Sarawak needs to leapfrog in the transformation from the middle income to high income economy as outlined in the New Economic Model in order to stay alongside Peninsular Malaysia with the advantage of bigger population, more present of industries in the economic development towards the year 2020 and beyond.
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| Bakun Dam |
The perspective plan for Sarawak indicates that its real development will not be realized by 2020 but more so during the period from 2020 to 2030. However, the development will bring Sarawak in a transformation to become a more industrialized and progressive state in the country.
Sarawak is about 94% of the size of the whole of Peninsular with less than 10% the population, which is scattered over more than 5,000 settlements with distances of anything between 10 to 45 KM a part. And 60% of the settlements have less than 50 families. So it is quite a colossal task to migrate the economy from the middle income to the high income economy as outlined in the New Economic Model.
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| Bakun Dam View |
However, Sarawak has the comparative advantage of having rich natural resources that can be developed and be valued added into a modern and vibrant economy. The development of SCORE will ensure that the resources can be optimally harnessed for the State to achieve the status of a developed state by the year 2020.
The State is committed to put more resources in educating and training people in the process of creating a society where the citizens are highly knowledgeable. The workforce must be trained to become more creative, innovative in whatever they do. History has shown that countries that invest in their human capital will thrive in their endeavor to build the nation into one that is strong and sustainable.
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| Bintulu Port |
In this respect, the State has put in place a strategic human capital development plan with the primary objective to develop and supply knowledge based manpower to industries in SCORE. In addition, the State has established U-SCORE unit or entity, which is a consortium of Sarawak based public and private institutions of higher education. Its main objective is to project the requirements of human capital for local industries particularly in the implementation of SCORE and plan the human capital development program to meet the requirements.
Today, the State can boast of having one full fledged university, two campuses of national universities and two campuses of international universities. It will continue to encourage more higher learning institutions to be located locally in order to meet the growing demand of industries. There are currently 36 skills and vocational institutions in Sarawak.
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| Bintulu Port Authority HQ |
Sarawak has progressed tremendously in the areas of ICT infrastructure development in the last 15 years. The State government on its part will continue to augment the development of ICT particularly in rural areas where ICT is still inadequate so that the digital divide between the urban and rural areas can be narrowed. It can be anticipated that the source of future manpower will come from the rural areas.
The State has been able to make a shift to 50% to 50% division between the rural and urban population. The proportion of urban and rural population must be increased in order to avoid facing serious shortages of manpower in future. Hence, necessary infrastructure and training institutions must be sited in the rural areas in order to motive the local people to move in tandem with the urban counterparts.
Sarawak, since the late 1980s has effectively computerized all major works. All offices are using the combination of technologies such as lease lines, wireless and satellite. A total of 345 sites have been established covering 11 administrative divisions, 31 districts and 28 sub-districts. The State has also developed over 100 ICT applications covering all types of works in State agencies. Efforts will continue to be made to enhance ICT capabilities particular the broadband penetration and inculcate a greater knowledge based culture and society.
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| Tanjung Manis Industrial Lots |
At present the broadband penetration is quite low, about 17%, brought down very much by the low penetration in the rural areas as compared with the national average of 25%. With the help of the Federal Government, the State will try to realize the national target of 50% penetration by the year 2010. In this respect, the State government has a plan to establish the network through the wireless.
The State recently initiated its own multi-media super corridor or NSC Malaysia Sarawak’s initiatives in line with the national policy to spread out the implementation of the NSC to provide the necessary technology based infrastructure in terms of hardware and services towards enhancing Sarawak’s capability to become a knowledge-based economy.
The State recognises its own roles in nation building and strives to work for the continuous improvement in the development of local industries with a view to migrate the economy from middle income to high income economy today the year 2020. It will endeavor to play effective roles in shaping the future of the country with the slogan One Malaysia.
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| Tanjung Manis Residential Area |
It is over a decade ago since Malaysia started to make a big shift from a production growth economy into a knowledge based economy with different initiatives. With information technology as enabling tools, the knowledge based economy needs to be supported more and more by good human capital. The work force must be trained to apply new technology and perform great entrepreneurial skills. Sarawak, in its quest to transform the economy from production based to knowledge based economy, needs to leapfrog in the transformation in order to keep pace with Peninsular Malaysia with the advantage of bigger population, more present of industries. However to do so, it has to exploit rich natural resources in order to create new wealth and broaden the prosperity.
The development of SCORE will ensure that the potentials of the local resources can be optimally harnessed in ways that will ensure that Sarawak will be able to achieve the status of a developed state by the year 2020. Incidentally, Sarawak’s real development will be realized more during the period from 2020 to 2030. The new perspective will bring Sarawak in a transformation to become a more industrialized and progressive state in the State.
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| Tanjung Manis |
The State will continue to encourage more higher learning institutions to be located in Sarawak in order to meet the growing demand of the local industries. The state recognises the need to develop a good institution encompassing skills and trainings for the local work force. There are 36 skills and vocational institutions in Sarawak. Efforts must be made to disseminate the finding of the knowledge contents in key economic sectors in Malaysia to the people. The State and the country must for the continuous improvement in building local industries in the process of Nation building where everybody has roles to play. The people must be prepared to play bigger roles in shaping the future of the country with the slogan One Malaysia.
benuasains
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