Government by the people for the people

I have been hearing talks from non Bumiputra friends that the government’s policy on education, commerce and industry is favorable to Bumiputras only. They are complaining that they are not playing on a level playing field in such areas of development. My response as a Bumiputra is understandable. Of course, the government policy is not fair. If it has been fair the Bumiputra in Sarawak, who form more than 70% of the population should have 70% share in the State wealth. But the reverse is happening; they own less than 20% of the wealth.

As the government is by the people for the people, it must assume the primary responsibility to help Bumiputras to raise their stakes in the State or national wealth if we are to have a reasonably just society towards the year 2020 and beyond.  The difference between our discussion as friends and those between opposing groups is that we discuss with a view to analyse the situation. The opposing groups raise them with a view to score political points. In this regard, the question of fairness and justice can be quite subjective.

Recently, I was invited to attend an economic seminar on the New Economic Model with the theme “The Way Forward For Bumiputera Minorities in Sabah and Sarawak” jointly organized by Dayak Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Kadazan Murut Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) with the primary objective to enlighten members on the concept of the New Economic Model and opportunities that will emerge with its implementation.

Quite obviously, the Native communities, who form Bumiputra minorities in Sarawak and Sabah, must endeavor to find ways to participate more meaningfully in the implementation of the 10^th Malaysia Plan onward so that they will not be left out of the mainstream of development. They must take full advantage of the thrust of the 10^th Malaysia Plan to give them opportunities to equalize themselves with other communities.

Understandably, the New Economic Model is the migration from the middle income to high income economy. Its primary objective is to tackle the problem of poverty, trying to equalize the incomes of the country and sustain our debt level so that we can become a developed nation by the year 2020. More importantly, we must be able to sustain the level of income of between US15,000 – US 20,000 as a developed nation.

High targets, huge challenge

These are very high targets and the 10^th Malaysia Plan will be a magnanimous challenge to us. The Prime Minister, in a very imaginative way, wants problems in implementing the development plan should be identified, analysed and solved as early as possible by taking into consideration the local situations in order to achieve the desired goals.   Understandably, the style of administration must accommodate local knowledge or problems so that they can be valued in much more imaginative way. Obviously, the 10^th Malaysia Plan from next year will differ greatly from the past plans.  In this respect, our Prime Minister deserves all out support to ensure that the delivery system must operate based on the slogan  people first, performance a priority to ensure that we will achieve our targets.

Undoubtedly, both Sarawak and Sabah, which gained their Independence six years later than Semenanjung Malaysia, have got quite a lot to do to catch up with its progress. For this reason, the Prime Minister has given a special allocation of RM 4 billion for Sarawak and more or less the same amount for Sabah to build more roads and extend more electricity and water supplies to the people in rural areas.  More of them should have the basic amenities to catch up with the people in the urban areas. The projects can be carried out straight away between now and the year 2012.

The allocation should be fully utilized to improve the situation in the rural areas and help the people to participate meaningfully in the process of development.  Hopefully, they will be able to  yield better results in spite of the problems of transportation,  scattered community in small numbers and a bit of below par number of people who have got the right skills and talents to mobilize the rural economy.  There will be lot problems, not only administrative and procedural in nature, but how to arm our manpower with the right kind of skills and qualifications that will attract industrialists to set up their plants here.

The development plan for Sarawak all the way to the year 2030 has been formulated based on the policy of trying to integrate the most backward parts of Sarawak namely the central region of Sarawak that comprises places like Kanowit, Kapit, Belaga and Ulu Baram into a kind of corridor in order to harness their potentials in development. It means the integration of the economy in order to create the economy of scale to undertake projects that can give economic industries. Quite obviously the plan coincides with the concept of the New Economic Model.  

However, the State Government has to identify a kind of force that can make the integration possible.  The central region, unlike the southern part which is quite densely populated, is the sparsely populated. However, the region has greatest magnet in the form of water resources.  Hence, the approach to the new development plan has to concentrate on how to give comparatively cheaper rates of energy to industries.  Understandably, the state’s ambition is to bring world class industries to come.  It simply means that the state has to work hard to get the necessary investments and capital to develop the energy resources.

Besides, Sarawak is known to have about half a billion ton of coal reserves that can become sources of energy on top of hydro power.  Hence, the State can be more flexible in planning the development of the energy resources and even out the curves in building the supply of energy. Understandably, hydro is not easy to plan and construct. It takes at least four to five years to plan and probably three to four years to develop a hydro dam.  Sarawak, with half a billion tons of coal, is in the position to fill in the gap between the thrust of the supply of hydro energy with those from coal fired generating power plants. The State has a plan to generate 3,000MW of electricity by 2016.  The target is to have a minimum of 20,000 MW of electricity all the way to 2030.

That will enhance the State’s ability to give energy at the earlier stage. The State aims to bring as much energy as possible in the early stage so that heavy industries can come in earlier. It can be anticipated that heavy industries can give real impact to the local people. They will be able to create downstream industries for the benefits of the local people. For example, the aluminum industry will be able to create wide range of downstream industries including a factory worth of RM1 million to produce aluminum products for windows or other things.

The pulp and paper plant at Tatau will begin construction next year.  The State plans to have four or five other mechanical pulp each in Ulu Baram, Kapit and Betong where the soil cannot support the development of palm oil but tree planting industry.  Hopefully, the development will be able to produce high value products and create more opportunities for better employment. The development will create more opportunities for the people in rural areas to improve their livelihood.

The emphasis on the development of tourism in the 10^th Malaysia Plan is welcome development for Sarawak which has yet to fully exploit the industry. The country has 20 million tourist arrivals every year but Sarawak has only got 3 to 4 million during the same period.  Sabah is doing slightly better than Sarawak The State, unlike Semenanjung Malaysia, cannot build good shopping complexes or undertake other jet set tourism packages in the development of the industry. Instead, Sarawak will focus on promoting its potentials as eco-tourism. Unfortunately, the past tourism policy has been emphasizing on building the airline industry that only benefits main destinations like Kuching, Kuala Lumpur, Kota Kinabalu  and few other towns; it can hardly encourage the buildup of services in the rural areas. Even Mulu is yet to get enough tourist arrivals because it has to be served with the right kind of aircraft.

The decision of Malaysian government to give subsidy to build up rural air services by using much better aircraft is most encouraging. People going for eco-tourism wish to see the traditional way of life of the people with their rich cultural backgrounds.  For example, the Equatorial Rainforests Music Festival is now world renown. It is expanding every year with side activities. For example, Miri has started to organize the Jazz festival as the side activity of the Equatorial Rainforests Music Festival. For the first time, the State can see market in our cultural sites.

Halal hub

The State is estimated to export RM4 billion worth of products annually from Tanjung Manis within seven years. Some of the products will come all the way from Bintulu, Igan or Tunoh in Kapit division. The Halal hub industry has already started the right way with the setting up of a laboratory. The State is investing with Taiwanese investors as partners to develop the hub to produce food that should be devoid of chemical hazard or other things. For example, the hub plans to produce chickens that do not contain lots of anti-biotic. The hub has the formula to ensure that the meat to be produced will be free of anti-biotic. That will be a premium formula. There will be many other things that will benefit from bio-tech process.

The halal market is still fresh area to be exploited in the world market. In fact today, there are more and more non Muslims producing Halal products than Muslims. There is no reason why Malaysia, as a respected Muslim country all over the world, should not to take the Halal hub very seriously. The State has planned to make Tanjung Manis, which is riddled with rivers and a good water body, as the centre for the Halal hub industry. It has got a very good port and another port will be built at Paloh, which is deeper than Kuala Rajang, to provide easier access to the world market.

It is estimated that about 1.5 million jobs will be created by the year 2030 with the implementation of SCORE with the development heavy industries with their downstream activities and bio-tech and tourism industries. Quite obviously, Sarawak will have a lot of new things that have not been tried in Peninsular Malaysia with the development of SCORE. In this respect, a manpower study to be carried out must ensure that the State will have sufficient skilled, technical and professional manpower to man local industries in anticipation of the competition from developed countries to recruit them.  Besides, efforts must be made to encourage more Bumiputras to undertake technical education rather than the normal path of education.

It is timely that the system of education should be revolutionized under the 10^th Malaysia Plan as a way to ensure that there will be no mismatch between the kind of people being trained and the kind of jobs that will created by industries in the development of our economy in future. More importantly, the new education system must institute a new way of learning where children can be propelled by their own interests or curiosity to pursue higher studies. This is vital for the State we move up the value chain towards the year 2020 and beyond.

The State will have 2 million hectares of palm oil by the year 2020. As the State started later than Semenanjung Malaysia in developing the industry, we have been able to take necessary steps to contain and control its pollutants. For example, we have fish ponds in areas where the water from the factories is being discharged. This is the kind palm oil industry which can be considered to be more modern than those in the rest of the country, being developed in the State.  Generally, the State has reached a stage of development that puts great emphasis on environmental protection that even the timber industry does not pollute our environment. 

Hopefully, more qualified Bumiputras will return to work in rural areas to manage plantations or take part in downstream industrial activities as development is being pushed to their areas towards the year 2020 and beyond.  

 

benuasains