Full support of civil servants needed for Sarawak to be high income state — CM
KUCHING: The initiative to develop Sarawak as a high income state requires the full support of civil servants who are the ‘engine’ to the success in achieving the vision.
As the chief minister who leads, he needs cooperation and support from all including the civil servants, Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said.
“I cannot ‘ drive’ ( lead) even though I already have a car because I require an engine that is in the best condition to facilitate the journey.
“In this context, the ‘engine’ is the civil servants. Although I as the driver have good ideas and initiatives, if the ‘engine’ is not in good condition, the journey will not be smooth,” he said at the Chief Minister’s keynote address to state civil servants here yesterday.
Among those present were Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan and State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohd Morshidi Abdul Ghani.
Abang Johari said the journey included leapfrogging the state’s economy to a high income status.
Therefore, he advised civil servants to have a good working culture as the success of a state and country would depend on their services.
“I’m calling on the civil servants to be with me in continuing to fight for our rights under the Malaysia Agreement 1963 that have been eroded, besides the state government’s initiative to develop Sarawak. This is because our success depends on the support by the civil servants.
“But in Sarawak, we are grateful because the civil service since the administration of previous chief ministers; namely Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud and the late Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Adenan Satem, had seen signi ficant transformation in the civi l service.”
The event also saw Abang Johari launching SarawakGoV App - the state government’s official application.
Meanwhile, Morshidi said as an official ‘App’ of the state government, SarawakGov App will deliver uptodate information on Sarawak including local news, information on key events and happenings in the state, Talikhdmat Apps for public feedback, the weather, places of interest and facts and figures about Sarawak.
“The A pp will not only be useful for Sarawakians, but also tourists.”
Commenting further, Morshidi said civil servants must face increasing challenges, especially in fulfilling the increasing expectations from the people.
“Every day, we are facing challenges that are more global and the rapid changes in the environment that are brought by new technology.
“Besides that, we are also facing increasing expectations from the people and increasing resource constraints but we realised that for the civil service to remain relevant and perform its sacred role effectively, it has to be transformed.”
The event also saw Morshidi leading the state civil servants in the recitation and signing of ‘Corruption Free Pledge’ that was witnessed by Abang Johari, Uggah and Malaysian Anti- Corruption Commission (MACC) state director Datuk Badrul Shah Norman.