Sarawakians must decide their own destiny – Abang Johari

KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg says Sarawakians must decide their own destiny, not have somebody else deciding it for them.

Thus, the state government of the day must create policies that are Sarawak- centric and focused on the immediate and strategic needs of the state, he said.

To enable them to harness the state’s full potential for growth, Sarawak must have greater autonomy over its own destiny, he addded.

“Our basic challenge in Sarawak is how we can build the basic infrastructure systems that are critically needed by our economy.

“We have infrastructure that is geared toward the export of oil and gas, timber and palm oil but we still do not have a sufficient infrastructure system for the export of agricultural produce and other products of our local villages.

“We do not have a good infrastructure system for the development of our entrepreneurs to enable them to be innovative and creative and market new products for the world,” he said at the official launch of the International ICT Infrastructure and Digital Economy Conference Sarawak ( Idecs) 2017 here yesterday.

Abang Johari also said Sarawak does not have a proper infrastructure system for the Digital Economy.

He pointed out that the challenge for policymakers in Sarawak today is how to propel the economy to greater heights and with more direct benefits for the people, especially their incomes.

“We were told in the past that it is better to export our oil and gas because they fetch good prices in the export market, and to use the proceeds to subsidise the prices of imported oil and gas that we use at home.

“Eventually, it was argued that subsidies are not good for the development of a competitive economy. The subsidies are now removed.

“So we are left in a situation where we have oil and gas and cannot fully enjoy the benefit of having oil and gas. This cannot be,” he emphasised.

He said it is therefore of strategic importance that Sarawak should try to use as much as possible of its energy resources for its own economic development and industrialisation.

He noted that Sarawak had already started on this strategy by buying back the Bakun Dam.

The Bakun Dam is a commercially-viable project and the repayment of the project is covered by the stream of revenues from industries.

He said the main reason for buying the Bakun Dam is because it is a major strategic asset of Sarawak and the state must own it.

“As a strategic asset, the Bakun Dam has major positive consequences for our economy. We are confident that the growth of our power sector will continue to drive the growth of our economy in the years to come. “The same funding model applies to the Murum Dam and the coming Baleh Dam. This is where the signing of major off- takers of the energy is important for the commercial viability of the hydro projects,” he said.