GOF to reinforce state’s Border Security Agency

Pic: Wikipedia

SIBU: General Operations Force (GOF) has been enlisted to assist the Border Security Agency (BSA) to add more bite in curbing border crimes, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

“BSA has been upgraded administratively to replace the Smuggling Prevention Unit (UPP) and we have absorbed GOF to be in BSA.

“For now, we have mobilised (BSA) along borders in the northern Peninsula in the early stage.

“We are in the midst of making arrangement for BSA in Sabah and Sarawak to also use the same method, I hope the government will give approval for setting up (BSA) for borders of Sabah and Sarawak,” Ahmad Zahid, who is also Home Minister told a press conference during his working visit to University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS) campus here yesterday.

He said this when asked on the development of BSA.

He added that the GOF in both states would be mobilised to the borders together with the armed forces which are there.

Meanwhile, in his speech, Ahmad Zahid requested for the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education to come up with a tagline of ‘one graduate, one family’.

He explained this meant that each family, including those in the longhouses must have at least one student entering institutions of higher learning.

This, he added, was important in line with the country heading towards developed nation status by 2020.

“As a developed nation, at least 60 per cent of its people has to get tertiary education,” he said.

He stressed on the importance of striking a balance.

“We are educated but not learned. We must strive to be a learned people. This is where social values come in and doing away with all the differences.

“We have the responsibility to develop this country together,” he said.

He noted that only 40 per cent of students in the country take up science while the rest are in liberal arts.

On this, he suggested to the National Science Council to relook the education system together with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Higher Education to strive to establish a balance. (The Borneo Post)