Mulu View

Tanjung Manis a good area to produce high quality food

2018-03-07T00:25:00.002-08:00

Basically, the development of SCORE is to spearhead by the development of a few growth nodes with Tanjung Manis, as one of them, being developed to become industrial port city and Halal hub. It is strategically located at the delta of Rajang River, the longest waterway in Malaysia.

Tanjung Manis, an area comprising of seven islands, has a total area of 77,000 hectares to make it the biggest Halal hub project in Malaysia. Hence, it has large land bank available for the development of Halal industries such as agriculture, aquaculture and other industries.

Tanjung Manis Halal hub is being developed with the objective to develop and promote Halal industries namely aquaculture, agriculture, biotechnology, food processing, other high value Halal and green technology and other supporting industries.

The concept of Tanjung Manis Halal Hub is based on the following guiding principles: Green development with carbon credit policy; extensive green environment impact assessment (EIA) policy to ensure sustainability; usage of green energy and environment friendly practices; clean environment with guided control on development policies; and promote organic, chemical and pesticide free and sustainable development.

The development of Tanjung Manis Halal hub will comprise the following major components: Tanjung Manis new township; Tanjung Manis new airport; New Halal hub seaport; Agriculture, horticulture and aquaculture development; Hotel, commercial and housing development; Resort and leisure development; Healthcare village; and Major infrastructure and info structure development projects.

Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, the fourth the Chief Minister, said the development of Tanjung Manis as Halal hub and one of the three major ports in Sarawak would precipitate the development of large scale agro-base industries and for food processing. Rajang Delta, once a great liability because of soft soil and riddled by big rivers, now provides opportunities for aquaculture.

An international firm has found out that Rajang Delta, with good quality of water, is the best place to breed fish or sea food in a bigger scale. Similar place cannot be found in other parts of the country. Obviously, nature has provided Sarawak a nice environment and location for a big aquaculture project.

Generally, Tanjung Manis represents a good area to produce high quality food. The overall plan for the development of Tanjung Manis is to develop Sarikei and Bintangor, the traditional food growing areas to become green basket areas. The food being produced on commercial basis, with good logistic support can go straight to Sibu to be exported to China, India or any other places where there is a growing need for food.

Undoubtedly, the development of Sarikei and Bintangor to become food basket entails the upgrading of agricultural apparatus and improvement of the system of agriculture. In this regard, the processing of food will be subjected to strict supervision from the points of view of public health. Ultimately, the new development will turn Sarikei and Bintangor to become a leading bio-tech park in the State.

The Yang di Pertua NegeriTun Pehin Sri Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud in a special interview for the main Magazine of Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC) said the idea of developing Tanjung Manis as a port is something that will try to dictate the parking of the port services in Sarawak. It takes into account the movement of population and the possibility of getting people to concentrate more around this area.

Kuching, no doubt, will become a very big port because it is serving areas like Serian, Samarahan and Kuching, which used to be the First Division before the delineation, but also Kalimantan Barat. The State, unlike before, cannot afford to have small port in every river.

He said the State has to plan the development of coastal areas in Second and First divisions to support Kuching port, which probably drag in somewhere a line in Second Division; part of the division will go to Tanjung Manis and part will go to Kuching.

But Kuching road makes it very difficult to merge the two territories because the indirect routes will go all the way to Sri Aman. The route between Lingga to Kuching will be quite necessary with the emergence of the new kind of population coming up; natural change seems to indicate that it will be like that.

Tun Abdul Taib says Sri Aman will become more of a centre to develop services across the border apart from Second division. Over a million hectares of land behind Second Division have no convenient port outlet except through Sarawak. It will be very congested if the products are allowed access to Kuching. So efforts must be made to divert the goods to Tanjung Manis, which has the capacity to handle the huge volume of products. .

He believes with the ports each in Kuching, Tanjung Manis and Bintulu, as the three major ports, the State government will be able to spend more money on better ports than small ports. There shouldn’t be any problem because the population seems to move that way because of the development of industries and estates.

He believed Kuching, Tanjung Manis and Tanjung Kidurong in Bintulu would become good focal points for the development of ports in Sarawak in future. . Beyond that the State has to think of working with Brunei and certain parts of Sabah; it is up to the younger generation to think of. The other way, of course, is to have a port either in Brunei or Sabah or either in Lawas or Limbang.

Tun Abdul Taib said he has been given to understand the Brunei Darussalam wants to develop Timburong, an area between Limbang and Lawas. If Brunei has an ambitious plan to develop a port probably there will greater interactions between Sarawak and Brunei. For example, we can join Brunei in developing the project rather than planning for it on our own.

He said they are talking about the development of the bridge now between Brunei town and Timburong. In this case Sarawak could just link Timburong with Lawas, which is already served with good road.

Tun Abdul Taib is confident that the three ports areas for Sarawak is the best way to develop Sarawak for the next 20 years. Most of the industries will be natural resource based industries. Kuching has got the idea of developing more diversified industries; the other areas do not have enough population.

He said Tanjung Manis will be more of a port for Rajang basin all the way to Kapit and part of the Second Division and the area between Bintulu and Tanjung Manis.

He believed with one port each in Tanjung Manis, Bintulu and Kuching, based on the spread of the palm oil estates; the State will spend better money that way. The development is more oriented towards the role that Sarawak ought to play in more intensive and more focused manner on how to serve the region.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled when he started the development of Tanjung Manis, the people just laughed at it; obviously now they are convinced that Tanjung Manis will be a key area for a port in Sarawak. The three ports are just ideal as the State does not spend more money to get good results..

He said the development of a Baram port is a big question as the area is losing population partly due to the ambition of young people of the Orang Ulu community to migrate to cities or towns to get more sophisticated employment; it will continue to be like that for some time. But the overall region in the North will support the kind of development being carried out in Bintulu as the third port.

In this connection, the coastal road will become the service road between the old trunk road and the coastal area. More and more people will reside in the coastal areas while the land mass is in the interior.

Tun Abdul Taib said one big estate around Bintulu and Tatau will be able to contribute to the development of Bintulu port, which will provide services to Bintulu and other areas north of it.

He believed Tanjung Manis is already success. It is getting the response and support of the people of Sibu, which will survive on a different kind of role probably as education and commercial centre for the country but not as a port anymore; this is accepted already.

Tun Abdul Taib believed the pattern of development will be more or less fixed and concentrated and the State can do the best it can with less dispersal of the expenditure. The big question is what will happen with Second Division? For example, how will the flow of the population? How many will go toward Lingga and how many will go towards Tanjung Manis? Besides, the population of Kabong/Pusa, believed to be the biggest concentration of population in Betong Division, is yet to be planned properly.

He said he decided to move the National park from behind Beladin westward toward Sebuyau, which geographically has the same kind of plants and nature, to allow for the expansion and growth of Kabong/ Pusa population partly towards Lingga and partly towards Tanjung Manis.

The details are still being worked out as it is hard to calculate how the other side of the border will behave. But it does indicate that the other side is also developing, like Sarawak, developing more palm oil estates. That means they will likely come to Sarawak either to Kuching or Tanjung Manis.

Tun Abdul Taib said he has personally talked to some businessmen, who have given indications that a lot of them prefer to go to Tanjung Manis port as the journey will be more convenient than to Kuching. There are more than 1 million hectares of land being planted with palm oil there, which may have to be transported to Tanjung Manis port.

For this reason, Tanjung Manis must be more ambitious in its planning and development for the future because the port cannot be adjusted at the last moment. Probably Tanjung Manis will require both sides of the river for its development and expansion. Tanjung Manis will be quite ready for the next 20 years.

Tun Abdul Taib decided on the development of Tanjung Manis as the port and the Halal hub due to its strategic the location. The best way is to siphon all the hinterland towards the area where the border divides Bintulu and Tanjung Manis. Probably in the North there is no problem to develop three ports; the development will be to economize a lot of expenditure.

It is quite obvious that the population in the Ulu will thin out as industries cannot be developed where the population is small. Secondly, there is enough land to demand that Tanjung Manis should be developed to become a big port to cater for the interior. Even now it is quite obvious that Kapit will go by land to Mukah and from Mukah to Tanjung Manis. The rest will still be using rivers depending on the volume of cargoes.

Tun Abdul Taib said probably second division, depending on the boundary, will be for Tanjung Manis and for Kuching. Understandably, Tanjung Manis will gain because the port has got more potentials for expansion than Kuching, which has to cater for fast growing population and also a fast growing Kalimantan.

He said Lingga may probably be the right line and the rest will go to Tanjung Manis. Those from the interior and the Indonesians from Kalimantan will go to Kuching. That will impose a big problem namely congestion in Kuching city. So efforts must be made to develop a different system of roads directly to Muara Tebas, which has got enough room for ports. But there is a constriction for connection to the west part of Sarawak.

Obviously, the State must plan to develop another road direct to port. Otherwise, there will be congestion in Kuching city just like in Kuala Lumpur. So a way has to be found how to link it all the way to Lundu through the coastal road, which has already been developed.

The coastal road will become more popular road later on. This was never in the plan during Colonial time. The Colonial Government never thought that it should be that way because they thought it would be a separate development.

Tun Abdul Taib believed Tanjung Manis, as the second port, has vast tourism potential as it is already accessible to Sibu and Mukah. Generally, port towns or cities have their own unique features to attract the people for fishing, sightseeing and indulge in sport activities.

The State has to concentrate on the development of Tanjung Manis, Bintulu and Kuching ports and changes may come if the development patterns change drastically. He cannot foresee this happening within the next 20 years.

Tun Abdul Taib believed that trade with China and East Asia will grow because that is where the market is and that is where a lot of exports from China will come in direct to the State. Whatever, it is Sarawak has got to have major ports link with China; that was what he has planned that fits in very well with the current and future development.

He believes Sarawak will see many things in the next 20 years as efforts must be made continuous to find what are the alternatives and the likely preferences of the people these are things that the people cannot see 20 years ahead.

He believes there will be quite a lot of people from the interior going to the coastal area. He has expected this to happen although efforts are being made to intensify the development of development in the interior. For example, there is a chunk of land between Kapit and Mukah, which is still not developed as the development requires few million dollars of investments.

Tun Abdul Taib believes places like Sibu and Mukah will come up again because of the development of Tanjung Manis and the interior. The people in the interior will change the pattern of working. But as the population is small there will not be many adjustments involved.

The only thing is how to get the educated people to have the transition towards the towns, which used to be original preference of most of them. That is what we have wanted to do in Tanjung Manis as the first experiment to see that there can be a town, completely new town to create jobs for younger people. The older people don’t move much because their lives are not be disrupted.

Tun Abdul Taib believes most of the present development will continue except that it will use less and less people. However, more and more service industries will come up as the State moves forward to not only to become a developed State but one of the most prosperous states in the country towards the year 2030.

MuluView

Building Sarawak to become more prosperous for all people

2018-02-06T17:30:00.000-08:00

The Chinese world over from Hong Kong to New York, albeit at different time, is celebrating the New Year 2018 as the Earth Dog Year. The Horoscope 2018 predicts that the year of the Brown Earth Dog is going to be a good year in all respects but it will also be an exhausting year.

Among the many good traits of Earth dogs are once they are refreshed and regenerated, they can accelerate the initiations of all things. Understandably, this will bring pressure and stress to the people in their everyday life too.

For this reason, astrologists are optimistic in their forecast that the year of Earth dog promises a more favorable time as compared to the previous year with both political and economic situations starting to stabilize in the world.

In Chinese astrology each zodiac year (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig) is not just with an animal sign but also one of the five elements namely Gold (metal), wood, water, fire and earth.

The year 2018 meets elements of earth to qualify it to be considered earth dog year. It suggests that planning, postponing and negligence are words that can be removed from the vocabulary during the year.

The Governor of Sarawak Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his Chinese New year message, which was broadcast by RTM on the eve of the New Year, said as the people should ponder on opportunities and challenges ahead in building Sarawak to become a richer and more prosperous State towards the year 2030 for all the people.

He said Sarawak, as the people all know, is a multi-racial State, not only in terms of originality but in terms of ways of the people deal with each other. Undeniably, the people are getting closer and closer to each other as they move forward.

Understanding the ways of each other much more from time to time helps the people to develop stronger sense of belonging and come together more closely. Personally, Tun Abdul Taib feels the people’s stronger sense of belonging creates opportunities for Sarawak to be recognized as a multi-racial country since Independence.

Undeniably, the Chinese have been playing major roles in building the country to become more prosperous and successful for the people. They have been doing so through hard work and co-operation among them, in unique way through their own smaller associations, and work together in a big movement to enable them to understand how economic life in the country can be built up by efforts of all races.

Tun Abdul Taib believes Sarawak has been able to evolve good economic policy guidance, which has been able to give the country greater prosperity and more importantly to get the Rakyat to be involved in the efforts of development. The people have been able to enjoy the fruits of hard work and the success of each community, through well organized and relatively more advanced commercial practices.

The Chinese, for example, have been able to bring to Sarawak to more orderly development. For example, the people can see that Sarawak has a more orderly distribution of employment opportunities and the close relationship between all the races.

He believes the trend towards a more prosperous society, which benefits not only the commercial class but all levels of the society, will be continued as Sarawak moves forward to become not only a developed State but the richest State in the country towards the year 2030.

Undoubtedly, the people have been able to add in greater measure in Malaysia, in Sarawak in particular, efforts to expand economic activities to become much more organized. The State has been able to rope in more and more people with real talents to make them becoming more effective in economic development to enable everybody to benefits from the fruits of development.

Tun Abdul Taib said the people of Sarawak, after many decades of working together, have been able to build a pattern of economy that enables them to bring about a greater distribution of wealth even to the remote community, who used to be rural dwellers through the widespread benefits of education among children to play greater part in the economic development.

As a result the people can see today, although not completely, the trend that every race will benefit from whatever greater achievement that the country will be able to get through the development of resources. They have been able to get through the co-operation between all races the choice of better people to do the work according to their ability rather than the old ways of relaying on racial associations.

Tun Abdul Taib said the change happening in our midst has brought greater unity among the people, greater co-operation between the races and much greater deployment of talents and skills in carrying out economic activities. Generally, the people have the ability to expand economic activities mainly through the consolidation of traditional economic base and developing the prosperity from simple agriculture to commercial agriculture.

Even the people in rural areas have been able to undertake much more economic activities from the self –help activities all the way to produce fruits and vegetable for the markets in the overall efforts to develop the economy of the country. That is the overall picture that the people ought to understand from its simple to complex forms.

Tun Abdul Taib believes the people are beginning to see the buildup of a multi - racial society where greater interaction among the people of various races can be seen in almost all functions of the economy; even the rural area is functioning very well. No longer can the people say that the development of rural areas is only trying to help the Natives. It is just like a gift from the Government to the people.

But now that kind of feeling is no longer there. Generally, the people understand the more prosperous the country becomes the more flow of economic activities drag the people into the shell that share the prosperity. For example, look at the rural areas, which have been producing not only the agricultural produce for the market for consumption but the workforce.

The rural areas have been able to produce thousands of well educated people, who are beginning to play greater roles in the development of the economy. In the old days Chinese were mainly in commerce and the Bumiputras, in agriculture. The people were divided based on their economic functions.

Tun Abdul Taib said the development of the economy is getting more sophisticated, which requires people with relevant knowledge, training and skills. However, the kinds of work will grow from the development of the integration of the economy and will benefit more and more races and greater co-operation among them.

Tun Abdul Taib said Sarawak today is developing from Kuching all the way towards the North. Now the people can see even Lawas that used to be the isolated corner of Sarawak has become a place where rural people can find opportunities to upgrade themselves gradually into taking up commercial activities that make the people, who are natives and non natives of Sarawak working together more and more to improve their livelihood.

He said the general trends, which the people have been able to see during the last 50 years, will be intensified in the process of development and bring together much more closely the Chinese, Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs and Orang Ulu and to be conscious of the fact that the country is getting more prosperous.

More importantly, the opportunities for their children will be much more varied and rewarding than before. This is what he has tried to impress all races that they must support and get involved in the process of the transformation of the economy.

Tun Abdul Taib believed the State has achieved a great deal in the socio-economic development, which is giving the people a greater promise for the future. He is confident that the State will be able to take more straight forward steps into much more sophisticated economy in the overall efforts to expand the role in the external market. The people of various talents and skills must be dragged into the greater and modern work force of Sarawak and Malaysia.

He said this is development in rough analysis and the roles in modernizing the community and opening up of opportunities to all races namely Malays, Chinese, Ibans, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu. This trend must not only continue but get more sophisticated in nature. The people, comprising all the races, must work harder together make this to happen.

In this regards, the people will no longer depend on their connections whether through relatives or friends but more and more on their ability to pick up greater skills and knowledge to do their jobs.

They can move the economy that becomes more modern to spread all the way from Lundu to Lawas to benefit more and more people. That is the Sarawak or Malaysia, which the people have been dreaming of since more than 50 years ago; now it is happening.

He said it is beginning to unfold although not all the people have understood it. At least all the people whether they are Malays, Chinese, Iban, Bidayuh and Orang Ulu can feel there is a change in their livelihood. What else do the people want from the country? Generally, the people want continued ability to make use of all opportunities to become their progress and prosperity as they move forwards into the future. There will be people, who will probably come in to share their growing prosperity.

Meanwhile, the National economy is anticipated to achieve a higher growth from 5.2 percent to 5.7 percent as compared to the projected growth from 4.3 percent to 4.8 percent for 2017. World Bank has also revised Malaysia economic growth upward from 4.9 percent to 5.2 percent for this year.

The State economy performed favorably supported by a strong growth in both domestic and external demand driven by recovery in the world economy. Hence, the projected economic growth of the State for the year is from 3.5 percent to 4.0 percent.

The State and country are constantly being challenged by a global eco-system operating in an increasingly volatile economic environment. At the same time, global market is characterized by dramatic transformation as a result of rapid technological advancement and the fast emergence of digital economy.

These forces will inevitably reshape the global economic outlook and drive the way the people do business. The will no longer be able to carry on with business as usual. In this context, special emphasis has been placed on transforming Sarawak into a digital economy, which is becoming an unstoppable force.

The convergence of advance communication technology is driving change in all spheres, particularly in the way that the people conduct businesses. They have to embrace digital transformation or face the risk of being left behind.

For this reason, efforts are being made by the Government to step up human capital development with priority in technical and vocational education. In this regards, the government will construct more educational institutions such as Pusat Pembangunan Kemahiran Sarawak (Skill Development Centre), Kolej Mukah and Kolej Laila Taib and centers of Electrical Technical Excellence (CENTEX) in Kuching, Lundu and Lawas.

Understandably, the State Government’s priority on such investment is pivotal in providing strong foundation for the necessary infrastructure as well as incentive so as to trigger collaboration with strategic partners to implement key strategic projects that should be able to deliver both social and economic benefits and returns in the years to come.

In this regards, the people, each having equally important role to play in developing Sarawak, must continue to be committed and determined to work harder towards achieving the development goal.

Hence, it is incumbent upon the private sector, which has been the driving force and the back bone of sustainable economic growth, to be involved actively in the development of the State. It must be prepared to assume bigger role as the engine of growth as outlined under the New Economic Model that necessitates them to enhance productivity and competitiveness.

In this regard, appropriate measures must be put in place to ensure that the business environment is conducive and friendly for the private sector, particularly the SME to thrive. At the same time, such measures must be put in place to entice higher participation by the private sector in the State development agenda.

Obviously, the State Government will continue to support in the provision of the necessary basic infrastructure, enhance connectivity and availability of utilities, provision of training institutions, incubation centers to step up skill training and capacity building, provision of industrial estates and innovation centers and provision of e-Government service delivery. These are essential elements to foster closer collaboration with deeper public- private partnership.

Understandably, the State Government is targeting to increase the investment in the industrial sector as industrialization is the way forward to propel the growth and the development of the State’s economy to attain the status of a developed nation with high income economy by 2030.

With such a vision, concrete action plans to transform the economy and train manpower and the good traits of being hardworking, resourceful, courageous and talented, Sarawak should be on the right track to become the most progressive, prosperous and successful state by the year 2030, God willing.

Tun Abdul Taib said he would continue to talk about the economic progress and development to help the people of all races to know that the State and the country on the right path towards becoming a developed State by the year 2030. Tremendous efforts have been made to put Sarawak on a proper footing in economic development and that the transformation of development has involved all races.

He took the opportunity to wish all his Chinese friends and non Chinese friends, who celebrate the New Year almost the same way as the Chinese in the Sarawak way, a happy and more prosperous 2018. Gong Xi Fatt Cai.

MuluView

DUN at 150 years emerges as the oldest legislature in country

2018-01-31T09:30:00.000-08:00

The Dewan Undangan Negeri Negeri or State Legislative Assemby, which sits in the iconic building of Dewan Undangan Negeri Complex towering Sungei Sarawak and easily recognizable throughout Malaysia, can trace its humble root to an insignificant building in Bintulu 150 years ago.

It was in this building that Charles Brooke chaired a meeting, which was referred to a General Council on 8 September 1867 for him and his officers to brief the members on matters relating to policies, actions and works being carried out by the Government of the day.

The meeting, chaired by Charles Brooke as the President of the General Council, served only as a forum for members to exchange views on matters relating to the State, which was then only a stretch of land along the coasts. There were no any representatives from legal, judicial and executive authorities during the meeting.

The DEWAN UNDANGAN NEGERI SARAWAK, celebrated its 150th anniversary on January 30, 2018 with a special sitting, which was addressed by the Yang di Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, who in his speech, said Sarawak could celebrate the 150th anniversary of Dewan Undangan Negeri with a special sitting as it has been blessed with goodwill, peace and harmony of the people.

Tun Abdul Taib, who served as a Member of Council Negeri, for about 40 years, said the 150th anniversary celebration is very important as it helps to remind the Rakyat of the significance of the august house as the symbol of integrity of the State of Sarawak through the process of law, which is fair and just.

This celebration is also for the Rakyat to acknowledge the contribution of individuals, who have been involved with the formation of the legislative system, which is unique, different and contemporary.

Tun Abdul Taib said the State Legislative Assembly, which is the oldest legislative institutuion in Malaysia, had been founded on the practices of self - government based on parliamentary democracy.

The first meeting was called general council, which was chaired by Charles Brooke as the President of the General Council, which had 21 members comprising five expatriates and 16 Malays and Melanaus. The first meeting decided on the format of the meeting, which was adopted during subsequent meetings.

The first meeting, which only served as a forum for members to listen to briefings by the Rajah and his officers on matters relating to policies, actions and works being carried out by the Government of the did not have any representatives from legal, judicial and executive authorities.

The second meeting held in Sibu on June 15, 1868 was joined by by a number of additional members. The Third sitting was held in Kuching on October 11, 1870. From thence on Kuching became the permanent venue for the sitting until today.

All selected members had to attend a meeting of the General Council then comprised community leaders, who assisted in the administration of regions under Brooke’s rule then mainly in coastal areas.

Tun Abdul Taib said the General Council towards the year 1903 changed the structure to provide the legislative basis to administer the State of Sarawak that gave emphasis to social justice, rule of law and legislation. The General council, with the change in the structure was renamed Council Negeri, which was more popularly known by the local communities as Council Negeri.

He said economic development started to get attention when agriculture and financial matters once Lawas became part of Sarawak in 1904. The composition of members of the Council was being diverasified in terms of ethnicities, religions and strata. The Orang Ulu started to become a member of the Council in 1867.

Later seven Chinese community leaders and two community leaders from the interior of Baram were appointed members of the council in 1897. The membership of the council continued to increase with the appointment of two “Mubaligh”or missionaries and four more representatives of the Chinese community on November 17, 1941.

Tun Abdul Taib said a Constitutional Order called “The 1941 Constitutional Order” was being drafted in conjunction with 100 years of rule by the Brooke family. The written Constitution presented by Rajah Sir Charles Vyner Brooke also brought about changes to the role Council Negeri. It ended the sole authority of the Rajah to make any law or expenditure without the agreement of the Council Negeri.

Later the Council Negeri, chaired by the Chief Secretary and held outside Astana Brooke at the old Court Building in Kuching. The implementation of the new constitution on December 16, 1941 but the meeting was interrupted by the presence of the Japanese Army in Sarawak.

Tun Abdul Taib said the sitting of Council Negeri resumed as soon as the rule by the Japanese Army came to an end. Then Rajah Charles Vyner Brooke declared the handing over of the Administration of Sarawak to the British Colonial Government on February 1946. A total of 18 members, mostly expatriate officers, supported the resolution as compared to 16, who opposed it.

After the handing over of Sarawak to the British Colonial Government, a new Constitution was drafted in 1956. The membership of Council Negeri increased to 24 non official elected members while 14 members were based on appointments, four on nomination and three as permanent members.

Tun Abdul Taib said the first the general election was held in Sarawak in 1959 was through the three-tier voting system of the local councils. A total of 24 non official members were elected to become members of the Council Negeri. The election brought about a political realization among the local people as proven by the emergence of a number of poilitcal parties.

He said the Constituttion of the State of Sarawak underwent an important change on March 1963 following the announcement of the Concept of the Formation of Malaysia Raya in 1961.

The change made by Council Negeri was to ensure Sarawak would have a fully democratic legislature and a ministerial system of government before Malaysia could be formed together.

He said the number of elected representatives of the people would increase to 36 and the membership be based on posts and nominations would be reduced to three persons.

He the new development would enable Sarawak to have its own government based Ministerial system with a Cabinet or Supreme Council of six members and to be headed by the Chief Minister for a start. Three members based on the posts were the State Secretary, the State Attorney General and the State Financial Secretary. Sarawak was led by Cabinet with members being elected by the people on August 31, 1963.

Tun Abdul Taib said members of Council Negeri increased according to the changing time. On May 25, an enactment to the Ordinance of Separation of Duties of the Secretary of the Council Negeri stated the principle of parliamentary practices was to separate legislative duties and executive duties.

The number Cabinet Ministers have increased with the members comprising the Chief Minister and eight Cabinet Ministers. In 1968 the membership of Council Negeri increased to 48 after the amendment to its constitution. Three members of the Dewan based on posts and nominated members were revoked.

Tun Abdul Taib said after the General Elections in 1969, all elected members of the Council Negeri as elected representatives of the people were based on the principle of one representative one constituency in accordance with the universal practice.

The Members of Council Negeri increased to 56 on April 1987. The membership of Members of Council Negeri increased again to 62 in 1966 and 71 in 2006. As the result of the delineation of the electrol bounderies in 2014, the elected representatives of the people as members of Council Negeri now stand at 82.

Tun Abdul Taib said the delineation of electorol bounderies was and would continue to be an important exercise to ensure greater effectiveness in the administration and development. Sarawak can be proud to be able to have the most number of elected representatives of the people as compared to others state in Malaysia.

The compositions of members are also diverse from the aspects of political ideologies, ethnicities and strata. The usage of local dialects during the deliberation is something unique, which reflects the spirit of compromise and mutual respect of dialect and culture of the people of Sarawak.

He said the maturity of Council Negeri is also being reflected in topics of debates, which are thorough and touching local, national and global issues. The debates focus on intrerests of the State from the aspects of political stability, balanced economy, social justice for the people in a society of diversity in Sarawak.

He said the Council Negeri is the symbol of honor and soverignty of the State of Sarawak. The history of the soverignity of a Nation is connected closely with the spirit of patriotism in defending the pride of the people, the race, religion and the Nation.

He said the spirit of patriotism refers to the struggle and sacrifices based on the value of love, loyalty, pride, sincerity, the readiness and commitment of a person to the religion, race and the nation.

Tun Abdul Taib said history has shown that the spirit of patriotism can be considered as main pre-conditions in the formation of a successful Nation and race. History has also proven that a race that betrays his own nation will be colonized and eventually experience destruction.

Looking back at history when Sarawak was being colonized by foreigners, all the wealth of natural resources were being exploited by Colonialists for their own interests. On the contrary, the local people had to live in hardship and shortages and could only witness the sources of wealth of the State being exploited by outsiders.

After Sarawak achieved Independence, the people could manage the resources for the their own progress and prosperity. The people could plan their own development according to own curves. They no longer have to depend on people from outside to determine the future direction of the development of the State.

More importantly, the people were no longer tied to the demands of foreign powers because the State was already soverign and Independent. Now the people can see the success of the Government and the prosperity and advancement of the beloved state.

Tun Abdul Taib called on the people to continue to work together in the defence of the Independence and integrity of the State. He is happy that the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups and other different backgrounds can live in the environment of peace and unity among them.

He said Dewan Undangan Negeri is the symbol of unity among the various races with the elected members comprising various races and backgrounds. The situation reflects that the practice of democracy is healthy in a struggle to meet the aspiration of the rakyat

The Members may have differences in ideologies and political struggle but they can still debate in a disciplined and orderly manner in the spirit of mutual respect, which serves as the foundation of unity of the State.

Tun Abdul Taib called on the people to continue to promote the spirit of unity regardless of the backgrounds, cultures and religious beliefs. Unity in diversity has become the strength of the state in facing bigger and more complex challenges especially in the era of globalization and intensive development of technology.

He also appealed to the people not to be easily misled by any efforts to undermine the unity and harmony in the State. He is happy with efforts of the Government in strengthening the existing unity and solidarity among the people in the State.

He said the role of Dewan Undang Negeri has increasingly become complex. Apart from its legislative functions, the Dewan also functions to protect the soverignty and uphold the Constittutional rights of the State and the people.

He said Dewan Undangan Negeri serves as a forum for the members to provide advisory services, evaluate policies and supervise the implementation of development programs of the Government. For example, the Dewan is responsible to approve the allocations and ensure that the public money is being spent based on approvals for the benefits of the state and prosperity of the Rakyat.

Generally, the Dewan Undangan Negeri served as a forum for members to voice their opinions and discuss in an open manner on matters relating to the welfare and needs of the people and issues relating to the interests of the State.

He appealed to all members to carry out their duties, roles and responsibilities in all sincerity in defending the sovereignty of the beloved State, preserving peace and unity of the people and in serving their welfare and interests.

He also called on the people to remember and celebrate the services and contribution made by previous leaders as they celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Dewan Undangan Negeri with the special sitting today.

Sarawak was led by the late Tan Sri Datuk Amar Stephen Kalong Ningkan, as the first Chief Minister after Independence from July 22, 1963 to September 1966. He had to face the confrontation from Indonesia, which was against the formation of Malaysia. He was succeeded by Dato Penghulu Tawi Sli as the second Chief Minister of Sarawak.

The leadership of the State was led by Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Ya'kub, as the third Chief Minister of Sarawak after the first direct election in 1970. The State Government being led by him successfully eliminated the armed threats by the communists through the peace deal of Sri Aman Declaration.

Subsequently, Simanggang town, an idyllic town along Batang Lupar was changed to Sri Aman to mark the historical event. The success brought about peace and political stability not only Sri Aman but the whole State of Sarawak.

MuluView

Sarawak to preserve 2.7 million hectares of land under Heart of Borneo program

2017-12-19T00:04:00.001-08:00

Sarawak’s urban populace is currently at 53%, which is already posing a challenge to the Government to provide basic resources like clean water, sufficient energy, infrastructure, jobs and affordable housing to the people.

More importantly, the community needs the overall economic, social and environmental sustainability to move forwards to become members of a developed society with high income economy towards the year 2030 and beyond. The global forecast is that 66% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by the year 2050. Understandably, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Urban Development, is taking the challenge head on by undertaking a number of urban renewal projects, which involve the re-development of congested and un-planned settlements or dilapidated areas into a livable, vibrant, sustainable and orderly neighborhoods and new urban centres.

Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Haji Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, who is also the second Minister of Natural Resources and Urban Development, in his winding speech during the debate on Budget 2018 during the recent sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, said the primary objectives of urban renewal projects were to uplift the livelihood and well - being of urban/kampung residents and provide conducive, safe and healthy living environment to the people.

More importantly, it would also enhance the income of residents through the creation of employment and business opportunities and provide affordable and quality housing for both the existing residents and their extended families.

He said the policy guideline of urban renewal program, which is founded on the concept of smart city, emphasizes on the usage of digital technology in managing the environment that is more intergrated and efficient in nature.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said seven urban renewal projects are in various stages of planning and development by Land Custody Development Authority (LCDA) or PELITA. They are Darul Hana, Kampung Sungai Bedaun, Kampung Sejingkat, KampungTabuan Melayu in Kuching, Kampung Datu Baru and Kemuyang in Sibu and Kampung Baru, Kapit.

At the same time, rural development will give special consideration to the development of service centres to enable the people to benefit from the fruits of development in a more equitable manner. Ultimately, the development, which will take time, will be able to narrow the economic gap between the urban and rural areas. Some of the new township projects being developed are in Sebuyau, Matu and Daro.

He believed the integrated development of rural areas, which is being supported by the development of public utilities, places to do business and facilities for ICT, can be expected to expedite and accelerate economic activities especially the development of rural industries, which should be able to raise the income level of the rural people.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said his Ministry, as a way forward, will undertake a number of key initiatives in urban renewals, which include formulating the state urban renewal Implementation guideline, which will be used to guide agencies in the implementation of various urban renewal projects and programs in a more systematic and integrated manner; and establishing a digital platform for the creation and sharing of urban indicators and database.

He said the database and urban indicators, for example, could be used for planning, decision-making and monitoring purposes under the State Big Data Initiative. Presently, the data is scattered among the various agencies not readily available. Currently, the application for subdivision and development of land by developers is done manually.

He said the State Planning Authority (SPA) must improve on service delivery in line with advancement in digital technology. It should endeavor to be on track in implementing technology driven processes that will facilitate the preparations of structure and local plans and other planning functions. The eSPA, for example, is on-line in planning submission system, which is expected to be fully implemented in 2018.

Further, being the custodian of data depository, SPA must manage and integrate data from the Government departments and agencies such as JKR, DID, SESCO and the Local Authorities to eventually come up with a functional 3D City Modelling System that will facilitate fast and informed decision making process.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said his Ministry, now in the process of updating the Strata Titles Ordinance 1995, may amend certain provisions of its Ordinance to take into consideration certain matters like gated and guarded community scheme. The titles of ownership will only be issued once the developer of the strata property fulfills the criteria as stated in the Strata Titles Ordinance 1995.

In this regards, the Government does not differentiate whether the projects are being developed by Government agency or private private sector. But they must comply to all the criteria before the Strata Title can be issued.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said his MInistry through PELITA is developing the Food Production Zone in an area with a total acreage of 321 hectares in Kuala Baram; the area has been sub-divided into 23 lots and rented out to 11 participants

He said the plan for the development of phase II of Daro new town ship has been revised to include buildins that can accommodate cottage industries and affordable shophouses that can be bought by local Bumiputra entrepreneurs. The phase II of new Daro town ship will be implemented phase by phase after getting the approval of the State Planning Authority. The project is expected to complete in the year 2020.

He said the revision of the plan will be able to provide opportunities for local Bumiputra entrepreneurs to own business premises at lower costs as compared to the development of ordinary shophouses.

He said the structural plan for the development of commercial centre at Matu town, which has been submitted to the Government, takes into consideration the requests of the local people for “pasar tamu”. Meanwhile, the site for the new district office will be at the new service centre at Bruan.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said Muara Tabuan and Kampung Sejingkat have already been earmarked for the development of new township and Kampung extension by the State Government, which has already identified land that will be affected, through PELITA. The detailed plan has already been submitted to the State Planning Authority.

He said PELITA will submit a revised plan for the development of new Simunjan town ship for consideration by the State Planning Authority. The components comprise housing, government office buildings, conventional shophouses that can be bought by local Bumiputra entrepreneurs, buildings for small and medium entrepreneurs and others that can benefit the local people.

He said the State government, with the commitment to implement the policy of sustainable management of Forests, wants to ensure that Forests can continue to make significant contribution to the growth of the economy.

In this regards, the Ministry of urban development and Natural Resources, in collaboration with Forestry agencies like Sarawak Forestry Department, Sarawak Forestry Corporation, STIDC and Harwood Timber Sdn. Bhd. are in the process of reviewing policies relating to forestry and timber industry to ensure that they take into consideration the current development that can give optimum benefits to the State of Sarawak.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said the State Government is reviewing the State Forestry Policy, the certification of Forest Management, development of forestry estate, forest products and timber industry development plan, the supply of raw materials for timber industry and the fixing of cess for downstream products, to update them in coping with the current and future challenges in timber development.

He said the forestry agencies have indeed made significant progress on the development and adoption of advanced digital technologies for forest management. In this regards, the existing REVLOG system for revenue collection and tracking of log movement has been upgraded with additional capacities for enhancement along the chain of custody.

He said the State Government, to strengthen the management of forest resources, will be utilizing the latest digital technologies, which will enable the State to carry out detailed Stand Diagnostics wherein efforts will be able to analyse the composition of forests in terms of species and biomass; 3D Laser Mapping for capturing structural dimension for forest stand; Big Data (Geospatial) Analytics for Forest Stand Evaluation and automated assessment of degraded landscape.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said the State Government has set a target of six (6) million hectares of land to be gazetted as permanent Forests. A total of 4.32 million hectares, which represent 72% of total area have been gazetted by the end of October, 2017. The Government is also targeting to gazette one (1) million hectares of land as Totally Protected Areas (TPAs). The Government has already gazetted 948,034.40 hectares of areas comprising 716,084.40 hectares of terrestrial land and 231,954.00 hectares of water bodies as TPAs.

He said the State government through Sarawak Forests Department is working together with Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) to ensure Forests license can get the certification under Malaysian Timber Certification Scheme (MTCS), which is being recognized under the Program ForThe Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), the biggest international certification scheme.

At the same time, the State government is actively implementing a legal system namely Sarawak Timber Legality Verification System (STLVS), which has been documented based on Inter Agency Standard Operation Procedure (SOP) for forestry and timber industry. The legal system is to verify the rightful source of timber and timber products being produced in Sarawak for international market.

The STLVS Standard was developed into a formal due diligence system which allows for third party audit verification. This verification covers the whole process of timber harvesting from licensing to manufacturing and trading of logs and timber products.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said the State government through the initiative Heart of Borneo (HoB) program, has forged co-operation with Negara Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia (Kalimantan) for the Trans - boundary Conservation of forests, which stretch from Batang Ai to Lawas in Sarawak.

He said the State Government is committed to preserve the forestry sector and has decided to enlarge about 600,000 hectares of more areas in HoB towards Tanjung Datu, which will enlarge HoB in Sarawak from 2.1 million to 2.7 million hectares.

The areas involved will be Kelingkang Range, Bungoh Range, Tanjung Datu National Park, Gunung Apeng National Park, Gunung Pueh National Park, Gunung Gading National Park, Samunsam Wild Life Sanctuary, Kubah National Park, Matang Wildlife Centre, Bako National Park and Bako-Buntal Bird Flyways.

He said the State Government will continue to use the existing and new platforms to embark on important conservation undertakings. For example, on the Research for Intensified Management of Bio-Rich Areas of Sarawak (RIMBA SARAWAK) platform, the State has embarked on pioneering work on hornbill conservation, which will be carried out in collaboration with the world’s foremost authority and experts from Thailand.

Besides, the State will also undertake scientific studies, build up local expertise through Conservation Internship Programme whereby local scientists collaborate to undertake research projects in forestry with world renowned institutions such as Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh UK, Smithsonian Institution, USA and Hornbill Research of Foundation, Thailand.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said the State government is taking proactive steps to ensure sufficient supply of woods to meet the requirements of local industries and reduce dependence on natural forests. For this reason, the emphasis is being made on the development Industrial Forest.

An allocation of RM15 million has been set aside for the Research and Development (R&D) progam with the objective to identify fast growing plants that can grow healthy, not proned to diseases and adaptive to local environment.

Besides, the State Government through Yayasan Sarawak will provide loans and educational scholarships for local students to pursue studies on Forestry at the institutions of higher learning both local and abroad.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said the export value of timber products from Sarawak to oversea markets is RM4.61 billion until the third quarter of 2017. Nearly 90% or RM4.13 billion from the total export value is being contributed by four main products namely plywood with the value of RM2.47 billion, logs value at RM936 million, sawn timber value at RM595 million and veneer value RM135 million. The five main markets are Japan, India, Korea, countries in the Middle East and Taiwan, which contribute to the export value of RM3.76 bilion.

The State Government, through Sarawak Timber Industry Development Corporation (STIDC), is implementing a long- term Strategic Plan or the Timber Industry Transformation Plan (2015-2030) to transform the current timber industry structure from heavily dependent on primary and secondary-based industry to tertiary industry focusing on the development of the furniture and value -added industry.

Among the on-going activities to realize the plan are the setting up of timber trading centre as a platform to distribute raw materials required by the SMEs and furniture manufacturers, the setting up of furniture testing lab in Kota Samarahan and the establishment of a pool of young furniture designers as well as the proposal to establish furniture villages.

The efforts are being implemented in collaboration with the timber industry players and other agencies and research institutions. Currently, a number of major timber operators such as Samling Group of Companies, RH Group of Companies, Ta Ann Group of Companies and Shin Yang Group of Companies are already involved in the manufacturing of furniture.

Besides, the State Government has increased the log quota from 70 percent to 80 percent of the log production to supplement the needs for sufficient supply of raw materials of the downstream industry. The strategic plan covers a period from 2015 until 2030.

Datuk Amar Awang Tengah said the State Government has decided, since the State has made significant progress in enhancing the furniture industry, to increase the log quota for downstream activities from 70 percent to 80 percent of the production; this is for timber downstream industries.

The State Governmwent will be collaborating with all the agencies and other institutions of higher learning such as UNIMAS to develop young designers for furniture and continuous efforts will be made in this direction. This will take time as it must be done step by step; at least the framework has already been emplaced.

MuluView

Racialism, religious extremism saps energy of Rakyat

2017-11-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

Sarawak, which has been built on mutual respect and the value of human dignity among people, comprising of diverse ethnic and religious groups and ideologies, belongs to every Sarawakian, who respects each other’s belief and tradition and upholds the value of human dignity as the basis of relationship with others.

Truly, there are not many places like Sarawak, where the people can celebrate their differences rather than making such differences, even political differences divide them. Admittedly, Sarawakians, like other people have differences in opinions but more often than not, they respect each other’s opinion and find ways to solve problems among them amicably.

However, they endeavour to nurture the spirit of brotherhood and camaraderie in the true spirit of the traditional goodwill and harmony, which the state is known for. Generally, the people, in spite of their diverse backgrounds, do not subscribe to the ideology of creating Sarawak by the tactic of “divide and rule”.

They are building Sarawak by mutual consensus, the spirit of co-operation and give-and-take and the genuine desire to see Sarawak on par if not better than other more developed states in the country. Sarawak is for everybody and Sarawak is big enough for everybody.

The overriding issue is how to build a peaceful, progressive and united country for all. In this regard, Sarawak believes that if the people have problems to know where they stand in a valley they should go up to a mountain to determine their position; that is what the people have been doing every five years. Every community holds cultural seminar to take a close look at the progress of members to ensure that they are on the right track in the common struggle for nation building.

The exercise of re-examining ourselves helps us to see tremendous changes, which signify successful efforts of all communities, to develop the state and country. Generally, the people should find it easier to earn their living, find better ways to do things and pursue the life of their own choices.

The obvious choices for the people are either to live a life of stagnation or a life of change. Arguably, over the years, the people have been experiencing phenomenon of change; even people, who have been afraid of change, now accept it as a way of life.

It is a process that must take place when the desire and aspiration for the people get higher; there is no way the people can achieve higher standards of living without economic changes.

More importantly, there is no way to get the people to work harder without educational and cultural changes taking place; even the adoption of some new functional education system will not help the people to attain higher heights without the adoption of the subjects on technology and science.

Undoubtedly, a stronger sense of belonging and oneness among the people is attributable to the political philosophy of the politics of development of Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud as the fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014.

Then Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib’s primary concern was to pull Sarawak out of the backwater of development into its mainstream. He had been preoccupied with the idea that Sarawak must run faster than other states in order to catch up with their progress and advancement.

Then the rate of poverty in Sarawak was about 60 per cent and unemployment among the people especially youth in villages and longhouses were very high. The demographic pattern of the State was about 80% rural and 20% urban. The situation gave rise to an explosive feeling of dissatisfaction against the government, which was being accused of pursuing politics of favouritism.

Consequently, instigating racial and communal feelings was the best weapon to win support, though a highly divisive support, in any elections. Obviously, the new way forward must necessarily be to mobilize the people and orientate them towards development.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib’s mammoth task was to propel, reshape and develop Sarawak, with its huge land surface, which is almost the size of peninsular Malaysia, but still under-developed and had small population of 1.5 million people only.

His problem was compounded by the fact that the small population was scattered in 5,000 pockets of settlements over a wide area. Besides, the State inherited a very poor network of roads of less than 1,000Kms only.

Then, the villages and longhouses were distant apart with the distance of anything between three to 100 miles apart. He knew, apart from having a strong political will, his administration must have efficient administrative service with good delivery system and enjoy a strong support from the people.

Essentially, Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib’s immediate task was to bring about 30 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups together. Therefore, earnest efforts must be made to nurture harmonious relationship and goodwill among the people as unity must become the cornerstone of the progress and advancement of the State towards the year 2020 and beyond.

Obviously, the political situation must be made healthier, strong and stable. In other words, politics in Sarawak, like those in the rest of the country, must be based on sincere desire to achieve something to fulfill the State’s independence with good economic growth and development that can bring positive changes to the people.

To Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib whether the people like it or not their lives have been so intertwined by inter - dependent on each other in various fields, be they in economics, politics and other fields. They have got to make a success of this co-operation. Nothing else is a better alternative in the way they look to the future.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, in one of his landmark speeches during the sitting of the State Legislative Assembly on November 24, 1987 said: “Whatever political views that the people entertain, must not prevent them from agreeing, as a matter of principle, on the question of development for the people.

He observed unfortunately, politics had gone quite far that some leaders of the opposition thought that they should continue to harp on development issues to suit political agenda and score political points on the ground.

To him it was time for the people to stop with petty politics and instead work together in matters of development for the overall progress and prosperity of the people. Those persisting with petty practices in order to score political points will only have themselves to blame if they cannot deliver the goods that they have promised to their constituents. This is the reality of the future.

Personally, he would endeavour to see justice to all as the prevailing means of serving the people, state and country. The common struggle must be motivated by the desire to preserve the unity and solidarity of the people and ensure that no community should be left out of the mainstream of development. Only the politics of pragmatism can bring about a transformation that brings improvement and the betterment of life for the people.

He said he has been pursuing this line of politics in the form of the politics of development that has served as the basis of his struggle because the other forms of politics, with a lot of rhetoric or worse empty talks, do not bring any benefits, development benefits in particular to the people, state and country. Efforts must be made to reduce politicking among the people because, in any political fights, it is the people who get confused the most, their line of thinking and attitude will be distracted.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, who was also the Chairman of Barisan Nasional Sarawak and President of PBB, said the policies of the Government are meant for all people, all sections of the community. The State does not have to be trapped in wrangling between races and groups as it has ample of wealth to be shared by all; it is the problem of how to distribute the wealth.

He said politics should not be based on how to deny others and grab as much as possible for ourselves but rather on how to realise the potentials of the State and country.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, in another speech in during the sitting of the State Legislative Assembly on May 18, 1990, said: “Two things, I have been able to learn: Racial and extreme religious practices and politics that tend to divide the people must be fought by all people. These two things cannot be compromised as the development of the future cannot afford to accommodate negative elements”.

He outlined the fact that the Politics of Development is not a slogan. It is making politics substantial to the demands of development. The politics of development dictates in the people the kind of attitude that places demands of development above own politics as long as they do not conflict with the prospects of survival.

He believes that politics of development provides a common forum, which can bring all parties together to learn how to compromise and get the leadership to contribute towards better ways of implementing policies for the benefits of the people.

Even in his own party PBB, which has more Bumiputra learning, the leaders, in their discussions of major policies, talk about the interests of other communities too. In other words, they want to ensure that justice must prevail in the way the government deals with all communities.

Generally, the politics of development outlines roles of elected representatives, civil servants and community leaders in the process of development. For example, it requires elected representatives of the people to weigh between short-term and long-term benefits and make efforts to convince the people that a long-term programme, which can have comprehensive coverage of the whole state, is more important than short-term ones.

He said the people must be prepared to start from a different premise and think of what they can do by co-operation rather than by fighting. In this regards, they should all think what they can do for the people by being patient in building up the momentum for a strong development.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib was happy with the progress of the implementation of the politics of development as the philosophy of development. In his speech during the sitting of the State Legislative Assembly on May 14, 1996 he said: “After 10 years of politics of development has helped to convince us that, for the success in development and in services of the people, state and country it is better to have politics of cooperation rather than politics of confrontation.

He said the fact that racial harmony is being built on solid foundation and that everybody is working for the country rather than his group or race, speaks well for the future. Hence, the politics of development has provided the kind of stability to make Sarawak a place where economics development can be implemented not only by the government but by the private sector as well.

However, conscientious efforts must be made to reduce politicking among the people, as they do not give the people, state and country a better future. Politicking may comfort people emotionally or provide a sense of security albeit a false sense of security because promises can never be fulfilled without power or authority.

He said any movement that tends to confuse people and get them to be bogged down in useless squabbles and turning them away from the necessity of participating in the process of adjustment to the new situation, is an anti-development activity; the people who follow anti-government propaganda will be left out in the process of development.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib assured that the State government, being led by him, is obliged to fight against any form of racialism or religious extremism because they are like cancer that saps the energy of the people, who should put maximum efforts behind the developmental drive. The development programme, which is new and innovative in concept, if successfully implemented, can give maximum impact to the people.

He said the people must together fight against conservative forces and correct any misunderstandings, natural or induced, on the ground. The government, on its part must introduce new concept of development, which entails new ways of doing things and have the commitment to bring the people to the mainstream of development.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib made it an obligation to remind the people that the State has no majority from any particular groups. Therefore, they should avoid arguing that certain groups can become a majority or certain groups should dominate and there should be politics of dominance of one group over the other groups.”

Admittedly, it is an attractive way of trying to wrestle power but does not provide a guarantee to a smooth development of the future as development must be able to increase the size of wealth and develop good distribution machinery for the people to benefit from it.

He kept on reminding the people that though Sarawak’s economy is strong with a big reserve and good credit ratings they cannot rest on our laurels with Industrialisation and sustainable development as the ways forward towards the year 2020 and beyond.

He is confident that industrialisation through the development of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) will carry Sarawak through to the year 2030 and beyond.

Mulu View

Digital economy requires manpower with up-to-date skills

2017-10-11T19:36:00.000-07:00

It may be cliché in terms of word but not so when it comes to action in pursuing knowledge, skill and expertise in the fast changing technological advancement with the State’s decision to embrace digital economy toward the year 2030 and beyond.

Essentially, learning must be made continuous efforts; it should not stop with a graduation. Instead, the culture of learning should be practiced vigorously during the era of rapid technological advancement.

Arguably, the culture of learning is being made easier with many on-line courses available via the internet ; many of them are also available for free. As such, there should be no excuse for not keeping pace with the technology advancement.

As Sarawak is undergoing the 4^th Industrial Revolution or Industry 4.0, the operations of all industries are expected to be influenced by advancing new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Big Data, Advanced Analytics, Human-machine Interfaces and Digital to Physical Transfer.

Hence, they must be transformed to adopt new technologies or face the threat of being extinct like many others due to disruptive technology. For example, the timber industry needs to be transformed to produce more innovative and creative engineered wood products from planted forest for the world market.

The Yang di Pertua Negeri Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during the SECOND CONVOCATION CEREMONY of UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY SARAWAK (UCTS) said the ceremony to celebrate 198 graduates from seven (7) specialized disciplines, is indeed very meaningful to the graduates and parents, who have sacrificed so much for their success.

The convocation ceremony, which marks the pinnacle of success of the graduates, also signifies a huge achievement for UCTS. The number of graduates for the second convocation has almost double that of last year. And 40 of them are being awarded with special awards to recognize their excellent achievements throughout their studies.

Besides, 15 students from UCTS have received the Yayasan Sarawak Tun Taib Scholarship to fund their studies. Actually, they have taken a big step to pursue studies at UCTS.

The Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Abang Haji Openg, was being conferred with the Honorary Doctorate Degree in Business and Management by the University.

Tun Abdul Taib, who is also the Chancellor of UCTS, in congratulating Datuk Patinggi Dr Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari for the award, said he is happy that the State government is placing a strong emphasis on education and training to prepare the people for the future, for the digital economy in particular.

He said as investing in education and training can never go wrong, the State Government has rightly allocated more funding to Yayasan Sarawak to support the education of Sarawakians in various strategic fields.

OnJuly 12, 2017, the State Government approved a proposal by Yayasan Sarawak to introduce a scholarship scheme to be named Biasiswa Yayasan Sarawak Tun Taib in recognition of the role being played by him in promoting higher Education in Sarawak. Among his notable contributions were the setting up Curtin University, Swinburne University, Kolej Laila Taib, University College Technology Sibu and others.

The Biasiswa Yayasan Sarawak Tun Taib combines Biasiswa Bestari, which was introduced in 2010 and Biasiswa Cemerlang, which was introduced in 2016 to provide scholarships to students, who have excelled in their studies.

The new scholarship program also provides scholarships to graduates to do post graduate studies namely to carry out research in any chosen fields of studies as required by the State Government.

With the agreement of Tun Abdul Taib, Yayasan Sarawak new scholarship program was named Biasiswa Yayasan Sarawak Tun Taib as a way to recognize the achievement of Anak Anak Sarawak to enable them to get the scholarship awards. It also makes Tun Abdul Taib as the role model of the recipients in pursuit of greater excellence in pursuit of higher studies.

The scholarship scheme will give them opportunities to prepare them for the roles to continue with efforts of Tun Abdul Taib in the development of the State not only to become a developed State with high income economy but the richest in the country by the 2030.

The State Government is developing Sarawak toward high technology economy or the digital economy. For this reason, conscientious efforts must be made to equip the manpower with up to date knowledge and skills to enable them play their roles efficiently in the transformation of the economy.

Obviously, Sarawak will need more Anak Anak Sarawak to acquire relevant knowledge and skills, for example, to support development projects such as Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), Pan-Borneo Highway and the Digital Economy.

The projects, once successfully implemented, among other things, will create many employment opportunities for young graduates to get meaningful employment and good income. They should also consider taking up the challenge to set up their own business and pursue an entrepreneurship career.

Tun Abdul Taib believes if they start young, it is not so bad if they fail initially. They can learn lessons from many businesses that are successful today after experiencing after several failures before.

He said UCTS graduates, as future leaders of Sarawak, should be able to contribute to its development. In this regards, many development initiatives have been undertaken by the Government, towards attaining a developed status for Sarawak by 2030.

He believed UCTS graduates would be able to rise to the occasion of Sarawak Digital Economy, by playing big roles in the new industry that requires creativity and innovation.

For example, the new graduates with the skills, knowledge and values that they have acquired, coupled with courage and determination, should be able to achieve many wonderful things in confronting the global economic environment.

In this regards, he proposed that UCTS should establish an ICT incubator for young talents to experiment with their creative ideas and participate in the upcoming Digital Economy.

He also encouraged UCTS to establish a Research and Development (R & D) Centre in collaboration with the State Government and Sarawak Timber Industry, to undertake research and development work that will help timber industry to develop new products and venture into more downstream activities.

Besides, the establishment of R&D centers at UCTS should be able to increase the image of UCTS as a preferred university in this region, the State of Sarawak, which has already been able to boast a number of universities of international repute, in particular.

Tun Abdul Taib called on all UCTS graduates to maintain a good image of themselves, which reflect an image of UCTS as professionals, with positive attitudes, good personality and character, as well as with high moral values in your future undertakings.

The success of all graduates is the result of cooperation and commitment from all parties, including members of UCTS staff, who have strived to ensure teaching and learning process must comply with Higher Education Ministry and Malaysian Qualification Agency and Professional Bodies’ standards.

Undoubtedly, UCTS has grown in terms of academic programs, research and strategic partnerships with other Higher Education Institutes, both within Malaysia and abroad. Indeed, the establishment of UCTS has had a huge impact on the state’s development.

Hopefully, members of the UCTS community, which deserves big congratulations for its efforts in enhancing the image and credibility of the university’s in the academic circles, will continue to serve with full commitment, honesty, sincerity and excellence in order to attain even greater success in future.

Tun Abdul Taib thanked Prof Dato’ Dr Abdul Hakim Juri, who will finish his term as UCTS Vice Chancellor in January 2018, for his contributions to the development of UCTS over the years.

He helped to build up the university college from almost zero when it started in 2013 to become what it is today a truly university college with credential and prestige. He wished him all the best in his future undertakings.

Tun Abdul Taib, in welcoming the introduction of Biasiswa Yayasan Sarawak Tun Taib, described it as the realization of the desire of leaders in the 60s and 70s in the era of the Alliance of Perikatan to come up with a program to raise the level of the achievement of young Bumiputras in education. It is their only way to move forward in pursuing higher education, which in the 60s and 70s was very low and beyond the reach of Bumiputras.

He is happy that the people comprising diverse ethnic groups do not talk of helping Bumiputras to go up in education as a big issue any more because of a good realization among them that all races must be given opportunities to move up in the ladder of success in education.

The young people, regardless of their racial origins, locations or whether they belong to Bumiputra or non Bumiputra groups must be assisted to attain a certain level of success in education that can enable them to earn good income and raise their standard of living.

Actually, the policy to assist young Bumiputras to pursue good education is to ensure that they will not be left behind and be able to achieve the same level of success with the non Bumiputras, who have been having a long history of pursuing good education.

In this regards continuous efforts must be made in a struggle to pursue good education through a system, which should be re-adjusted to new approaches to attain the same level of success by all races in the State.

Undoubtedly, the government, through Yayasan Sarawak has been able to take appropriate steps towards achieving the desired objectives. More importantly, the State has been successful in getting the interests, understanding and support from all the races regardless of whether they are Bumiputras or non Bumiputras.

Actually, the program to raise the level of the achievement among young people in education has already become integral part of policies in Sarawak. It will remain a continuous effort to promote understanding and co-operation among all the races in the State.

Mulu View

Sarawak celebrates July 22 as event of getting self - government

2017-07-19T01:19:00.002-07:00

Sarawak, for the first time, will be celebrating Sarawak Day on July 22, the day that it was granted Internal self- government after more than a century of rule by the Brookes’ family and the British Colonial Government.

Sarawak on July 22, 1963 had it first Governor, a Sarawakian and the first Chief Minister also a Sarawakian. The people of Sarawak, comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups became sovereign people, or people on their own.

The promises made by the third Rajah in September 1941 were that that the Brookes’ family held Sarawak in trust for the people of Sarawak. But then they would redeem that trust and handed back the governance of the country to the people. That was one of the cardinal principles of 1941.

Of course, they did not fulfill that promise as a few months later the Japanese invaded Sarawak and became the masters. After the Japanese destroyed the country, Sarawak became backward, poor and a miserable. And the Brookes family thought, much to the opposition of the local people, it was better for Sarawak to become a British colony.

Eventually, when the people could prove that they could take care of themselves, the State could enact a Constitution being enforced by the people themselves; they were no longer ruled from the Whitehall in London.

The State began to have an elected government; it became self-government. That was the stage reached on July 22, 1963. Sarawak is celebrating the occasion that it was given self - government.

The actual day was marked with swearing of the members the first post Independent State Cabinet before the then Governor Sir Alexander Waddell. The members were Stephen Kalong Ningkan, James Wong Kim Min, Teo Kui Seng, Pengiran Hipni Awang Anu, Abdul Taib bin Mahmud, Dunstan Endawie Enchana and three ex- officio – Shaw, Pike and Hayward. That was the first Sarawak Cabinet.

They had the meeting on the very day being chaired by Stephen Kalong Ningkan and not a colonial master. That was the symbolism that the people were on their own feet. They were recognized as the people who could govern themselves. Members of the Cabinet agreed that Sarawak should be a party to the formation of Malaysia and that Malaysia should come into being on August 31, 1963.

Of course, Sarawak must insist that it was a party to the formation of Malaysia by virtue of Malaysia Agreement signed in Lancaster House in London by Harold MacMillan for England, Tunku Abdul Rahman for Malaya, Lee Kwan Yew for Singapore, Donald Stephen/Mustapha Harun for North Borneo and Abang Openg Abang Sapiee, Ling Beng Siew, Jugah anak Barieng and Datu Bandar Abang Haji Mustapha for Sarawak. The people of Sarawak decided on that.

Sarawak in 1963 was under the threat of communist resurrection and hostile neighbors. Indonesia, which construed Malaysia as neo-imperialism, conducted the Anti Malaysia campaign with the battle cry of “Ganyang Malaysia” or Crush Malaysia.

Of course, Malaysia as a new nation was defenseless and Sarawak could not afford to be on its own in those circumstances. Hence, Malaysia was the only option open to Sarawak for the sake of security, racial balance and peace and security.

Datuk Stephen Kalong Ningkan, who served as the first Chief Minister of Sarawak from 1963 to 1966 was succeeded by Datuk Tawi Sli as the second Chief Minister from 1966 to 1970.

The third Chief Minister was Dato Haji Abdul Rahman Yakub (Tun Datuk Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Yakub), who served from 1970 to 1981 and brought greater political stability and a new impetus of development. During his period in office, the Declaration of Sri Aman was signed in Simanggang in October 1973, which granted general amnesty to 574 former Communist Terrorists to rejoin the community.

This was followed up on October 17, 1990 with the signing of the final agreement to end Confrontation with the North Kalimantan Communist Party; thus ending the 27-year long state of emergency in Sarawak.

Datuk Amar Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, (now Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, the current Governor of Sarawak) took office as the fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak on March 26, 1981. By then he had already served in the federal cabinet in various capacities and under four Prime Ministers for 13 years since 1968. He started his political career at the age of 27 with his appointment as the Minister for Communications and Works on July 22, 1963 in the first post –Independence State Cabinet.

He introduced the politics of development, as the state’s philosophy of development, as his primary concern, since becoming the Chief Minister, was to pull Sarawak from backwater of development into its mainstream. He had been preoccupied with the idea that Sarawak must run faster than other states in order to catch up with their progress and advancement.

Then the rate of poverty in the state was about 60 per cent and unemployment among the people especially youth in villages and longhouses were very high. The demographic pattern of the State was about 80% rural and 20% urban.

The situation gave rise to an explosive feeling of dissatisfaction against the government, which was being accused of pursuing politics of favoritism. Consequently, instigating racial and communal feelings was the best weapon to win support, though a highly divisive support, in any elections.

The new way forward, for Datuk Amar Abdul Taib was to mobilize the people and orientate them towards development. Besides, the way forward was also to motivate youth to have more confidence in themselves and be prepared to accept changes and reinvigorate members of the civil service and synergize their services with the demands of development. It was indeed a tall order.

Datuk Amar Abdul Taib believed politics in Sarawak, like those in the rest of the country, must be based on sincere desire to achieve something to fulfill independence with good economic growth and development that could bring positive changes to the people.

To him the other forms of politics, with a lot of rhetoric or worse empty talks, do not bring any benefits, development benefits in particular to the people, state and country. Hence, effforts must be made to reduce politicking among the people because, in any political fights, it is the people who get confused the most, their line of thinking and attitude will be distracted.

Datuk Amar Abdul Taib made it very clear that politics of development is not a slogan. It is making politics substantial to the demands of development. The politics of development dictates in the people the kind of attitude that places demands of development above own politics as long as they do not conflict with the prospects of survival.

Preferably, they should start from a different premise and think of what they can do for the people by co-operation rather than by fighting. They should all think what they can do for the people by being patient in building up the momentum for a strong development

Datuk Amar Abdul Taib said racial and extreme religious practices and politics that tend to divide the people must be fought by all people. The two things cannot be compromised as the development of the future cannot afford to accommodate negative elements.

He held a strong view that whatever political views being entertained by the people must not prevent them from agreeing, as a matter of principle, on the question of development for the people. Unfortunately, politics had gone quite far that some leaders on the opposition thought that they should continue to harp on development issues to suit their political agenda and score political points on the ground.

It is time for them to stop with petty politics and instead work together in matters of development for the overall progress and prosperity of the people. Those persisting with petty practices in order to score political points will only have themselves to blame if they cannot deliver the goods that they have promised to their constituents. This is the reality of the future”.

Regrettably, members of the opposition, those from Peninsular Malaysia in particular are being arrogant with the tendency to belittle the progress being made by Sarawak during the last 53 years. Actually, they are showing total disrespect to leaders of the previous generation, most of who did not have the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their struggle, for their services and spirit of sacrifices in building the state.

Generally, members of the opposition from Peninsular Malaysia consider the state as being backward for not having good road systems in towns; the trans Borneo highway to connect one end to the other end of Sarawak with a total length of 1,140 KMs, is still under construction and will only be ready by 2023,

In this, they actually spike their own nose for being ignorant of the fact that the development of highway and other major road projects are the responsibility of the Federal government. If they are concerned that Sarawak, with a total land surface of more 12.4 million hectares, which is as big as Peninsular Malaysia, should have a highway and overall good quality of roads, they should be shouting at the Federal Ministry of Works to give sufficient allocations for the purpose.

Nothing angers the people of Sarawak more than to be reminded that they have poor road systems and no highway, which is of course true, as compared to Peninsular Malaysia. It only reminds them that the Federal Ministry of Works, in the past, had not been sympathetic to Sarawak. Obviously, most of the oil money, quite a substantial sum of it comes from Sarawak, has only been spent to build more highways and upgrade the quality of roads in Peninsular Malaysia.

Thanks God, for the first time, the Federal government under the leadership of Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak, as the Prime Minister with his own mandate, has made the development of highway a priority. His predecessors were thinking either of constructing the crooked bridge across the Johore straits or building the second Penang Bridge as their legacies.

Looking ahead, Sarawak is poised to achieve greater height of success in terms of development and progress. The state should be able to join other states to become a developed state by the year 2020. Hence, the people must develop their own capacity to involve themselves in the process of development and benefit more from their own efforts.

In this regards, they must pool their resources together and intensify efforts to achieve greater things in life. It is the only way for them to become members of a developed society like those in Australia, Japan, Europe and other developed countries.

Obviously, the people, state and the country, from now onward, must have the courage to do things differently. They must have the courage and the boldness to undertake bigger and more challenging projects to ensure that Sarawak can join other states to become parts of a developed nation.

The challenges ahead will be steep but surmountable provided the people take necessary steps to prepare themselves with the necessary knowledge, skill and experience to face them.

Undeniably, the State has been very successful with its development. For example, the state can boast of the fact that the overall progress and prosperity is six times better than those being achieved by the previous governments put together during the last 300 years. The last frontier must necessarily be Murut - Kelabit highlands or more specifically the mountainous region between Ba’kelalan and Bario.

The future development of the region will require a huge expenditure, which the government, with its limited resources, will not be able to undertake alone. The government needs the support and co-operation of the people in working to create conducive environment to attract investment from the private sector to develop the region.

The State is celebrating Sarawak day as an appropriate way to depict the success of the struggle not only to make a success of Malaysia but achieve the common ambition to build Sarawak, through a bonding in the true spirit of Anak Sarawak Rakyat Malaysia, as a successful state in the country.

MuluView

Development of digital economy timely

2017-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Yang di Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud has endosed the State Government’s decision to develop the digital economy as timely in order to keep pace with the intensive global development of technology and remain competitive at the international level.

IN this regards, Sarawak must make continuous efforts to modernize the economy to raise the level of investments including those in the digital economy to follow the global trend and development and surge forward into the future.

Generally, the development of information technology and communication or ICT is getting more sophisticated and very fast at the global level; ICT has become the economic growth and development of a nation. For this reason, the State must prepare the people to compete for opportunities in the digital economy.

Tun Abdul Taib, in his opening speech during the just - concluded sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, said the development of the digital economy would become the new source of growth to create more opportunities for the people, the young people in particular to get involved in the new form of business like e-commerce and e-learning, which has wide and open market globally.

He is happy that the State Government will extend the development of proper ICT infrastructure not only in urban but also in rural areas. The steps being taken are important to narrow the digital gap between urban and rural areas.

He called on the people, the young people in particular to become more creative, innovative and smart in using the ICT platform like the development of Digital Village, e-Commerce and e-Learning in carrying out various activities to increase their income and uplift their respective socio – economic status.

Tun Abdul Taib believed that the State government is moving in the right direction by giving continuous emphasis to the development of downstream activities which have values added and high technology.

Thus far, the State through the development of Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) has been successful in attracting a lot of industries that produce primary products, which can be used as components or input that can attract high value downstream industries.

Tun Abdul Taib, seeing huge potential in the development of the Agriculture sector, welcomes steps being taken by the State Government to adopt new business models that can accelerate growth and bring about a transformation to achieve a quantum leap in agriculture production and trade.

He agrees that the State government will continue to give due attention to efforts to develop the agriculture sector on commercial basis to increase export and guarrantee food security in the state.

HE believes the new business models, being considered, should be able to harness the financial resources and business acumen of the private sector, while leveraging on their management and technical expertise. This means that agriculture businesses must be developed and managed by corporate entities.

He also believes by giving the corporate sector a bigger role in developing and managing commercial agriculture, the State can ensure commercial viability while reducing the financial burden on the Government.

In this regards, the State Government proposes to establish a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will be tasked to identify commercially viable agriculture businesses for investment. Subsequently, the Ministry of Modernization of Agriculture and Native Customary Rights Land and Regional Development proposes to form a subsidiary company to manage and operate the business.

The SPV may finance the business either from its own resources or it may form joint ventures with suitable private partners. The key feature of the SPV business model is that the SPV will divest its equity in the venture once the business becomes successful and achieves a sound and financial footing.

He believes the modernization of agriculture, if successfully carried out could provide the foundation of the socio-economic development of the people, those in rural areas in particular. Hence, the relevant agencies, which are involved in the agricultural sector, must endeavor to develop the sector in a modern and commercial way.

He also believes the development of infrastructure for agriculture and the modern application system, which is being supported by the strategic management and marketing system, will enable the agriculture sector to contribute towards the socio-economic development of the state.

Tun Abdul Taib called on the State government to continue to give focus to activities of research and development, which is very important to promote growth and development, in raising the level of productivity and competitiveness of the state economy. Foe example, the findings from activities of research and development can be commercialized and become the basis to upgrade product values in the value chain of the economy.

He called for continuous development of infrastructure like a good network of roads, water and electricity supplies and telecommunication, which are enablers to the development of rural areas as they will give impact to efforts to raise the status of the socio –economy of the local people.

He is happy that a new division, districts and sub- districts, which were created in 2015, have began operations, which make it easier for the people to deal with the government; the efforts to transform the rural areas also include raising the service of the Government.

He noted that the main towns like Kuching, Miri, Sibu and Bintulu, continue to attract the people to get good services, education, opportunities for business and employment and good residence.

Now, with urbanization getting more intensive, more than ½ of the population of the State reside in urban areas, which must be handled judiciously, to ensure stability in the livelihood of the people. can preserved.

For example, all parties, which are involved in the planning and development of towns to give priority to the needs of the people. These include constructing more units of affordable houses, developing good public transport system and development of recreational areas.

Tun Abdul Taib said the development plans like Socio-Economic Transformation Plan (SETP), Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) and Digital economic plan, which are all people – centric, clearly manifest the fact that the State government is priority to the interests of the people in every development program that is being implemented

Undoubtedly, the development plans have the objectives to raise the socio - economic status of the people through having access to the basic requirements and open more opportunities in business and employment to them.

For example, Sarawak Socio-Economic Transformation Plan (SETP), now in its second year of implementation, is a long - term development plan covering a period of 15 years from 2016 until 2030. It has the ultimate goal to accelerate income growth and reduce income disparity among the people.

The SETP, a comprehensive, integrated and balanced development plan, outlines various strategies, action plans and budgets to enable Sarawak to catch up with the rest of the states in Malaysia and attain the status of a developed State with high income economy by the year 2030.

The long-term plan will be carried out in phases with the first phase from 2016 until 2020 being implemented under the Eleventh Plan. Under SETP, a total allocation of about RM180 billion is required to transform the State from all perspectives.

Tun Abdul Taib is confident, if all the projects, which have been planned properly, can be completed successfully, will give immense benefits to the rakyat. Hence, all government agencies, which have been entrusted to implement them, must ensure that they be completed as schedule.

More importantly, the State, in the situation of uncertainty in the global economy, must take strategic steps to strengthen the growth of its economy, which must continue to grow and reduce the rate of inflation.

The rate of growth of the economy is expected to remain strong with the projected growth of 3.5% to 4.0% in 2017, the same as the growth of the National economy. The rate of inflation will remain low below 3.0%.

Tun Abdul Taib called for continuous efforts to develop the tourism sector, human resource development and activities to promote Sarawak as an attractive tourist destination in the eyes of the world.

The State must continue to be successful in attracting more tourists with tourism remains, as one of the main contributors to the state economy, has the capability to open more business opportunities to the people.

Essentially, the people in Sarawak cannot afford to be mere bystanders in consuming the global technological revolution and must put their heads together to figure out how they can, together, leapfrog into the global technological frontier and participate in the global digital

market place.

The Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Abang Haji Johari Tun Openg is the chairman of Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA), which will be guided by Board of Directors, who will be made up of experts in the digital technology and economy.

Another entity Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC), which be fully owned by the State Government, will be set up to implement policies and programs for the development of Digital Sarawak in line with the policies of SMA. In this regards, SDEC would undertake trigger projects to stimulate the Digital Economy and to encourage the private sector to participate and flourish in it.

It manifests the fact that the State Government is taking seriously the responsibility to ensure that the world today and tomorrow will also belong to the new generations and would endeavour to find new ways to open up new opportunities for them. It is important that big leaps must be made into the right direction.

The fast pace of development in technology together with research have been able to bring drastic changes in industrial development throughout the world. Hence, Sarawak must keep pace with the industrial development to ensure that it will continue to have the ability to attract large-scale investment in high technology industries.

MuluView

Sarawak will seek foreign expertise in ICT development

2017-05-08T19:18:00.000-07:00

Recently, Sarawak hosted a two-day conference of International ICT Infrastructure and Digital Economy (IDECS) 2017, which truly reflected the State Government’s short and long -term commitment to develop its technologies with the objective to develop a proper infrastructure system for the development of Digital economy – or Digital Sarawak.

Chief Minister, who is known for his passion for ICT development, has been sagacious in making the initiative and giving solid support to the conference with the theme “Transforming Sarawak through digital economy”, which could be considered a transcendental event.

Obviously, since Sarawak is new in ICT, it will seek advice of experts from abroad, including Sarawakians, who have played prominent roles in the national IT initiatives, as it goes along the path of developing a world-class ICT infrastructure as a solid foundation to build the Digital Economy

The development of the ICT infrastructure may include wireless long-term evolution (LTE) technology in future, as Sarawak has a huge landmass in relation to the small population, which is mostly isolated in little pockets in the hinterland.

Therefore, Sarawak must think in terms of welcoming relevant foreign direct investment to leap-frog in ICT development especially in major urban centers where the lifestyle fits the young and educated graduates, who are keen to work on cutting-edge technologies.

Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Abang Haji Johari Tun Openg, in his opening speech, said Sarawak must leap-frog in the development of ICT, not only because it is far behind in the development, but more importantly it must develop a proper infrastructure system for the development of Digital economy – or Digital Sarawak, which will create an entirely new dimension of development and growth for the State.

He said the State Government, realizing the importance of Digital Economy, is prepared to take the lead in building a world-class ICT infrastructure for Sarawak rather than leaving the future to commercial operators and service providers at the mercy of others; enough is enough.

He announced the State Government’s commitment to invest RM1billion for the development of ICT Infrastructures to ensure they will be fit to support the Digital industries and commerce and lure foreign investments into Sarawak.

He said the State Government may also consider setting up Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation to integrate the physical and virtual worlds in developing Sarawak Digital Economy in a wholesome manner.

Admittedly, Sarawak, at the moment, has basic ICT infrastructure, which is decent enough for personal use in selected spots, but not good enough to build the future of the Sarawak economy on.

Hence, Sarawak, now having about 1,200 communication towers, must have 5,000 towers throughout the State to be able to reach every possible settlement, close the gap and cover all the blind spots.

In this regards, the Digital Village in Samajaya could be further strengthened to provide a Silicon Valley-type of infrastructure to drive digital-minded Sarawakians to produce new disruptive business models.

The State Secretary, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani, in his welcoming speech, said the main intent of the two-day conference is to provide a platform for leading experts to share and discuss with key stakeholders on what is needed to develop a thriving Digital Economy.

The conference had been designed to cover areas like the necessary ICT infrastructure, the 21st century skills and knowledge needed to develop, drive and partake in digital economy, and the necessary governance structures.

They could be covered in the three tracks of the conference namely Enabling Technologies and Infrastructure for Digital Economy; Transforming and Transitioning People, Government, Commerce and Industries to be Digital Economy Ready; and Integrating with the Global Digital Economy.

Each track had Key Note speakers followed by several speakers, who would address on related topics. Each track would end with a plenary session to recapitulate and summarize all the main ideas presented under that track.

A wrap-up session would encapsulate the discussions of the entire conference and provide directions for the way forward in developing Sarawak’s Digital economy.

He suggested that the 1,500- odd delegates, attending the conference, in their deliberations should endeavor to get answers to pertinent questions like what are the key elements and guiding principles of Digital Economy, what are the key trends, business and technology drivers for the Digital Economy, what are the key lessons and success factors for developing the Digital Economy.

Besides, they should also try to get answers on the role of government in developing the Digital Economy, what are the technologies, Infrastructure and speed needed that will fuel Digital Economy of the future or what are the new policies/regulations that Sarawak will need to put in place, what are the institutions and the governance structures that Sarawak must put in place to take full advantage of the Digital Economy.

Of course, the people must also know what are the risks and security challenges that they need to be aware of, what knowledge and skills must be developed to make Sarawak competitive in the Digital economy and what measures can be used to assess progress in Digital Economy?

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Mohamad Morshidi said one of the main objectives of the conference was to sensitize key stakeholders on the inevitable need to embrace digital economy and to create awareness on its benefit as well as challenges.

The Chief Minister’s has made a clarion call for a strategic shift in the economic transformation through the development of Digital Economy. This is not only timely, but also imperative if Sarawak were are not to be left behind in terms of the socio economic development.

He recalled buying a particular state-of- the-art smart phone in the year 2014 and was proud of it as he thought that was the latest technology at that time. Today, that smart phone is obsolete, out dated and outmoded. It does not have many of the features that the latest models of smart phones can do. And that was only three years ago.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi said the two-day conference is about sharing technological innovations and how they change the way people behave. The speed at which technology is being developed is very fast and it has disruptive impact in everything that the people do.

The conference would be about changes in the way people produce goods, deliver services and transact business and the way they share information and interact with each other. Follow-up labs and workshops would be conducted in which the output would be deliberated further in greater detail.

He said Don Tapscott, a bestselling author on the subject of Digital Economy would be the keynote speaker of the two – day conference. He is being rated as the fourth most influential management speaker alive by the Thinkers 50 group in 2015.

Don Tapscott would be complemented by 17 other highly experienced and knowledgeable speakers from the academia, technology providers, industry players and practitioners. Actually, they were some of the leading minds and practitioners of Digital Economy in the world, who have agreed to share their knowledge, experiences and thoughts in the conference.

They would be moderated by three notable personalities in the industry namely Freda Liu, Jeff Sandhu and Karamjit Singh.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi was confident, with the range and depth of knowledge and experience gathered, the proceedings of the conference would be extremely enriching and useful.

He called on the over 1500 delegates, who included State leaders, senior civil servants, business leaders, young entrepreneurs, think tanks and university students to participate actively through questions, suggestions and critiques.

Obviously, they were investing their time and money to attend the conference with the common interests to deliberate together to bring better prosperity and progress to the people of Sarawak, who will forever be indebted to all their contributions.

He believed the presence and participation of some of the leading minds and practitioners of Digital Economy in the conference truly reflected their shared commitment and desire to advance the global digital agenda.

As the conference is about charting the future of the State, the delegates must make their opinions, their concerns in particular, to be heard so that they would be given due consideration when formulating the action plans.

He said the conference came about as the result of enormous collective efforts, which began early this year. Many institutions and individuals had contributed in one form or the other towards its success.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi thanked all collaborators, supporters and companies, 36 of them in all, that took part in exhibiting their products and services during the conference.

In welcoming all speakers and delegates from outside Sarawak with the local greeting of “Selamat Datang to Sarawak”, he called on them to stay longer to experience the goodwill and friendship of the people and enjoy the natural beauty of the State.

MuluView

Tanjung Manis will absorb activities of surrounding areas

2017-04-05T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud last Tuesday performed the earth breaking of work on the development of bunker factory and jetty by Ascent Industrial Complex Sdn Bhd at Tanjung Manis Industrial park.

The land of 286 hectares for the Industrial estate was acquired by KRIS, a company, which is owned 70% by the people of Kpg Rejang through a co-operative society and 30% by Muslim Welfare Thrust Board of Kuala Rajang.

While Ascent, as a pioneer company to develop the Industrial Complex, has 140,000 hectares oil palm plantation in Nanga Badau Kalimantan Barat that can produce 1 million metric tons of crude palm oil (CPO) a year. The CPO will brought into Sarawak through Lubok Antu for export through the facilities being developed at Tanjung Manis. The initial cost of developing the facilities for bunkering and jetty will be RM150 million.

To Tun Abdul Taib, the event was a dream come true as it was the day that the people could witness a benefit that they could get by having a close relationship with their neighbor Indonesia. Certainly, on their own, they will not be able to provide sufficient facilities in the development and progress of the state.

He said Tanjung Manis used to be the most under-developed area in the region in view of it most disadvantageous locality of being cut off by numerous rivers and being sited on soft and soggy soil. However, it is being developed to a much larger area.

These areas have many rivers that make them difficult to connect by roads to make the costs of transportation very costly to villages, which are scattered over a wide area. There is a village in every river for example from Kpg Panipah to Tekajong to villages on the west of Pulau Bruit to Kuala Rajang.

But the people were among those who had been very loyal and supportive of the struggle of the Government being led by Barisan Nasional, the successor of the Alliance in the early days. For this reason, I had to think of ways to develop Tanjung Manis, starting from Kuala Rajang to Sungeri Serupai, which are very difficult to develop.

Hence, preparations have been made steps by steps to welcome more investors, who are interested to use the facilities that are available in the area. Most of them will produce things for export though those that can be used locally will also be produced in the area.

Tun Abdul Taib said it has become quite obvious that Tanjung Manis, as days go by, has become increasingly attractive to investors, who will not help to advance its progress but develop the capacity to open up new areas that will enable nearby Kampong, those quite a distant away in Betong and Mukah divisions to benefit from development.

Eventually, Tanjung Manis will be developed to become a place of interaction for people, who have same knowledge and skills to earn income from their own efforts to produce raw materials like palm oil from estates or plantations to produce manufactured or semi manufactured products for sale in Malaysia or export overseas.

Tun Abdul Taib called on the people, the young people in particular, to take into consideration the rapid pace of development in the area and discard the tendency of having very low ambition and not having any interests to raise the levels of their skills and knowledge.

Now, in the era of what the people can produce with their hands, they people have no reason to be shy working with their hands as before when the people, working with pencils, were considered superior. But now the people’s contribution is being measured by their contributions to the economy. Those who have better knowledge and more skills will be more in demand as the workforce of the State or country.

He called on the people to look for opportunities within the framework of ASEAN and strengthen the relationship among member countries so that they can work together like opening facilities to neighbors.

Tun Abdul Taib believes through such arrangement, they do not have to wait for their own capability to take more progressive steps to develop their own facilities. He thanked Ascent Industrial Complex, a company from Indonesia, which has already taken the initiative to develop the bulking station in Tanjung Manis to enable them to transport their products through Lubok Antu to Tanjung Manis for export to the world market.

He believes as they had been able to take the necessary steps, they should be able to undertake bigger jobs together in future. He thanked Ascent Industrial Complex for choosing Tanjung Manis to develop its bulking station. .

He said the state is adopting an open policy to work together with any parties, those who are working sincerely in developing their own businesses that have impacts on the progress and development of the economy.

He invited more people to invest in Tanjung Manis or anywhere else so as to enable the activities to be run smoothly. This is the ASEAN spirit that will grow more and more in the future and that will contribute greater prosperity to all members in the future.

Tun Abdul Taib believed the development of the bulking station in Rajang will create jobs for the people in Tanjung Manis either directly or indirectly. The development of Tanjung Manis as an industrial estate should also be able to attract workers from surrounding areas from far and near. But the new jobs will require skills and knowledge. The process will continue in future.

The process must be kept alive by the people, who must have an open mind and willing to work together with any interested parties, who can bring progress to the area. This has been the way that Sarawak has been developed after Merdeka.

Obviously, the industrial sector is being developed at increasingly higher percentage as a consequence of having an open policy. For this reason, the State is having the ambition to train young people with knowledge and skills so that they become more confident and be more courageous to involve themselves in activities, which in the past used to be avoided by Bumiputras.

But nowadays the people whether they are Bumiputras or non Bumiputras rely on their capability, training and ability to adjust to opportunities that come up in the process of development of the State or country.

Tun Abdul Taib said the industrial sector is moving toward 30% of the economy. For this reason, the state is changing very fast and more employment and business opportunities are being created for people, who have new skills and knowledge, in the development of the State and country.

Generally, the people must not ignore changes taking place whether changes in the economy or other sectors of development because whatever they want to they must pursue training and knowledge that are relevant to the development of the State or country. Then they can get better rewards or higher salaries from their jobs.

Tun Abdul Taib believed as more people with good qualification get involved in doing new businesses, whoever they are working with, not only in Malaysia or with Malaysians in Sarawak or in any places, they will be free to do so. They can also work with non Malaysians, as in ASEAN, in Kalimantan Barat and Java in particular can be expected to become more popular in future.

He called on young people, who have high and up to date ambitions, to make efforts to pursue the forms of employment that can increase their incomes in future; they must make efforts to acquire relevant knowledge and training for this purpose.

Tun Abdul Taib said Tanjung Manis is no longer restricted to the livelihood in the traditional Kampong as if they are living in an island that restricts their movements here and there. Now, they can drive to Sibu, which is a short distant away, to buy whatever they want; they can take their money from banks easily.

Besides, the people are having more and more facilities as the development is moving towards places in Mukah, Betong and Saratok. This is the way to achieve progress and prepare development to ensure that the new generation can pursue opportunities in for progress. The State is committed to carry out development in all sincerity with knowledge and skills to improve the quality of life of the people in future.

Tun Abdul Taib congratulated Ascent Industrial complex and the Co-operative of the local people, being led by Datu Haji Len Talif Salleh, the Assistant Minister of Manpower Development and Training, who is also the State Assemblyman for Rajang, for having taken the initiatives to facilitate efforts of foreigners to participate in the development of Tanjung Manis.

Generally, Tanjung Manis has more potential yet to be developed, to become one of the three focal points of the long-term development of Sarawak. One, of course, is Kuching while second is Tanjung Manis and third, Bintulu. It will absorb all the economic activities of few areas

He believed the people will be able to see how Sarawak will be developed in a way quite widespread and encompassing all races Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu; all the ethnic groups will have opportunities to take part in the development of Sarawak in future.

Tun Abdul Taib called on the people to have an outlook that there will be more and better opportunities to come their way. Besides, they must have an outlook that they as good as the next fellow as long as they can pursue the same kind of qualification because the country even today has achieved certain degree of equality and openness that will give everybody a chance to better themselves.

He said that is why Sarawakians are so united and friendly to each other; the people whether they are Malays, Chinese, Ibans. Bidayuhs or Orang Ulu can work together. They must keep it that way because that is the path to progress and that is the path we have to strengthen and lengthen for the future.

Sarawak Corridor of Renewable energy or SCORE covers an area of 70,709, which is almost a third of the whole size of Sarawak. SCORE is being acknowledged as the largest of the five economic corridors in the country by none other than the previous Prime Minister, Dato Seri Haji Abdullah Ahmad Bedawi (now Tun Haji Abdullah) when he launched it in 11 February 2008.However, its population is only 607,800 people.

The corridor stretches 320 KM along the coast from Tg. Manis in Mukah to Similajau in Bintulu and extends all the way to surrounding areas and remote hinterlands of Baram district and Kapit division. Its key comparative advantages are land, energy and strategic location.

As the region is riddled with many big rivers and most of the towns are sited on very soft soil either on swampy land or deep peat soil, any efforts to develop the region must be preceded with the development of infrastructure, which is very expensive. However, the potentials of the region are vast. For example, the region has a vast tract of land, which is good for commercial agriculture and it is in close proximity with a deep sea, which provides potentials for the development of deep-sea fishing industry.

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Smooth transfer of power in Sarawak

2017-03-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

Sarawak has been having three Chief Ministers during the last three years since March 28, 2014. And yet, unlike in other places, the changes have been hardly felt by the people: things move as usual like a boat sailing on a smooth sea and the efficiency of the Government has been hardly affected.

The changes were due to the resignation of the fourth Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, who served as the fourth Chief Minister from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014. He was succeeded by Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Adenan Haji Satem, in a smooth transfer of power, as the fifth Chief Minister, who served from February 28, 2014 to February 11, 2016 (upon his untimely demise).

Subsequently, the late Datuk Patinggi Adenan was succeeded by Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Openg as the current and the sixth Chief Minister of Sarawak.

The Governor of Sarawak, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during a Chinese New Year gathering of the Municipality of Kuching City South, said within the last three years Sarawak has witnessed changes involving three Chief Ministers. If they happened elsewhere there would most likely be two or three crisis.

But no, in Sarawak things go very smoothly as if nothing happen. No change in the efficiency of the government and no change in the economic atmosphere, which keeps on attracting people comprising tourists, businessmen, investors.

Tun Pehin Abdul Taib said the trust of businessmen on the government has not changes even though the State has been having three Chief Ministers in the period of three years. “Where do we get this kind of atmosphere or get this kind of stability?” he asked.

He believed it would not be easy to find one but it can be found glaringly obvious in Sarawak. He assured the people that Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari as the sixth Chief Minister has as much feeling for a multi-racial society as him. That is hiking a guarantee to continue the test of Sarawak to achieve all the aims that have been set to achieve.

He also believed that Sarawak, which has done quite well, will do better in future using all the opportunities that will come and the changing structure of the economy and the improved nature of the society to make the country better.

Tun Pehin Abdul Taib said he personally knows Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Openg very well as being one of those, who groomed him up to become a politician.

He said when the late Tun Abdul Rahman ( the late Tun Haji Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, a former Governor and Chief Minister) and him discussed how they should prepare for the future, for example, to find people, who could keep the spirit, efforts and idea that had been built, so that there would be continuity once they decided to leave.

To them, it was clear that Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari was among the people, who could lead and continue to bring continuous improvement that Sarawak needs in future.

Tun Pehin Abdul Taib said he never regretted his retirement from politics and never even put a finger to interfere in the affairs of the government, which has been doing very well. The smooth succession has become a part of Sarawak’s political progress; that is Sarawak.

He said Abang Jo ( Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Abg Haji Openg) has served long enough to enable the people to pass judgment on the kind of person he is as the sixth Chief Minister. It is not easy to find smooth transfer of power, like in Sarawak, in the world.

For example, recently a President, who had lost the election in Africa, was given an ultimatum to resign or be forced out of office by a multi-national military force. Another President, who had served his full two terms, attempted to amend the country’s constitution to stay in power in the continent. But the classic example was a President, knowing his term of office would come to an end, did not call for an election to elect a new one.

It almost happened in USA when Donald Trump boasted that he would not concede defeat to his Democratic challenger Hilary Clinton. He would only accept the election results if he emerged as the winner. This was what he had done.

Tun Pehin Abdul Taib believed the city of Kuching, through a shift of population from one place to another, will become a bigger city of maybe more than 1 million, in the near future. Then it will absorb people from neighboring areas like Padawan and Samarahan to make Kuching a well balanced city where urban life is growing but the people can still enjoy almost the rural atmosphere.

He believed the environment will make all races, which come to Kuching, to have the opportunity to make friends across racial lines or between people of different religions sharing hobbies and other forms of enjoyment. This will make the State culture to become part of a bigger culture, the Sarawak Culture in the next 20 years from now

Tun Pehin Abdul Taib said the teams of local cultures, where ever they perform even outside Malaysia, tend to become the most attractive teams among the participants. Obviously, the State has grown up and been able to contribute towards better or dynamic changes in the characters of the people of Malaysia.

Generally, the people, where ever they go find it easier for them to make friends across racial lines. It is also easier for the people to work together in business and in the government to build new opportunities to pursue greater progress and prosperity; that is Sarawak now.

He recalled, when formulating a master plan for the development of Kuching, he stressed on preserving the atmosphere where there would always be co-operation between all the races. For this reason, when deciding on the boundary of Kuching city north, which was essentially quite rural in nature, commonly referred to as Orang Seberang (people across river), the State government then decided to incorporate the people of India Street and Gambier Road or the people, who were mainly Chinese in town to be in City North.

He said the city of Kuching should be developed to become a balanced society, very striving in terms of business and very modernizing in terms of modern change. The environment must be preserved in order to have a balance between urban development and the peace that the people enjoy for generations.

He said the people can exploit all the potential in making Kuching as a place where the people can enjoy life whether they have rural inclination or they want to enjoy all the amenities of modern town life.

Obviously, the City hall of Kuching North has been functioning very well. It has got a Malay mayor, who knows how to deal with the people, to take charge of all the races. In the South a Chinese Mayor, has been reciting a Malay Pantun in every official function. Obviously, the identity of the people can be seen to be evolving in way that reflects the healthy atmosphere where all races try to co-operate with each other.

Tun Abdul Taib observed that Kuching is slowing evolving to become a multi-racial capital of a State in Malaysia. The river is no longer a barrier. It is a place where the people enjoy themselves every year during a Regatta. Then there would be more than 400,000 people comprising Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu, Indians, Chinese lining up along the river to see the Regatta.

The people can be seen mixing very well with each other; some girls of different races can be seen teasing and pinching each other. Usually, the atmosphere is big for a successful Sarawak, a successful Malaysia.

Tun Abdul Taib believed Kuching city, as the State capital, will be able to grow as a multi-racial and multi-cultural city, which is striving towards modernization, to make itself a pride of all Sarawakians. In this regard, all those, who want to make themselves as part of the community, should embrace the spirit and characters of Sarawakians, who are proud of their state.

He believed after living with the local people long enough and after going through what the local people have gone through, they will know when the time comes for them to decide to become Sarawakians, they will willingly embrace their spirit and special characteristics.

They will have as much opportunities as anybody else to develop their skills and serve Sarawak to become the multi-racial and multi –cultural state, which can boast a good government, good people and good progress in a multi-racial Malaysia.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled Sarawak used to be an agricultural country in its simplest form. However, it has been transformed from its old and simple form with limited opportunities of the old days to become modern agriculture, consisting of estates and lots of growing businesses because of the transformation from activities in agriculture. Actually, the State could develop bigger industries but because of its small population of only 2.5 million it could not have as much industries as the people wanted.

Nevertheless, the State managed to get specialization in other economic activities, namely industrial and commercial activities that reflect the changing nature of the economy. That makes the people embrace changes almost naturally. For example, Iban children, who used to play in the Ulu paddling small boats, can transform themselves to become modern and well educated workers of a growing Sarawak.

They have been able to embrace more skills including technical skills and work for the country to change the economy from the simple agrarian economy into a transformed economy that attracts the build -up of more talents and changes.

Consequently, the ability of the people to embrace change brings about inevitable interactions among the races in moving towards a different economy, which offers different kinds of jobs; the workers have to deal with different races.

Actually, Kuching reflects how the people melt together to become friends or fellow workers and share skills to make themselves more useful and efficient in a growing modern economy. This has been happening in Sarawak.

The people have not only built the prosperity of Sarawak but the unity and co-operation among all the races. Obviously, the unity and cooperation, which the people have been building over the years, are penetrating all phases of their life. They have been experiencing changes, mainly in the forms of movements of people, who have come to towns to have new forms of employments.

Tun Abdul Taib said one thing that attracts most tourists to Sarawak is that the local people whether they are shopkeepers or workers, they are friendly and happy to welcome tourists to visit the State and enjoy themselves.

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Raising level of knowledge, skill in development communication

2017-02-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

Communication for Development, which is better understood in Sarawak as development communication, dictates Government agencies, involved in development, to practice some forms of it in communicating matters relating to development to the people.

Obviously, lack of communication in development can turn very ugly. The on-going incident where the Orang Asli organized a blockage against timber operators in Gua Musang, Ulu Kelantan is a good example of this. The timber operators claimed they had been given license not only to cut trees but cleared the hill, which the Orang Asli claimed to be their ancestral land.

The affected people, now having to stay in makeshift camps and drink muddy waters, are still waiting for “discussion” with the Government. They claimed that they had not been informed of the Government’s decision to log their ancestral land and pull their houses. Hence, they are prepared to sacrifice their jobs just to man the blockade.

Now the State government of Kelantan led by PAS blames Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli (JHEOA) or the Department of Orang Asli Affairs, a federal agency, for failing to apply for the disputed land to be gazette by the State Government. Now with figure pointing in circle, this could be a classic example of non communication in development even in the era of cyber world or releasing the floodgate of information.

Communication for Development, with its intent to bring about behavioral and social change, is a social process that uses a broad range of tools, techniques and media to help stakeholders to be involved in striving towards sustained development for meaningful change in their lives.

Unavoidably, resistance and uncertainties among stakeholders are expected. However, the problems must be understood and managed well. Essentially, the stakeholders must be brought on board and be involved in any development being planned and implemented in their area.

Hence, conscientious efforts must be made to build their trust as a pre-requisite to resolving conflicts; they must be helped to realize there are other options available in solving conflicts. Besides, they must also realize the necessity to acquire knowledge and skills to enable them to play appropriate roles in executing plan of actions for change and sustainable development.

Generally, government officers involved in development, may have a certain level of knowledge in communication, but are not sufficiently trained in the field to be able to engage development stakeholders effectively and bring about outcomes required for community development.

It must be acknowledged that knowledge and skills in communication for development are getting more essential as the government accelerates development efforts to meet the increasing demands and expectations of stakeholders, particularly in rural areas, in development in the run up to the year 2020 with the avowed objective at attain the status of a developed nation with high income economy.

It can be anticipated that new development will bring brought new economic changes in the environment and opportunities for employment. These are things that will come up for the next 20 years.

Essentially, the people must be able to play more active and professional roles how to make development communication permeates into the society through the process of communication, interpersonal communication in particular.

Datuk Amar Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, who became the fourth Chief Minister of Sarawak on March 26, 1981, realizing that without communication tools, all efforts on development on sustainable and continuous basis, would not be successful. Hence, he decided to set up Angkatan Zaman Mansang(AZAM) with the realization that the process of development is the process of bringing about positive changes to the livelihood of the people.

Essentially, the change must begin with their perception, the way they think and can subscribe to the best concept that can ensure the smooth implementation of development, those in their areas in particular.

He considered the setting up of AZAM, a movement for progress, which is very close to the idea of development as a vehicle to promote development consciousness among the people. Mansang, a local word, means movement. To members of AZAM, they must dovetail their roles to bring the Rakyat into a forward movement in the process of development.

Obviously, the State government, being led by him, recognizes from the very beginning the importance of communication in development of Sarawak with its huge land surface and the population that is spreading thinly in more than 5,000 settlements over a wide area.

The settlements comprise of traditional kampongs and longhouses in remote areas that risked being isolated without efforts to establish communication link with them. Then the most powerful network of communication to be used to get the Rakyat to understand change was radio.

In fact AZAM was set up earlier than the declaration of the politics of development and the concept of New Reality with the belief that it could help to propagate both concepts to the people. Both concepts emphasize on the roles of the people as the important components of development.

Datuk Amar Abdul Taib (now Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, the reigning Governor of Sarawak) said he realized from the very beginning that the process of development would not be successful unless efforts could be made to raise the level of support and involvement of the people in them.

He had been emphasizing on this from the beginning in order to see the success of efforts in bringing about positive changes to the way of life of the people and the state. Basically, the people must be able to bring about positive changes from what they used to have immediately after Independence.

Datuk Amar Abdul Taib believed that any information without the truth would not last long. Hence development communicators must be conscious enough to disseminate the truth though it may take time. Basically, good or factual information must be consonant with the situation in the country in moving forward in the process of development.

To him, it would not be an empowerment to give any information that is incorrect and not relevant to the setting of the society. The information must be correct, useful and relevant for this purpose. The people must have access to correct and relevant information.

Hence, they must be guided in a more efficient way through inter – personal communication how to get the right information. Obviously, a link must be established between disinformation and facts relating to the process of development.

The State Secretary, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Haji Mohammad Morshidi Abdul Ghani, in his recent speech at the opening of communication for development training for local planners and implementers, said the participants, mainly members of Sarawak Civil Service, had to upgrade their communication knowledge and skills in the era of cyber world to be able to give accurate and relevant information on matters that affect the livelihood of the people.

Besides, the government has the responsibility to meet the ever increasing demands and expectations of the people as stakeholders, those in rural areas in particular, on development, which is being accelerated, to realize the National agenda of 2020 and the State Agenda of 2030, with its goal not only to attain the Status of a developed State with high income economy, but to the become the most progressive and prosperous state in the country by then.

Sarawak is implementing Sarawak Economic Transformation Program (SETP) a comprehensive, integrated and balanced plan with the primary objectives to accelerate income growth and reduce income disparity between urban and rural areas and between the State and Peninsula Malaysia. This must be fully understood by the people.

He believed many eyes would be judging the State’s development efforts to ensure maximum benefits could be reaped by the intended communities. Hence, local planners and implementers are expected to do their utmost in adhering to and benchmarking themselves against international standards.

Essentially, local planners and implementers must endeavor to bring stakeholders to be involved in the implementation of projects being carried out in their areas to benefit from them. In this regards, they should expect resistance and uncertainties, which they need to apprehend and manage well, among stakeholders in the process.

Obviously, local planners and implementers must assure the people there are other options in resolving conflicts. Therefore, they must communicate with the affected people to build their trust and confidence in them for this purpose.

Besides, the people must be encouraged to acquire knowledge and necessary skills to enable them to play relevant roles in the common pursuit for positive change and sustainable development to improve their livelihood.

He said the core aim of training on Communication for Development is to equip the participants as planners and implementers with the know how to mitigate challenges that they could face in implementing SETP.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi, who is also the Chairman of AZAM and Sarawak Development Institute (SDI), said the training on communication for development for local officers is a step in the right direction. It could be considered a milestone for Sarawak as it is the first time that Sarawak Civil Service is embarking on strategic training in communication for development.

Perhaps, it is also the pioneering efforts on the part of the Sarawak Civil Service to embark on the training. More than 60 officers from government departments, statutory bodies and NGOs attended the training, which was conducted by experts on communication for development from the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB), who are renowned in their field, having been involved in such training in Asia and Africa and for work done with WHO, World Bank, ADB, UNICEF, UNESCO and FAO.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi believed that the training would be able to improve and enhance the government’s performance and deliverables in future programs and projects. Some of the participants may develop in-depth interests on communication for development and seek to further their knowledge at University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB).

The training involves self-study, work exercises and online coaching sessions from the trainers and advisers in UPLB. It requires discipline, hard work and integrity from each participant. Hopefully, all participants will persevere and learn as much as possible from the trainers for the implementation and management of development programs and projects through SETP.

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Tun Abdul Taib is happy to see close rapport among diverse ethnic groups

2017-02-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

The people of Sarawak, comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups, who have been inheriting the traditional friendship, goodwill and harmony from their ancestors, have been making conscientious efforts to stay together in pursuit of development and progress as their common goal.

They have been holding steadfastly to the belief that unity is their strength in developing Sarawak, which does not have the same demographic structure, racial composition and institutional background as Peninsular Malaysia.

Photo courtesy : ZULAZHAR SEBLEE

It is something that they should continue to push forward whether they are Chinese, Malays, Iban, Bidayuh or Orang Ulu, their leaders in particular, as they should all realize that their future is by preserving their unity and solidarity together.

The Yang di Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during the Chinese New Year Gathering organized by the Federation of Miri Division Chinese Associations, expressed his happiness in seeing a closer rapport among the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups. Obviously this is a major achievement in the development society.

Generally, the society has changed due to efforts of all of the people including the current Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Haji Openg and his predecessors in the past, who had been making the unity of the people as the cornerstone of their struggle.

They had been spreading the idea that preserving and safeguarding the unity of the people is the way in which the people should stay in Sarawak, Malaysia as a whole. In fact the idea, which has produced good results, is being practiced by leaders of all communities including the Chinese leaders.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled the late Datuk Patinggi Adenan Haji Satem, ( Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Haji Satem, the fifth Chief Minister of Sarawak) had been trying during the last few decades to spread this idea that unity of the people is the way in which the people should stay in Sarawak.

Personally, he is very impressed by this emerging trend in all societies whether they are Chinese, Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs or Orang Ulu societies. This trend, during the last few decades has imbibed in the human nature of the people including leaders to be fair and to have the sense of responsibility to all races.

Tun Abdul Taib said Sarawak has achieved something, which serves as an example for others to follow. However, the people cannot afford to be complacent but make continuous efforts to unite in the common pursuit for greater progress and prosperity towards the year 2030 and beyond.

The Prime Minister at one time two or three years back was very forthcoming is say Sarawak has united the people very well and are able to show good example of how to bring the various races together to enable Sarawak to make good progress for the State and for the whole of Malaysia.

Tun Abdul Taib thanked the Prime Minister, Dato Sri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak, who every time he comes to Sarawak, acknowledges that the State is being looked after very well and he is not worried about it. The people are truly encouraged by this kind of comment from the Prime Minister, who, obviously, cares for the development and progress of the State.

He considered this a good tribute to efforts of all of all the people, who have been trying to foster good relationship among them in spite of their diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds. This makes him feel very proud of the people and the State.

Tun Abdul Taib thanked all the people for their contribution towards this particular trend of development in Sarawak. They have been making conscientious efforts to promote unity and solidarity among them to ensure that development and progress would continue to pick up in future.

Obviously, all of them appreciate the necessity to continue to dedicate themselves to genuinely foster the feeling of the unity and solidarity among them in the common pursuit for greater progress and development; they must make conscientious efforts to nurture this spirit for the future.

They also realize that they must spare themselves from all debates and focus efforts to do a lot of things to remain the fastest developing State and to get progress based on understanding and through co-operation among them.

Tun Abdul Taib believes the people where ever they go in Sarawak can see a lot of progress being achieved since Independence more than 50 years ago. Besides, they also appreciate the need to co-operate among them to ensure that progress will be kept alive by staying and working in unity in the process of nation building.

May all of us keep and practice this spirit of unity to build success that we have made decades ago to make sure that this will be our gift to Malaysia and to all the younger generations that will come after us. Let us keep our unity and solidarity and work together for the greater progress and prosperity of the State and country. Gong Xi Fa Cai.

Tun Abdul Taib, who has been having the good fortune of being invited to public functions, regards every such function as the best form of interactions in building a close relationship among the people.

The Chinese world over are celebrating the year of Rooster, which has many good traits like hardworking, resourceful, courageous and talented. Generally, Roosters are very confident of themselves and they are happiest when they are surrounded by others whether at a party or a social gathering; they are open to opportunities.

Generally, the Chinese consider the special traits of a Rooster will herald more good fortune and success in the economic and social development of the State, as it enters another challenging phase of development namely to focus efforts in structuring and transforming State economy to attain the status of a developed State by 2030.

While the people can be quite pleased with the State’s progress and achievement from the back water of development in the 60s and 70s to become one of the fastest developing states in the country, efforts must continue to be made to bridge the development gap between the rural and urban areas.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled, as the Chief Minister from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014, he had to change a lot of things in order to suit the strategy of development as Sarawak does not have the same demographic structure, racial composition and institutional background as Peninsular Malaysia.

Of course, he had to consult Chinese colleagues in the government and talk to a lot of leading businessmen and community leaders of various races before he could implement ideas that could be accepted by the people.

Undeniably, Sarawak has been able to diversify its economy and create jobs for the people. For example, Miri, which had been going up and down with Shell, was given a new lease of life after the introduction of the politics of development as the State’s philosophy of development.

Its growth became steadier as it started to attract a good range of entrepreneurs to diversify the economy. Actually, Miri, which has been declared a city, has the history of being the fastest growing town in Sarawak. Consequently, it has overtaken Sibu as the second biggest town in the State. Before, Miri was an idyllic town which depended solely on activities of Shell for its progress and development.

Generally, Sarawak must aim to produce 100,000 technical people, comprising engineering graduates, diploma holders and other kinds of technical people as it moves forward to become an industrialized state by the year 2030. Obviously, the State must give greater focus on technical training to the people.

Understandably, the Chinese will not go for the certificate level of skill development but more towards the diploma and degree levels of education because they can enjoy good educational facilities in urban areas.

However, efforts must be made to train youth from rural areas to become skilled workers to meet the State’s need for technical workers in industrialization. It is not the question of money but building people to become technical workers in industrialization.

Sarawak must anticipate that it will compete with neighbors for technical workers in the next 10 or 20 years. The most likely competitors will be Thailand and other surrounding countries. Hence, it must decide to train as many of the local people as possible to become technical workers in industrialization.

Essentially, the State must focus efforts on producing skilled workers comprising technical people and graduates and give support to people whether they are Chinese, Malays, Ibans or Bidayuhs or anybody to go to colleges or universities if they have all the necessary qualifications.

The State must avoid adopting a selective policy on education as it will risk paying double the salary of people coming from outside to work in the state in the next 10 or 20 years from now.

Generally, the people must build on the foundation that has been laid down together to achieve greater progress and prosperity towards the year 2030. May the New Year, the Year of the Rooster bring Sarawak greater progress and prosperity for common benefits.

MuluView

Making friends across racial, religious lines

2017-02-13T19:17:00.000-08:00

Actually, Kuching truly reflects Sarawak’s very own “melting pot” how the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups melt together to become friends and fellow workers, who share their skills to make them more useful and efficient in the growing modern economy. The people may not realize this but it has been happening in Sarawak.

Undoubtedly, Sarawak has successfully evolved a community to become a society, where the members can mix well among them. And this unity of the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups has become a benchmark to further develop Kuching to become a more modern and progressive capital city of the State, which all of the people should be proud of.

Generally the people, those in the city Kuching in particular, are proud of the fact that that they have been able to nurture a strong feeling of equality and unity among them. More importantly, they comprehend their responsibility to instil this feeling to the new generation in the efforts to perpetuate it.

They can make friends between races across racial lines, between people of different religions and sharing hobbies and forms of enjoyment that makes the local culture to become part of a bigger culture, which can be proclaimed Sarawak Culture in the next 20 years from now.

Even now, Sarawak cultural items, where ever they are being presented even outside Malaysia, have always become the most attractive items to watch by the people. Obviously, the State has grown up and has been to contribute towards better changes, dynamic changes of the characteristics of the people of Malaysia.

Generally, the people find it easier to make friends across racial and religious lines and work together in both in the public and private sectors in building new opportunities for the people in pursuit of greater progress and prosperity; that is Sarawak.

The Governor of Sarawak, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during the festival of Chap Goh Mei (15^th day of the Chinese New Year) organised by Chinese community of Jalan Gambier, believed efforts to reactivate “Chap Goh Mei” could get more people of other ethnic groups to be involved in the celebration, which is a unique characteristic of the State, in Kuching in particular.

Personally, he said the function brings him back memories of the old days as a student in St. Joseph school in the 50s. Then he had occasions to come and watch the Chap Goh Mei festival being held in the place. Then he could see a lot of Natives, comprising adults, boys and girls or young people joining the Chinese in celebrating Chap Goh Mei.

Then the festival of Chap Goh Mei had already become part of a major celebration, which helped to promote a close rapport and harmonious relationship among the people, then mainly Malays and Chinese. They all joined the celebration in the environment of joy and happiness that helped to promote a closer relationship among them.

Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib said it is always a pleasure to be among friends, especially on such a happy occasion like Chap Goh Mei or the 15^th day of the Chinese New Year. Hopefully, efforts to reactivate Chap Goh Mei will also help to build on the happy relationship among all the races, who obviously have a lot of common interests after 50 years of Independence.

He said continuous efforts to develop Kuching to become a bigger city must create a balanced atmosphere where, for example, even though urban life is growing but the people can still enjoy almost the rural atmosphere to make the people, who have migrated to urban areas, to have more opportunities to make friends with local residents across racial and religious lines. Eventually, they must start to share hobbies and other forms of enjoyment that helps to enlarge the circle of our rich culture.

Inevitably, the population of Kuching will grow to become more than 1 million in the near future as it will absorb more people from neighbouring areas like Padawan, Samarahan or Bau. Essentially, when there is shift of population from one place to another, the city of Kuching tends to benefit from it.

Obviously Kuching City is shaping up to become a smart city. Its development through the support and cooperation of the people has been able to provide more conducive and liveable amenities and utilities for the people. More prominently, of course, are the settling of colleges and universities, both local and foreign, in the city for the benefits of young people.

However, the development of the city has also to cope with the migration of more and more people, who are being pulled by educational opportunities for children and employment and business opportunities for working people.

Tun Abdul Taib is happy to see the people, comprising of various ethnic and religious groups, are all conscious of their duty and responsibility to maintain peace and harmony among them. More importantly, they are conscious of their responsibility to safeguard the prevailing goodwill and understanding among them.

In this regards, they must make conscientious efforts to promote goodwill and harmony based on their own ways, moulds and unique customs and traditions in order to perpetuate unity and co-operation among them.

Besides, the people from different backgrounds and religious beliefs must be encouraged to take part in festivals or even cultural activities to promote unity in diversity of customs and traditions, which has become the pillar of strength and uniqueness of the state of Sarawak.

Tun Abdul Taib said Sarawak has had Chief Ministers including him coming from outside Kuching. The first Chief Minister, the late Datuk Amar Stephen kalong Ningkan, who served from 1963 to 1966, came from Betong while the second Chief Minister, the Late Dato Tawi Sli came from Sri Aman and the third Chief Minister, Dato Patinggi Haji Abdul Rahman Ya’kub, who served from July 7, 1970 to March 25, 1981, came from Miri.

Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud (now Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, the current Governor of Sarawak) who served as the fourth Chief Minister from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014) was born in Mukah and brought up in Miri.

Tun Abdul Taib said Abang Jo( Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Openg, the Chief Minister) has just said, people from outside Kuching help to make the culture and characteristics of Sarawak more colourful and beautiful. Even our Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak acknowledges the unique unity and harmony of the people of Sarawak.

Of course, Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari and his predecessor, the late Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Haji Satem both come from a Malay Kampung namely Kampung Bandarsah, which is within the vicinity of the city.

Tun Abdul Taib congratulated the mayor of Kuching City North, who originally came from a Kampong environment, has been successful in reactivating the Chap Goh Meh, like what it used to be, in the era of the 50s. Then the people comprising diverse ethnic groups watched the festival and accepted it as a way of life of harmony in a community.

He said the feeling of harmony between the Chinese and other ethnic groups, which has been nurtured for a long time, has become more widespread in covering more people, mainly those who have come from rural areas to come to stay in Kuching. Obviously, they have been able to stay together with the local communities.

Generally, the rural people, who come to Kuching and become its residents, have opportunities to interact with diverse ethnic groups, who believe in the spirit of compromise and be tolerant among them. They have adapted themselves to the way of life of the Malays, Chinese and other races in Kuching as their new home.

Obviously, continuous efforts must be made to retain the link among the people of various races in order to preserve the characteristic of Kuching as a friendly city, where the local people have already earned great feeling of appreciation from visitors.

Undoubtedly, the festival Chap Goh Meh is among the festivals, which get all the races that constitute the people of Sarawak, to come together and meet each other with that consciousness that they belong to one country and one people.

Tun Abdul Taib believed the annual event of the Regatta, which is enjoying a growing popularity among the people, helps to build up rapport among the people; it encourages greater interaction among the people. Personally, he could see more than 400,000 people from all walks of life across Sungai Sarawak, in the middle of the city, from Santubong or even from Samarahan, Serian, Bau to see the regatta.

Other communities from Miri and Brunei also come to Kuching to watch the Regatta or even small fiesta in districts throughout Sarawak and mix around with all types of people; this is what a happy community should be.

Generally, the people must learn mutual respect towards other races and religions even in new places, where the people may have their own customs and traditions, values and characteristics.

Tun Abdul Taib congratulated City hall of Kuching North for its initiative and successful efforts in re-activating Chap Goh Mei, like what it used to be, to trigger the feeling of happiness in a popular place like waterfront, which itself is not only being admired by the local people but also those from Peninsular Malaysia who come to visit it.

MuluView

Year of Rooster a good sign for Economy

2017-02-03T16:34:00.000-08:00

This year the Chinese world over celebrate the Year of Rooster, which according to Zodiac signs, has the characteristics of being observant, confident and outspoken. The Rooster loves attention and enjoys dressing up. He dares to be different and can be extravagant.

The local Chinese consider this special trait a sign of more good fortune and success in the economic and social development of the State and country ahead. Among the many good traits of a Rooster are hardworking, resourceful, courageous and talented. Generally, a Rooster is very confident of himself and he is happiest when he is surrounded by others whether at a party or a social gathering.

The Yang di Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his Chinese New Year broadcast over Radio and TV on the eve of the festival said today, we the people in Sarawak celebrate Chinese New Year, just like Hari Raya Aidilfitri and after Merdeka Hari Gawai, as a tradition, which helps to strengthen cultural values that bring us closer together as people in the same community and country.

He said the Chinese has a unique way, based on their legend, in popularizing and strengthening their traditional beliefs by using symbols to emphasize them from time to time in order to entrench them in their community.

Tun Abdul Taib said the Chinese culture reminds them from time to time of the necessity to uphold their customs and traditions as part of their identity. For example, they relate each year to a certain animal that can impart positive values to them.

He said the year 2017, based on the zodiac circle, is the year of Rooster, which depicts certain characteristics that provide good lessons for them to learn and understand. The horoscope’s analysis of Rooster is that it is observant, confident and outspoken. Rooster loves attention and enjoys dressing up. He dares to be different and can be extravagant. He believes in openness, the attitude that can help to strengthen relationship in a community in the era of the changing time.

Tun Abdul Taib said on the occasion of celebrating the year of the Rooster the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups must nurture the attitude of openness, which is a noble value in Malaysia, in the common efforts to build a more united and progressive Malaysian society.

In this regards, traditional beliefs of the Chinese can also be learnt and appreciated by other communities in the overall efforts to build a new Malaysian society. In any case, every community has good values that encourage interactions among the people in order to stay strong and united in nation building.

Tun Abdul Taib said the year of Rooster is being considered by the Chinese as the season to remind the community of the importance of having an open attitude, which the non Chinese must also appreciate as good and relevant for the whole people of Malaysia.

In this regards, even non Chinese must be able to value the characteristics of being open as a prerequisite to promote a rapport in a community in order to strengthen the characteristic of our beloved nation Malaysia.

Tun Abdul Taib congratulated the Chinese, who have been able to promote good characteristics not only among them but members of other communities as well. Generally, the people, regardless of whether they are Malays, Chinese, Iban, Bidayuh, Orang Ulu or Indian, should appreciate that efforts to nurture the attitude of being open be made continuous; they should be emphasized from time to time to encourage the people to adapt themselves to the changing time.

He said the people, in the process building a new identity, must emphasize on nurturing the characteristic of being more Malaysian as the characteristic may be subject to continuous changes because the world keeps on changing. They may be subject to changes as the country moves forward and the relationship between countries and communities becomes closer together. This trend cannot be avoided.

Tun Abdul Taib said Sarawak, like the rest of the country, must take opportunities from the customs and traditions that are being upheld by the Chinese to promote understanding that must be supported by all people to strengthen unity and solidarity in the State and country.

He said the people have been able to see from history how the Chinese, Malays, Ibans and Indians, who did not interact well among them before did not have a good relationship among them as it is now. It is a healthy process which must continue to be strengthened as a new community. This will enable us to learn better ways how we can work together in a more meaningful way.

Tun Abdul Taib said the attitude of openness or being open, which is being emphasized in the year of the Rooster is an appropriate time for the people including non Chinese to pause and ponder that this attitude of openness should be strengthened as the process to build a strongly united Malaysian community.

Personally, he believes this to be a good traditional belief for all the races regardless of whether they are Chinese, Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulus or Indians because the world needs good values that can strengthen unity and solidarity to ensure that progress will not be affected by global changes, whenever they come.

He said the good relationship among the people sould be sustained and not be deviated towards trends that are not suitable to our society as our economy becomes better and our relation not only among us in the country but the whole world is sustained. For this reason, today the people must value the characteristic of being open as being emphasized by the year of the Rooster.

Hopefully, the people will continue to benefit from good relationship through the good interactions among all the races. Personally, he believes whatever good values that have been inherited by all races can help to strengthen our identity and unity in the State and country.

Tun Abdul Taib wishes Happy Chinese New Year with the hope that the people take this auspicious occasion to ponder on the necessity to nurture the characteristics of openness in the community. The emphasis of the Year of Rooster is openness and all of us should support all such efforts.

Traditionally, the people have good reasons to celebrate but the State has just lost the fifth Chief Minister, the late Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Haji Satem with his untimely demise. He may have gone but his exemplary spirit of Anak Sarawak should stay in the people as the State moves forward to implement a more challenging pace of development with the objective to transform Sarawak from a developing State to a developed State with high income economy towards the year 2030.

The late Datuk Patinggi Adenan could have done much more beyond than those that he had done in the last three years in the service of people and the State, which he had endeared himself him to do in whatever capacities.

Quite obviously, he had been able to translate his promises to the Rakyat during his tenure of office into improved infrastructure, essential roads and bridges and strengthening the State government’s autonomy on matters relating to Inter Governmental Committee (IGC) Report, Cobbold Commission Report and Malaysia Agreement.

His successor, Datuk Amar Haji Abang Zohari Tun Haji Openg, is, of course the logical choice as Sarawak’s sixth Chief Minister, having been the elected Deputy President of Parti Pesaka Bumiputra Bersatu (PBB), the backbone of Barisan Nasional Sarawak, for over two decades. He has won every state election, six times in all, since he joined politics in 1981.

Generally, the people can take great pride that Sarawak has been able to achieve the present level of development, as one of the fastest developing economy in the country from the back water of development in the 60s and 70s.

Undoubtedly, the achievement should be attributable to conscientious efforts by all concerned to promote unity and the harmonious relationship among the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups and channel their energy and efforts towards development for common benefit.

Tun Abdul Taib, who served as the fourth Chief Minister from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014, was most notable in propagating politics of development, as the state’s philosophy of development, with the primary objective to pool the energy of the people and channel it to development.

In one of his earliest state he said “politics in Sarawak, like those in the rest of the country, must be based on sincere desire to achieve something to fulfill independence with good economic growth and development that can bring positive changes to the people.”

Personally, he believed whatever political views that the people entertain, must not prevent them from agreeing, as a matter of principle, on the question of development. Unfortunately, politics had gone quite far that some leaders of the opposition thought they should continue to harp on development issues to score political points on the ground. It is time for them to stop with these petty politics and instead work together in matters of development for the overall progress and prosperity of the people.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Sarawak is often being referred to as a model of friendly and harmonious society. In this regards, even the state capitalhe city of Kuching, is being acknowledged as the City of Unity.

The State is entering an increasingly challenging phase of the development to transform the economy in order to attain the status of a developed State with high income economy towards the year 2030.

Hence, the State Government is targeting to increase investments in the industrial sector as industrialization is the way forward to propel the growth and development of the economy to attain the status of a developed state with high income economy by 2030.

With such a vision, concrete action plans to transform the economy and train manpower and the good traits of being hardworking, resourceful, courageous and talented of Roosters, Sarawak should on the right track to become the most progressive, prosperous and successful state by the year 2030, God willing.

MuluView

Focusing on rural development

2017-01-28T16:22:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest challenges of Sarawak’s development towards the year 2030, the timeline to attain the status of a developed State with high income economy, is to reduce the development gap between the rural and urban areas, not only in terms of infrastructure but also on the income of the people.

The rural areas, though blessed with vast agriculture resources, which can be harnessed to develop the economy of the people, are still lagging behind. There are still so much that need to be done particularly in transforming the rural areas to catch up with the development in the urban area.

The rural household, based on the Income Survey in 2014, earns 44.2% less than the average urban household, whilst the Bottom 40 only earned 16.6% of the income as compared to 38.0% of the Middle 40.

Hence, the State Government’s primary objective, after taking into consideration all these issues, must be to increase rural incomes and reduce poverty and narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas. The budget will provide more than 50% allocation for rural areas in 2017, amounting to RM2.9 billion. This provision is higher as compared to RM2.3 in 2015 and 2016.

This is also in line with the Government’s commitment to give greater focus on the implementation of programs and projects to accelerate rural development transformation. Such efforts will also open up greater opportunities in development for the rural communities.

Budget 2017, as approved during the recent sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, allocates a sum of RM5.9 billion, or about 73% of its total for development. Of course, as a developing State, it is essential to have a budget that is biased towards development.

Besides, the budget, in pursuing the objective to narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas, allocates RM2.9 billion or more than 50% of its total allocation for rural areas.

The rural biased budget is in line with the government’s commitment to give greater focus on the implementation of programs and projects in rural areas to accelerate rural development transformation.

Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who is also the Minister of Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Economy, in his winding speech during the recent sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, said the 2017 budget is testimony to the strong commitment of the State Government towards the transformation of the State economy and intensification of rural development.

He believed that the modernization and commercializing of the agriculture sector is one of the best options to develop rural areas and to increase income of the rural population of which the majority are involved in the agriculture activities.

He said agriculture is no longer just about farming but a business that will raise the income of farmers. In this regards, his Ministry will look into the overall small supply chain, which includes revitalizing and improving agriculture products and marketing, increasing private sector investment and commercializing research and development of the agriculture industry.

He said a total of RM800 million is being allocated to improve local farmers products and marketing, which includes RM80million to strengthen the distribution network through the setting up of collection, processing and packaging centers at Layar Station, PPK Lundu, Temudok Station and individual Quick Freezing (IQf) Tarat and RM20.0 million to provide better accessibility between the farms and markets by developing more farm infrastructure.

Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said the Ministry is allocating RM52.0 million to improve production through the provision of agriculture incentives for planting of coconut, sago, pepper, oil palm, swift let farming and rehabilitation of existing orchards and increase cattle population through cattle integration within oil palm estates.

He believes the intervention actions will transform the agriculture sector into an industry that will not only raise the income of farmers but contribute significantly to the economic growth of the State.

He said the expansion of agricultural industry supply chain will be emphasized in totality ranging from upstream activities such as planting and breeding to downstream activities including processing, logistics and marketing.

Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said areas that have been identified as food basket or food production zone will be equipped with collection centers, basic infrastructure such as farm roads, water and electricity supplies. Private sector will be encouraged to participate in the food basket or food production zone together with local farmers.

He said efforts will be made to go into mass production of industrial and food crops and livestock that will be able to cater for both domestic and export markets for the commercialization of agriculture. In this connection, agro processing industries will be developed to encourage downstream activities.

He said the Ministry’s transformation programs are aimed at achieving the following objectives namely to increase rural incomes and reduce poverty, promote sustained growth of agriculture sector, to increase food security for the State, to promote capacity building within agriculture and rural sectors and facilitate private sector involvement in agriculture sector.

Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said the most urgent concern of his Ministry, while all five goals are important and relevant to the State, is to raise rural incomes and alleviate poverty. The emphasis on rural income generation is necessary because the rural area has always lagged behind the urban area in terms of socio-economic development.

For example, the economic indicator points to wide development gap between rural and urban areas. For example, the incidence of poverty in 2014 among urban households, as shown by the income survey, was 0.5 %, while the incidence in rural areas during the same period was 1.6 %, or more than 3 times higher than in urban areas.

The income disparity between urban and rural household is something that needs to be addressed urgently in the interests of more equitable development. Hence, focus must be made on rural economic development as a matter of priority.

In this regard, the specific objectives of the Ministry of Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Economy is two-fold, namely to raise rural household incomes to RM4,000 per month by year 2020 and to eliminate hard core poverty by year 2018.

He said the formulation of strategic action plans and design of development models for agriculture and rural economic development, is being guided by the principles of leveraging on abundant natural resources, exploiting available opportunities for non-agriculture businesses, addressing issues along the value chain, developing critical mass to support the development of downstream activities, promoting private sector participation, modernizing the value supply chain and making the Rural Economic programs to be inclusive.

He said the State still has abundant natural resources including large areas of idle titled and NCR land, the relatively untapped deep sea fishery resources and the large areas of fresh water bodies for aquaculture and rich agro-biodiversity that can be developed in the rural economic development.

He said the State has yet to exploit all available opportunities for non-agriculture businesses in the rural areas, including in the manufacturing and services industry. One potential industry is rural tourism, for which the State can leverage on rich culture, wild life and natural environment.

Besides, the State must address issues along the value chain, particularly those relating to marketing and supply of quality planting and stocking materials. In this regards, any bottlenecks in the supply chain must be addressed adequately.

Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah believes the development of critical mass to support the development of downstream activities can be done by adopting the “Cluster” or “Area of Concentration” approach in upstream activities to generate “critical mass” as well as more cost-effective provision of industry support services.

The other initiatives must help to promote and facilitate private sector participation in rural economic development, modernize the value supply chain and promote income diversification at the household level in order to mitigate the risks to household income as a result of fluctuating commodity prices. The activities of the rural Economic programs must be inclusive.

The State Government, in pursuit to achieve a high income status, wants the rakyat from all walks to be able to enjoy benefits brought by the socio - economic transformation. The main priorities are to reduce the income gap between urban and rural population and the income disparity between the Middle 40 and Bottom 40.

He said based on the Household Income Survey in 2014, the rural household earns 44.2% less than the average urban household, whilst the Bottom 40 only earned 16.6% of the income as compared to 38.0% of the Middle 40.

Obviously, the State Government must take necessary actions to transform all key economic sectors to achieve the targeted growth of 6.5% per annum through specific Government intervention initiatives within the framework of the State Transformation Agenda.

In this regards, the Cabinet Committee on Socio-Economic Transformation, which comprises of the relevant State Ministers, Assistant Ministers and Head of Departments has come up with intervention, recommendation action plans including the policies, strategies, programs and projects to speed-up economic growth. This will ultimately increase the income and reduce income disparity of the Rakyat.

MuluView

Rural communities still wait for basic infrastructure, amenities

2016-12-30T23:04:00.000-08:00

It is imperative that Sarawak, as it enters a more challenging phase of development to attain the status of developed State with high income economy by the year 2030, must focus efforts on rural development in order to bring about a more equitable distribution of development between urban and rural areas.

While the State can take great pride, despite facing many challenges along the way, that it has been able to achieve the present level of development as one of the fast growing economy not only in the country but the region from the back water of development in the 60s and 70s, there are still a lot more that need to be done particularly in transforming the rural areas in order to catch up with the development in urban areas.

The challenges ahead are enormous as the rural communities are expecting the provision of basic infrastructure and social amenities to be fulfilled in the shortest time possible. A large portion of the rural population, comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups, have been waiting patiently for the basic infrastructure and amenities including roads, schools, clinics, treated water and electricity supply.

Undoubtedly, the State Government, acknowledging that the tasks ahead are enormous, requires all the necessary support from the Federal Government especially in providing good public facilities and infrastructure such as schools, clinics, hospitals, roads, bridges and infrastructure for water and electricity supplies in rural areas.

Such development programs require huge investment and concerted efforts of the State and Federal governments in implementing them. In this regards, greater attention must be given to address the problem, for example, of lack of basic infrastructure and social amenities in rural areas.

Obviously, the State Government is aware that without any drastic measures, the situation will persist and deprive the rural community from enjoying the comforts and convenience available in the urban areas.

The situation has already deprived a large portion of the rural population, which has been waiting for these basic infrastructure and amenities including roads, schools, clinics, treated water and electricity supply to come to them.

Essentially, all parties concerned must monitor projects closely to ensure that they are being implemented as planned and within the budget. Those in rural areas that have greater spill-over effects to the Rakyat at large must be implemented expeditiously to further spur economic growth and the development of the State.

The Government machinery must ensure all projects under the 11^th Malaysia Plan, Rural Transformation Initiatives, Federal Rolling plans, the Pan Borneo Highway Project and projects under SCORE are implemented efficiently and completed as scheduled.

The State Government, having identified nine (9) Key Result Areas (KRAs) as key drivers to fast-track the provision of basic infrastructure and social amenities in rural areas, has formulated a rural transformation plan, which encapsulates new strategies, unconventional approaches and out-of the box solutions towards achieving the desired objectives.

The initiatives are to fast track the upgrading and construction of dilapidated rural schools; establish 15 Travelling-Doctor Teams covering 64 rural clinics, which have no medical officers; improve the connectivity to rural settlements; implement various intervention initiatives through the construction of sub-main and communication projects, renewal of pipelines, retrofitting of treatment plants and reservoirs;

The State government will undertake more comprehensive measures in flood mitigation and facilitate development within the resettlement areas of communities affected by hydro projects through the initiatives of the rural transformation plan.

The State Government, being extremely concerned with the poor conditions of rural schools, has successfully negotiated that 194 dilapidated rural schools will be upgraded and maintained by the Federal Government in 2017. This will benefit 48,000 students. Besides, the State Government will allocate RM21.0 million in 2017 to upgrade 72 dilapidated rural schools.

It is also aware that 329,000 rural populations are being served by rural clinics without medical officers, will establish 15 Travelling-Doctor Teams covering 64 rural clinics which have no medical officers and one Cluster Clinic System at Klinik Kesihatan Long Lama, which serves 15 nearby clinics benefitting 35,000 people.

Besides, 114,000 rural households are still not provided with treated water supply, to necessitate the implementation of various intervention initiatives namely the construction of sub-main and communication projects, renewal of pipelines, retrofitting of treatment plants and reservoirs.

The State Government, taking serious view of the flooding problem, has allocated RM100 million to implement 124 flash flood drain and road improvement projects in 112 flood prone areas during the year. It has also made an initial allocation of RM1.5 million to deal with land matters in order to facilitate development within the resettlement areas of communities affected by Hydro Projects.

Generally, continuous efforts must be made to broaden economic base and enhance knowledge and upgrade skills of manpower, which must be more efficient, productive and innovative in doing their works in order to sustain success and remain competitive.

In this regards, the people must include a more pervasive culture of good governance and uphold the highest level of integrity. At the same time, they must be agile and vigilant in facing emerging external challenges arising from global or regional competitions and the increasing volatility in the world economic.

The Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Haji Satem, in his recent Christmas and New Year message, believes the Pan-Borneo Highway will be the dominant factor to propel Sarawak’s economy towards the year 2030 and beyond.

He said Pan-Borneo highway is not an empty talk, as propagated by the opposition, but a reality with some of the work packages have already been progressing well. The highway will definitely lead to greater things ahead.

Datuk Patinggi Adenan, who is also the Minister if Natural Resources and Environment, said he remained committed to keep Sarawak’s natural environment as pristine as it can. It is everybody’s responsibility to preserve the environment as it takes “thousands of years for a tree to grow but only takes few minutes to cut it down.

For this reason, the first few things that he did as the Chief Minister was to stop issuing timber licenses and permits to set up commercial plantations on state land and fight vigorously against illegal loggings.

He was determined to stop uncontrolled and indiscriminate clearing of forests in order to preserve them and protect the flora and fauna. The forest with all its diversity is truly Sarawak’s heritage that must be protected.

Datuk Patinggi Adenan believes Sarawak is well on the road to industrialization with more and more foreign investments coming to the State. For example, Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) has attracted 21 investments worth RM33.50 billion. The total investments have the capacity to generate more than 17,000 jobs especially in Samalaju industrial zone in Bintulu.

He said the State has the advantage of being able to provide relatively cheap hydro-power that can be harnessed from rivers to run more industries towards the year 2030 and beyond. The time has come for the creation of more downstream industries in order to process raw materials such as natural gas, timber and silica sand into products that can fetch better value in the export market.

Datuk Patinggi Adenan reiterated that English must be made Sarawak’s second official language after Bahasa Malaysia as it is the language of lingua franca or an international language to promote the expansion of knowledge, trade and commerce.

He said the people should endeavor to master English without downgrading Bahasa Malaysia as the national language. For this reason, the State government is prepared to support private institutions, secular or religious, that are providing environment conducive to the teaching and learning of English.

Datuk Patinggi Adenan, who is also the Minister of Finance, said Sarawak’s ability to achieve the present level of development is attributable to the ability to manage resources well and the continuous efforts to promote unity and harmony among the people. This reflects the resilience and strength of the people, social unity and political stability.

However, continuous efforts must be made to make the State’s delivery system to have a more pervasive culture of good governance that upholds the highest level of integrity. At the same time, the workers must be agile and vigilant in facing emerging external challenges arising from global or regional competitions and the increasing volatility in the world economy.

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Sarawak must have strong branding to be more visible in global tourism

2016-12-22T22:59:00.000-08:00

Sarawak is rich in history, heritage and culture that can be fully harnessed as one of the pull factors to bring tourists to the state. However, Sarawak, from the feedback received from foreigners during numerous trades and travel shows abroad, is not well known overseas as compared to Kuala Lumpur, Sabah, Penang or Malacca.

Besides, Sarawak, as an island state, possesses both advantage and disadvantage with regard to the issue of connectivity and accessibility. Hence, a strong branding identity must be developed to make Sarawak’s presence in targeted market more impactful and visible.

Essentially, the State must develop a world class tourism technological infrastructure injecting elements of innovation and creativity to compete at the global level.

IN this connection, Sarawak Tourism Board, which has been tasked to spearhead the promotion and marketing of Sarawak as a tourism destination, must leverage on technology and the social media to promote it to the world.

Obviously, conscientious efforts must be made to shape and create the brand identity for Sarawak not only as a tourist destination but also as a business event, trade and investment destination. The approach and strategy must be holistic and cover as many sectors as possible.

Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Abang Haji Openg, who is also the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, in his winding speech during the debate on Budget 2017, in the last sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, said the State Government, acknowledging the significant contribution of tourism to the local economy as an impetus to create new growth in the service sector, has placed tourism as one of the Key Result Areas (KRAs) under the Socio-Economic Transformation Program (SETP).

He said Budget 2017, for the first time in many years, has got a significant budget allocation of RM48 million for the tourism sector. The allocation in itself is a manifestation of the State government’s seriousness to further develop and position Sarawak as the tourism destination in this region.

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, will continue to position Sarawak as a Culture, Adventure and Nature (C.A.N) destination in as far as tourism is concerned. Hence, the intervention action plans and budget allocation for 2017 will be more focused on C.A.N related infrastructures, facilities, events and festival and products development and enhancement.

Sarawak tourism sector is expected to generate tourism receipt of RM10.18 billion or a 3.1% increase, contributing about 10% towards the State GDP in 2016. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is targeting 5 million visitor arrivals and RM10.68 billion in tourism receipt in 2017. The ASEAN Countries still top the number of arrivals to Sarawak followed by Europe and North Asia.

The economic spin off to the local economy and the multiplier effect will definitely be multi-faceted and multi- sartorial in nature. Therefore, all those involved in the service sector value chain right from Travel agents, transportation, accommodation, eateries, souvenir shops, entertainment outlets and tourism product owners stand to benefit.

Sarawak, from January to October 2016, received 3,785,175 visitors, an increase of 1.02% as compared to 3,746,933 visitors during the same period last year. It has generated an estimated tourism receipt of RM 7.5 billion. The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture is anticipating 4.7 million visitor arrivals in 2016 as compared with 4.5 million in 2015.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari said the National Parks continue to be the most preferred destinations for Nature and Adventure both among local and international visitors. For example, the total visitor arrivals to the National Park, from January to September 2016, were 423,333, an increase of 9.27% with total revenues generated amounting to RM4.53 million, a 13% increase. A total of 80% were domestic while 20% were International visitors.

Mulu National Park, Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, Bako National Park, Kuching Wetland, Niah National Park and Matang Wildlife Centre are the most visited by tourists because of its unique geo-system and wildlife conservation.

The Orang Utan conservation efforts at Semenggoh Wildlife centre have produced positive results with the birth of two baby Orang Utans this year. The Orang Utan population at the center is 28 with 14 of them male and 15, female.

He said the facilities in the national park and nature reserve namely Bako, Semenggok, Kuching Wetland (RAMSAR site), Wind Cave and Fairy Cave and Niah Cave will be given a facelift incorporating various tourist friendly elements next year.

Upgrading works include repair and replacement of jetties, plank walks and trails, signage, parking spaces, toilets, information centre and souvenir shops. The privatization of several tourist services will be carried out in the efforts to improve its quality and standard.

Numerous nature-based events such as International Frog Race and Sarawak International Bird Race will be organized to enhance tourist experience and create activities in the parks. These are niche and specialized interest events, which attract nature enthusiasts, conservationists and photographers from all over the world.

He said Kuching Waterfront landscape on both sides will be more attractive and pedestrian friendly with the completion of the walkway from Kpg Boyan to Fort Magherita, which houses the Brooke gallery and the Pedestrian Bridge or the S-Bridge in front the State Legislative Assembly Complex by end of 2017.

The area will be transformed into a vibrant weekend pedestrian zone where youth, sports, musical and dance activities alongside food and handicraft sales and hawkers will be allowed to operate.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Johari said five forts will be conserved and upgraded into regional museum under the 11^th Malaysia Plan. Work on three of them will start in early 2017 and the remaining two in 2018.

He said the construction of Santubong Archaeological Park, or Geo Park, which will incorporate Wallace Centre will start in 2017. The new product development will enhance the tourism attraction in and around Santubong Peninsular.

He said the old Dewan Undangan Negeri building will be converted into a performing arts centre to uplift the cultural aura of Kuching as the City of Unity. It will provide a permanent venue incorporating the latest State of the arts facilities and technology for local arts, music and dances.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari said the new Sarawak Museum Campus, now under construction and expected to be completed in 2018, should be able to put Sarawak on the world map as among the best museum in this region in terms of collection such as ethnographic, archaeological, zoological and historical specimens. The new museum building will be opened to visitors by 2020 once its displays and exhibits are put in place.

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, taking cognition of Sarawak’s disadvantage with regard to the issue of connectivity and accessibility has decided to pursue the charter flights approach from selected destinations to address this issue

The initiative, which started last May with the signing of an agreement with Hong Kong Airlines, which flies direct Hong Kong/Kuching/Hong Kong. The twice weekly flights, until last August ferried 2,899 foreign passport holders into Sarawak. The average seat capacity carried by the airline into Sarawak for the period stood at 73%.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has also been signed with a Taiwan based See Mark Travel Services, an air charter company to mount 20 flights into Sarawak next year. It is expected that the 20 chartered flights will bring in 3,200 tourists with estimated tourism receipt of RM10.4 million.

He said Sarawak has also signed a similar MOU with a travel agent in Hebei, China to ensure movement of tourists and tourism related business between Hebei Province and Sarawak.

Currently STB is in negotiation with several more China - based charter companies and airlines to mount charter flights to Sarawak and to provide ease of travel for tourists between China and Sarawak.

The State Government, in the efforts to position Miri as the entry hub for the Northern Region of Sarawak, has exercised its autonomy on Immigration by issuing special passes for visitors coming in via Miri Airport or Sungai Tujuh CIQS. This is because Sungai Tujuh and Miri Airport are not being gazette as Visa on Arrival (VOA) entry point.

Besides, the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture together with Sarawak Tourism Board, Miri Resident Office and the industry players will explore other accessibilities in selling Miri - Mulu as a joint tourism destination. Efforts will also be made to provide alternative mode of accessibility by road and long boat to promote the UNESCO heritage site of Mulu and its surrounding areas.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari said the home stay program, which is becoming more popular, will be further enhanced in term of capacity building and product diversification in line with the Community - based Eco Tourism strategy or CBET.

A total of 35 home stays and 515 operators have been registered under this program. As of last September, a total of 23,292 tourists visited the home stays bringing in an estimated revenue of RM3 million to the local community.

Events and festivals continued to lure both domestic and foreign tourists and at the same time providing business opportunities to the locals.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari said a ratio of 63% Malaysians to 37% non- Malaysians attended the 19th edition of the Rainforest World Music Festival held at Sarawak Cultural Village. The highest percentage of non - Malaysians came from United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Singapore and parts of Europe. The spin-off to the economy was estimated at RM35 million.

A total of 200 foreign media personnel comprising bloggers as well as the print and electronic media with an estimated media value of RM50 million covered the event.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari said Sarawak Tourism Board, for the first time, collaborated with Malaysia Association of Hotels and Malaysia Shopping Malls Association in creating activities for two months prior to the festival to ensure that festivities were not centered around the Damai area only.

The economic spin-off and income generated from the sales of foods, handicrafts and hawkers, accommodations and other services was estimated at RM1.4 million.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari said the ASEAN International Film Festival and Awards (AIFFA), Borneo International Kite Festival, Pesta Irau Aco, Pesta Babulang, Borneo Cultural Festival and Pesta Benak were among the icon events that attracted visitors to Sarawak.

He believed Sarawak Convention Bureau has been able to position Sarawak as a 2nd tier leading Business Events destination in the Asia - Pacific region. A total of 45 bids, bringing in 19,374 were won until last September as compared to 48 bids bringing in 12,670 delegates in 2015. Direct delegates expenditure was estimated at RM36.5 million as compared to RM23.4 million in 2015.

The 33rd Pan-Pacific Business Conference in Miri saw scholars, executives and Government officials from 24 Pacific-Rim countries discussing on effective utilization of human resources, technological development and multilateral economic activities across borders;.

The 15th International Peat Congress in November in Kuching gathered approximately 1000 delegates from 30 countries conferring on the responsible use of peat lands and the preservation of their unique dynamics and natural biodiversity.

The 55th International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) held in Kuching from November 13 to 16, was one of the few second tier destinations in the world to host the most important congress in the realm of business events. The event attracted 863 delegates from 59 countries and generated RM2.5 million in Direct Delegates Expenditure.

Datuk Amar Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari said the Federal Ministry of Tourism and Culture Malaysia (MOTAC) has been a strong supporter in funding the above events and festivals. The business events have brought in foreign delegate spending and opportunities for corporate social responsibility initiatives and legacy building, education, research and technology exchange.

The Sarawak Tourism Board, which has been tasked to spearhead the promotion and marketing of Sarawak as a tourism destination has to leverage on technology and the social media to for the purpose. A very comprehensive digital tool known as the “Sarawak Apps” is now being developed.

The State’s E-learning module introduced in Germany early this year was well received among German speaking agents making it as a training platform for the front liner staff for virtual learning of the destination to facilitate better information sharing with their customers.

MuluView

Focusing on rural development transformation

2016-12-20T22:55:00.000-08:00

The rural household, based on the Income Survey in 2014, earns 44.2% less than the average urban household, whilst the Bottom 40 only earned 16.6% of the income as compared to 38.0% of the Middle 40.

Besides, the budget, in pursuing the objective to narrow the development gap between urban and rural areas, allocates RM2.9 billion or more than 50% of its total allocation for rural areas.

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Development of infrastructure connectivity to spur growth

2016-12-19T22:53:00.000-08:00

Infrastructure in most parts of Sarawak should be regarded as economic infrastructure to precipitate economic growth and other significant positive spillovers. Sarawak does not want to be left behind as other parts of Malaysia are looking at high speed trains and working towards developed and high-income economy.

However, the geographical landscape of Sarawak is challenging. The remoteness of some areas makes maintenance and building quite difficult. The job is a challenging one but the State government is committed to deliver to the people what is required of it and it accepts no excuses, just results.

Deputy Chief Minister, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Anak Masing), who is also the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transport, in his winding speech during the debate on Budget 2017 in the recent sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, said the infrastructure must be developed in tandem to cater to the requirements of economic activities.

Essentially, the State must be able to cater, match, anticipate, expand and plan for cost effective and efficient transportation system in the era of economic globalization, to be globally competitive.

The State Government is implementing Sarawak Socio- Economic Transformation Plan (SETP) covering a period of 15 years from 2016 to 2030 to develop all aspects of economy from roads, airports, ports, water, electricity, telecommunications, ICT, healthcare to educational infrastructure. These are crucial to attract investments and to facilitate business activities within the State.

Basically, the 11^th Malaysia Plan, with the aims to provide seamless and systematic infrastructure and services, will focus on enhancing and integrating various modes of transportation into what is known as multi-modal transportation with the aim to strengthen economic growth and help Sarawak to expand businesses within and beyond the State.

Datuk Amar Dr. James Masing said the Socio-Economic Transformation (SETP) for the period from 2016 to 2030, is a comprehensive long-term development plan to accelerate economic growth and reduce income disparities not only between regions, but also among various strata within the society.

In this regards, the State Government has established the State Transformation Committee, being headed by the Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Adenan Hajim Satem and supported by three (3) Cabinet Committees namely Cabinet Committee on Socio-Economic Transformation, Cabinet Committee on Rural Transformation (RT) and Performance and Service Delivery Transformation to achieve the rural goal of becoming a developed State by 2030.

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Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Anak Masing, who chairs the Cabinet Committee on Rural Transformation (RT), said his committee has been assigned to transform the rural landscape by accelerating the provision of basic economic and social infrastructure to the scattered rural population within the shortest time possible. This is indeed one challenging task – but not one that is impossible.

He said the onus is on every one to do what they can to bring improvements to the lives of those who have given us their trust. Hence, all must be committed to the tasks and work as a team regardless of political affiliations. The people must put their heads together and think out of the box in bringing new ideas on how best to deliver the jobs in their hand.

He said members of his team learnt a lot during their recent trip to China, being a huge country, which faces very high demand in its requirement to cater for not only the mobility of population but also trade and cargo. They solve this problem by adopting what is known as ‘multimodal transportation’ system.

Multimodal transportation system is basically transportation chains where deliveries of people or goods are made possible by connecting different modes of transport, for example, by bus then to a train, followed by river transport and then airplane all in a practical, scheduled and harmonized manner from point A to its final destination.

It is possible for Sarawak, with various modes of transport put together based on geographical terrain, budget constraints and trade requirements to emulate the multimodal system and formulate one that will suit the State. The transportation’s basic purpose is more than moving goods and people from one place to another.

Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Anak Masing said the State Government, in the efforts to develop an efficient and holistic transportation network, faces geographical challenges, budget constraints, sparse population distributions and other hindrances along the way.

He recalled in 1963, there were only about 600 kilometres of roads in and around major towns in Sarawak with rivers as main mode of transportation. Currently, Sarawak has around 30,000 KMs of roads including Pan Borneo Highway.

Although major towns and cities in Sarawak are connected by roads, much of the rural areas have been left devoid of any connectivity. As a result, much focus is required to plan for, and to connect these areas to allow our State to turn these under-utilized lands into productive assets.

He believed the 1,073 KMs Pan Borneo Highway when fully completed will provide road users with R5 JKR standard road, and toll free journey from Telok Melano to Merapok where it will connect to the Pan Borneo Sabah Highway.

He said the extensive traffic diversions may be required at certain areas, with the Pan Borneo highway in full swing, during the construction period. However, respective Work Packages Contractors (WPC) will provide necessary detours and diversions while maintaining a bidirectional traffic flow at all times. Monitoring of overall traffic management will also be conducted.

He said Budget 2017, Rakyat-centric budget, budgeted 73% or RM5.9 billion out of the amount of RM8.1 billion for development and RM2.2 billion or 27% for operating expenditure.

Out of the budget, more than 50% or RM2.9 billion has been allocated for rural areas, which is higher than the allocations for the previous two years namely for the year 2015 and the year 2016.

He said the State, with a strong Government after securing a strong mandate in the 11^th State General Election, will implement development that has been pledged to the people. For example, the Nyabau-Bakun Junction has commenced while all packages under the Pan Borneo Highway Phase 1 Development project have been awarded, with some under mobilization and others under construction.

He said the State Government has mandated a policy for 30% Bumiputera participation in all Pan-Borneo Highway Work Packages with the ultimate objective to raise the standard of Bumiputera contractors’ exposure to diverse range of roads and civil works.

He suggested Work Package Contractor (WPC), which has appointed Bumiputera contractors to honor any Letter of Intent (LOI) and Bumiputera contractors, who have been appointed to deliver their end of the bargain.

Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing said a well-planned development with an efficiently implemented transportation infrastructure would provide good base for economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. He ence, the State will strive to implement projects in accordance with priority and availability of resources. The Ministry will not entertain over-planning as it is a waste.

He said the Ministry, entrusted with millions of fund allocated for infrastructure development, as the planner and implementer, must ensure that every cent should be churned into productivity and bring benefits to the people, who look at roads and highway as means of transportations.

The Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Transportation (MIDT)’s objectives and mission is to create road networks for Sarawak. Hence, it needs to focus on both the short - term and long - terms strategies.

He said the objective is based on the principle that infrastructures are built based on the need and not want. The designs and objectives are based on the understanding that the State has limited funds and resources. Consequently, roads, ports and airports are built based on what the State’s need and not want.

On the land corridor between the Pan Borneo Highway and the coastal area of Sarawak resides 63% of Sarawak’s 2.6 million populations. The lands, where 2/3 of Rakyat live, are devoid of good access road; hence, there is lack of development.

The Ministry proposes a second Trunk Road, which runs from Sibu to Kuching. The 1st trunk road is Pan Borneo Highway. The Second trunk road, or Sarawak Express Way, will run between the current Coastal Road which hugs the coast and the Pan Borneo Highway near to Kalimantan Border.

The Second Trunk Road, which will run between the current coastal area and the Pan Borneo Highway, will reduce the travelling distance from Sibu to Kuching by 200 km. It It can save travelling time from Kuching to Sibu or vice-versa by 2 to 2½ hours. The distance from Sibu to Kuching via Pan Borneo Highway is about 400km.

The Ministry is also proposing another main highway, which runs from Sebuyau at the mouth of Batang Lupar to Sri Aman and join Pan Borneo Highway at Betong. The distance is about 85km. However, this is not the end of MIDT’s vision to create major road networks in Sarawak.

The Ministry is planning another highway, which will run towards North East from Betong along the border with Kalimantan, Indonesia. The proposed interior highway with a distance of about 300km will end at Ulu Sungai Baleh where Baleh Hydro Dam is located.

This will allow, apart from opening the land in Ulu Sungai Layar, Pakan, Julau, Kanowit, Song and Kapit, for quick accessibility to the border regions with Indonesia. The proposed interior highway will allow economic development in the areas, which will not be developed due to distance and inaccessibility, ensure the security of assets, like dams and other sensitive installations along the border.

He his Ministry’s objectives thrust and vision are to build extensive road networks for the future of Sarawak to catch up with Peninsular Malaysia, which has North South Highway, East West Highway and East West Speed Train.

However, this will NOT happen overnight as adage is “Rome is not built in one day”. Hence the people, members of the opposition included, must be patient and support the proposal. To quote here a Chinese proverb, which says:“a journey of thousand miles starts from a small step.

He agreed that railway transportation, which is a major part of it multimodal transportation system, would be a cheaper alternative compared with the present mode of using cargo truck, provided that there is economy of scale and the railway could be used in full capacity.

He said his Ministry would like to see railway being developed for logistic growth especially in the SCORE corridor. At the present moment, it is pre-mature because State neither has the passengers nor the volume of cargo to substantiate such investments.

He said several flyovers have been built over the years as the State Government is committed in solving traffic congestions in the urban areas namely Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri. Construction of an underpass project at Kipali Roundabout and widening of several roads are also part of the solutions to improve the situation.

The State government, as long term solution to traffic woes, is working together with the Federal Government to implement the pilot project of Stage Bus Service Transformation (SBST) program in Kuching.

All the groundwork for the Stage Bus Service Transformation (SBST) has been done with network operator identified, bus routes verified, bus schedule and frequency determined and contract agreement negotiated. The SBST Kuching is ready to take off.

The Government is working on an alternative arrangement for the SBST contract agreement to be implemented soonest possible to ease traffic congestion in Kuching. The problem of traffic congestion will get worse if it is not ‘nipped in the bud’.

Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Anak Masing said his ministry is contemplating at creating a Traffic Management Unit (TMU) to carry out studies to examine the causes of traffic congestions and possible solutions in Sarawak. TMU is still at its early formation stage.

The stage bus service is under the authority Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat (SPAD) or Road Transportation Commission, which has no authority in Sarawak. The State Government is asking the authority of the PM’s Department for the funds from SPAD to be transferred to the State. It will start work on the system on how best to reduce traffic congestion as soon as PM’s Department gives the authority to do so.

Priority has to be given in indentifying critical areas that need street lightings as it is not possible to construct street lightings at every road as financial resources are not infinite.

He said his Ministry looks at road safety seriously as when life is at stake, “no detail is too small” and “no effort too big” to be considered relating to road safety. The ministry, with JKJR, has conducted many safety awareness programs and campaigns over the years, especially during festive seasons. But the effectiveness of the programs seems to have faltered.

Motorists seem to have gone immune to messages, work on older generations but not on younger generations. Obviously, there is a need to look at a fresh approach and methods that could tickle the imagination of motorists to ensure that the safety messages get through to them.

Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Anak Masing most of local ports are river ports, which encounter shallow draughts with siltation as one of the major culprits. A shallow draught restricts bigger vessels from accessing the ports and hinders their growth and competitiveness.

He said the Federal Government has approved the dredging of Sungai Sarawak, which will commence in 2017. Once completed, bigger vessels including cruise ships will be able to berth at Senari and Pending Terminal.

He said there is a need for all the port authorities to work together in identifying each other's strengths as different ports serve different areas due to logistic reasons and work together to complement each another as one.

In this connection, a higher level working platform consisting of members from all port authorities, related business stakeholders and maritime industries will be required with the objective to collaborate, coordinate, promote and conduct appropriate observations to further improve the performance of the port industry.

Besides, the platform will be able to give feedback on existing ordinances and by-laws and make suggestions on out-dated regulations, standardization of Port’s work processes, rate and charges.

Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing is confident that the platform, which could look at areas on collaborated marketing strategies in attracting more shipping lines to the shores of Sarawak, will be a dawn of a new era for the ports and bring greater improvement to the industry.

The number of passengers travelling on registered boats recorded an increase at 7.5% from 2,663,483 in 2014 to 2,865,314 in 2016 based on statistics from Sarawak Rivers Board. Hence, serious attention is being accorded to the safety issue due to high volume of users.

He said the cargo handled at Sarawak Rivers Board’s wharves was recorded at 500,319 tons in 2016, which indicate that the river transport is very relevant to the economic development of the State, especially in the rural areas. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a sunset industry facing its twilight days.

He said there have been no fatal accidents involving passenger boats since 2015 after strict Safety measures like No Ticket No Entry Policy, One Life Jacket One Person, Departure Passes, being enforced by Sarawak River Board.

His Ministry is the principle policy maker, working together with the Ministry of Transportation (MOT), Malaysian Aviation Commission (MAVCOM) and Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) with respect to air transport for Sarawak.

The State will be able to ensure efficient travelling time for passengers and cost effective manner by monitoring the demands and needs of the rural air services routes. Recently, Malaysian Aviation Commission carried out the study of Rural Air Services with the stakeholders in Sarawak, to ascertain the needs of the people for rural air services. The State has yet to receive their findings or proposal.

MuluView

Sarawak to promote positive image of oil palm industry

2016-11-14T16:54:00.002-08:00

The opening of the Tropical Peat Research Laboratory (TPRL) Complex by the Yang di-Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud was actually his vision that has become a reality.

It was an admirable vision as the primary task of TPRL is to carry out researches on tropical peat land with a view to convert an otherwise uncultivable land into a productive and sustainable asset.

Sarawak, with a total land mass of 12.4 mil hectares, has about 1.6 mil hectares of peat land or 13% of Sarawak’s land, which is equivalent to 63% of Malaysia’s peat land.

The Director of Tropical Peat Research Complex, Dr.Lulie Melling, in her welcoming speech during the opening of the Complex said its establishment was to meet the challenge posed by the fourth Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud (who served from March 26 1981 to February 28, 2014), who wanted the unproductive peat land to be turned into a sustainable asset for the benefits of the people and the state.

Then tropical peat was the last frontier of arable land available for industrial and agricultural development especially for oil-palm cultivation. Understandably, tropical peat with its barren qualities, are the least researched and understood soil among tropical soils in the State.

The State Legislative Assembly approved the establishment of Tropical Peat Research Laboratory Unit under the Chief Minister’s Office June 2008.

It truly reflected the State Government’s awareness on the need to conduct research and development on peat land as part of the overall efforts to push the boundary of development for the benefits of the State and the nation towards the year 2020 and beyond.

The research laboratory started humbly in June 2008 by sharing the same building with the soil Management Branch of the Department of Agriculture at the State Complex, Jalan Badruddin, Kuching.

However, the laboratory, with the vision as a world leader in tropical peat research, constantly pursue better research facilities to cater for its rapidly growing research activities.

The Laboratory’s relentless efforts to build a research complex came into being with the commencement of the ground work of the complex on September 2012 with an approved allocation of RM40 million.

Dr. Lulie Melling said the complex, during a short period of time has received commendation from visiting researchers and guests for its qualities. It is a recognition for the State in respect of its capacity and capability of conducting quality scientific researches and implementing the findings effectively.

She believed TPRL Unit, with the availability of the new facilities, will become more productive in contributing towards the sustainable utilization of peat land for oil palm, pineapple and other cash crops for greater economic benefits of the State and people.

She said TPRL, which has risen significantly to face the challenge, will conduct several very critical peat land researches in collaboration with some international research bodies; these efforts have already enhanced the credibility of TPRL R & D’s output globally.

She attributed the success of the laboratory to the foresight of the Government in recognizing the need for the rural people, especially those living in the peat land areas, to be able to participate in organized agriculture to enhance their economic welfare.

She believes TRPL, with the new research facilities available in the complex, will be able to transform idle peat land to be productive sustainably.

In this way, the State can prove to the detractors that their criticisms against, for example, the development of oil palm plantations on peat land are unjustified.

Regrettably, certain quarters, mainly in Europe, In the name of environment and sustainable development, have been making unfounded allegations against palm oil in global trade.

She said they are not only selfish but ignorant of the fact that trading palms oil is not only a source of revenue for the government but giving employment to the people those in coastal and remote rural areas of Sarawak in particular.

More importantly, scientific data, which TPRL strives to provide as part of its R & D outputs, can easily debunk any misunderstanding or distorted information on oil palm plantation on peat land.

She believes claims by the detractors of oil palm, which is increasingly becoming a very important Economic Security Crop of the State, the nation and the South-east Asia region, will be seen unjustified once the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Code of Practice (COP) will be put in place fully.

She said more R & D activities can be carried out on peat land with the deployment of new facilities at the complex. This in turn, will boost further the growth of oil palm industry with the target of doubling or even tripling of palm oil production achievable in the near future.

She said the knowledge derived from researches of TPRL is conclusive and undisputable. It provides practical applications and development that can permeate throughout a multitude of arenas, ranging from local economy to influencing international scientific perceptions on the utilization of peat land.

She said TPRL has set a goal to intensify efforts in developing the peat land for planting oil palm and other cash crops. It stands to develop networking with other agencies such as Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) in promoting a positive image of the oil palm industry globally.

The TPRL, through its national and international networks, could help to ensure the needs of planters and other industrial players be accounted for; it will endeavor to formulate more practical and realistic applications in the field.

The international reputation of TPRL, as center for tropical peat research, has resulted in increasing collaboration with other international research bodies. This was given further impetus by the honor given to TPRL to host the 15^th International Peat Congress, first time being held away from its normal venues in Europe and North America.

The TPRL, by hosting the Congress, caught the world’s recognition that Sarawak has world- class research complex. The laboratory complex has acquired a world-class facility to match its reputation.

Obviously, it is justifiable for the State Government to continue to support TPRL in promoting close cooperation with industries to encourage the innovation and commercialization of ideas.

Understandably, TPRL, as a new research institution, requires more quality and high-impact research at all levels via educational policy in order to increase talent pool and enhance human capital development for better quality research.

Besides, TPRL still needs a policy framework to enable it and the industry players to operate more professionally. The scientists and stakeholders, on their part, will do their best to assist the government to come up with solution on matters relating to the development of peat land.

Dr. Lulie said TPRL will be able to form a united front in protecting fellow kinsmen, who are depending on land for livelihood, without causing destruction to the environment, with continued ownership and involvement of the stakeholders.

She said the ultimate goal of TPRL, which is working in close association with the private sector in carrying out R & D projects, is to ensure that the future generations will be able to inherit the environment and natural resources. It is a struggle that the people comprising diverse ethnic and religious groups should pursue together.

The TRPL Complex, cited on a 75- acre plot of land, can accommodate 50 scientists and 150 supporting staff and still having ample of space for future expansion.

The complex, the first of its kind in Malaysia is being designed as an “all-in-one campus” with science research parks and comprehensive facilities that encourage collaborative research and development (R & D) between the public and private sector, academia and international communities.

Dr.Lulie said the state-of-the-art complex, which accommodates a research laboratory and facilities, will attract more people especially on all aspects of the peat land for the benefits of Sarawakians and Malaysians.

She believes there is a lot that laboratory complex together with other relevant government departments and agencies and the private sector can do to take Sarawak to greater height of progress and prosperity.

Undoubtedly, this kind of cooperation augurs well for a creation of bonding to ensure that the objectives of the industry are kept in proper perspective for years to come in order to develop sustainably.

Then the development of a large-scale oil palm industry, the uplifting of the livelihood of the people and implementation of other forms of agricultural activities can be realized nation-wide.

The establishment of the laboratory, the brainchild of Tun Abdul Taib, will work together with relevant government department and agencies and the private sector in combined efforts to turn tropical peat land to become productive and sustainable asset.

Dr. Lulie said Sarawak would forever be grateful to Tun Abdul Taib foresight, without which the plantation industry will not be where it is today. Additionally, his VISION makes the establishment of TPRL, a reality in the serve of the people, State and country.

Personally, she considers it an honor to have been entrusted to man the laboratory complex and play a crucial supporting role in the expansion of the plantation industry in Malaysia, Sarawak in particular.

Mulu View

Tough task to develop communication facilities in Sarawak

2016-11-13T09:30:00.000-08:00

One of the hardest things that Sarawak, with a land surface of 124,450 Sq.KM, has to do is to conquer the distance between people in the upper reaches of rivers and low lying coastal areas with those in urban areas namely in towns or cities.

Hence, the development of infrastructure connectivity and telecommunication facilities is critical not only to connect the people in a small population of about 2.6 million people but to accelerate the pace of socio - economic development towards the year 2020 and beyond, in the case of Sarawak 2030.

The people live in small groups in more than 5,000 settlements of traditional villages or longhouses, scattered throughout the State. Sarawak’s population, comprising 27 distinct ethnic groups speaking more than 40 different languages and dialects, is multi-racial, multi-linguistic, multi-religious and multi-cultural with vibrant colorful traditions.

The Yang di Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during the 15^th anniversary dinner of Sarawak Communication Facilities Development Authority (SACOFA ) said there were already an urgent need to extend the telecommunication facilities from less than 100 telecom towers in the midst 90s to cover the next 3,000 settlements in Sarawak. Undoubtedly, it was an immense and a very difficult task.

He said the State could not afford the slow pace of development largely due to many tiers of administration in getting things done in the process of development. Then, the State had to depend on Telecommunication department, which was Federal entity, to develop its facilities when it was already pre-occupied with the development in Peninsular Malaysia, in the Klang valley in particular.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled when Dato Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamed, then the Prime Minister of Malaysia, asked about his opinion how to extend the development of telecommunication in Sarawak, his reply was that Sarawak ought to have a separate body to do so.

He said Sarawak had peculiar challenges, which entailed many different conditions of working, in developing telecommunication network in Sarawak unlike in Peninsular Malaysia. On top of that, there were already immediate demands for the extension of coverage of telecommunication facilities over the whole of Sarawak within a short time.

Tun Abdul Taib felt it was only yesterday that the former Prime Minister asked him about his opinion how to extend the development of telecommunication in Sarawak. It is a classic example that time passes very quickly.

He had to convince the former Prime Minister that Sarawak should have a separate body not only to implement the expansion program of telecommunication but also to manage them. Thanks to his understanding, the State government could form SACOFA to start the development of telecommunication facilities in Sarawak.

He was confident that Sarawak could handle the difficult task as it had already handled a lot of difficult tasks like building primary schools through the local authorities of the State Government and those relating to the development of other infrastructure, which required the full concentration and expertise of the local people.

Thanked to Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir for his understanding of the local situation, the State Government, through SACOFA, could work hard and fast to extend the existing telecommunication facilities to cover the rest of Sarawak.

Tun Abdul Taib said the development of telecommunication facilities was not only to help the people to enjoy facilities that were already available but those in the forms of widespread telecommunication facilities that would come in the future.

Even by then the State government’s desire was to cover all the villages or longhouses that had been being left out or yet to be covered. It was determined to develop the necessary telecommunication facilities so that children could enjoy the same IT facilities as those in developed countries.

Tun Abdul Taib’s primary concerned was, as Malaysia had already set a target to become a developed country by the year 2020, Sarawak would not be able to do so if it could not develop telecommunication facilities on the same scale as Peninsular Malaysia by the year 2020.Therefore, Sarawak must try to do it as quickly as possible. It was against this background that SACOFA was set up.

He is happy that SACOFA, since its inception, has been able to work hard in implementing the telecommunication development programs to cover the state. Sarawak, by having an organization being created for development of its telecommunication facilities, should be able to develop sufficient facilities for connectivity for the state to communicate efficiently with the rest of the country and the world.

Obviously, SACOFA has been able to cover all the locations of telecommunication towers, though the construction of some of them takes some time in places out of nowhere, where they are needed by the people.

Tun Abdul Taib believed SACOFA, with the support of the State government, would be able develop more telecommunication towers in order to achieve the targets of its programs. The Federal government, which had big fund for telecommunication development, had been generous in its support for Sarawak in the development of its telecommunication facilities to cover numerous settlements including towns that had yet to be covered by the facilities.

He thanked SACOFA for being able to implement lots of programs with the intention to get rural areas to be covered as quickly as possible. The meaning of as soon as possible in Sarawak is not the same thing as in Peninsular Malaysia or even Sabah.

He said Sarawak has a program, which is committed to bring Sarawak to reach the stage of the conclusion of its development by the 2030; Sarawak has adopted 2030 as the final date by which most of its major development programs will come to conclusion.

Tun Abdul Taib thanked the State Government and SACOFA for doing a good job in developing the much - needed facilities for connectivity in communication in the State. In this regards, the whole education system needs communication facilities in order to bring up children to keep abreast with the development and progress of children in Peninsular Malaysia. It should also help them to keep up with the spread of quality education as has been taking place in more developed countries.

Essentially, Sarawak needs a network of telecommunication connectivity, which can be done not only by wire connection, which is expensive, but by series of towers, connected with each other, and connection through satellite. No doubt this is very expensive but there is no alternative for Sarawak.

Sarawak has had the difficulty of getting the facilities in advance to spread telecommunication connectivity in order to give opportunities to children to follow the education program of the government before.

He said SACOFA, which has to handle a big task in developing telecommunication facilities, deserves the support of both the private and public sectors to ensure that the spread of education is not being interfered because of the delay in developing the facilities that have been landed on its laps.

Personally, he wanted SACOFA to continue with its good work and should not be deterred by problems that it has to face in implementing rural telecommunication development programs in Sarawak.

He believed this would be SACOFA’s greatest performance to the future generation of children, who should be as good as those in other parts of the country in enjoying the improvement in the telecommunication system. It would enable the State to upgrade education in preparing children with dynamism, talents and the ability to move with the change for better future.

Sarawak or the whole country for that matter needs manpower with good education and skills and a good connection in the country and the rest of the world. Hence, Sarawak must be connected all over the world both through the towers and satellite.

Tun Abdul Taib believed SACOFA, with its experience and success during the last 15 years, could keep up with the program that it had started in order to achieve greater success

in working for Sarawak and the rest of the country. Good luck SACOFA may it can have the same kind of success in future.

The use of cellular phones, in this age of information and communications, is increasingly a necessity. The cellular telephone penetration rate in the State was 40.2 per cent under the Ninth Plan. It increased to 113 per 100 inhabitants under the Tenth Plan with the completion of new telecommunication towers throughout the State.

Obviously, it means some people have more than one hand phones each. Similarly, the broadband penetration rate has increased from 40.2 per cent under the Ninth Plan to 63.5 per cent per 100 households under the Tenth Plan.

Indisputably, the development of infrastructure connectivity and telecommunication facilities is also critical to support the economic development and social advancement of the State. Therefore, a huge financial provision for the development of a good road network is again being reflected in the 11^th Malaysia Plan from 2016 to 2020

Until the end of last year, the State was served by a road network of about 31,000 km as compared to approximately 21,000 km in the Ninth Plan. A total of 1,184 km of rural roads, out of which 223.09Km were ex-logging roads that had been upgraded since the implementation of the National Key Result Areas in respect to rural roads. The completion of the rural roads has helped to develop socio-economic activities, plantations and tourism in rural areas.

The allocation for educational development doubled from RM1.14 billion in the Ninth Plan to RM2.5 billion in the Tenth Plan. The allocation was for the building of new schools and upgrading of the existing ones and providing alternative electricity supply to them.

A sum of RM953.4 million was allocated for the development of medical and health services under the 10^th Plan as compared to RM445.0 million under the previous plan. The

allocation was meant for building and upgrading of health facilities throughout the State.

Tun Abdul Abdul Taib, who served as the Chief Minister of Sarawak from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014, had the initial task to propel, reshape and develop Sarawak, with its huge land surface and a small population. His problem was compounded by the fact that the small population was scattered in 5,000 pockets of settlements over a wide area.

Then, the State had inherited a very poor network of roads. The settlements, comprising villages and longhouses, were distant apart with the distance of anything between three to 100 miles apart.

Tun Abdul Taib realized, apart from having a strong political will, his administration must have efficient administrative service with good delivery system and enjoy a strong support from the people.

Sarawak must reach a per capita Gross National Income of USD15,000 or RM 49,500 as defined by the World Bank in order to achieve the objective of a high–income status by 2020.

This implies that Sarawak must double real growth to 8.5 per cent per annum from now until the year 2020, which is quite impossible to achieve. Besides, the State must address seriously the income disparity and development gaps mainly between urban and rural areas.

With a projected growth rate of 6.5 per cent per annum, the nominal Growth National Income per capita by the year 2020 is RM44,100, which will still be below the World Bank definition of a high income nation. However, by the year 2030 the nominal GNI per capita will reach RM82,600 which will exceed the minimum threshold of a high income nation at RM79,000 by the year 2030.

The State Government is implementing Sarawak Socio-Economic Transformation Plan (SETP), a long - term perspective plan covering a period of 15 years from 2016 until 2030 to address the problem of income disparity and development gaps between urban and rural areas.

The plan has the primary objective to focus efforts on creating high-income opportunities in new potential sources rather than diluting attention on marginal improvements in old industries. Private investments will be the main driver in the new sources of growth leveraging on the non-oil industries with the Government acting as facilitator to explore new potentials.

The State’s household average income of average RM4,293 is 14.1 per cent below the national average of RM5,060. In other words, it is far less favorable as compared to the national average.

Besides, the State is still grappling with the issue of urban–rural income disparity, which is common in all societies because of the different productivity between the urban and rural areas. In 2012, the average rural household income was RM2,754, which was half of the average urban household income of RM5,516.

The State Government acknowledges that Sarawak is still lagging behind in terms of infrastructure development although a lot of efforts have been made to address the issue. Besides, the rural areas are still largely deprived of basic needs such as roads, water and electricity supplies and accessibility to healthcare and education.

About 49 % of the population still resides in rural areas, which need sufficient basic infrastructure to be put in place to act as catalyst and enablers of development towards the year 2020 and beyond. There are still many untapped potentials in rural areas that can be developed to generate more economic activities in the areas concerned.

The main goals of the Eleventh Plan are to raise the income level and to reduce the income disparity of the people. The State is projecting an economic growth of between 6 to 7 per cent per annum. Hence, it is focusing on strategic thrusts towards achieving the desired goals.

The State government is strategizing on economic growth, strengthening growth enablers, transforming rural areas, ensuring sustainable environment and resource management, developing human capital as the catalyst of growth and enhancing the quality of life in the current development plan.

MuluView

Transformation of local agricultural produce must aim for bigger market

2016-10-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

Essentially, the development of agriculture cannot stop at the traditional style. It must be modernized in order to drag more people into some form of organization to feed a bigger and growing market. The world’s demand for commodities is growing as the population increases every year.

Hence, the question of how to produce more things in the same place where the people are consuming is a big challenge. Sometimes, things must come from distant places to demand them to produce things not only to be consumed locally but to send them to places where they are needed the most. Besides, they have to export their products to other countries in order to earn some revenues.

In the case of Sarawak, it still has to import about 70% of its rice from Thailand, Vietnam and India and about 80% of its meat mainly beef and mutton from New Zealand, Australia or even Netherland.

The Yang di Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during a youth camp organized by Sarawak Unity Board and Sarawak Development Institute (SDI) in Sempadi, Lundu, said any transformation in the local products to become a more economic venture, must have the aim of a bigger market.

The youth camp “Camp United” was attended by youth, “representatives from Generation of the future” from many African countries including Zimbabwe, Botswana and East European countries, who are studying in local institutions of higher learning.

Tun Abdul Taib believed if the local products can get a world market, they can expand almost indefinitely for some time. That was the model how Malaysia had been producing traditional commodities like rubber, palm oil and later on other small things, which are also expanding.

Essentially, the production of things must be well organized. It must have links with the market in order to succeed in the modernization of agriculture. Therefore, most of the National or State agricultural policies cannot stop at the level of production.

They must tackle the problem of marketing as well. Hence, Malaysia has many organizations that organize the market for the growers. Besides, the State must learn to develop the technique of how to make agriculture viable commercially.

Essentially, it required a system and an organization. This is why a lot of developing countries cannot move forward because they cannot come up with a system and the organization to get their products out and organize a market for them. Besides, they must agree to make their market for products from other counties once they can make more money from it.

In this regards, the people, who manage commercial activities related to the basic economy, should look outward not only to sell their products but to buy those from other people. This that is pattern that can be put in a simple term how Malaysia is being developed.

Tun Abdul Taib said the State is in a stage of development, where people want change. When he first started in politics people did not want change, he had to persuade them to change. Now they have not only changed but they want changes as fast as possible. And that is the problem of most developing countries today.

Now the question is how to get the people to participate make change to make development continuous and relatively smooth. The word participation is a very important namely the people must realize whatever change takes place must be supported by their thorough understanding of it.

More importantly, they must take some responsibility to make the change smooth and benefitting to the community as much as possible. In this regard, they must endeavor to put something in its place as it takes a lot of feeling of comfort among the people. Otherwise, the comfort, as in other countries, would be gone and the people would became restless.

Tun Abdul Taib, who served as the Chief Minister of Sarawak for 33 years from March 26, 1981 to February 28, 2014, believed in giving public explanation about development to spare the people of getting confused. In such a situation, some people would work with the government, while some of them would refuse to do so as they perceive that development should be carried out fast. This is common trend in developing countries.

He said in the case of Malaysia, Sarawak in particular, the government had to keep in keep in touch with the people on development. It must create the atmosphere that makes development a fundamental exercise in bringing the people for change.

In the process of change the people must do their part not just to support leaders but to work with them in the process of development. Admittedly, it is harder to get the people to work with their leaders. It is just like trying to compress what normally takes before the war probably two or three generations, into one generation.

Therefore, there must be greater interactions between people and their leaders, whose leadership quality must take a paramount important the idea of getting the people involved in the process of development.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled Sarawak used to have members of the public, who were hardly educated; most of them were illiterates. However, explanation by leaders and their closeness to the people on the ground, helped to get the idea of development to be participated by the people.

Generally, they managed to create an atmosphere, which was relatively quite harmonious to get the people to change with the drift of time. The first part was to get the people to understand and support their leaders in implementing what could be done by the people mainly through the concept of Gotong Royong or the concept of self -help.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled in the early days while carrying out the campaign for change, he had to persuade the people to understand what was going on in the simplest of terms or in skeleton form that they could understand easily. After that they slowly followed the government with the basic idea how they could participate in the process.

He used to have a poem of two lines of Gotong Royang Sama Sekampung, Rugi Untung Kita Tanggung, which literally means let put in our efforts together to do thing rather than being bystanders or as somebody, who stand by the side within our village or a small unit of settlement where the people interact with each other. Of course, rugi untung means they may fail or may succeed and should be responsible for the outcome.

He said it is very important for the people to feel that they have the responsibility to make development work and that is by participation. They should not go counter to the program of the government in the form of launching small development projects and working with government officers.

At least they must listen and give the chance for the idea to work either by accepting quietly or if they don’t agree from their experience, they could say it out through discussions in a positive manner.

Basically, development cannot take place without the participation of the people or without the acceptance of the people, which was not easy, particularly at the early stage because the people were quite illiterate. Therefore, conscientious efforts had to be made to get them to understand from the very beginning what they had to do to make a success of any project.

Tun Abdul Taib believed in working together with the people is to preserve the spirit of harmony and get a common idea what could affect them in their Kampung or in their area. . This took time but once the people accepted the idea they would follow and do their parts in the process of development. .

In the early days, the State used to have minor rural projects to get the people to work on small projects, which contained as much as possible efforts of the people. The state government would give them money or raw materials for such projects. The most common of them were building of roads between kampong so that people could move fast among them

Even then, the people had learnt to produce many things but were limited by market concept. They could not sell their products outside their own kampong and could not fetch good prices for them. They would stop producing things the moment they could produce enough for the Kampung or for the village.

However, once they had roads, they were encouraged to work together to produce more things, which they could sell outside their village. They were encouraged to aim for higher things to sell them outside their own villages or longhouses.

As a consequence, a few of them could find out that they had to do more than just producing things. They had to learn how to preserve things, transport their products and co-operate among them for common benefits. That was a simple beginning of an economic life for the people in a kampong or longhouse in the old days.

Tun Abdul Taib said the people started to value working together in a kampong or a basic unit of a society, as a way to increase production and establish links with the market, which can grow through production, marketing and processing of products. Of course, the products must go to towns, which have factories and people converging in them.

However, the people in a basic unit of the society must learn to co-operate among them to produce more things and learn how to sell them outside their own areas in order to get good prices for their products. That was the beginning of how farmers learn to work together.

However, a co-operative society, with the primary objective to get people to work together, could not be sustained because not “everybody can lead nor should everybody try to lead to avoid confusion”. Therefore, it must have members who could lead and learn how to compete with other people.

More importantly, the members must recognize the leadership and a sense of respect for people, who provide it. Every country has got this ladder of leadership from the very high up in the country down to towns and villages. However, the leadership must focus on bringing the people together in the process of getting their products to be market properly. That is the essence of economic development of how to bring products from a kampong or longhouse to bigger market in towns.

When people can get more money from their products, they will be motivated to increase production and work together to deliver their products to the market. When they can produce and sell more they will develop a new way of co-operation to increase production more efficiently.

Tun Abdul Taib recalled one of the hardest things the Government had to do was to conquer the distance between people in the upper reaches of rivers to towns. In the old days, almost every longhouse or kampong had a shop, being run by a guy, who was being perceived as a rich person. But the fact was he could never make a business in a longhouse of 50 families to become rich.

However, he helped the people, who were mostly farmers, to bring their products from the longhouse to towns in order to get good prices. Those were the beginning of links from the traditional and backward pattern of producing agricultural produce for self - consumption and producing more to cater for the needs other people.

However, the process would have to go through one market system that could increase the consumption of people, which is the basic idea of unifying activities of people at the Kampong level with those in towns.

Tun Abdul Taib, who was once the Minister of Primary Industries during his service of 13 years in the Federal Cabinet, said Malaysia was, initially, rubber producers. After that it became palm oil producers. The two commodities helped to make Malaysia very prosperous.

He said the country started to produce palm oil in anticipation that the consumption for oil could not be supplied by the normal traditional source namely the old style oil production. For example, oil from fish and other small things could not be produced fast enough to meet the requirement of the people.

So the country decided to produce palm oil in a big quantity, much more that those being produced in West African countries through a more efficient system. The country had been fortunate of having entrepreneurs or people, who could understand bigger market conditions, from their experience in dealing with small market.

He said rubber and palm oil, which started very small, grew to become big commodities because the country had access to the world market. Actually, the country had been trained to participate in the world market well before the Second World War.

Tun Abdul Taib believed towns in Sarawak would grow bigger in a more organized way as people with more money and could buy more things through the modernization of agriculture towards the year 2030. As a consequence, the State will have commerce both ways.

But the farmers cannot become rich unless they become ambitious. In a lot of countries where the marketing or the business side of agriculture is not being developed farmers cannot increase production. But in place where market touches the life of farmers, they become very ambitious. They produce more and better quality products.

Besides, they also watch how they can produce things that they used to buy from outside. So that is the beginning of manufacturing. This is the general pattern of the development that entails market functions, which can become more sophisticated commercial activities of developing countries.

Tun Abdul Taib believed the development of other things like commercialization and manufacturing must have a program of educating young people to prepare themselves to shoulder all the changes in future. Obviously, they must be given good incentives and better profits in whatever activities they do towards achieving the desired objectives.

In this regards, young people, as agents of change, must have open mind to accept and institute changes as everything has got to change in pursuit of progress and advancement. Otherwise, the country cannot progress.

Obviously, the education system must be enhanced in order to create more people with knowledge, skills and expertise because specialization will come up more and more. Therefore, the country must be able to produce more people with expertise to tackle the more sophisticated aspects of commerce and production methods to increase input in agriculture.

In this regards, agriculture must be nursed with knowledge that can induce greater production and make people to be alive with activities to exploit whatever they find as the subjects matter of commerce. That is how the country is being developed from an agricultural economy to become an overall industrialized economy.

Besides, young people must work for change in the process of development. Generally, young people in all countries of the world want change and better things. Hence, efforts must be made to translate change into productivity.

However, the work of getting productivity rests with the people, who are actually producing things and providing services. Hence, they should move up the efficiency of producing things in a better way.

In this regards, young people must arm themselves with knowledge to increase productivity and make production cheaper so that the products can reach wider market in order to create new opportunities in commerce and business in the country.

The Ministry of Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Economy, which is a merger of three former Ministries, namely the Ministry of Modernization of Agriculture (MOMA), the Ministry of Land Development (MLD) and part of the Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), is focusing on economic programs that will contribute to the objective of raising rural incomes and increasing export earnings as well as food security and sustainability.

It has already established a strategic rural economy task force to ensure improved coordination, better integration and greater effectiveness, under a single chain of command in the overall efforts to transform the rural economy

Currently, the rural economy services are provided by 32 agencies comprising 18 Federal and eight (8) State agencies as well as six (6) Statutory Bodies/GLCs involved in rural economic development. These agencies may have different objectives and perceptions of planning direction and priorities though they are targeting the same group.

The Ministry of Modernization of Agriculture and Rural Economy, being led by Deputy Chief Minister, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, has already formulated a Master Plan for the development of Palm Oil Industry, Master Plan for Rubber Industry Development and the Establishment of Department of Veterinary Services towards achieving the desired objectives.

MULUVIEW

Developing energy based industries, a way forward

2016-10-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sarawak’s first foray into hydropower was Batang Ai hydro dam built in 1980 with the generating capacity of 94MW. It took two decades for Bakun dam, with a generating capacity of 2,400 MW to come about. Of course, Bakun dam is considered to be the largest in Asia outside China.

The Murum dam, with the generating capacity of 944 MW of power will bring the total of installed capacity of hydropower to around 3,500 MW. This should pace the state past the halfway marks towards reaching Sarawak Energy’s goal of having 6,000 MW in place by 2030.

By building these hydropower dams, the State government has to develop the associated infrastructure development to reach remote rural areas like Murum, Bakun and Batang for the benefit of the people, who at one time depended on rivers as their main form of transportation.

The Yang di Pertua Negeri, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech at the opening of Murum hydroelectricity dam last Tuesday, said its completion is the peak of efforts that provides a good knowledge and experience to the state in developing future hydro dams should the need arise.

He congratulated the State Government under the leadership of Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Haji Satem, the Chief Minister for the success in completing Murum hydro project, which the people have been waiting for all these while.

He believed the state’s future development would continue to rest in the ability to be bold, welcome new ideas and work together, no matter where the people work, they can do it. The leaders and the people have proven themselves to be capable and bold in carrying out development for the State.

He said the completion of Murum hydro should provide the experience and ability to harness human resources and careful financial management to develop more energy - based industries in future. That is the way ahead and that is the way to prosperity. The people should continue to work hard to achieve the desired goal.

Tun Abdul Taib congratulated all those who had been working very hard to make the success of all the hydro projects.

He thanked the people of Sarawak, who, sometimes, had to experience their areas being acquired for the projects and they had to be resettled in new places. Understandably, they have to experience changes in the process of development in order to improve their way of life in future.

He believed with the experience in developing Batang Ai and Bakun, the State Government could look at some difficult areas to develop by going to the most remote areas of Sarawak to harness hydro energy. At the moment only half of the hydro potential has been developed. The other half could be developed in order to attract more energy intensive industries into the state.

Tun Abdul Taib believed that the State’s population would increase sufficiently to support energy- based industries to come provided it could maintain the momentum to develop comparatively cheaper sources of energy from hydro.

He said the people have shown themselves to be co-operative in welcoming development right at the water heads of rivers in the midst of our mountain. They have been able to adjust themselves to welcome the people from outside to work among them in the process of development.

Obviously the communities being affected by state energy development projects such as in Murum, Bakun and Batang Ai are embracing change and benefiting from it.

Tun Abdul Taib said the State is approaching a stage where almost 1 million hectares of lands have been opened up for agriculture through large - scale development and the partnership of the government with the private sector.

He said there is a limitation to develop Sarawak unless efforts could be made to get more industries to come. The State has limited size of population and sources of minerals and other things, which normally attract factories and industries to come in.

However, the State leaders and the people have a lot of determination and ingenuity to development with the realization that the State has limited resources and small population. More importantly, they have the confidence to attract industries to come to give sufficient expansion to the economy and opportunities for young people to serve their own country.

Undoubtedly, the State has achieved a lot through the development of hydro projects, which, sometimes, certain quarters take for granted. Admittedly, the development of Murum had to go through many obstacles. But with strong determination, it had to be pushed through to harness the energy to build more energy - based industries in Samalaju and Mukah.

He said those who had been involved in developing hydro projects knew very well that they had to face a lot of problems, not only in building infrastructure, harnessing the work force but even in getting the own people to understand and welcome such efforts. Conscientious efforts had to be made to get the affected people to co-operate and support the projects.

Tun Abdul Taib is happy that even though the State has to change the pattern of development mainly due to the fact that it does not have many resources for development, it has been able to achieve the success that provides the foundation to become more successful in future.

Even though the State has gone through have many changes in the leadership, it has been experiencing uninterrupted development, as all the leaders have strong desire and determination to continue the development for the people.

They have proven themselves to be dedicated to the struggle to ensure that the people, regardless of their ethnicities, religious beliefs and localities, whether they are in coastal areas or up in the Ulus, will continue to experience progress and greater improvement in their livelihood.

However, the people must continue to work closely with the government especially in exploring new areas for development in order to accelerate its pace towards the year 2030 and beyond.

Tun Abdul Taib believed Sarawak could intensify its industrialization program with the advantage of being the site for the energy based industries the potential of hydro is still available for exploitation.

The state is home to 55 major rivers with total length of 5,000 KM. The surveyed locations that offer the best prospects for damming are situated in the State’s less populated and under developed upper central region namely Ulu Baram, Ulu Kapit and Ulu Belaga.

He said the completion of Murum hydro project, the third in the State, truly manifests the determination and resourcefulness of the State Government to continue with the project in spite of all the obstacles that it has to go through.

The State has a good history of strong unity and solidarity among the people, the state government is adopting professional approach in carrying out development.

The Murum HEP is one of the first of many milestones ahead that will mark the State’s journey towards achieving the goal of attaining the status of a developed State with high income economy by 2030.

Generally, the people expect to see further progress that will outpace other rural communities in the process of development, which obviously is being accelerated to realize the National vision 2020 of attaining the status of a developed nation with high income economy. Besides, Sarawak has specific agenda to become the most prosperous and progressive state by the year 2030.

Sarawak still has a relatively low population comprising Chinese, Ibans, Malay- Melanaus, Orang ulu spreading out across the length and breadth of the State with some very challenging terrain like the soft soggy coastline and the hilly and mountainous hinterlands, which are being dissected by deep ravines and wide mighty rivers.

About 49% of the population still lives in traditional villages and longhouses in rural areas some quite close to headwaters and remote highlands while the rest live in towns and cities.

Essentially, the main challenge in planning for the future prosperity is to ensure that everyone benefits from development, no matter where they live. For example, Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy plans a future that will benefit all Sarawakians regardless of their localities.

SCORE aims to achieve a mutually beneficial and shared prosperity for Sarawak for both urban and rural communities. This provides the basis for building an industrialised and inclusive high-income society with a good quality of life while maintaining community harmony, given the multi-ethnic and highly dispersed population.

Obviously, the State’s competitive advantage lay in the ability and capability to harness the power in Sarawak’s rivers to produce competitively priced energy to attract investors to set up industries locally and provide more jobs for Sarawakians.

At one time the people had to depend on rivers as their main form of transportation. In the early days, it would take one week to reach longhouses such as Uma Lahanan or Uma Lesong on the Balui River from Kuching. Today, it can be done in one morning.

Sarawak has come a very long way since 1963, when the people decided to embark on a shared destiny with the countries of North Borneo now Sabah, Malaya and Singapore. Back then, the people had little idea of what was in store ahead of them.

Since Malaysia was formed five decades ago, Sarawakians now enjoy better access to education, electricity, water and health. The children and grandchildren of first generation of pioneers from 1963 are now well educated, hardworking and looking for a future.

But there are still much more that needs to be done to provide the people with their future. We must be able to pre-empt how the future generations in the next 50 years will judge us for what we have been doing for them.

SCORE is the blueprint for securing them with that future so that in 2030, only 14 years from now, Sarawakians will be living in a high income state. In the ongoing efforts to develop hydropower potential to provide power for SCORE, there are many challenges.

But there are countries such as Norway, Austria and Canada that provide successful models for hydropower based development. For example, Sarawak and Sarawak Energy engaged a Norwegian Group CEO because he brings first-hand experience of what is possible - developing a country based on hydropower like Norway.

Over the past few years, Sarawak has already proven that it can produce bulk electricity to attract investment from companies from all around the world. Generally, investors have chosen Sarawak because its package of competitive power

There is nowhere else in the ASEAN region that can match Sarawak’s favourable location in the middle of the world’s fastest growing economies, political stability and a young enthusiastic and highly educated workforce.

In this regard, Sarawak Energy and other relevant agencies are marketing Sarawak as the natural destination for energy intensive industries in ASEAN with a strong portfolio of realised investment in Samalaju and Mukah.

In this regard, various agencies - in particular the State Planning Unit, RECODA, Ministry of Public Utilities, Ministry of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, Trade and Investment and Sarawak Energy, should be congratulated for their integrated efforts to make SCORE a success.

By working together, through various programs and projects to attract more private investments, SCORE is seeing unprecedented success that is out-pacing every other development corridor in Malaysia.

MULUVIEW

A commitment to build rural infrastructural connectivity

2016-07-29T01:52:00.000-07:00

There are approximately one thousand (1,000) settlements comprising traditional kampungs or villages in coastal areas and longhouses in the hinterlands, those in inaccessible areas in particular, which are still without road access throughout the length and breadth of the State.

However, it will require a total of 4,402 kilometers of roads to be constructed at an estimated cost of RM24.8 billion to connect them. As financial resources are limited, the construction of the roads has to be carried out in phases and areas requiring attention will be prioritized based on their viability, needs and urgency.

Deputy Chief Minister, Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr. James Jemut Anak Masing, who is also the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, in his winding speech during the debate on the opening speech of the Yang di Pertua Negeri during the recent sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, said the State Government, as a temporary measure, has decided to connect rural villages and kampongs via “Jiwa Murni” roads or roads being constructed by personnel of the Armed Forces as part of their community service program.

He said it is indeed timely that the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Communications to be rebranded as the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Transportation (MIDT) as this allows for better focus and specialization by the Ministry for its scope of work.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing thanked the Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi Haji Adenan Haji Satem for his confidence and trust in appointing him as a Deputy Chief Minister and the Minister for Infrastructure Development and Transportation.

He reiterated that rural infrastructural connectivity would remain one of the priorities of the State Government as part of the Rural Transformation Program (RTP). In this aspect, there is much to be done. For example, connectivity coverage for divisions such as Mukah, Kapit and Sibu are still below 70%.

However, the needs and focus of infrastructure and transportation development in urban centers and the rural hinterland are very different. For instance, while the urban and city centers request for development to solve the problems of traffic jam, the remote areas are still waiting to be connected by basic roads.

In urban areas, while precious productive hours are being wasted on roads caused by traffic congestions, the development of vast fertile lands in rural areas are crippled by absence of road connectivity.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said during his stint as the Minister for Land Development, he and his officers used to feel very frustrated that they could not fully unleash the economic potential of the vast lands as their efforts were hampered by the lack of infrastructure connectivity.

He pledged to do his utmost, as the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Transportation, to connect as many kampongs and villages, within his capacity both as the Minister and elected representative of the people.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said the Road Connectivity Lab, concluded in 2013, has furnished a comprehensive database that serves as a form of library on what, when and where roads have built and where and what the State Government needs to build in terms of Infrastructure connectivity. The ministry is concluding the findings of the Lab and the outcome will be known in due course.

He noted all the State Assemblymen or State Assemblywomen, regardless of their political leanings, had been raising issues, which were similar in nature and objectives namely to improve road connectively, traffic congestions, commuter safety and street lightings.

Generally, the Rakyat want development, they want progress and want to be at par with the rest of Malaysia in terms of development. But it is sad to note that there are some people who always obstruct to proposals for development or make very unnecessary demands towards them.

As a result, the Government’s noble intention of building roads to ensure connectivity is being frustrated by the actions of few individuals, who are always against almost anything that the Government must do in the service of the people, State and country.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said the Barisan Nasional –led State Government, as an elected Government of the day, does not pick nor choose whom it should help; it helps when help is needed. It is the Government’s sworn duty to assist the people of the State and country.

His Ministry is identifying all settlements that require road connectivity including upgrading of existing ex-logging roads or abandoned logging roads that lead to all kampongs in Ulu Baram.

In this regards, the ministry will prioritize the list of roads and seek allocation to implement them in stages pending allocations from the Government. IN this connection, the ministry will pursue with relevant State and Federal agencies for the necessary funding to implement the projects.

Besides, his ministry will also bid for the necessary funding from the State and Federal Governments based on numerous requests for new roads and upgrading of roads that have not been included in the road connectivity database.

He would knock the necessary doors and support all means to raise the necessary fund so that the Ministry could have the money to build the infrastructure needed for the betterment of the people with the required financial allocation. This includes the use of GST to get more money.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said he would pursue with the Federal Government on its intention to expedite the implementation of road projects from Nanga Ngungun and Nanga Jagau Resettlement schemes to Sungai Simujan in Ulu Ngemah.

The Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak, during his visit to Song in April 2015 approved an allocation of RM50 million to construct a Jiwa Murni road from Nanga Jagau resettlement scheme to Sungei Simujan in Ulu Sungei Ngemah, which was the original home of settlers of Jagau and Ngungun resettlement schemes. They were resettled in the 70s due to communist threat in Ulu Ngemah.

He said the affected people, now with the threat of communism gone, want to go back to their original homes but because of the distance. By long boat it will take 10 hours and by foot it will take no less than four (4) days. He visited the area last November knows the difficulties of going there.

All that the people of Jagau and Ngungun want is to go back home and start a new life after over 40 years living as immigrants in the land, which they were forced to live in. The construction of Jiwa Murni road from Nanga Jagau resettlement scheme to Sungei Simunjan in Ulu Sungei Ngemah will begin soon.

Dato Seri Mohd. Najib, during his visit to Kapit on May 2015, also approved a total allocations of RM180 million for the construction of 9.6km stretch of road from Nanga Ngemah to SK Nanga Temalat plus the upgrading of a stretch of 5.1km road with a concrete bridge to by-pass the Ngungun Resettlement Scheme.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said the physical construction of the stretch of road dubbed as the “missing link” is expected to commence next year. The construction of Kapit/Kanowit stretch of road, under four separate packages, is progressing well.

He said the proposed construction a stretch of 37km road from Rumah Jamit, Nanga Sepanggil to Sungai Tunoh through mountainous terrains will be a costly endeavor. However, the Ministry is not looking at alternative road alignments. Once the plan is finalized, JKR will submit a proposal to the Federal Government for funding to implement the project.

He said the construction of Pan Borneo Highway is proceeding smoothly after the hiccups being faced during the onset of the construction. The KOP (Kick-Off-Project) in Bintulu (43km) from Jalan Nyabau to Jalan Bakun Junction, Sematan-Telok Melano stretch (33km), Serian-Pantu Junction (74.7km) and Bintangor Junction-Sg Kua Bridge (75.6km) are all progressing as scheduled.

He said another eight packages are now in the tender stage and expected to be awarded by the end of this year. The Pan Borneo Highway, when completed, will be a stretch of 1,098km of R5 JKR road, spanning across Sarawak. Eventually, the Pan Borneo Highway will connect Sarawak with its Northern neighbor Sabah.

Except for Sematan to Telok Melano, which will be a 2-lane single carriageway, the rest will be 4-lane dual-carriage highway. The highway will be toll-free and it will be the only 4-lane dual-carriage highway in Malaysia to be toll-free.

A total of three (3) bridges each at Batang Igan, Batang Rambungan and Batang Lupar along the coastal road, with an estimated cost of RM1 Billion, were approved under the 11th Malaysia Plan.

The Batang Sadong Bridge, scheduled for completion in August 2016, will be open to the public by then. The bridges each at Batang Samarahan and Batang Tatau, now under construction, will be completed on schedule.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said the State Government, realizing the need for an efficient public transport for cities and towns, is working closely with the Federal Government to improve public bus transportation through the implementation of Stage Bus Service Transformation Program or “SBST” in Kuching, which is one of the seven cities in Malaysia being selected for the project.

If the pilot project is found to be successful, the State government will strive to replicate it

to Miri, Sibu and Bintulu in stages. It is estimated that for SBST program, which is a nationwide program, in Kuching and some routes in Samarahan, the Government will fork out about RM60 million per year and will incur RM240 million per year or more if 4 cities/towns were to be included in Sarawak.

He said the Government, through SBST program, will determine and fix the number and type of buses, the bus routes and frequency of services. Then the Government will pay a network operator to deliver the services in terms of vehicle per km. In return, the Government will receive the fare bus revenue collected from the passenger using the bus services.

He said Kuching SBST project will cover about 500km, which means 15 trunk routes and 12 feeder routes with 130 new buses. Bus frequency will range from 15 minutes to 1 hour interval depending on the routes served.

He said the five existing stage bus operators in Kuching have formed a consortium called Konsortium BBK Sdn Bhd as the Network Operator. The joint verification of routes has been conducted to determine the viability and travel time for each of the routes. The terms and conditions of contract have been firmed up for further negotiations and agreement between the stakeholders.

However, it is rather unfortunate that the signing of the SBST contract has encountered some technical setbacks in that Suruhanjaya Pengangkutan Awam Darat atau SPAD has no locus standi to enter into a contract agreement in Sarawak as its jurisdiction is limited to Semenanjung Malaysia only.

The Government is considering an alternative arrangement for the contract agreement to be entered into between the Prime Minister’s Department representing the Government of Malaysia and the Network Operator with my ministry as the Government’s authorized representative to monitor and supervise the contract.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing anticipates that the agreement could be signed before the end of this year and the operation will commence at the end of 2017. However, it may take nearly a year for the buses to be fitted with special gadgets and equipment to be delivered before they could be operational. The bus fares will be subsidized but on a user pay concept where the fare structure will be reasonable to the public. The people should not advocate free bus service.

He said traffic congestion is a curse to modernization and progress and Sarawak is no exception to it. With improved standards of living, the number of registered vehicles on road is rapidly increasing with an average of 100,000 per year, which has resulted in traffic congestion.

He said a proposal had been put up to the Ministry of Works for the upgrading of the traffic light system along the Tun Razak Road to SCATS (Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System). An estimated cost of RM395,000 will be used. The system is capable of gathering data on traffic flow in real time and making incremental adjustment for traffic signal timings based on changes in traffic flow at each inter - section.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing has requested PDRM to station traffic police personnel at various traffic signalized junctions along the road to direct and regulate traffic flow during peak hours. JKR has been directed to review and improve the traffic flow at the traffic signalized junction in front of Viva City.

He said the flyover at Medan Jaya/Tun Hussein Onn Road junction in Bintulu is currently in the design stage. Funding for its construction has been requested under Rolling Plan 2 under 11th Malaysia Plan.

The Government will also be constructing a flyover at Mile 5 junction and Mile 6 junction (Nyabau Junction) under Pan Borneo Highway Development to help alleviate the traffic congestion along Tun Hussein Onn Road.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said New Mukah Airport, which has been designed for (ATR-72) of 64-seater aircraft, is expected to be completed by September 2016 ahead of schedule. Package 2 of Mukah Airport was approved in the 11th Malaysia Plan with estimated cost of RM320 million.

The scope of work includes the construction of Terminal Building, Control Tower, Meteorological Station, Parking Apron, Pavement Works and Mechanical and Electrical Service. The package is in its final design stage.

He said the feasibility study of new Lawas airport by Consultants is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Design is expected to be carried out next year. The project is expected to commence at the earliest in 2018 with availability of funds.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said it has been the ritual for his ministry, prior to any festivities, to hold Road Safety Campaign together with JKJR, JPJ and other relevant authorities. Despite the campaigns year in and year out, Sarawak still records one fatal accident per day.

Whatever the reasons for the fatal accidents, there is a need for his ministry to take on a new approach. Officers of the Ministry will discuss with all relevant agencies to find ways and means and methods to reduce fatal accidents on roads.

Arguably, alcohol is the biggest culprit. The road safety campaign must start with the messages of the sign boards “Do Not Drink and Drive” to be placed at strategic places along the roads.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said the main challenge for River Transportation is to overcome the shallow draught at the river mouth. In this regards, the Federal Government has approved RM360 million for dredging Sarawak River under the 11th Malaysia Plan (2016 – 2020)

Besides, the Ministry of Infrastructure Development and Transportation Ministry has also submitted to the Federal Government to equip the State ports with “Vessel Traffic Management System (VTMS) and improving the “Aids to Navigation (AtoN)” system along the rivers access channel.

He said Sarawak Rivers Board, since 2013, has introduced various policies to ensure the safety of river transport, including No ticket, no entry, One person one life jacket, pre-departure inspection and Issuance of Departure pass.

Besides, routine enforcement and river blocks together with Marine Department Sarawak, Maritime Enforcement Agencies and Marine Police were also conducted. These efforts have

helped to reduce the number of accidents involving registered boats to zero since year 2014.

Regrettably, accidents involving unregistered boats, such as longboats and speedboats still occur occasionally. There were 10 accidents involving unregistered longboats with a loss of 30 lives from 2014 until May 2016. The causes were overloading, collision and engine failures.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing said the Government has approved the widening of the road from Matang Jaya to Matang/BatuKawa link junction into a dual carriageway with an estimated cost of RM55 million. An initial ceiling of RM20 million has been approved under the 11MP for design and land acquisition.

His Ministry has received proposals from private entities to build overhead pedestrian bridges at zero costs to the State. In return, the private entities want the rights to advertise on these bridges. As funding is limited, there may be a need for his ministry to work with various councils to consider alternative funding methods to deliver the required overhead pedestrian bridges as soon as possible.

Tan Sri Datuk Amar James Masing, who is also the President of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) said it is never a shame to win an election especially an election, which is run in accordance to the laws of the land.

However, it is a shame to lose an election especially after telling the people that you will win big, but in the end you lost. In other parts of the world, leaders who have lost big would hang their heads in shame and resign.

MuluView