‘Private sector vital to state’s digital economy efforts’

KUCHING: The private sector has a pivotal role to play in complementing the state government’s initiatives to transform Sarawak into a digital economy.

Malaysian Productivity Corporation ( MPC) Sarawak board member Datuk Abang Abdul Karim Tun Openg said the state government’s digital economy agenda might not succeed without the support and commitment of the private sector.

“Our state government has an ambitious agenda, which is to transform our conventional economy into a digital economy. What is important is that we have to embrace this agenda, as many people say, we cannot avoid this philosophy and so we have to embrace it,” he said when opening the ‘ Business Excellence as a Tool for Organisational Sustainability’ workshop here yesterday.

“Our state government is headed in the right direction to pursue its mission and it won’t be successful if the private sector does not collaborate with the government.”

The Sarawak Business Federation ( SBF) president said MPC Sarawak and SBF would work closely together to enhance business productivity in the state.

He said around 80 per cent of private companies in Sarawak are affiliated to SBF, which acts as an intermediary between the private sector and the government.

“We successfully organised the Chief Minister’s Industry Excellence Awards last year in collaboration with the private sector. In March, MPC will have a board meeting in Kuching and we will present an official report on the awards to the Chief Minister.

“I believe it will serve as a reference for the awards in the future because we adopt the international standards,” said Abang Karim.

He said the awards last year received 20 nominations — double the expected number.

Abang Karim also said he believes Sarawak could do better economically this year if oil and gas prices can be sustained.

“It will bring a lot of excitement and opportunities to us and of course there will challenges too, because opportunities and challenges always go hand in hand. So we have to manage well,” he said.