Sarawak as a region needs bigger allocation for development

Obviously, the opposition, in dismissing the potential of Sarawak to become the richest State in the country by theyear 2030, is ignorant of the fact that the State government has a concreteplan to achieve the desired objective.

Admittedly, Sarawak,at this stage on development, is like Peninsula Malaysia in the 90s in terms ofinfrastructure development like building of roads, bridges, ports and airports.The state only started development in 1963 and has to run faster in order tocatch up with the development and progress of Peninsular Malaysia.  The special allocation of RM4 billion forinfrastructure development in the beginning of 2011 from the Federal Governmentshould be able to push further the development by year 2013.  

But, it is still notjustifiable for the opposition, which has only been making hot air andrhetoric, to condemn Sarawak as the fourthpoorest state in the country and that its development is being donehaphazardly. 

Both DAP and PKR, incriticizing Barisan Nasional - led State government, conveniently ignore thefact that Sarawak, is about 94% of the totalsize of Peninsular Malaysia but with a small population of 2.6 million or 10%of the population of the latter; some districts or parliamentary constituenciesare bigger than most states there. 

FAMILARISATION TOUR: Dato Aloysius Dris leading the media group and Azam members to the Tokuyama plant. (Borneo Post Photo)

The opposition willdo more good, if apart from making sharp criticisms of Barisan Nasional at thestate level, to drive home the points at the Federal level that Sarawak cannotbe treated just as a state in the Federation but a region that needs muchbigger allocation for development.  

Sarawak has a total landsize of more than 125,000 square KMs with 11 administrative divisions, 31districts and 28 sub-districts. The small population is scattered over morethan 5,000 settlements, comprising of longhouses, bazaars and traditionalvillages, with distances of anything from 10 to 45 KM apart. And 60% of thesettlements each have less than 50 families only. The demographic pattern isalready a real challenge in development.

As the opposition has no experience in developing Sarawak and has no credibility to talk about its progressand development, the comments and criticisms should only be taken as a pin ofsalt. Understandably, the opposition, being urban bias, boasts of itscapability to develop double highways to major towns and cities throughout theState in less than five years. 

But what about developing a good network of roads to connectthe longhouses in the hinterlands of Ulu Kapit, Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang andthe traditional Kampung along the coastal areas to major towns or cities?  Even places like Marudi, Long Lama, Kapit,Belaga and Tunoh, with huge potential of economic growth, have been bidding forroads to be constructed to connect them to growth centres.

DAP has pledged to scrap SCORE, which it claims to be anunnecessary burden to the people.  But itfails to give the alternative plan to bring development to the hinterlands ofKapit, Baram and Ulu Limbang, which constitute the region in the middle of Sarawak that is still under-developed as compared tothose in Miri in the North and Kuching in the South.  

Of course, the State government, unlike the opposition, hasthe concrete plan to develop Sarawak, throughSCORE, to achieve the desired goal. The response from investors to developheavy industries has been very good.  Itis projected  that Sarawak will be ableto secure more than RM30 billion worth of foreign investment to develop heavyindustries in SCORE development area in the next few years.

Engkabang nursery at SITC, Tatau

Now it has to copewith the demands for more electricity by potential investors to set up heavyindustries towards the year 2020. At the moment Sarawak Electricity Board (SEB)has the capacity to generate more than 2,000 megawatts of electricity from1,000 megawatts during the last 50 years.

The development of Halal hub in Tanjung Manis is progressingwell. It requires more people to do life sciences and research.  The development of hydro dams will createlakes and lots of islands in each of them.  They will make the development of eco-tourismfeasible in areas, which used to be in the middle of nowhere, for the benefitsof the local people. 

Generally, the development of Sarawak in the next 20 yearswill be beyond the imagination of even the present generation of Malaysians in Sarawak.  Sarawakhas the real potential to become the richest state in the whole of Malaysia.  However, the success hinges on thesteadfastness of the people comprising of various ethnic and religious groupsin preserving unity and co-operation among them.

They must not make issues merely to score political capitaland ruin the prospects of Sarawak to developfast. It is the only way to guarantee success in the pursuit of the commonstruggle to push the State far ahead towards the year 2030 and beyond. The factremains Sarawak, once in the backwater lane ofdevelopment is emerging as the fastest developing state in the country. 

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in hisrecent speech, during the Chinese New Year gathering organized by thefederation of Chinese associations in Miri, says Sarawakis on the right track towards becoming the most prosperous state in the countrytowards the year 2030. Every community must be involved in the process. Thepeople, regardless of their ethnic origins, must remain focused in whateverthey do in order to achieve results. 

When he told the Prime Minister about the State’s ambitionto become the richest state, the latter assured him if it could be done theFederal government would give all the support. The State government, with the experience to undertake very difficulttasks to push development during the past 50 years, should be able to do soprovided the people, comprising of the  Chinese, Ibans, Bidayuhs, Malays, Orang Ulusand others can continue to work together toward achieving the common aim. Thatis the foundation of how Sarawak can grow towardsthe year 2030 and beyond.

Coal-fired generating station at Matadeng, Mukah

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says Sarawakis making conscientious efforts to develop technical education with the targetto produce more than 100,000 graduates and other kinds of technical people bythe year 2030.   The standard of learningamong Sarawakians has gone up.  His onlyinterest is to get the local people to be trained regardless of theirbackgrounds.

Besides, a ¼ million more people will undergo training atthe certificate level. The State government has no choice but to recruit youngpeople from rural areas to acquire all the skills.  Generally, the youth from longhouses learn todo things fast as proof by their ability to work in logging camps or factories.They can even work in factories using new technology. That is the uniquecharacteristics of youth from rural areas.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib reaffirms his belief that the peoplecomprising of about 30 ethnic and sub-ethnic groups, each with its own customsand traditions and other backgrounds, share the same future; it cannot be separated.In this respect, any movement, social or political cannot get one race toco-operate at the expense of other races.

He calls on Chinese leaders to work conscientiously tostrengthen the solidarity of the community. They should put their politicaldifferences aside to ensure that they remain united and provide avenues formembers to solve problems together with other races.  The State or the country no longer has anythinglike in the old days. Besides, the State or country will use to the full thetalents that the people can produce in pursuit of greater progress anddevelopment towards the year 2020 and beyond.

benuasains

 

 *Source:

google.com

Public, private sector must have nerve to resist unnecessary pressures from developed nations

The development of heavy industries in Sarawak Corridor ofRenewable Energy or SCORE actually brings Sarawakto become nothing less than a developed State in nature. Generally, the Stateis embarking on the era of massive industrial development, with SCORE as theshowpiece, which will be introducing hi-tech industrial program. The State willbe engaged in food production using biotechnology and the generation of sufficientenergy at reasonable costs to cater for energy intensive industries.

Admittedly, thedevelopment of hydro dams to generate electricity requires huge investments. Itentails construction of roads, numerous bridges, ports and airports and otherinfrastructural facilities. Works to construct roads to each hydro dam sites inthe interior parts of Kapit, Ulu Baram or Ulu Limbang have to cut across hillsor mountains, deep ravines and rivers; the construction of roads alone requireshuge investments. 

Understandably, theresponse from world industry players has been very positive.  More big firms, which will use huge amount ofenergy for their plants or factories, have expressed their interests to set upindustries in Sarawak.  That means Sarawakhas to develop more hydro dams to generate electricity that can be charged atreasonable costs to consumers. It has already embarked on a series of programsto generate more than 20,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2030. 

Basically, Sarawak has to deal with the world, which is exacting inits judgment. It expects the State to conform to many standards andrequirements.  Some of the changes orvalues are advocated by groups of people ranging from very conservative people,who say the world today is the mixture of stability and progress while someradical groups see the world as opportunities to transform it into the idea ofUtopia.  This by itself already posesquite a lot of challenges and even conflicts all over the world.  The people who suffer the most are those indeveloping countries like ours.  

View of Samalaju Industrial Park

Unavoidably, Sarawak has to conform to the standards which have beenevolved by developed countries over at least 200 years starting from theindustrial revolution. Generally, developing countries like ours are expectedto work out the transformation in lesser time than developed nations.   Therefore, to apply some of the so-calledvalues or benchmarks in the local situation or in national setting can bring alot of challenges or even controversies to us. 

For example, thehigh polluting values being determined by developed nations whether in the areaof environment, human right, freedom and democracy, climate change can actuallyimpede the development of developing countries. Besides, they do not spell outhow the objectives can be achieved within the limitations of the localsituation.  

Agreeably, commonefforts to slow down degradation of the environment and the impact of climatechange are sound ideas with very valuable aims but developing countries are yetto be told how they can be achieved within their own constraints orlimitations.  

Therefore, the jobsof the both the public and private sectors, as part of changes, are to make thetransformation more practical and adaptation to changes, successful. They mayconsider amending some of the exacting demands that have not been surged bypractical experience worldwide. 

Needless to say Sarawak must follow the economics system that has beendeveloped by developed countries for a long time since World War Two.Admittedly, the system has benefitted the State too. However, it mustanticipate that future changes will escalate; they will not change in a steadymanner. 

The third componentof SCORE is the development of eco-tourism, which will be easier to developwith the construction of all-season roads to hydro dams sites deep in theinteriors of Kapit, Baram and Ulu Limbang towards the year 2020 andbeyond.  

The development ofinfrastructure for eco-tourism will also involve the development of the Penans,who still have about 500 of them leading their traditional nomadic way of lifeand roaming over a wide region of Ulu Baram and Ulu Limbang. Unavoidably, thedevelopment of the Penans, to ensure that they will not be bypassed in the newphase of development, will touch on the big human question that must be handledin a very sophisticated way; there will be lots of “advices” from both insideand outside the country.  

Basically, Sarawak is in the stage of development that it has to plungeinto the world context of development. It cannot be isolated any more.Admittedly, it will be a big challenge, which Sarawakmust see as an opportunity to move further upward in the migration from mediumto the high income economy towards the year 2020 and beyond. It must anticipatecomplex problems that will emerge from time to time because of continuouschanges in the world.

But for Sarawak to be in the global economy, it cannot be donewithout the civil service being able to understand global economicactivities.  Therefore, the civil serviceas the precursor of any development must be knowledgeable of suchactivities.  Besides, the members must beable to look at NGOs with different eyes and choose the good ones that arerelevant to development as allies. 

Ultimately, themembers must have the ability to develop independent assessment of standardsthat are relevant to the overall development or environmental policies.  Sarawak mustlearn from experiences of some countries in getting along with all kinds ofmovements.  

Tokuyama Plant in Samalaju

Obviously, the newchallenges of development require the Civil Service to do much more than thetraditional functions to look after the welfare, peace and unity of the peoplein the country.  The members, who used tobe bound within the old context, must do the jobs of the new Sarawak, thetechnologically entrenched Sarawak from nowonward. 

Besides, the civilservice must be able to come up with the standards that are practical to thelocal situation but compatible with those of the world. Obviously, they mustdedicate themselves to the advancement not only of the country but the world inadvent of climate change.  All of us havethe responsibility to save the world because climate change could drowneverybody; nobody wants that kind of picture.

The Chief Minister,Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his recent speech during a dialogue withheads of departments says people in the public and private sector must have thenerve in dealing with the world because it is the only way to get theirattention and respect. The developed countries own about 50% of the worldwealth, which they can use to wield their power on developing countries. 

Besides, they canuse NGOs movements to set up tend or create new values that can be used aspressures for developing countries to follow. Hence, developing countries like ours must have nerve to stand up tothem.    Otherwise, they will do allsorts of things against us; demonstrations will increasingly become powerfultools against us.   

Pehin Sri Abdul Taibsays activities of foreign NGOs in exerting pressures on governments ofdeveloping countries can make them appear less powerful especially  if the society is  not united or having no cohesion in it.Worse, if it does not have the process of interchange of views. As aconsequence, the people become isolated and susceptible to negative influencesof unfriendly foreign NGOs. 

He saysconscientious efforts must be made to reinforce the consciousness of people,comprising of diverse ethnic and religious groups about the need to preservethe Independenceand sovereignty of the country in view of concerted efforts by developednations to enforce their high polluting values on developing countries likeours. 

Regrettably, thepeople tend to take many things for granted. They tend to criticize everything to such an extent that oppositionmovements   appear to be more popularthan genuine efforts to bring progress and development to the people andcountry. These are the challenges confronting the society today; nobody canchange the situation overnight. 

Obviously, there isa need to remind the people that there is a need to preserve our unity andstability in the common pursuit for greater progress and prosperity. They mustalso understand that the stability of the country and pursuit for greaterfreedom by the people do not come at the same time; sometimes they go in theopposite directions.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taibsays Europe today has troublesome groups ofpeople, not in terms individual nations but the governments that do not havewell informed set-ups about other countries, developing countries inparticular. For example in geo-political questions how do they get theirinformation?   Or where do they get theirfacts to assess local situations? 

Besides, how do theyaccess support or opposition to any issues, of a certain country?  Obviously, in the case of the environment,they get their feedback from NGOs, some may be friendly and others, veryunfriendly to developing countries.  Dothey have the distinction between friendly and unfriendly NGOs?  

benuasains

 

 *Source:

http://google.com.my

Urgent need to institutionalize unity, solidarity of people into a force to achieve development for all

The resilience and the strength of the local people, comprising of various ethnic and religious groups are something that all of us should value and be grateful for. Together, we have been able to withstand the uncertainties that are challenging us from time to time. 
 

However, we should not let our guards down and forget that the journey ahead is still full of challenges. Instead, we must be more determined and have a stronger sense of dedication in our efforts to ensure that we achieve the National and State development objectives within the stipulated framework. 

Obviously, we must stay united and should not be distracted by political bickering and arguments over petty issues which do not benefit anybody. Looking back, Sarawak has been able to accelerate the pace of development and move upward from being No.2 or No.3 from the bottom to a few steps upward with the unity and solidarity of the people behind the government.  

Arguably, with some voices of dissent mainly from the opposition, the State has been able to catch up with many of the States, though they started their development seven years ahead of Sarawak, in Semenanjung Malaysia during the last 30 years.  It has provided a strong foundation for Sarawak, mainly through the development of SCORE, to become the richest state in Malaysia.  Generally, the people recognize the fact that Sarawak has been able to surge from the backwater lane of development to become one of the fastest developing states in the country. 

Generally, the people do not doubt that the State’s policy and the common struggle for unity and solidarity have been able to bring about greater comfort and prosperity in their lives.  Needless to say, the State must continue to find a more modern and organized way to perpetuate the kind of thinking that can sustain the progress and prosperity for the generations that will come after us.   

Obviously, conscientious efforts must be made to institutionalize the unity and solidarity of the people into a force to achieve development for all.  Without such kind of thinking, the society may breed rebel groups here and there, who will be busy fighting for small things to benefit few individuals and not the society as a whole. 

Undoubtedly, unity is needed much more now than before as the State implements the second phase of the politics of development namely the development of SCORE up to the year 2030 and beyond.  Hence, all communities must learn the value of working together and appreciate much more that only through unity they can sustain development for the generations that will come after them.  For example, the progress that has been achieved must be sustained in order to have more ambitious plan, which may take one or two generations to turn Sarawak into a very rich state. 

Obviously, the successful implementation of such a plan requires a strong discipline of the people, who must be able to recognize, for example, that politics is no longer the fight for the individual advancement. It is common fight of the people in order to achieve a much bigger thing namely the transformation of the society.

Once, the concept of development was misconstrued by a lot of people as waiting for the fruits to fall. In other words, development was equated with durians, which will fall when they become ripe. They fall for the people to pick them up only; there are not many efforts on the part of the people. 

But development is strength that comes from efforts of the people. Besides, development is the improvement of experience from time to time so that what can be achieved tomorrow will be better than that being achieved today. In other words, development means to be able to do things better all the times. 

And that does not depend on money alone. It is dependent on efforts that need to be upgraded all the time by the capacity of the people to learn, understand and choose the way of working to cope with problems and opportunities that accompany with the process.  That explains the need to perpetuate the unity and solidarity, which have become more important today than from any other times in the history of the people. 

Arguably, Sarawak has succeeded in setting up a working democracy that can improve the way of life of the people. The State has succeeded in building a democracy that can last longer with more young people with better qualification and experience being chosen to provide the leadership in future.  Besides, SCORE is the common call for the people to work together to realise the dream of making Sarawak the richest State in the country by the year 2030.

Obviously, SCORE is not the exercise of picking up the fallen fruits. Its implementation demands individuals in the community to upgrade their ability to exploit big opportunities that will come up in the process.  

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during a recent Solidarity dinner organized by Federation of Orang Ulu Association Sarawak, Malaysia (FORUM) in Miri says he is happy to be able to see the success of a community that has been able to take proper steps to move forward in a more organized manner. It is yet another example that if a community plans its steps to move forward properly it will be able to succeed in their economic endeavors and take further steps to sustain it. Obviously, the success of the Orang Ulu community is attributable to the politics of development that was launched in 1985.

He says, he decided not to call the State’s economic policy that had succeeded in making structural changes to the economy and given benefits to the people as the New Economic Policy for Sarawak as in Semenanjung Malaysia but instead coined a phase to become the philosophy of development.  The State government decided not to call the policy the New Economic Policy with the realization that it cannot talk about economic development mainly through steps being taken for it. 

The other states in Semenanjung Malaysia began to realize the importance of unity through the common struggle for Independence.  However, Sarawak, because of the security threat looming in Asian region with some indications that it could threaten the future of Sarawak, decided to seek unity and solidarity with Semenanjung Malaysia to save ourselves from such threat.  

That explains why the State did not have sufficient time to plan far ahead for the political consolidation and development. Besides, Sarawak has 20 to 30 ethnic groups with none of them being big enough to provide a majority and the basis for political stability in democracy; democracy without a majority will not be sustainable and likely to face lots of problems.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says politics of development combines efforts to organize politics and develop the economy together in order to convince the people that they have a lot to gain by cooperating and working together in pursuit for progress and advancement.  It was also to make the people appreciate the necessity to have a broader understanding that covers all ethnic groups, which do not have the majority,   in order to enhance unity and solidarity among them.    In other words, the basis of a stable government lies on the ability of the people to have broad agreement among them. For example, the people must have the agreement to achieve the same thing through a common aspiration. 

He decides to make politics of development as the philosophy of development to spearhead efforts to develop politics and economy in Sarawak in 1985 to remind the people that the efforts to achieve progress and prosperity represent the most difficult job to do. Basically, the State can only be successful in economic development with the success to bring people comprising of various ethnic and religious groups together in unity to move forward.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says he is very happy to see the Orang Ulu, as a small community can be involved in the process of development and join other communities in promoting greater unity and solidarity in the State. 

He admits of being a bit worried 20 years ago with the concern that the Orang Ulu might not be able to sustain and use their own energy in the development of the community. There could be less than half of members of the community remaining in their longhouses during the period of less than 10 years. In other words, most of the longhouses in Baram would be half empty. Those who would remain behind would comprise of old people and children of ages 12 or 13 years old.

Then, the immediate challenge of leaders of the community was to make conscientious efforts to pool the energy of the Orang Ulu, which has more sub-ethnic groups that talk different dialects of between eight or nine of them, to develop Baram, which is often considered as the last frontier of development  in Sarawak.

For this reason, the Orang Ulu community like other communities must endeavor to solidify efforts and support the leadership in the drive for change.  That is being expected of the people to achieve. 

benuasains

 *Photos Source:

Penerangan Photo

SCORE will provide opportunities for Sarawak to catch up with development in Peninsular Malaysia

For us in Sarawak, our common struggle must necessarily be to ensure that the economy will continue to grow at a decent pace in order to generate sufficient employment and business opportunities for the people. The vocal complaint by the Opposition DAP that Sarawak is still the fourth poorest state in the country will not push it to the higher level of economic achievement without making bold steps to develop the economy. DAP’s comparison of Sarawak with Selangor and Pulau Pinang, just show how ignorant and shallow the party’s elected representatives can be.

Whatever DAP says about the state of the economy,  the State Government is taking the bold steps forward to make a quantum leap within the framework of the the Economic Transformation program, a Federal initiative to migrate the economy from the medium to high income economy towards the year 2020.  The development of SCORE will push the State to the era of massive industrial development that will bring it to the same level of socio - economic development and progress as in Semenanjung Malaysia, not just Selangor and Pulau Pinang, the jewels of the Opposition, which began their development in earnest six years earlier. 

Asean Bridge connecting Miri- Brunei

Admittedly, now Sarawak, which is almost of the same size as Peninsular Malaysia, is in the same stage of development as it was in late 80s in terms of physical infrastructure and industrial development. Sarawak has a big land area and small population, which is scattered in small groups comprising of more than 5,000 settlements over a very wide area. Hence, when Malaysia opened its door to foreign direct investment in the late 80s, the focus was on Peninsula to the great disadvantage of Sarawak with its small population and economy.

As a consequence, Peninsular Malaysia could undergo active period of building roads including the North - South expressway, ports including Tanjung Pelepas port in Johor, the expansion of power supply with IPPs or Independent Power Producers, the expansion of the water main power and many other projects. The stock market was liberalized and the Security Commission established. The federal strategy, in the early 1990s, was to privatize infrastructure projects and much of the funds were sourced from capital markets.

Now Sarawak urgently needs bigger allocation from the Federal government to develop infrastructure facilities as prerequisites to the proper development of the industrial base.  In addition, it must build suitable ports so that international trade can take place on a bigger scale, better roads and means of connectivity both internally and with the rest of the world. The State must also deliver sufficient water and electricity on a stable, reliable and reasonable basis to major industries that are coming up.  

Kuala Baram

Therefore, the State needs a good funding strategy to develop infrastructure facilities that are required by the industrial sector as it moves to a higher level of industrial development. For example, it must continue to build critical mass facilities in order to meet the requirement of big investors on the ground. Four of them have already committed billions of ringgit worth of investment to Sarawak. Many more investors are waiting to get basic facilities to develop their operational facilities.

Henceforth, the growth of the economy comes from the government spending and projects. However, conscientious efforts are being made to raise the income levels of the community across the board towards the year 2020 and beyond. Hence, the development of the economy has to depend more and more on private investments both from within and outside the country.  

Obviously, the quantum leap can be achieved by a significant injection of private investments, both locally and foreign. This paradigm shift in development strategy requires a similar paradigm shift in the mindset of the people. In other words, as Sarawakians aspire to enjoy high incomes they must be prepared to be trained to work hard and smart and to be more organized as productive communities.  

More importantly, they must be prepared to venture out of the old thinking and experience and embrace wholeheartedly the advances in the modern world.  For example, they must appreciate that the benefits of SCORE will be accrued by those who have the skills and expertise.

Indisputably, Sarawak is undergoing a significant transition from being an essentially agro-based economy with some reliance on mining and manufacturing activities to embrace a modern economy.  However, the development of SCORE, which requires major funding for successful implementation, will drastically change the pattern of development from now onward.  The successful implementation of SCORE will provide opportunities for Sarawak to catch up with the development and progress of Peninsular Malaysia. Its huge benefits will not only for Sarawak but the whole of Malaysia.

Sibu Durin Bridge

SCORE is dynamic for Sarawak’s situation. It is a homegrown development strategy, which takes advantage of reasonably priced energy from hydro and others to attract world class industries to build industrial clusters.  The State’s goal is to create good jobs so that the people can earn their living locally. The development of energy potential, especially hydroelectric power and coal, is crucial to the economic future of Sarawak. The availability of energy will provide the main comparative advantage to propel the industrial development in Sarawak.

In an open economy like ours, it is inevitable that a number of Sarawakians have opted to work abroad in search of better life;   it is a natural privilege of people living in an open economy and society. Besides, a number of them have been trained overseas and seen another way of living.

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, who is also the Minister Finance and Resource Planning and Environment, in his speech in winding the debate on Budget 2012 in Dewan Undangan Negeri, reaffirms the State’s commitment to develop SCORE  so that Sarawakians can earn high income  locally.  Therefore, it is paramount that ways and means must be found to ensure that development projects are properly funded. The successful development of SCORE will yield high economic growth for Malaysia, the state in particular, as it will create new avenues for growth and employment and not dependent on past performance. The development of SCORE entails the development of energy, industries and manpower development.

He says the development strategy during the past 20 years has seen significant change in the economic structure of the State. The shares of professional and technical workers rose from 5.2% in 1980 to 13.3% in 2010 in spite of increase in population. This means that the number of professionals and technical workers employed in Sarawak rose from 23,800 people in the year 1980 to 165,000 people in the year 2010.

Bintulu LNG

He says the structural change in the economy implies a significant change in the skillset and mindset required for the transformation to take place. The labor market is fluid especially in the current globalize world with the internet, advance communication and low budget air travel. The mobility of Sarawakians around the world is a good sign that they are capable of quick adaptation to changes in the modern world. Therefore, it is inevitable that Sarawak must transform the economy and society further through SCORE.    

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the development of Sama Jaya Free Industrial Zone, which employs a total of 9,479 people, is a success story. A total of 98.8% of its employments are locals comprising of 729 engineers, 246 other professional staffs in accounts and legal matters. There are 1,901 non-engineering technical staffs while 5,825 are operators and 663 administrative staffs. This is typical of high tech industries with the proportion of unskilled labor normally very low. Obviously, Sama Jaya industrial development can bring about good jobs for young people.

He says the State government recently commissioned UNIMAS to conduct a study on manpower requirements in Sarawak, the value chain of each of the ten (10) priority industries in particular. Projections of manpower demand are made using a quantitative economic module with assumption of different stages of investment growth. The UNIMAS manpower study concludes that the manpower requirements in term of the number of people are fairly modest in the next five years up to 2015.  The 10 priority industries in SCORE will generate about 58,200 new jobs in the first five years to 2015.  

This means about 11,600 new jobs should be created each year with 620 being professionals and 1,700 semi professionals. There will be 700 workers in support groups and 8,600 as general workers. Professionals are those with university degrees while semi professionals have Diplomas and Certificates in technical skills.   The number of jobs to be created for professionals will rise further to about 980 people each year after 2015.

Bintulu Port

There will be 1,130 professional jobs by the 2025 and 1,620 professional jobs by the year 2030. The study estimates that the local labor force will rise to about 1.1 million by the year 2015. The labor force will cumulatively have 226,000 professionals and semi professionals working by then. By the year 2030, the labor force will rise to 2.2 million, which will comprise of 50,000 professionals and 318,000 semi professionals. In other words, nearly half a million jobs will be for professionals and non-professionals.

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says a survey being conducted recently among companies investing at Samalaju Industrial Park indicates that at the construction stage alone is about 17,200 construction workers in six plants. The average is nearly 3,000 workers per Plant. When the plants start to operate, they will immediately require about 8,700 office and factory workers and an average of 1,200 professionals and semi professionals per plant.

Understandably, there is concern that the State may be building too many hydro dams and other power generation plants. The concern may be born out of the apparent boldness of a long-term development plan that stretches for more than 20 years up to year 2030. However, the big plan should be visualized into components of five different periods.  The immediate actions of the plans are practical and the State can undertake heavier challenges as the people gather more knowledge and experience in implementing each phase of the plan.

Palm Oil Plantation

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib says the State government, at the moment, is building Murum dam only. It seems comparatively easier when compared with Bakun as the State government has better experience and understanding of all the problems involved. The development of other dams will go through the due process especially the social environmental impact assessment (SEIA) to ensure that each of them will be carried out in a manner that complies with international standard and is satisfactory to all stakeholders including people, who will be affected by their development.

The State government conducts the Social Environmental Impact Assessment (SEIA) in line with the equatorial principles to ensure affected communities will be properly resettled and compensated.  The resettlement exercise provides the government with opportunities to eradicate poverty and create new rural growth centers for the people. There are international standards to follow to ensure that the resettlement will truly bring about an improvement in the lives of the people.

benuasains

 *Photos Source:

http://google.com

Water resources as the new source of wealth for Sarawak

Bakun hydro dam, with the capacity to generate 2,400 megawatt of electricity, will eventually create a lake much bigger than the size of Singapore with numerous islands. Understandably, its development in the middle of the jungles of Belaga, with rugged terrains, has been inviting a lot of controversies mainly from foreign NGOs in the name of environment and the human watch groups. The local opposition groups have also quick to find faults with the government to score political points. 

 

Besides, Bakun hydro dam, which started as a commercial entity, had to change hands a number of times at various stages of development from the private sector to the State government, Government-link companies to the Federal government. Besides, its development had to be suspended as the aftermath of the Asian Financial crisis in 1997/1998. 

At one time, nobody believed that Bakun hydro dam could become a profitable venture.  Obviously, it is so now. The state has offered to buy the dam for RM7 billion but it is yet to receive the reply from the relevant authority. This alone speaks volume of the fact that Bakun hydro dam is a profitable venture. 

Navigating the cigar-shaped speedboat across the rapids requires a lot of skill
to avoid hitting the rocks or capsizing the boat. Accidents happen frequently in this area.

Its initial development was fraught with problems as the people, comprising of Kayans, Kenyahs, kelabits, Penan and numerous sub-ethnic groups in 11 longhouses in Ulu Belaga had to be resettled in Sg. Asap. The opposition and foreign NGOs were quick to instigate the affected people that the resettlement exercise actually caused them unnecessary hardship. 

Generally, most of the affected people had been living in abject poverty. The government had to spend millions of ringgit to build new houses, provide clean water and electricity supplies, public facilities and other amenities for them. 

Fortunately, as they learned to adapt to the new environment, they started to find new ways of earning their living, developing their land or catching fish like Empurau, which is known to be most expensive fish that can easily catch a price of RM600 per kilo. The outsiders only highlighted all the negative things about the resettlement schemes and nothing about the positive things being done by the government to help the people. 

The vast lake created by the Bakun Dam is ideal for a large scale caged-fish industry and ecotourism

Generally, the people in Belaga, those in the resettlement schemes in particular, are enjoying a better standard of living than those in their traditional longhouses before the development of Bakun hydro dam.  

Hopefully, the construction of Murum hydro dam, now in various stages of development, will be spared of problems and controversies surrounding the development of Bakun hydro dam. Obviously, if the water can be controlled and used to generate electricity, it will also have values.  

The State Government has been able to raise huge investments for the development of gigantic projects like Bakun and Murum hydro dams with its track record of having the support of the people and being capable and efficient in managing the resources. It has been able to command the confidence of foreign investors to lend a huge sum of money to undertake such projects.  

Promising Ecotourism : The Treasures Of Bakun

Generally, foreign investors recognize that the State government has been able to govern and develop the State successfully. They are ready to give big loans to Sarawak with the knowledge that it has the capability to pay back the loans. Hence, it is incumbent upon the people to build on the success to move forward towards the year 2020 and beyond. 

Chief Minister, Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud says the development of SCORE is a way to use the local strength to raise bigger investments to develop the potentials of water resources to become the new source of wealth for Sarawak. 

Sarawak has been fortunate that the present Prime Minister, Dato Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Abdul Razak and all the previous Prime Ministers have been very sympathetic towards the development and progress of Sarawak.  The first Prime Minister, Allahyarham Tunku Abdul Rahman, the second Prime Minister Allahyarham Tun Abdul Razak, who was also the Minister of Rural Development, the third Prime Minister, Allahyarham Tun Hussein Onn, the Fourth Prime Minister, Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed and the fifth Prime Minister, Tun Haji Abdullah Ahmad Bedawi had all been giving the necessary support to Sarawak for it to move forward. 

Besides, the current Prime Minister has been able to convince the world of Malaysia’s capability to accelerate the pace of development towards the year 2020 and beyond; foreign investors are willing to come forward to invest in our development. Thus far we have been very successful in our nation-building efforts.

Bakun Eco Centre

However, the State’s fortune can turn into despair if the people take risk by indulging in negative politics that make them to become lazy, instigate them to quarrel among themselves and raise religious and communal issues. For example, the Ibans as Christians have been allowed to use the word Allah in their prayers without the complaints from Malay Muslims.

Regrettably, the outsiders have resorted to harp on racial and religious issues to instigate the people to go against the government. Those who are involved in spinning the propaganda can be considered as the most dangerous poison in the State. 

They, unlike leaders of Barisan Nasional, can be considered as people who do not have love for the State. They like to play politics and have the inclinations to instigate the Rakyat to go against the government or play one group against the other.  

Pehin Sri Abdul Taib, who is also the Chairman of the State Barisan Nasional, says as the people want greater progress and prosperity, they must resolved to reject individuals, mainly outsiders who are propagating negative politics of defiance, hatred and dissensions among them.  In this respect, conscientious efforts must be made by the local people to preserve political harmony as a pre-requisite to accelerate the pace of development towards realizing the objectives of vision 2020. 

School at Sg Assap Settlement

Some of the affected Penan Families

In this respect, all component parties of the State Barisan Nasional comprising of PBB, SUPP, PRS and SPDP have all agreed to reject negative politics as the parties are committed to maintain political stability, peace and harmony in the State.  They are committed to work together to provide the backbone of the struggle to bring development to the people and the State. 

Generally, followers of the parties nurture and propagate positive values in politics with the realization that they had to maintain political stability, peace and harmony in Sarawak with the people comprising of various ethnic and religious groups.

It is projected that Sarawak will become the richest state in Malaysia by the year 2030, not the poorest any more. However, the State government must continue to plan and implement development programs properly.

In this respect, the State government is carrying out the Federal initiative of Economic Transformation Program (ETP) with similar objectives but with a bit of modification in the approach to suit local conditions, which are different as compared with those in Semenanjung Malaysia. Sarawak has a population of 2.5 million people, who are living in settlements spreading over a wide area; some of them are still very difficult to visit. 

Basically, the implementation of the New Economic Model entails the process of migrating from the medium income to the higher income economy to create more opportunities for the people to raise their levels of income.  

The structure necessitates that at least 30% of the workers must be well trained technically, professionally and managerially to enable them to earn salaries in the high income bracket. They are expected to introduce greater elements of innovations into their services.

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 *Photos Source:

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