By Lian Cheng
SIBU, March 6: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg says the Chinese philosophy of remaining humble despite being successful is something that should be emulated.
“One thing from Chinese philosophy that we must learn is never say you are okay.
“Even if your business is good, you say ‘cukup makan’ because that shows you are humble, even though you have been successful,” said Abang Johari when performing the ground-breaking ceremony for an extension project of the Sibu United Chinese Association (UCA) building here today.
He said China, for instance, is already the world’s biggest economy but China never claims itself to be number one and always prefers to remain behind the United States.
Abang Johari said China’s late premier Deng Xiaoping managed to transform China within 30 years by first putting all necessary infrastructure in place to connect the interior areas to the urban centres.
He openly admitted that he was emulating Deng in doing the same thing for Sarawak.
For him, whether it is a ‘black cat or white cat’, as long as it can help to develop Sarawak, he was willing to do the same to allow Sarawak to take off.
Abang Johari believed that Sarawak’s economy was now on the right track and encouraged businessmen in Sibu to respond and adopt the new model of businesses involving digital technology.
In terms of politics, he said he would not want to mess with West Malaysian politics, which is plagued with racial and religious issues.
He said Sarawak, which has been enjoying racial harmony, must preserve this asset while concentrating on its strengths to build up the state.
Meanwhile, Abang Johari promised to look into a proposal by the shipbuilding industry and possibly create a new policy to rectify problems facing the ship-building industry.
Also present were UCA president Ngieng Ping Sing, Assistant Minister for Education and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee, Dudong assemblyman Datuk Tiong Thai King and Chinese community leader Datuk Vincent Lau. — DayakDaily
