‘I just want to serve Sarawak’
Abang Jo marks first 100 days in office, says never dreamt of being CM
KUCHING: Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg says it was never his dream to become Sarawak chief minister.
All he wanted to do, he said, was to serve the state, adding that the circumstances of Tan Sri Adenan Satem’s sudden passing had led to his appointment.
“It happened that Adenan passed away and the leaders of the component parties asked me to become chief minister, so I accepted.
“I am not obsessed with becoming chief minister because I want to serve,” he told a press conference in conjunction with his first 100 days in office here yesterday.
Abang Johari was sworn in as Sarawak’s sixth chief minister on Jan 13, two days after Adenan died.
Since taking up the post, Abang Johari has outlined ambitious plans to change Sarawak’s landscape.
These included a push for a digital-based state economy, where RM1bil was allocated to develop ICT infrastructure and an Internet highway capable of at least 2TB of data transfer.
He also said that the state government would introduce new methods to develop the agriculture sector, such as turning subsidy allocations into venture capital, where investments would be made in farming enterprises.
“One of our major initiatives is to create a food basket in the rural areas. We are looking to distribute our products globally.
“To support this, we will improve infrastructure and logistics in the rural areas. One way to do this is to build airstrips, so that products can be transported by air,” he added.
Abang Johari also announced plans to set up a Development Bank of Sarawak to fund strategic projects without having to wait for Putrajaya. Other projects in the pipeline include an LRT network to connect Kuching, Samarahan and Serian divisions.
The first phase of a railway from Serian to Damai near here is expected to be completed by 2020.
Abang Johari said these plans were part of a strategic approach to spur the economy and create an ecosystem to attract talents to Sarawak.
“Our roadmap is that all these projects must be on the ground by 2020. We will have an operations room that is coordinated by all ministers,” he added.
He said his dreams may be ambitious, but Sarawakians must have the confidence and knowledge to develop the state.
To a question, Abang Johari said the state Barisan Nasional was optimistic of winning more than 25 parliamentary seats in the coming general election.