Tanjung Manis has all attributes to become world-class Halal hub

As Sarawak moves into high gear to the era of massive industralisation in the migration from the medium income to high income economy or modern economy, it will be producing more and move products through value-added industries mainly downstream activities. 
 

By then the world market and those in Peninsular Malaysia should get more and more products with “made in Sarawak” label. This should not be a problem as even now Sarawak has got a fair share of publicity.  Generally, Sarawak has the image of being an exotic tropical environment where the people live deep in the rainforest with animals and plants of all sorts.  

Sibu to Tanjung Manis road

Currently, Sarawak managed to value-add to the natural gas onto LNG for export market. In addition, the timber resources have further developed through value added downstream activities that give the State better premium in the export markets.

For that reasons, the State has decided to do more value added activities domestically by utilising the readily available raw materials cutting across all sectors of the economy. Though the State has the skills and manpower, it still requires the outsourcing of technology and knowledge to constantly improve production and productivity.

The objective to further promote value added activities will also be achieved with the inflow of investment in trigger projects in SCORE that will create many downstream value added activities. Eventually, these activities will generate many new high value businesses and job opportunities for the local people. Thus the State’s journey can be expedited towards becoming high income and developed State by 2020. 

Obviously, this romantic image of Sarawak should be exploited fully for tourism. Obviously, it is not being done so.   For example, the State can boast of varied cultures in the natural setting.  In this regards, visitors can take their time to trek through the jungles and enjoy the friendliness and warmth of the local people.

Sibu-Tanjung Manis Bridge

Sarawak has the world’s oldest tropical rainforests, which is a manifestation of the State government’s efficient sustainable forest management practices.  Hence, the State is well known among local and international visitors primarily because of the national parks such as the World heritage of Gunung Mulu and Niah caves, which contain some amazing natural wonders. Tourists from the Middle East should be encouraged to come and experience the pristine tropical forest.

Besides, the Hydroelectric Power dams in Bakun and Batang Air also create panoramic and spectacular lakes with beautiful islands in them. In addition, the State is offering city lifestyle as more and more hotels and shopping complexes are being built in towns and cities like Kuching, Sibu and Miri.   

Generally, the people comprising of various ethnic groups, religious beliefs and other differences are very friendly.  They talk good English to enable them to communicate with visitors and make them feel at home during the visit. With greater air accessibility, Sarawak should be able to lure more Middle East tourists in Kuala Lumpur to come over.

Sarawak is a hilly region with only about 24% of the landmass having reasonably good soil for agriculture.  The State government has been working on about a third of the arable land or 8% of it.  Even so, the agriculture policy has attracted some attention with regard to estate crops. 

It has never been an easy geographical region to develop due to its vast  physical expanse of about 124,449 square kilometres or 37.7% of Malaysia’s total land mass, difficult terrain to traverse and dotted with widely dispersed population of approximately 19 people per square kilometre.

Despite the challenges, the State government over the years, since the middle of 1980s in particularly, successfully built more roads and bridges linking major towns to secondary towns and rural settlements. The State is now served by a system of road network of about 20,333 km long compared to only 1,340 km in the early years of independence.

Undoubtedly, Sarawak can market its image as a natural environment for good organic food products. Hence, efforts must be made to organise properly the rural communities for organic farming, which commands a premium in the world market. The “Made In Sarawak” can be synonymous with a healthy green environment. 

Asean Bridge connecting Miri and Brunei

Even the State’s active involvement in the development of   Hydropower will not undermine its efforts to preserve healthy environment. Agreeably, hydropower is good clean energy for the environment and the future of the world.  Most of the products that are processed in Sarawak are also good for the future of the world. 

For example, aluminium is a light weight metal that is important for making energy-saving transport equipment.  Most of the other metals being processed in Sarawak are for the recycle and recovery of precious metals.  These energy-intensive heavy industries may look dirty but Sarawak is helping the world to stay clean with the industrial development.

The development of Halal Hub, based on Islamic certification, is basically a healthy practice in all respects. The Halal Hub in Tanjung Manis will handle not only food but lifestyle and other aspects of living.

Tanjung Manis, with an area of 77,000 hectares is being developed as the largest halal hub in Malaysia, focusing on both the upstream and downstream food and manufacturing industries. The focus on halal industry is to capture the increasing demand for Halal products from both Muslim and non-Muslim markets globally.

Given Malaysia’s enviable geographic position in the heart of the market, with over 1 billion Muslims in the region and access to all other large markets, Tanjung Manis is an ideal location for Halal related companies to take advantage of such a lucrative market.

Indeed, Tanjung Manis has all the necessary attributes including large area for upstream activities coupled with good and logistic support to become the biggest and most successful Halal Hub in the region. In fact, more infrastructure projects are already in the pipeline to meet the demand of industries. The “Made in Sarawak” would carry this image of clean, green and organic when referring to Halal products.

Deer Cave, Mulu Sarawak

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in an interview with an international investment magazine, believes that Sarawak is capable of riding the wave of economic progress and still retaining the rainforests, Orang-utans, sea and tribal culture.

He says that the State is more than happy to open up to Middle Eastern investments in order to jumpstart the development of a world-class Halal hub facility in Tanjung Manis growth node. Commitments from the Middle Eastern concerns, it is possible to have a 100% fully integrated Halal supply chain, from the farm and all the way to the retail shelves.

He says the opportunity for growth is immense, with 2 billion captive consumers in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. Malaysia is an authority in Halal production and certification standards. Sarawak, in addition, is free from rabies and foot-and-mouth diseases.

Works are in progress to develop the necessary infrastructure like expanding the treated water and electricity supplies, communication facilities, public amenities, a new township, expanded airports, deep sea ports and industrial zones.

benuasains

 *Photos Source:  

google.com.my
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xping/3064895111/ 
http://moshar2000.blogspot.com/2011/03/177sentiasa-cemerlang-smk-belawai.html