KUCHING, June 25: The Sarawak Economic Action Council (SEAC) is the first of its kind in Malaysia to create concrete economic proposals that are holistic and comprehensive as Sarawak emerges from the devastation caused by Covid-19.
This is the view of Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing on SEAC.
According to him, SEAC held a video conferencing this morning where, with the attendance of four prominent Malaysians namely Tan Sri Wahid Omar, Tan Sri Idris Jala, Prof. Dr. Fatimah Karri and Prof. Dr. Madeline Berma, attested to the wisdom of creating this economic council.
“They suggested among other things to optimise the use of our natural resources in the energy sector, create jobs via infrastructure development so money can start rolling into the economy.
“In allowing this to happen quickly, the government must reduce rad tapes. ‘The walk in the park’ approach in doing business post-Covid-19 will not work anymore,” said Masing who is also Infrastructure and Port Development Minister.
Masing said one professor who was involved in the video conferencing, suggested that Sarawak’s business model should not be only linear but circular, whereby Sarawakians produce, use and then reuse.
“In this way we can keep our environment clean and the sustainability factor is achieved. And she added that our social capital must be maintained as Sarawak has the best in Malaysia in terms of social relationships.
“Finally, our human capital must be developed and kept and brain drain must be reduced. Our education system must be reviewed because we cannot allow ’12 years of education and 9 years of learning’ to continue to plague the Malaysia education system.”
“If Sarawak ever wants to recover from the devastation caused by Covid-19 and achieve developed status by 2030, we need to put all these factors in place. Sarawak must put politics and other differences behind us,” said Masing.
Masing believed that Chief Minister Abang Johari Tun Openg has been trying his best to put Sarawak in a position where every Sarawakians will benefit from the growth by 2030.
“All we need to do is to give him our full support,” said Masing, who revealed that four sub-councils have been set up under SEAC.
These four sub-councils are Data Center and Innovation Sub-council which is led by Abang Johari, Commercial Agriculture, Human Capital, and Services Council by Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Basic Infrastructure, Utilities and Transport by Masing and Resources and Industrial Development by Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan.—DayakDaily
