What is often taken for granted is that Sarawak has become richer by seven times since 1981. The State is getting more prosperous due to continuous efforts to spread development throughout the nooks and corners of the State. This gives opportunities to people, who have the necessary training, experience and determination to work hard, to uplift their standard of living.
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| Sibu at night |
More importantly, they must have the capacity to work hard and the discipline to follow the new way of doing things to succeed in what ever they do. For example, the old ways of doing business in the 50s and 60s are already obsolete.
Most people consider progress to mean prosperity, being rich or the government’s allocations for development. However, that is only half the truth as progress does not depend on resources of the government but on the capability of the people to use the resources available to them to improve their livelihood. For example, Sarawak has been very rich with land for hundreds of years. The people own vast areas of NCR land.
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| Sibu Town |
Previously, the areas would be expanded for every four or five years. Then the people would go deep into the jungles to open them to plant paddy. After a while the land would become infertile after the top part had been washed away into streams or rivers. As a consequence, a number of people from a longhouse would go to new places. Hence, the Natives, who were involved in planting of hill paddy had to move further and further into the interior to clear jungles to plant the commodity for their food.
Normally, a longhouse may be split once the people do not have land nearby. It was not a healthy development in the long run for those involved. Besides, the income from hill paddy cultivation is very low. For example, a survey carried out by the Colonial government indicated that an acre of hill paddy land could only give an income of RM50 to a family. It was hard life for those involved in the occupation. It remains a persistent problem that the Government has been trying to solve for the benefits of those involved in it. The Government has to find a new form of livelihood for the Natives who are involved in hill paddy farming.
Admittedly, the people have been experiencing positive changes in their livelihood. For example, people in a longhouse, at one time, could be considered to be rich if they could store excess paddy. Of course, that was not so. Even the salary of a court peon could be three times bigger than an income of a hill paddy farmer. Then, a family, who owned a motor cycle, could be considered rich.
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| A Malay woman passing by the colourful pagoda. |
Now the people are getting more ambitious and having higher expectation in life. A Chinese family, who run a shop, a Malay family who had a wooden house and an Iban family who could store some paddy could be considered sufficiently rich. Nowadays, a person who has RM1 million still does not consider he is rich; he wants to accumulate the amount into multi-million saving.
Generally, the people want more comfort in life. It is a good thing as it motivates them to work harder to improve their livelihood. That explains why people are sending their children to schools to pursue good education so that they can get good salaries and enjoy better life in future. However, it is also a cause for dissatisfaction among the people. For example, if a person does not have money and if he sees others having the money, he will be angry.
The people start asking, when they see in TV, why Peninsular Malaysia has highways and generally better roads and Sarawak does not have them. The reason is quite obvious Sarawak does have many motorcars on roads yet. It does not mean that Sarawak is poor but its population is still small. Peninsular Malaysia has a population of more than 20 million while Sarawak has 2.5 million only.
Regrettably, there are lots of things that make the people dissatisfied with their lives. Before, the people could be quite contented with life. For example, in the 50s, 60s, and early 70s, a Chinese when asked how his life had been, he would answer having sufficient food to eat. It was his modest way of saying his business had been quite good; he could buy lots of things and he had been having good customers to his shop.
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| Sibu central market and modern car park building. |
But nowadays, the people ask for more and more projects for roads, residential and shop houses, bigger shopping complexes and others. Those in Tanjung Manis have even requested the government to build a port, costing RM300 million as part of the overall plan to develop it to become a modern township. All such requests show that the people are entering the era of progress and advancement.
It must be understood that our way of thinking determines whether we will become successful or not as success does not depend on the wealth and income of the State alone. A person, who is prepared to work hard and has the determination to study hard to get good education, should be able to succeed in life. That explains why more and more Bumiputras have become big time contractors, successful businessmen and CEOs of big companies and become rich.
Some people in Kuching are angry to see that a number of high rise buildings are being built and owned by Foochows. But that was not the fault of Foochows as they had some capital, they could look for opportunities in Kuching but also in Miri, Bintulu and other places. They had become rich because of their ability to think and look far ahead and work hard to achieve their goals.
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| The Sibu Central Market is believed to be the largest market in Malaysia. |
They are good examples of how people could succeed in life. Their ambition had become incentive for them to work hard in pursuit of greater comfort and wealth in life. Basically, it is not the fault of other people that we cannot go up. We must blame ourselves for failing in our studies and for being unable to pursue university education to develop capability to pursue wealth and comfort in life.
Undeniably, the State is getting more prosperous due to continuous efforts to spread development throughout the nooks and corners of the State. This gives opportunities to people who have the necessary training and experience and the determination to work hard to uplift their standard of living.
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| On paper: The plan for expansion works on Sibu Airport. |
Hence, young people must be encouraged to pursue courses in modern management, engineering, accountancy and others to prepare them to do well in life. Besides, they must be nurtured with the right attitude that they must work hard and put more efforts in what ever they do in pursuit of wealth and comfort. As the Bible says “they will thrive by the sweat of thy brows”. Islam teaches the followers that “people who can do business can become richer”. In other words, the people who are good in business can become richer than those who are not doing it.
Actually, the people in the State, which has already become rich seven times, should be quite contented with life. At one time, a family could not even own a cupboard to keep their clothes. Then a person might have just four pairs of clothes only. They would buy new clothes for Hari Raya, Christmas or Chinese New Year. But now young people do not have to wait for Hari Raya, Christmas or Chinese New Year to buy new clothes.
However, we cannot rest on our laurel as prosperity hinges on continuous efforts to sustain it. If we stop working, blame other people for our failures, pick up quarrels with people, who have become quite successful, everybody will lose. Actually, the habit to twist the feeling of dissatisfaction among the people is a very negative factor in development. A person, who does not know how to be grateful, will not be able to sustain his success in life.
Generally, the people must have the ambition and the discipline to work hard to become more successful and make the State to become prosperous. The State as a whole will revert to poverty and backwardness with less and less people willing to work hard to improve their livelihood. They will become passengers to the success of others.
A number of countries in Europe had destroyed their economy because every time they wanted to help people who remained poor, they had to borrow money to carry out the program. The government had to pay back the loans but the people did not pay back their loans. The government had to impose heavier taxes on the rich people.
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| Sibu modern wharf building and its reflection. |
Obviously Sarawak has not been as successful as countries in Europe, South Korea and Japan. We are only half towards it. That is why our target to become a developed State is the year 2020. We believe we can be as successful as countries in Europe, Japan and other developed countries by the year 2020. Now China is coming up as it has got a lot of workers. Even now China has become the manufacturers of the world. China imports raw materials from other countries, study what the world has been producing like TV, furniture, electronics goods and others and manufacture them for export at cheaper costs. They have people to do the jobs.
For example, a garment factory can produce clothes at cheaper costs. People in rural areas are being brought in to work in the factory. They share accommodation; one bed may be shared by three people. A room may have four beds that can be shared by 12 people. So the room rental is very low. A group may work from 8:00 am to 4.00 p.m. The room will be empty. So another group, who works from 10:00 p.m to 8:00 am can come back and sleep. Once they leave, the other group, who works from 4:00 p.m to 10:00 pm takes over. That is how three persons can share a bed.
It is a good example of how people want to earn a living and the way they work to succeed in life. They try to squeeze everything that they do in order to save money. Japan, after the second world war especially with the devasting effects of atomic bombs dropped at Hihoshima and Nagasaki, became very poor but it could come up to become the second largest economy in the world until very recently. China has overtaken Japan as the second largest economy in the world. Sarawak can follow Japan and China as it has a lot of people who are willing to work to develop the industry.
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| Sg. Merah in Sibu |
Regrettable there is a new kind of thinking being propagated by the opposition. The people do not have to work just ask for anything from the government. The government may have the money to give but it is not good for the people, who aspire to be successful in life. The people must bear in mind No beggars can become rich from begging only. Only people who work hard can earn more money. We go back to the basic principle that if the people want to successful, they must be prepared to do what ever jobs that they can do; it is better to do any jobs than not having any income.
In this respect, grass root leaders must advise young people that they must be prepared to do any decent jobs, even though the jobs may not be their choices. It is better for them to do something rather than not doing anything at all; they become jobless without any income. That was why the former Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed pursued the Look East policy to emphasise the need for the people to have good work ethic. Then less and less people in developed countries in the West had the interests and discipline to work; they preferred to line to get government’s endowment fund.
Sarawak must come up with more and more people who are willing to work. Japan, South Korea and China have become rich countries because they have people who have the discipline and capability to work hard. Sarawak can become rich towards the year if the people appreciate the need for them to have the discipline and capability to work hard in the process of development.
Generally, the people must have good mentality to appreciate the necessity to work in order to see new opportunities in the process of development. If the people are not willing to work hard, they cannot see new opportunities. They must learn to recognize opportunities to make income for them and their families in order to move forward.
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| A typical house in Sibu |
At one time in the 70s, the people for anything that they wanted to, they moved to Sibu, which was having a pattern of the economy that attracted people to it. Then the timber industry was booming and it was able to produce a lot of timber tycoons. For example, a lot of people Sarikei and Bintangor went up to Sibu to exploit business opportunities there.
Now a lot of additional activities are being developed near Sibu. For example, Tanjung Manis, is being developed in a very different fashion unlike the development in the past. Initially, the people in Sibu believed that the development of Tanjung Manis would eventually close Sibu as a commercial centre. They believed in zero sum game. They could not understand that new opportunities would trigger new efforts to do business.
Actually Tanjung Manis represents new opportunities for more people to do lots of things. For example, it is being developed as Halal hub to process agricultural produce to make as many things as possible by the application of bio-tech to reduce chemical contents from food. Tanjung Manis will source the agricultural produce from Betong and Mukah and later on from far away places as Tunoh, Bintulu and Kapit. All these places should be able to benefit from the development of Tanjung Manis as the Halal hub.
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| A modern long house in Sibu |
It is not economical to set up oil palm factories each in Mukah and Tunoh because of high costs; to set up a factory requires huge investment. Besides, the factory at Tanjung Manis will have sufficient capital, food technologists and scientists and equipped with modern technology to produce a single product in big volume for export. Tanjung Manis will require big volume of agricultural produces from surrounding areas to support the operations of its manufacturing plants to produce food for export. In other words,
Tanjung Manis, with the big economy of scale, will be a hub to service Betong, Kalaka, Kabong, Tunoh, Ulu Kanowit, Mukah, Pakan and other places. It will be able to operate oil refinery as has a deep port. Tanjung Manis port can dock in bigger ships with easy turn around. The port in Sarikei, like the old port at Tanah Putih, with difficult turn around by a big ship may take three hours for it to dock. The port at Tanjung Manis is cheaper and easier to operate.
Actually, Tanjung Manis is being developed to become the hub for places like Sarikei, Mukah, Betong, Ulu Baram and other places in SCORE development area. The development will trigger lots of new opportunities not only for the people in Tanjung Manis but all the people near it. In this respect the people in Sarikei, Bintangor, Kabong, Betong, Saratok and others must know what is going on in Tanjung Manis. The people in Mukah, Tunoh, Ulu Kanowit and Ulu Kapit must be informed of such development. Otherwise, they will not know how to look for business or employment opportunities that will be created in the process of the development of the hub.
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| Sibu Heritage Centre |
Hence, it is insufficient for community leaders just to know how to control people under their care. They should be able to tell the people new opportunities that will emerge in the process of development. The people with land, for example, must be encouraged to plant oil palm. If their land are not big enough they should be encouraged to join together under the supervision of SALCRA or LCDA. They can bring their fruits to Tanjung Manis
Sarikei has the potential to become the main supplier fruits and vegetable to Tanjung Manis. Besides, the town has the history of rearing fish in ponds. The local people should consider working together with fishermen to ensure regular supply of fish for restaurants and other eating outlets. The people residing near the river banks should consider opening up food stalls in anticipation of more people coming to the town with the development of Tanjung Manis.
Essentially, community leaders must talk to the people to open up their minds on the development taking place in and around their areas. They must stay close to the people and avoid involving in politics that that can make people angry like talking negative things about the government and that the people should not support it. The people must know that they don’t work with the government they close them of channels to request for development projects. They are closing their doors and refusing to allow people, who can help them, to enter their houses.
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| Sibu Heritage Centre in the middle of town center |
Basically, they must think properly and be prepared to work if they want to move forward in pursuit of greater progress and prosperity. This is the kind of mentality that community leaders must nurture among the people, who must have positive attitude that entails the ambition to move forward, readiness to do anything that can benefit them.They must discard the attitude of cutting others of opportunities to improve themselves. Community leaders must motivate the people in their discussions, dialogues with the people to develop positive attitude towards development.
Admittedly, the grass root leadership can be considered as easy but it must be right. If a leader is jealous, like to scold people, cut others of opportunities and talk only of bad things about other people, such attitude will bring back the people to backwardness. Instead, the people must be motivated to work hard to improve their livelihood. In the process, they must be prepared to do what ever need to be done, how best to do it and co-operate among ourselves. Basically, they must have positive thinking to move forward.
benuasains
*Photos Source:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=817652&page=12
http://imagesthroughnikon.blogspot.com/2010/11/blog-post.html
google.com images
