bangladesh | 1,324 |
| 29 | Vietnam | 1,303 |
| 30 | South Africa | 1,148 |
| 31 | Colombia | 1,111 |
| 32 | Netherlands | 1,080 |
2050 Rankings in constant 2016 in US$ billion
| GDP PPP ranking | Country | Projected GDP at PPP |
| 1 | China | 58,499 |
| 2 | India | 44,128 |
| 3 | US | 34,102 |
| 4 | Indonesia | 10,502 |
| 5 | Brazil | 7,540 |
| 6 | Russia | 7,131 |
| 7 | Mexico | 6,863 |
| 8 | Japan | 6,779 |
| 9 | Germany | 6,138 |
| 10 | United Kingdom | 5,369 |
| 11 | Turkey | 5,184 |
| 12 | France | 4,705 |
| 13 | Saudi Arabia | 4,694 |
| 14 | Nigeria | 4,348 |
| 15 | Egypt | 4,333 |
| 16 | Pakistan | 4,236 |
| 17 | Iran | 3,900 |
| 18 | South Korea | 3,539 |
| 19 | Philippines | 3,334 |
| 20 | Vietnam | 3,176 |
| 21 | Italy | 3,115 |
| 22 | Canada | 3,100 |
| 23 | Bangladesh | 3,064 |
| 24 | Malaysia | 2,815 |
| 25 | Thailand | 2,782 |
| 26 | Spain | 2,732 |
| 27 | South Africa | 2,570 |
| 28 | Australia | 2,564 |
| 29 | Argentina | 2,385 |
| 30 | Poland | 2,103 |
| 31 | Colombia | 2,074 |
| 32 | Netherlands | 1,496 |
Changes in Rankings of Asian Countries
| Countries | Ranking in 2016 | Ranking in 2030 | Ranking in 2050 |
| China | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| India | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Indonesia | 8 | 5 | 4 |
| Japan | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| Saudi Arabia | 15 | 13 | 13 |
| Pakistan | 24 | 20 | 16 |
| Iran | 18 | 16 | 17 |
| South Korea | 13 | 14 | 18 |
| Philippines | 28 | 24 | 19 |
| Vietnam | 32 | 29 | 20 |
| Bangladesh | 31 | 28 | 23 |
| Malaysia | 27 | 25 | 24 |
| Thailand | 20 | 22 | 25 |
Note: PPP (purchasing power parity) estimates of GDP adjust the price level difference across countries, providing better measure of the volume of goods and services produced by an economy as compared to GDP at current market exchange rate, which is a measure of value. Essentially GDP PPP controls for different costs of living and price levels, usually relative to US dollar, enabling more accurate estimate of a nation’s level of production.
Observation
In 2050, two Asian countries, China and India, would occupy the top two spots in GDP ranking. In addition, Indonesia would move from 8th spot in 2016 to 4th spot in 2050. Japan, which occupied 4th spot in 2016 would drop to 8th spot in 2050.
Our country, Malaysia, would slightly improve its spot from 27th in 2016 to 24th in 2050. The greatest mover would be Vietnam, moving from 32nd spot in 2016 to 20th spot in 2050.
Please click below for the full report
The New Health Drink: Non-Alcoholic Beer
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We noted a new health drink in a recent article in The Times of London on December 29th, 2018. Non-alcoholic beer has become a health drink for fitness enthusiasts in Germany.
The health benefits of beer are derived from the use of hops (hop flower) in making beer. The hops are what make beer taste like beer. Hops have been known to inhibit bacteria growth as the beer brew ferments. Acids in the hops , called humulones and lupulones, have been shown to kill cancer cells and block leukemia cells from clinging to bone in petri dish experiments. The acid may also act as anti-inflammatory agents.
Remove the alcohol in beer and it will become non-alcoholic beer and a health drink!
Today, non-alcoholic beer is made by filtering out the alcohol and water through a membrane and then distilling the mixture to remove the alcohol before returning the flavoured water. In order to remove the very last of the alcohol, brewers either heat the uncarbonated beer until the ethanol boils off or lower the pressure of the liquid until the alcohol evaporates at room temperature.
Markets for Non-alcoholic Beer
The markets for non-alcoholic beer are in developed countries as well as developing countries. Non-alcoholic beer is now a health drink in Germany and other European countries. In Muslim countries, alcoholic beer is not permitted and consumers, who like beer, drink non-alcoholic beer. We are one of them. A non-alcoholic beer brand, Babican, is popular in Middle East and Malaysia.
Another major market is India, according to the on-line newspaper, The Economic Times India, posted on November 10th, 2018. In Indian states such as Gujarat and Bihar, selling and drinking alcohol has been banned since 1960. Major brewing companies are competing in India to market non-alcoholic beer. They believe the market for non-alcoholic beer in India is substantial due to high level of abstinence for various reasons.
While alcoholic beer contains 1.2 to 8 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV), non-alcoholic beer mostly have 0.05 per cent ABV or below. Some companies are offering zero alcohol beer.
Non-alcoholic beer may find it difficult to penetrate Muslim markets such as Malaysia. This is due to the view of Muslim conservatives that non-alcoholic beer is not “halal” (not permitted to be consumed) as it is derived initially from alcoholic beer.
The Skills Needed to Secure Future Jobs: Part II
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Changing Roles
The report highlighted examples of stable, new and redundant roles in all industries as shown below:
Stable roles
Managing Directors and Chief Executives
General and Operation Managers
Software and Applications Development and Analysts
Data Analysts and Scientists
Sales and Marketing Professionals
Sales Representatives
Human Resource Specialists
Financial and Investment Advisers
Database and Network Professionals
Supply Chain and Logistics Specialists
Risk Management Specialists
Information Security Analysts
Management and Organization Analysts
Electrotechnology Engineers
Organizational Development Specialists
Chemical Processing Plant Operators
University and Higher Education Teachers
Compliance Officers
Energy and Petroleum Engineers
Robotic Specialists and Engineers
Petroleum and Natural Gas Plant Operators
New Roles
Data Analysts and Scientists
AI and Machine Learning Specialists
General Operations Managers
Big Data Specialists
Digital Transformation Specialists
Sales and Marketing Professionals
New Technology Specialists
Organizational Development Specialists
Software and Application Developers and Specialists
Information and Technology Services
Process Automation Specialists
Innovation Professionals
Information Security Specialists
Ecommerce and Social Media Specialists
User Experience and Human-Machine Interaction Designers
Training and Development Specialists
Robotic Specialists and Engineers
People and Culture Specialists
Client Information and Customer Service Workers
Service and Solution Engineers
Digital Marketing and Strategy Specialists
Redundant Roles
Data Entry Clerks
Accounting Bookkeeping and Payroll Clerks
Administration and Executive Secretaries
Assembly and Factory Workers
Client Information and Customer Service Workers
Business Services and Administration Managers
Accountants and Auditors
Material-Recording and Stock-Keeping Clerks
General and Operations Managers
Postal Service Clerks
Financial Analysts
Cashers and Ticket Clerks
Mechanic and Machinery Repairers
Telemarketers
Electronic and Telecommunication Installers
Bank Tellers and Related Clerks
Car, Van and Motorcycle Drivers
Sales and Purchasing Agents and Brokers
Door-To-Door Sales Workers, News and Street Vendors, and Related Workers
Statistical, Finance and Insurance Clerks
Lawyers
Note: Jobs which appear across multiple columns reflect the fact that they might be seeing stable or declining demand across industry but be in demand in another.
Comparing Skill Demands
The report also highlights the trend in skill demand, 2018 versus 2022, top ten as follows:
Today, 2018
Analytical thinking and innovation
Complex problem-solving
Critical thinking and analysis
Active learning and learning strategies
Creativity, originality and initiative
Attention to detail and trustworthiness
Emotional intelligence
Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
Leadership and social influence
Coordination and time management
Trending, 2022
Analytical thinking and innovation
Active learning and learning strategies
Creativity, originality and initiative
Technology design and programming
Critical thinking and analysis
Complex problem-solving
Leadership and social influence
Emotional intelligence
Reasoning, problem-solving and ideation
Declining, 2022
Manual dexterity, endurance and precision
Memory, verbal, auditory and spatial abilities
Management of financial, material resources
Technology installation and maintenance
Reading, writing, math and active listening
Management of personnel
Quality control and safety awareness
Coordination and time management
Visual, auditory and speech abilities
Technology use, monitoring and control
Conclusion
Skills such as analytical thinking and active learning will continue to grow in prominence by 2022. Companies will need to pursue a range of organizational strategies in order to stay competitive in the face of rapidly changing workforce requirements. To do this, the skills of executive leadership and the human resources function will also need to evolve to successfully lead the transformation.
Please click the report below.
The Skills Needed to Secure Future Jobs: Part I
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In 2019 and beyond, many people are concerned whether they will continue to hold on to their existing (well-paying) jobs. They have both good and bad news.
Many organizations and governments have issued research papers and reports on the impacts of automation and artificial intelligence (AI) on future jobs. One such interesting report is published by the World Economic Forum, the international organization for public-private cooperation based in Geneva, Switzerland. The report, Future of Job Report 2018, follows up an earlier report, The Future of Jobs: Employment, skills and workforce strategy for the fourth industrial revolution, which was issued in 2016. We have reviewed the report, Future Job Report 2018 and wish to highlight its key findings.
It noted that as technological breakthroughs shift the frontier between the work tasks performed by humans and those performed by machines and algorithms, labour markets are undergoing major transformations. Companies are seeking to harness new and emerging technologies to reach higher levels of efficiency of production and consumption.
The report’s key findings can be summarized as follows:
Drivers of change
Four specific technological advances-ubiquitous high-speed mobile internet: AI; widespread adoption of big data analytics; and cloud technologies-are drivers positively affecting business growth.
Accelerated technology adoption
Companies surveyed in the report are likely or very likely to have expanded their adoption of user and entity big data analytics. Similarly, large proportion of companies are likely or very likely to have expanded their adoption of technologies such as the internet of things and app- and web-enabled markets, and to make extensive use of cloud computing. Machine learning and augmented and virtual reality are poised to likewise receive considerable business investment.
Trend in robotization
While estimated use cases for humanoid robots appear to remain somewhat more limited over the 2018 -2022 period under consideration in this report, collectively, a broader range of recent robotic technologies at or near commercialization including stationary robots, non-humanoid land robots and fully automated aerial drones, in addition to machine learning and AI are attracting business interest in adoption.
Changing geography of production, distribution and value chains
By 2022, 59 per cent of employers surveyed for this report expect that they will significantly modified how they produce and distribute by changing the composition of their value chain and nearly half expect to have modified their geographical base of operations.
Changing employment type
Nearly 50 per cent of companies expect that automation will lead to some reduction in their full-time workforce by 2022. In addition, businesses are set to expand their use of contractors doing task-specialized work, with many respondents highlighting their intention to engage workers in a more flexible manner, utilizing remote staffing beyond physical offices and de-centralization of operations.
A new human-machine frontier within existing tasks
Companies expect a significant shift in the frontier between humans and machines when it comes to existing work tasks between 2018 and 2022. Relative to their starting points today, the expansion of machine share of work task performance is particularly marked in the reasoning and decision-making, administrating, and looking for and receiving job-related information task.
Emerging in-demand roles
There would be demand for roles as data analysts and scientists, software and application developers and ecommerce and social media specialists. These roles are significantly enhanced by the rise of technology. Also expected to grow are roles that leverage distinctly “human skills”, such as customer service workers, sales and marketing professionals, training and development, people and culture, organizational development specialists and innovation mangers. Moreover, the report noted evidence of accelerating demand for a variety of new specialist roles related to the understanding and leveraging the latest emerging technologies; AI and machine learning specialists, big data specialists, process automation experts, information security analysts, user experience and human-machine information designers, robotic engineers and blockchain specialists.
Growing skill instability
Given the wave of new technologies and trends disrupting business models and changing division of labour between workers and machine transforming current job profiles, the skills required to perform most jobs will have shifted significantly.
Global average skill stability-the proportion of core skills required to perform a job that will remain the same- is expected to be about 58 per cent, meaning an average shift of 42 per cent in required workforce skills over 2018 -2022 period.
A re-skilling requirement
By 2022, no less than 54 per cent of all employees will require significant re- and up-skilling. Of these, about 35 per cent are expected to require additional training of up to six months, 9 per cent will require re-skilling lasting six to 12 months, while 10 per cent will require additional skill training of more than a year. Proficiency in new technologies is only one part of the 2002 skills equation, however, as “human skills” such as creativity, originality and initiative, critical thinking, persuasion and negotiation will likewise retain or increase their value, as will attention to details, resilience, flexibility and complex problem solving. Emotional intelligence, leadership and social influence as well as service orientation also see an increase in demand relative to their current positions.
Observation
Twenty years ago, Malaysian high school students inspired to secure well-paying jobs such as doctors, engineers, government senior employees, lawyers and journalists. Some of these job roles will remain while others will be taken over by machines in the next five to 10 years. STEM students will have opportunities in new job roles such as data analysts and robotic engineers that pay well more than the traditional job roles. For non-STEM students, their new job roles will include digital marketing specialists and user experience managers. Also, we will still need our barbers and hair salon ladies to look good and beautiful.
Technology obsolescence: some technologies are reluctant to die
Posted onThe year is almost over. Old technologies can take longer to die and the timing is unpredictable, according to an article in the Lex column of FTWeekend 15/16 December 2018.
Sony announced that it was stopping production of Betamax tapes in 2015, for example, more than 50 years after it lost a format war with VHS.
Most investors and business academics expect technologies to decline steeply. CDs are good examples. Sales have dropped by 92 per cent since a 2000 peak in the US, though they still dominate in Japan, where streaming has been slow to take off. In the UK only two out of five people regularly buy new ones. In Malaysia CD stores are closing down, given that Spotfiy is free for listeners of songs., including my wife.
But old formats put up a better fight than expected. This creates opportunities and pitfalls for investors. Sales of ebooks, once predicted to overtake printed books, have fallen since 2014. Now the small but fast-growing audio download is worrying publishers.
New technology -cloud services-threatens to make game consoles redundant. But sales of console games are still growing strongly and 5G may support them. Even retro consoles are in vogue. Sony has followed Nntendo in bringing back a 24-year-old machine in miniature.
Affection for timeworn technology can be dismal. A YouGov poll found many British CD listeners felt left out as new song releases bypassed the medium. However, the auditory and tactile pleasures of vinyl have sparked a revival. LP sales in the US more than quadrupled to nearly US$400 million in the seven years to 2017, according to trade body RIAA. Unlike old soldiers, some old technologies neither die nor fade away.