CM’s vision
TO RECAP, ever since our sixth chief minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg took helm of our state affairs, there has been a shift in state government priorities as the push for digitalisation has intensified.
He first announced his intentions of spearheading a digital economy initiative with an promise of committing a fund of RM2 billion towards boosting internet connectivity through the state and estimated that it take a timeframe of four to five years to achieve.
“Such amount (RM2 billion) is required for us to, among other things, lay down the fibre optic cloud computing and satellite to cover the whole of Sarawak,” Abang Johari told a press conference after giving the chief minister’s key note address to state civil servant earlier this year.
Following the announcement, our chief minister further cemented his intentions to the public with the announcement of his new cabinet where he revealed two new ministries, MITeC led by Dato Sri Wong and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Research led by Dato Sri Michael Manyin.
As to why the keen focus on creating a digital economy for the state, Abang Johari declared that the reason for it was due to our overreliance on natural resources as economic consolidation of China has brought a fall in commodity prices.
“We, therefore, have no choice. If we want to get out of our dependence on natural resources, we need to get into the digital world which has been growing by leaps and bounds – creating millionaires by the day.
“The Sarawak government shall spearhead this digital development but we will leave it to the private sector and young entrepreneurs to do whatever they can do best to make living and a name for themselves. We shall also not forget the rural villages, which we want connected in order for us to bring them tele-medicine, e-learning and e-commerce.
“This is my vision and indeed the vision of Barisan Nasional for Sarawak. God willing, it will come true,” he said during his first winding-up speech as Chief Minister during the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) held in May.
In addition, Abang Johari has also announced that the State government would also be releasing a nine-point action plan to turn the state into a cyber-power house and that its first step would be to set up the Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) to provide capital and finance to bring about this vision of a developed digital economy.