Sarawak aspires to lead Malaysia’s economy

by ANIS HAZIM / pic by BERNAMA

SARAWAK is committed to leading the economic development in Malaysia as it calls for more Sarawakians to upgrade their talents in order to achieve its goals.

Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg (picture) said that Sarawak has the resources to realise the aspiration but the state needs more talents regardless of their gender or race.

“To lead, you must have something new. If it is not new, you are just a follower. That is why if possible, we aspire to make Sarawak to be the leader in the economic development of Malaysia.

“We have the resources, the only thing is the talent which we have to upgrade with talent development,” Abang Johari said in his keynote address at the closing of a Women of Tomorrow Boot Camp programme yesterday.

Moving towards the year 2030, he assured that Sarawak would continue to explore new ideas for its future development which would be based on digitalisation.

Among the initiatives, the Sarawak government via its Centre of Technical Excellence has formed a collaboration with China’s communication giant, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd since 2019.

According to him, a number of Sarawakians have participated in the digital technology training programme, with women being the most active participants.

Moreover, he said the state government would also look into ways to make 5G as one of Sarawak’s basic infrastructures, alongside roads, water and electricity supplies.

“Once we have put this basic infrastructure in place, communications can be made in real-time. That is why I prefer to go direct to 5G rather than incremental (from 4G). It will cost money but never mind, we will try to find money to invest,” he added.

Meanwhile, he stressed that the future leaders of Sarawak should have a good command of the latest knowledge and technology that could be utilised to achieve the state’s aspiration.