KUCHING, Sept 27: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg expresses his firm belief that the focus on creating a digital economy for Sarawak was necessary to reduce Sarawak’s over reliance on natural resources.
“If we want to get out of our dependence on natural resources, we need to be part of the digital economy, which has been growing exponentially and it is a global economy creating millionaires by the day,” he said when delivering a keynote address entitled “Unlocking the potential of digital economy for Sarawak” at the Immersive Learning Summit hosted by Eon Reality at its IDC and VR Innovation Academy Worklife Hub at Bologna, Italy on Wednesday (Sept 25, 2019).
EON Reality, headquartered in Irvine, California is a multinational virtual reality and augmented reality software developer founded in 1999.
He told the audience that Sarawak has embarked on several initiatives in its digital transformation journey. These included the digital infrastructure, Sarawak ID, Sarawak Pay and e-commerce facilities, Old Kuching Smart Heritage City, AR/VR driven tourism portal, establishing innovation hubs and Digital Village to support entrepreneurs in the digital space.
“The Sarawak Government is also digitalising its systems, processes throughout various agencies and departments, to increase productivity through the efficient use of resources, easier access to information as well as wider and quicker service reach.
“Sarawak Pay, launched by the Sarawak Government in December 2017 is the Government’s e-wallet platform to help support e-commerce, fintech and Digital Government.
“Sarawak Pay has 125,000 registered users, with transactions valued at over RM 35 million. Our target is to reach 150,000 users by the year end,” he said.
He told the audience that soon after taking over as the Chief Minister of Sarawak, he boldly undertook to spearhead the digital economy initiative that would revolutionise Sarawak’s economy and industries, and spur socioeconomic growth and advancement.
“I, supported by cabinet colleagues want Sarawak to be part of the Global Economy, with opportunity to tap into the global economy worth over US$100 trillion in the next ten years,” he said.
Sharing further with the audience on Sarawak’s digital transformation journey, he said the state also needed to bring its digital infrastructure up to date so that high speed connectivity could be provided to all Sarawakians.
“We are rolling out 600 telecommunication towers with 300 to be completed by the end of 2020.”
He expressed his confidence that all the initiatives are within Sarawak’s grasp in the not too distant a future as modern technologies like AI, immersive learning, IoT, automation and robotics and global partnership will allow Sarawak to leapfrog scaling opportunities across the sectors.
“Sarawak needs to invest more in workforce re-skilling and up-skilling to produce skilled workforce essential to unlock the potential of a digital economy in the State.”
Rapid advances in technologies such as nanotechnology, artificial intelligence (AI), data science, robotics, cybersecurity and other emerging technologies are changing the very nature of the jobs in a digital economy environment and the skills needed to execute the jobs, he said.
Abang Johari said companies would not simply be able to fall back on hiring new employees as they attempted to future-proof their workforce.
“To address the problem, we need to invest more in workforce re-skilling and up-skilling,” he pointed out, added that while AI would create new jobs, the positions would require a different set of skills.
Citing World Economic Forum, he said at least 133 million new roles will be generated globally as a result of digital transformation by 2022.
The Chief Minister said as new roles emerge and skills requirements change, the size of the existing pool of skilled workers would not be big enough to meet the demand.
Before flying back to Kuching today, the Chief Minister met up with the Emilia Romagna Region Minister of Education, Patrizio Bianch at his office where they discussed the possibility of collaboration in education and training.— DayakDaily
