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Success comes in many forms and to En. Wan Seman its his contribution to the country that gives him the greatest satisfaction and is the measure of his success
En. Wan Seman Wan Ahmad genial attitude belies the passion that drives him to be the person that is at the top of his field. He came from a humble background of farmers from Machang district, Kelantan. It was a hard life but he remembers the happiness of growing up in a close-knit family. He had always been mechanically inclined and had managed to enter UTM, Jalan Gurney on the strength of his results.
He said that Strathclyde was a renown engineering university for over a hundred years and inventors like James Watts (the father of the steam engine) had passed through its doors.
En. Wan Seman was there from 1973 to 1975 and enjoyed the stimulating learning environment although the thick Scottish accent could sometimes be a bit difficult to understand!
En. Wan Seman could easily have stayed in Scotland with a lucrative job but his sense of duty to his family, and the government that sent him to Scotland made him return to Malaysia. Although all scholarship holders had to serve the government for a certain number of years, En. Wan Seman had decided to dedicate his life to public service.
He started work with the JKR (Jabatan Kerja Raya) as the internal inspector of their vehicles. At the time, most of the engineers stayed in the offices, hardly coming down to the bays where the vehicles were inspected. En. Wan Seman decided to become more hands-on and a blue-collar engineer by actually participating in the inspection process.
Then in 1977, En. Wan Seman was appointed a water engineer, the pioneer engineer for Jabatan Air Selangor. There he did a lot of ground-breaking work setting up the water system of the future, working on the percolating, pumping and filtration systems. This was satisfying for En. Wan Seman because he was actually putting in place a system for the benefit of the country.
He stayed there until 1979 when he was attached to the army as a Quality Engineer. There, his task was to look after manufacturing plant that the army used to make all manner of spare parts. This was an exciting phase because En Wan Seman also had the opportunity to design and test the effectiveness of the weapons he built, which included cans to carry napalm.
In 1981, he had the honour to become the first Director of the Industrial Training Institute, Kuala Lumpur. This was the first time he was put in charge of education. The purpose of the institute was to turn out the skilled workforce that Malaysia needed to power its growing manufacturing sector. En. Wan Seman showed his enthusiasm and adaptability by excelling at his new position and was rewarded with a further upgrade in 1983.
That was when he was given the post of Director for Pusat Latihan Pengajar dan Kemahiran Lanjutan. This training centre was to turn out the trainers who would later train skilled workers. He worked with over 50 experts from Japan and the fruit of their close collaboration was that over half a million trainers were created.
This lasted until 1994 when En. Wan Seman was appointed Deputy-Director General of the Manpower Department. This was another long secondment as he stayed there until 2003. That was when he reached his present post of Director General for the Department of Skills Development for the Ministry of Human Resources. His job scope includes putting in the legal framework, recognition and qualifications for skilled workers.
While on the job, En. Wan Seman has travelled all over the world and seen how different countries implement solutions to problems that they face. He is proud of his contribution in helping Malaysia progress. Indirectly, he is also helping SMIs/SMEs progress with the skilled workforce that he trained.
All that he does is because of the feeling of love he has, for his family, his country and for his fellow man. En Wan Seman remembers his modest beginnings and is doing all he can so that his fellow countrymen can have a better life.
