It was on this day that Sarawak obtained the status of internal self-government from the British colonial government, which made Sarawak its colony when the Third White Rajah, after 100 years of rule by the family, ceded it to the British Colonial power.
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| Unimas |
Generally, Pehin Sri Abdul Taib is aptly being considered as the architect and builder of modern Sarawak. When he first took over as the Chief Minister on March 26,1981 the rate of poverty was more than 60%. Then Sarawak, after years of fighting against the communist insurgencies in certain parts of Kuching and areas in Sibu, Sarikei, Bintangor and Kanowit, was in the backwater lane of development.
Most parts of Sibu and Kanowit, in Sibu division and Bintangor and Sarikei in Sarikei division were hot beds of communist terrorism to necessitate them to be declared since the midst 70s to midst 80s as a special security area and administered under the Emergency ordinance or Rajang Security command.
Now, with a poverty rate hovering around 4%, Sarawak has emerged as the fastest growing State in the country. It can boast of about 20,000 Km of roads from about 1,000 Km of mostly substandard roads in the late 70s.
The State, from having no estate can boast of about 2 million hectares of oil palm estates, almost contiguous with each other, covering bigger areas than jungles and idle lands. Besides, the state from having no university can boast of one full fledged university and five university campuses of world acknowledged universities.
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| UiTM Sarawak |
More importantly, the people comprising of 27 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups, each with its own customs and traditions, religious beliefs and other differences live in peace and harmony with each other.
The State is developing Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE), the most ambitious of the five regional economic corridors initiated by the Federal government, to spread economic development to under developed region throughout the country. The development of SCORE, with a projected investment of RM300 billion over a period of 20 years, stretches to the year 2030; it starts from scratch. It covers an area more than 1/3 of the total land surface in the mid region of the State. However, it is believed to be the most successful one so far.
The people in Samarahan have much to be grateful to Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, who was the Member of Parliament for Samarahan from 1970 to 2008 and the State Assemblyman for Asajaya (formerly Sebandi) since the midst 80s until 2006 for the development and progress of Samarahan from a cluster of traditional fishing villages to become the fifth biggest town in the State. In the State elections of 2006, Pehin Sri Abdul Taib was requested by the people in Mukah and PBB to contest in the State constituency of Balingian.
Back in the 70s, Samarahan was still a sub-district. It was poor and backward. Now it has become and a successful and modern town that can provide convenience and comfort to the local residents. Then there was no secondary school. As a consequence, there was nobody who had a secondary school qualification in the area. Generally, the situation had a lot of shortcomings as it was still backward.
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| Housing development in Kota Samarahan |
Now the division is being developed as a centre of excellence. It can boast of three institutions of higher learning namely Unimas, UiTM and Tun Razak Teachers’ Institute. Generally, the development has changed the land surface of the division during the past 25 years. Once it had few people with good education but now it is producing graduates with high qualification. Some of them have become doctors, holders of Doctorate in philosophy (Phd.) and other professionals.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib attributes the success of Samarahan to the support of the people, who know how to be grateful and have a realisation that they can succeed in whatever they do if they are honest and sincere in doing so. More importantly, they must remain strong and united among them and with the government.
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| INTAN |
He says Samarahan is a good example where the people, who do not have high qualification but have a strong confidence in themselves, high ambitions and strong love for the state, can succeed in whatever they do. Obviously, the people must be convinced to have confidence, dedication to duty, unity and teamwork in order to bring about a transformation like Samarahan, which is beyond the imagination of the people; not many places can show that kind of transformation.
At one time, it was difficult to visit Samarahan area. For example, Pehin Sri Abdul Taib recalls every time he had to visit the area he had to wake up very early in the morning to follow the tide to come out of Sungei Sarawak and enter Sungei Samarahan. But now the people can make a number of return trips from Kuching to Samarahan in a day. It is also easy for the people in Samarahan to go to Serian, Balai Ringin, which have become very close to Kota Samarahan. Now the people from Kuching can also go to Sebuyau and other coastal areas from Samarahan.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib recalls as he had to go early, there was no place for him and party to buy coffee, they had to drink cold lemonade. They had to eat a bit of bread and drink cold lemonade at about 6,30 a.m before arriving at Muara Tuang. As there was no rest house, he had to stay in district office; everything was in shortage and whatever they wanted to do was very limited.
He admits he had to work very hard in the area as Cabinet Minister and also as a senior party leader. For example, he had to work very hard to bring members of Parti Berjasa and Parti Negara, who had been quarrelling among them, to come together and merge the two parties to become Party Bumiputra. Later, he had to work harder to merge Parti Bumiputra with Parti Pesaka to become PBB, now providing the backbone of the State Barisan Nasional.
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| Tun Razak Teachers’ Institute |
He reiterates that Barisan Nasional, with the feature of being multi-racial, is most suited in terms of philosophy and ideology for a multi-racial and multi-religious state like Sarawak. It comprises of various teams representing the Malays, Iban, Orang Ulu, Bidayuhs, Chinese and others in the services of the people, State and country.
He believes any progress made depends on the capability, education and ability of leaders, to work as a team in providing services to the people in conformity with the philosophy and ideology of Barisan Nasional, which is not just for a certain leader but for all leaders.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says Samarahan has become very successful because the leaders from top to bottom share the common desire to be successful. They are sincere in whatever they do and have the common interests to involve the people in the planning and implementation of development of the area during the last 25 years.
He thanks the people for their thrust and confidence in him that they are prepared to share one objective and one dream towards achieving the desired goal of making Samarahan a progressive and modern town in the State. They have been sincere in whatever they do and in support of the leadership during the last 25 years.
As more civil servants are being posted to Samarahan they help to motivate the local people to be involved in the process of development. There are more young people than the older ones, who can be considered as pioneers of the development of Samarahan since 25 years ago. Hopefully, the new generation will remain steadfast in the struggle to build on the success that has been achieved by the generations before them; they must be prepared to do something no matter how small.
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| Salcra |
The people must continue to work hard to build Kota Samarahan to become a more successful place. The common challenge is to further develop Kota Samarahan, which already has the potential to become a municipal council, to become the fifth major towns in Sarawak after Kuching, Miri, Sibu and Bintulu. It can boast of three universities, a good network of highways and thousands of units of residential and shop houses.
In this regard, the people must do whatever they can in the process of development as it takes a long time to build a house that can be destroyed within hours only. In other words, it is more difficult to build than to destroy. It is more difficult to contribute by action rather than to criticize.
benuasains
*Photos Source:
google.com.my
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