DPM proposes creation of Malaysia psychological well-being index

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has suggested that a Malaysia psychological well-being index be created to measure the people's levels of mental and emotional well-being.

He said this was important to ensure that the manpower contributing to the country's development comprised individuals with positive thinking, were mature, able to think creatively and innovatively, and resilient in facing the prevailing global challenges.

"World-class human capital can be attained if each employee has the mind and desire to achieve excellence, possess noble ethics and practise the culture of high achievement," he said in his speech when opening the Human Capital Psychology Conference 2017, here, today.

Ahmad Zahid said he wanted the psychological services in managing the country's human capital to continue to be boosted to ensure balance in the physical, emotional, behavioural and spiritual aspects of employees was always at the optimum level in order for them to give their best to the country.

"Each worker must be ensured to be always in their best condition so that they can together ride the wave of the nation's success towards 2050," he said.

In the public service sector, he said, a support system as well as prevention of psychological problems had been in place to assist public servants through the Public Service Peer Counselling Programme (AKRAB).

Since introduced in 2005, the programme had been successfully functioning in assisting public servants deal with life and job issues, he added.

Ahmad Zahid said the government, through the Social Security Organisation (SOCSO), had also launched the Return to Work (RTW) programme in 2007 to assist incapacitated contributors to undergo counselling sessions, physical rehabilitation intervention, vocational rehabilitation and job training, and then return to work.

He said since this programme was introduced in 2007 until August this year, 17,183 workers had been successfully rehabilitated and returned to work.

At the conference attended by some 7,000 participants from the public and private sectors, Ahmad Zahid also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding between SOCSO and JobStreet.com for the RTW programme.

-- BERNAMA