By Dayangku Hidayatul
KUCHING, Nov 14: Sarawak is eyeing a position as Malaysia’s leading export region, with Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg confident the State could eventually overtake Johor and even Selangor.
He said Sarawak was already among the country’s top five exporting regions, behind Penang, Selangor and Johor.
“Maybe one day we can take over Johor or even Selangor as the top export region in Malaysia,” he said when officiating the Sarawak Entrepreneur of the Year Awards (EOYS) 2026 at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) last night (Nov 13).
Abang Johari said Sarawak’s economic direction was increasingly shaped by strategic investments, particularly in energy, digital infrastructure and advanced technology.
Growing investments and expansion projects by major companies, including SoftBank, Grab, Indorama, Sakura, HighChem, Western Digital and Melexis, would strengthen Sarawak’s push to achieve its RM282 billion GDP target by 2030, he said.
“I think we can achieve the 2030 target of RM282 billion in our GDP. It could be more,” he said.
He stressed that Sarawak must move beyond being merely a consumer of technology and position itself as an innovator and creator, particularly in the semiconductor and digital industries.
On the traditional three factors of production in economics, namely land, labour and capital, he said the emergence of the digital economy had changed the equation, with intellectual capability and data becoming increasingly important drivers of wealth creation.
“Now, you don’t need land, because data is not on land. The brain determines their future, and Sarawak got brain,” he said.
He cited Sarawak’s semiconductor initiative as an example of the State’s push towards technological self-reliance, noting that its scientists had successfully developed the Keteq.GaN gallium nitride chip.
The chip is already being used by Chinese company Liyang in electricity meters distributed internationally, marking an important step in Sarawak’s ambition to develop its own technology.
Abang Johari also noted that Sarawak had already been classified by the World Bank as a high-income economy in 2022, eight years ahead of its original 2030 target.
He said the State’s ambition was to keep pace with the global economy by developing its own capabilities, resources and human capital. — DayakDaily
