Undoubtedly, the State has been able to fulfill the dreams of the Chinese, Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Orang Ulu and others because the Government has been able to do a lot of things in the struggle for nation building.
Sarawak’s economy grew by approximately 5.4% last year exceeding predictions made in May of a 4.5% increase. The growth is attributable to the special allocation of RM4 billion from the Federal government to develop the infrastructure in rural areas.
Undeniably, Sarawak has undergone significant economic transformation under the leadership of Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud and is steadily moving towards achieving ‘developed’ nation status by 2020. The Chief Minister has succeeded in transforming Sarawak from a state dependent on subsistence farming to a modern industrialised region, emerging as a major economic player in South East Asia.
Basically, the transformation of the State economy is no longer an exercise to restructure the traditional economic sectors such as timber and agro-based industries. Instead, the State has to increase the value-added activities of timber and agriculture products such as transport and communications. Most importantly, the transformation must involve the creation of new sources of economic growth.
Undoubtedly, the State has been able to move forward systematically because political leaders led by Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib have been able to work together as a team. In the process, the State has been able to avoid most of the mistakes that can bring State back to square one poverty and backwardness. The State has been able to do a lot of things in different settings and sometimes different styles of doing so. These are the most important things that have been happening during the last 28 years.
The struggle in the future cannot depend on the old ways of doing things as it will no longer be dealing with land development or development of natural resources. It will demand a more sophisticated and comprehensive way to do so. Obviously, the State will need more people with good qualifications and trainings for the purpose. For this reason, the State have set up more universities and skill development centres to produce skilled manpower. Besides, continuous efforts will also be made to upgrade the efficiency of the civil service to enable members to overcome problems that may come up from time to time in the future.
The people of Sarawak will be able to face the challenges ahead, though they can be expected to be more complicated. Generally, the second wave of development will be more challenging and difficult than the first wave. But the rewards will be higher and more encompassing. It will place the State and country on the same level as countries in Europe and other developed countries by the year 2020 and beyond.
That should serve as the best incentive for young people to struggle hard to equip themselves with more up to date and wider spectrum of knowledge in management, finance and technology. More importantly, they must be able to uphold the responsibility to safeguard the unity of the people in order to perpetuate the progress that has been made by their predecessors. Otherwise, all the past efforts will be rendered useless if they persist with individual or private agenda in contradiction to the common good of the people.
Basically, a leader, with the ambition to see the continued progress and prosperity of the state, must have a discipline to sustain strong positive values and make conscientious efforts to use his knowledge and know-how to accelerate the pace of development towards the year 2020 and beyond. The people will become more confused by rhetoric of the opposition.
Besides, leaders, who honestly love the state must have the sincere desire to work for its future progress and advancement. Otherwise, if they just keep on talking, they will not be able to succeed in their tasks. Ultimately, the state will not be able to achieve a higher level of economic success that can give a more comfortable life as being desired by the people.
Essentially, the common struggle in politics must be concerned about the environment, which is increasingly lacking in order or harmony. There are many countries that talk about the lack of democratic practices though there is nothing lacking about our democracy. There is nobody whose human rights have been violated; the government does not send people to jail for nothing. That is the basic thing in human rights.
Democracy doesn’t mean that the people must shut their eyes to all forces that can undermine the rights of others or the prospects of other people to achieve better life for the future. The people, who love the State and country, must fully understand issues confronting us today.
Mulu View
