Sarawak, like other states in Malaysia, is constantly being challenged by a global eco-system that is volatile and characterised by dramatic transformation as a result of rapid technological advancement and the fast emergence of digital economy. These forces will, inevitably, reshape the global economic outlook and drive the way people do business. Hence, the state, in anticipation of all these challenges, realises that it can no longer carry out businesses as usual and must pay special emphasis on transforming Sarawak into a digital economy with the digital revolution becoming an unstoppable force. Chief Minister, Datuk Patinggi (Dr) Abang Haji Johari Tun Openg, in tabling the Budget 2018 during the sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, said the convergence of advance communication technology was driving change in all spheres, particularly in the way that businesses were being conducted. Therefore, the state must embrace digital transformation or face the risk of being left behind. At the same time, the state ought to be mindful of the global economic scenario, the performance and overall outlook. Johari, who is also the Minister of Financ e and Economi c Planning and the Minister of Urban Development and Natural Resources, said in the light of challenges and the global economic scenario, the state ought to strengthen and reshape its development approach and strategies to further accelerate economic growth. This is imperative particularly with the emergence of digital economy driven by the rapid explosion of technological advancement and the pervasive force of digital revolution. He said digitalisation was impacting economic development, social life as well as the way to do business. Hence, the state must embrace the new era of digitalisation and embark on digital economy in order to stay ahead, to thrive and prosper. Digitalisation causes constant disruptions and is a potential threat as well as an opportunity. He believes digitalisation offers a tremendous opportunity for the state to shift, accelerate and facilitate economic transformation. The state is already into formulating the digital strategies and action plans to seek and secure new opportunities that would bring greater innovations, creating values and prosperity to all Johari said Estonia, a very small country of 45,336 sq kms and with a population of only 1.3 million, which he recently visited, was a good digital model, which could offer a workable solution for Sarawak in providing fast internet connectivity and penetration crucial for the development of a digital economy. The world is acknowledging Estonia as an incredible digitalisation success story, grown out of a partnership between a forwardthinking government, a proactive ICT sector and a switched-on, tech-savvy society. Dubbed “e- Estonia”, it is one of the most advanced e-societies in the world. Estonia started its digital journey on the right framework, strong legislature, and good infrastructure as well as the culture and trust of citizen. A few notable statistics: • 100 percent of Estonia schools and government organisations are connected to the Internet; • 99 percent of banking transactions are conducted through the internet; • 99 percent medical prescriptions are issued electronically; • 98 percent of under 35s are frequent Internet users; • 98 percent of Estonian residents have digital ID-cards. Every Estonian is provided with a mandatory national ID-card, a digital identity and access card. It is a secure way of authentication in electronic environment and providing ease and convenience for e-transactions including signing of legal documents. Each digital signature has saved an Estonian at least 5 business days each year. Estonia has, by far, the most highly-developed and advanced national ID-card system in the world. An Estonian is able to enjoy such a remarkable e-society mainly attributed to exceptionally high penetration of digital infrastructure. Fiber optic cables cover the entire country while the direct undersea connections to neighbouring countries enable it to provide high standard communications. Hence, Estonian households, businesses and institutions in the cities can connect to a 100-Mbps fiber optic network. The same opportunity is expected to reach rural areas by this year. It was reported that all larger initiatives and most of the e-government developments in Estonia have been undertaken in close cooperation with the private sector or the relevant NGOs. Today, Estonia is preparing to make all public data machine readable and widely available in order to encourage the development of new e-services jointly with the private sectors. Johari said obviously, Estonia today was reaping tremendous benefits both socially and economically from its 15 years of investment and concerted effort in its digital journey towards e- Estonia. Estonia, by IMF definition, is now an advanced economy and has enjoyed admirable GDP growth for the past 15 years. He said the state economy, having taken cognizance of the various challenges being faced from both the domestic and external fronts and the anticipated possible outcomes and impact of the digitalisation, would focus on key strategies to achieve a more balanced economic development and support a desired level of economic growth and give priority to digital economy in the 2018 Budget proposals. Johari said Sarawak, as a developing state, had to continue with a development biased and rural focused budget to stimulate a desirable level of economic activities and sustain economic growth during the year. According to him, a sum of RM5.745 billion or about 70 percent of the total budget is proposed for development while an amount of RM2.481 billion or 30 percent is proposed for operating expenditure in the 2018 Budget proposal. Perhaps, Sarawak is the only state that gives emphasis on development 70 percent of the budget. He said the state government was committed to intensifying the implementation of programmes and projects in the rural areas to further accelerate state development. A total of 53 percent allocation will be provided for rural areas in 2018 amounting to RM3.062 bllion. This provision is higher when compared to RM2.65 billion in 2016 and RM2.982 billion in 2017. He said the continual effort in rural development was vital for achieving the development objective of opening up greater opportunities in rural and remote areas for the economic prosperity of the rural community. Johari said the digital economy, a new economic strategy in the State Budget Proposal, would become the key thrust of the future economy. It is a forward looking strategy and the technologies that underpin it will be fundamental for success and prosperity. Hence, the Budget Proposal 2018 will support the state’s vision to maximise the potential of digital technology and digitalisation to bring Sarawak to the global digital playing field. It is a dream of Anak Sarawak that the state one day will be known as “S-Sarawak” where “S” stands for Smart Sarawak. Sarawak digital infrastructure and programmes under Sarawak Digital Economy initiatives, which have already been provided RM1 billion, are to achieve the following key objectives: • Accelerate and advance the state economic growth; • Reduce socio-economic divide; • Generate employment and business opportunities through e-commerce; • Harness talent and create value through innovations and entrepreneurships; and • Achieve e-government for efficiency, transparency, trust and confidence. Besides, the state will establish Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) to be the highest governing body on the development of Digital Economy and Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation to drive the digital initiatives and ensure cyber security. The Chief Minister said the state would continue to accelerate economic development through further broadening investment that would create sustainable long-term economic growth. Essentially, there must be greater investment focus on key and targeted investment that will directly contribute to the economic growth of industries and business sectors. In this regard, focus will be given to ICT and basic infrastructure, manufacturing, energy, oil and gas, technologies based including digital and other service sectors, which would, in the longer term, generate income and revenue stream, develop talents and skills, promote innovations and entrepreneurialship, create the much-needed job opportunities for youths and spin-offs in various sub-sectors benefitting the state’s SMEs. In this regard, the state will continue to place greater effort and allocate a bigger share of its allocation for the purpose. The state views such investment as productive investment for the future. It is the cornerstone in building a resilient and sustained economic growth that will create long lasting prosperity for the benefits of the society. In this regard, concerted efforts and action plan will be put in place to implement all strategic projects and initiatives, such as:
• Setting up of Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) and PETROS (Petroleum Sarawak);
• Implementation of key projects including LRT and Methanol Plant;
• Building of more telecommunication towers; and
• Infrastructure and renewable energy projects. Johari said the state government’s priority on such investment was pivotal in providing strong foundation for the necessary infrastructure as well as incentives so as to trigger collaboration with strategic partners to implement key projects that would deliver both social and economic benefits and returns in the years to come.
He said measures must be put in place to ensure that the business environment was conducive and friendly for the private sector, particularly the SMEs, which had been the driving force and the back bone of sustainable economic growth to thrive and, at the same time, entice higher participation by the private sector in the development agenda.
In this connection, the state government will continue to support the provision of the necessary basic infrastructure to enhance connectivity and availability of utilities, support the provision of training institutions and incubation centres to step up skill training and capacity building, support the provision of industrial e-states and innovation centres and the provision of e-government service delivery.
These are the essential elements to foster closer collaboration with deeper public-private partnership. Johari called on statutory bodies and GLCs to further shape up and drive themselves as the true business and private sector with stronger commercial approach. He assured that the state government would continue to put in place strategic measures aimed at strengthening the financial discipline and management at all levels.
The financial resources will be managed in a prudent manner and the culture of financial discipline will be strengthened for a long term financial sustainability and financial autonomy. It is imperative that the state must remain agile, resilient, productive, efficient and united so as to ride through the challenging environment.
Johari said the state, in the face of volatility in the global economy, must steadfastly drive the development strategy, particularly digital economy and rural transformation, the private sector as the engine of growth as well as facilitate investments for the future. This requires collective efforts of all stakeholders, both the public and private sector, in the journey together to realise the vision of making Sarawak a high income state by 2030.
