By Nur Ashikin Louis and Karen Bong
KUCHING, July 16: Former State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul Samion was an exemplary civil servant who has, in his 42 years of public service, contributed immensely to building Sarawak, shifting from agricultural economy to industrialisation and mechanisation to today’s digitisation and innovation with technologies.
Reflecting on their four decades of public service, Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said together they have charted and steered Sarawak’s economy towards industrialisation, including the setting up of the first plant in the world by Petronas and Shell in Bintulu.
“When I was appointed the Industry Minister, Datuk Amar Jaul was an officer in the State Planning Unit (SPU) under Datuk Jamil Mukmin.
“At that time, then Chief Minister Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, after the election in 1987, had tasked me with setting up a new ministry and giving our economy a new direction.
“The rationale was that Sarawak’s economy at that time was basically agricultural, and Tun Taib wanted us to shift towards industrialisation. However, it was a very tall order, and it was not easy to form a new ministry from scratch where we needed economic expertise to help us chart the direction of industrialisation,” he said at a ceremony to honour Jaul’s years of services at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here tonight.
The SPU staff, including Jaul, who was then the principal estate secretary, Abang Johari continued, assisted in the task where they charted the direction of a new economy for Sarawak from agriculture-based to industrialisation.
“The job was not easy as it was new, very raw, and we had to try to sell and promote Sarawak so that investors could come and start their industries here.
“Then, at the end of 1987, we went to the US (United States) as well as Europe together with Rafidah Aziz (the longest-serving International Trade and Industry Minister from 1987 to 2008),” he added.
As a result of the extensive promotion, while at the same time preparing Sarawak with the basic infrastructure, Abang Johari shared that they managed, to a certain extent, start industrialisation in Sarawak, beginning with Sejingkat, Sama Jaya, Kemena and later on Tanjung Manis as well as Kidurong.
“These were some of the contributions by Jaul at that time. His staff, including Dato Sri Wan Liz (Ozman Wan Omar), who is the current SFS (State Financial Secretary), and Datuk Ismawi (Ismuni) in industrial development and there we succeeded in bringing investments into Sarawak, starting with Toko Electronic, then Taiyo Yuden and many others,” he said.
In his over 42 years of service in the Sarawak government, Jaul, who has retired since July 1, had served as the Deputy State Secretary in charge of Rural Transformation from Aug 8, 2016, to May 16, 2019, before acting as the State Secretary from May 17 to Aug 21, 2019. Jaul then held the post officially from Aug 22, 2019.
“I want to thank you very much for what you have done,” Abang Johari said, conveying his deepest appreciation.
The Premier also commended Jaul for his resilient leadership as the first obstacle he faced upon assuming the State Secretary role was the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It was not easy, and even at midnight, I had to call Jaul to get reports. Secondly, we have to formulate the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030, where I requested that he harness all the experts from the civil service and the private sector to formulate the strategy to recover our economy back to normal.
“More importantly, we needed a new direction in our economic development, particularly following the launch of the digital economy agenda. This is something new and still new, and Jaul has done his best to help the government adjust our economic development towards a digital economy and post-pandemic recovery,” he added.
As such, Abang Johari hopes for the civil service as the backbone will work closely with the State government to develop Sarawak in a new era.
“I hope that the civil service will continue with its agenda as we in the government, of course, would like to have a very strong, innovative and creative civil service and working in tandem with the government’s policy for 2030,” he emphasised. — DayakDaily
