Understandably, the question of sustainable development has been pre-occupying the mind of political leaders in the government for more than a generation, taking into consideration that Sarawak, at one time, was a poor and back ward state. When Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud first took over as the Chief Minister on March 26,1981, the State was not only very poor but very poor in infrastructure. Then the State depended on oil, gas and timber only for its revenue. But oil and gas could not give the State the kind of employment opportunities that could stimulate the development of the people so as to upgrade the economy to a much broader base. Therefore, the State government had to look far ahead into the future to see how the State can be involved in a more sustainable development to push forward into the future. Pehin Sri Abdul Taib and his Cabinet colleagues had one common aim namely to diversify economy in order to create more jobs for the people.
By then the State Government realized that any strategy that involves transforming Sarawak into a much bigger economy would take a very long period of gestation particularly in the field of education. But first, it must endeavor to find ways how to industrialise the natural resources.
As the State has become quite successful in estate development, the State Government started to ask since a decade ago what would happen after palm oil. The State started to develop palm oil estates quite early as labor was still relatively cheap. Later, it would not be able to get cheap labor with the growing reluctance of Sarawakians to work in jungles to open up land for the purpose. The State has already opened up almost one million hectares of lands for palm oil estates. It will be able to increase the acreage by opening up the NCR lands. However, the opening up of NCR land will be a much slower process as it has to overcome problems of conflicting claims among the owners. But the question remaining unanswered is what after palm oil? 
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib and his Cabinet colleagues had one common aim namely to diversify economy in order to create more jobs for the people. Apparently, they could achieve their aim in one generation. For example, today the unemployment figure is hovering up and down around four to five per cent only. By then the State Government realized that any strategy that involves transforming Sarawak into a much bigger economy would take a very long period of gestation particularly in the field of education. But first, the State Government must endeavor to find ways how to industrialise the natural resources. After that, it decided to take appropriate steps to prepare the people through the process of education to involve them in the process of development. The State Government even took the necessary steps to develop the IT infrastructure in the State in the late 80s. It formed the IT council, the first in Malaysia to promote the usage of computers and Internet in the State. Deputy Chief Minister, was tasked to take charge of the program. He successfully introduced Sarawaknet and set up a good team to develop software for Sarawak. The development of IT has enabled us to prepare ourselves for a more modern administration that can cope with changes.
As the State has become quite successful in estate development, the State Government started to ask since a decade ago what would happen after palm oil. The State started to develop palm oil estates quite early as labor was still relatively cheap. Later, it would not be able to get cheap labor with the growing reluctance of Sarawakians to work in jungles to open up land for the purpose. The State has already opened up almost one million hectares of lands for palm oil estates. It will be able to increase the acreage by opening up the NCR lands. However, the opening up of NCR land will be a much slower process as it has to overcome problems of conflicting claims among the owners.
But the question remaining unanswered is what after palm oil? The state must explore other fields for new sources of sustainable income to find the ultimate answer to the question of what after palm oil? The agricultural sector, in terms of climbing up the ladder or the value chain is not enough. It will not enable the State to achieve a kind of income based on the emergence of the rising expectation of young people. The State has to study all sources of new income that are available in Sarawak. The State government decided to take a re-look at the study done in the 70s on electricity potentials of Sarawak. It was done quite well that helped the government to decide on what could be done after Bakun.
However, the amount of investment needed is colossal that the State government could not decide to implement the proposal under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. Obviously, a much bigger prospective plan is needed to undertake the gigantic development. For example, the State government has to study the possibility of developing the program up to the year 2030 rather than the year 2020 as the cut of point to lots of other planning in Malaysia.
The State government considered the potentials of developing hydro electricity with the rising costs of fossil energy in the world. However, the development of hydro electricity entails the development of roads that requires huge investment into uncharted territories and hostile terrains. Huge expenditure is also required to resettle people affected by the development. Therefore, the State Government decided to come into arrangements to develop the overall area, which has about ½ billion tons of ignite coals and more than 20,000 megawatt of hydro potentials. The State government has taken appropriate steps to ensure that the development will be ecologically friendly to meet the demands of the world.
The development in China that relies on functions of raw materials and the demands for energy in Asia convince us that the development, though highly complicated, of ignite coals and hydroelectricity is justifiable.
Pehin Sri AbduI Taib admits until seven years ago he was still nervous about the possibility of developing Sarawak economic model based on high energy demands. Obviously, the positive response from Asian to the development has justified the plan. The State Government decided to forward the plan to develop hydro energy as the corridor for Sarawak when the Federal government introduced the concept of Regional Economic Corridor of Development. Thus was born Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy or SCORE as the main instrument to bring Sarawak into the high income economy. An extensive study on SCORE, among other things, highlights the potentials that it will be able to triple the per capita income of Sarawak by the year 2020. By the year 2030, the State’s GDP is expected to grow five times the present level of income of about RM118 billion. The whole plan can be seen in completely different light from the first time that it was formulated before. It did not require the state to create many packages for the State to migrate from the medium income to the high income economy.
The development of SCORE, based on encouraging wider usage of electricity, is the main drive for the State to achieve the status of a developed state by the year 2020. The rest depends on the development of better and more sophisticated manpower to develop more sophisticated industries as we move forward. The response from investors has been very encouraging. For example, the State has already started to develop two aluminum smelters, which will use power up to 4,000 megawatts. Many others in the area of poly silicon and manganese have also come in.
The development of SCORE serves as a new foundation for Sarawak’s economy. The State will see the development of mainly heavy industries in the first five years of its development. The development of downstream industries will escalate using aluminum, palm oil, deep sea fishing and aquaculture after that period. The development of downstream industries using the right technology will also make the State to become world players like those, who are involved in the development of heavy industries.
For Sarawak, to come up the ladder means to be engaged with the world investors and players and not just be engaged in small industries. It is a different ball game from what it used to be in the past. A lot of industries that the State used to nurse before were simple formula of giving enough incentives like cheap labor. But the model is no longer profitable; it is definitely not the dream of the younger generation. The State must develop new sources. The development of heavy industries that can trigger many downstream industries is definitely the answer to all the expectations of the people. The development of SCORE is divided into three main categories. The first, the heavy industries, the second is to turn the natural resources like forest, palm oil into a much more integrated development. The development of timber industry all the way to the production of quality timber entails the upgrading of factories all the way to pulp and paper. The state, with the policy to convert 20% of forests area of 6.4 million hectares on sustainable basis, will be able to double the outputs of our forests to 20 million cubic metres of wood. This will enable the State to have the first mechanical pulp and paper plant.
The State government plans to have four to six mechanical pulp and paper mills probably in Ulu Baram, Ulu Rejang, Betong and other places in order to have a good spread of industries in rural areas. The quick growing species of trees that have been experimented indicate that they can produce at least five times more wood than the indigenous species over a period of eight to 10 years. If they are planted on the estate of about 50,000 hectares, they can supply pulp and other products to the mills. The State is actually playing a different ball game in the development of the timber industry. The development of agriculture and palm oil can be expected to go further downstream in the production of food. But the production in the traditional form will not be able to upgrade the income from it. Thus was born the idea of developing the agriculture sector with the concept of Halal hub, a concept that emphasizes on the usage of a ladder technology namely biotechnology to produce food. The products will be totally organic and free from chemical, and antibiotics, something that can command premium in the world market. The Halal products, based on the Islamic law, are generally being accepted as cleaner and more hygienic by the world market. They are being produced with better technology and stringent supervision than the normal food production. Therefore, they can be sold on the premium in the market. The development of Tanjung Manis as Halal hub should also benefit new areas like Tunoh highland in Ulu Rajang and nearby areas like and Betong and Sri Aman divisions.
The development of SCORE is expected to create round about 840,000 jobs in the corridor itself by the year 2030. However, it is projected that the total number of jobs to be created in the State is round about 1.6 million for the period. In other words, new jobs will also be created in Betong, Sri Aman, Kuching, Samarahan and Miri divisions. The new jobs opportunities will emerge from the big push of the development of SCORE. Kuching will benefit more from the development of the green energy. The hi-tech projects will go to Kuching while the tourism industry will be centred in Miri, which has set itself to specialize in the industry as a resort city while the others will develop mainly from the biotech and food industries. As 55% of the jobs will be created in the SCORE, the area from Tanjung Manis all the way to Samalaju, down south to the border of Kapit and Baram, there will be a big shift in the population in Sarawak. The new development will create lots of opportunities in terms of real property development, which can be considered as the simplest tool in development. Miri has more than 600,000 people but the job opportunities will be 820,000. This means that Miri will require more development in construction and greater growth in education. It will also have other development that accompanies a big shift in economic development, towards the year 2020 and beyond. The education sector is expected to benefit the most in future development.
Conservatively, about 60% of the jobs that will be created will be unskilled works. However, the survey that will be completed by end of the year may show much less than that. In the meantime, it can be projected that about 25% of the jobs will be for semi skilled while the technical jobs will be round about 10% and managerial and the professional ones, 5%. It should be much more than 5% based on past experiences. When SCORE, is completed by the end of this year, a clearer picture will emerge. The U-SCORE is the result of co-operation between all the Institutions of Higher Education in Sarawak with the primary objective to show how much the State needs trainings, higher education facilities and specific skills training to be accelerated for the whole of Sarawak. In this respect, the alumni, community leaders can play significant roles in encouraging the new generation to take full advantage of the educational and training facilities in building their capacities for jobs that will be created with the development of SCORE.
Meanwhile, the State has to brace itself for a big change with the coming of IT. The State Government believed it could play positive roles in the development of education system in the State. It sought the permission from the then Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed to allow the State to play some roles in the development of education without interfering with its policy. The State government through relevant agencies helped to organize talks in rural schools for teachers to acquaint themselves with the usage of IT; the IT programs have been going on very well in rural schools now.
The State has developed a model based on the Cambridge’s model with some amendments based on MIT experience for the program in rural schools. The State has been able to make its own education system to increase the rate of penetration of Internet to rural areas to enable rural schools to have all the modern amenities for learning. They are able to keep up with the development of modern teaching methods which will hasten the period of developing our modern economy. Hopefully, with the knowledge of such background we should remind ourselves that the development of the education system, which is getting more complicated, cannot be done by the government alone. Everybody has to go down to the ground to encourage our schools and communities to play their roles in promoting a better usage of the education system to prepare the new generation for better jobs in future. In this respect, the alumni are in a much better position to get involved in the process.
Malaysia and Sarawak, like most developing countries, cannot escape from the mismatch between the training of people and the kinds of jobs that are being created; that is the hardest thing to do. The State has been able to focus on various aspects of the development of education, through its involvement in the development of tertiary education system. The system must be more in line with the kinds of job opportunities that can be envisaged to come up from the planning and implementation of the development programs.
Today the State has six university campuses and about 70 other education institutions that are involved in trainings of our manpower resources. Undoubtedly, our manpower development is many times better as compared with those 20 years ago.
The State, like the rest of the country, will start to implement the Government Transformation Plan with the primary objective to change the present economic model to the new model next year. Understandably, it will demand greater innovation and creativity from workers in whatever jobs they do. Generally, conscientious efforts must be made to bring in more industries and other economic activities that have the capacity to employ more highly skilled people to the state from now onward. It is the only way for the State to achieve the status of a developed nation which must be sustainable; the state must not only achieve the goal but sustain the success for the future generations. The state is entering a new era, a challenging era to migrate from the present middle income to the High Income Economy from next year to the year 2020 and beyond.
benuasains
*Photos Source: google.com images
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