In the aura of Christmas tidings this column wishes to start by saying Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. The season greeting of peace and harmony among mankind is more relevant in today’s world of so many conflicts happening here and there and natural calamities becoming almost daily occurrences in every continent of the globe. For example, we have witnessed massive floods happening in countries like Chile and Venezuela in South America and southern states like Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama and others in USA.
In Asia, the worst flood happened in Pakistan, which submerged about a third of the country. It has cause massive damages to countries like Bangladesh, Burma, Vietnam and Thailand. The flood prone countries like China, Bangladesh and the Philippines, each has been experiencing more floods than they used to be and causing untold hardship and miseries to the affected people.
The civil wars in Somalia in the Horn of Africa are going on unabated. Almost all countries even Nigeria and Kenya, which used to experience stability in Africa, have racial riots and clashes that tend to degrade to civil wars, every time after the presidential or National elections. Thanks to the interventions by peace forces of UN or African Union that they do not get worse.
The sectarian violence is still going on unabated in Iraq, with the history of forming a loose national government 18 months after the general elections. The political crisis precipitates road and street bombings, which have become part of the daily life of the people.
The Arab Spring, now featuring violent suppression by the Police and Army on the daily street demonstrations in various towns and cities in Syria, has already taken its tolls on suppressive leaders in Yemen, Libya and Egypt. It is moving to Bahrain.
The global woe is being compounded by the economic crisis, which is still rearing its ugly head with the tail and bodies still lying flat in America and Europe. Obviously, its full weight falls on Greece, which is experiencing the worst debt crisis to such an extent that it is threatening other countries in Europe like Italy, France, Spain and Britain.
But the irony is, the people in all the affected countries still demand, in the name of democracy, for the governments, most of them weak, should do more and more things for them to maintain their lifestyles. For example in England, members of the public sector unions, comprising civil servants and teachers, laid off for a day to demand for better remunerations and terms and conditions of services. In Greece, the daily street demonstrations, which have already brought the country near to bankruptcy, are still going on to demand for more things to be done in order to maintain the comfort of life.
With all those woes far and near, we should consider ourselves blessed to be living in Malaysia or in Sarawak, which still experiences peace, goodwill and harmony among ourselves. We can take great pride that Sarawak has been able to achieve the present level of development with sustained steadiness. Our resilience and strength, political stability and social cohesiveness are something to be grateful for. We should be proud of our achievements and that we have withstood uncertainties that are challenging us from time to time.
However, we should not let our guards down as the journey ahead is still full of challenges. We must resolve to act with a greater sense of dedication in our efforts to achieve the National agenda of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020. We must stay united and should not be distracted by political bickering and arguments over petty issues that do not benefit anybody.
We must all hold dear that our comfort and hardship together have made Sarawak to become what it is today a progressive and prosperous State. Therefore, it is very difficult to succumb to the contention of the opposition that Sarawak is the fourth poorest state in the country. It is biased and partisan in deference towards Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan. Even though Selangor may be more prosperous because of close proximity to Kuala Lumpur, PKR after merely three years in power cannot claim credit to the success. Nor can DAP claims credit to the success of Pulau Pinang for the same reason.
Understandably, more and more young people than the older ones, who could be considered as pioneers of development, are coming up to shoulder the task of developing Sarawak towards the year 2020 and beyond. It is incumbent upon them to remain steadfast in the struggle to build on the success that has been achieved by the generations before them. They are expected to do whatever they can in the process of development towards achieving the desired objective.
Events in Europe clearly exemplify the adage that it takes a long time to build a house that can be destroyed in a short time; it is more difficult to contribute by action rather than just to criticize.
Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his Christmas message, says Sarawak will go on a massive transformation at all levels in terms of physical, environmental, society, personal and communal mind set from now onward. The onus is on the people to create the environment for the transformation to succeed. In this regard, it is incumbent upon them to work closely together to mobilize children for skills and technical training as a perquisite to get good paying jobs at home.
He says education and training will increasingly become an important new industry to impart new skills and knowledge that are required by more industries onwards the year 2020 and beyond. By then Sarawak will not only be catering to the skills and expertise needed by SCORE but to the rest of the world particularly fellow developing countries.
He believes more and more people should be able to benefit from development, not through handouts but through discipline, hard works and diligence. They will be able to grab the opportunities, being created through the process of development, once they develop their own capability and capacity to do so.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says SCORE is a very challenging development program that demands from the people, young people in particular nothing less than full dedication towards improving their level of education, competency and skills. Generally, Sarawak will need a lot of people with technical, managerial and vocational skills to support the big drive to become the richest State in the country by the year 2030. By then a person will be able to earn at least five times more income than what he is earning today.
Therefore, it is crucial for them to take necessary steps to develop their skills for technical jobs that will be created in great numbers with more industries to be set up from now onward. In this respect, parents must change their mindset in deference for academic qualification as people with technical skills can also earn good salaries in modern economy.
He says the State government will embark on awareness program on the value and marketability of technical education, which is still being held in low esteem by school-leavers and parents. The machinery of the local government, now being reorganized, will be mobilized for the purpose.
Generally, conscientious efforts must be made to mobilize local communities to increase their participation in the development of SCORE. For example, young people must invest their time and energy on skills and technical training in order to release themselves from labor intensive traditional activities of the community.
The world is growing rapidly. Sarawak can anticipate fierce battles for resources, which it has been richly endowed with. However, the people should not sit and wait for things to happen. Instead, necessary efforts must be made to take full advantage of opportunities that are being created by SCORE to make things happen for ourselves, families and the society at large towards the year 2020 and beyond.
Pehin Sri Abdul Taib anticipates that global inflation could exert more pressure locally. This is particularly so due to the continued high fuel prices and recent price hikes for food in the global markets, which will have impact on prices of basic necessities; some of the prices have already gone up. The State Government is supportive of efforts of the Federal Government to cushion the impacts of inflation on the people.
benuasains
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