SIBU: Sarawak has gone through a lot in defending and safeguarding the livelihood of the people.
“Indeed, looking back, we have come very far . We were once very dependent on the consumption of natural resources to survive and to boost our economy,” said Deputy Minister of Public Health, Housing and Local Government Michael Tiang
“Today, we are protecting and preserving our very rich natural resources to become one of the most advanced states in Malaysia .
“This turn of events doesn’t happen overnight, but after years of continuous effort, planning and innovation that the Sarawak government had embarked on,” he said at the Lions Club of Sibu Pahlawan (LCSP) new board installation and fund raising banquet here on Saturday (Aug 19).
Businessman Kong Tze Ling was installed as the LCSP’s new president for the 2023-2024 period taking over from Dr David Ling Sien Ngan whose term expired on July 1.
Tiang pointed to the Sarawak economy, stating that it had undergone various transitions since the early 1960s .
From oil and logging to oil palm plantations and so forth, he said, all these efforts had their glory days until international policy called these activities to question, claiming they were destroying the state’s natural resources and forests.
In addressing this issue , he pointed out that the Sarawak government could have been defensive with how to utlise the resources and gone against international policy .
“As it is widely known Sarawak decided to look in a different perspective.
“Our move is not because this is what the world is doing, it is because the world gave us an alternative, a better and more sustainable initiative that could propel Sarawak’s economy even further,” he stated.
By implementing a green economy, he stressed that the Sarawak government also introduced a framework on environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) to ensure all investments take into account all aspects to ensure the environment is protected.
This has put Sarawak on par with the global economy, he said, adding as Sarawak complies with ESG , the state government has been able to gain more foreign investments and boost the state’s exports .
In other words, he said Sarawak is preserving its forests, natural resources to make money.
“For example, our Premier announced few months ago that Sarawak has plans to scale up the cultivation of microalgae to produce about 500,000 tonnes per annum of crude algae oil or renewable oil.
“If that is being implemented, this would equate to about 10,000 barrels of oil per day with about 37 per cent extraction rate of crude algae oil form the algae biomass. This means we do not have to look for oil anymore offshore or onshore. In fact, in the future, anyone of us here can actually ‘plant oil’ for consumption. All of these are innovations.
“This has yet to be implemented, but it will start in 2028. There is a lot more of the green economy that we are implementing right now. Do you know that about 80 per cent of our economy is actually green economy?,” he asked.
For Sibu, Tiang said it means there are a lot of opportunities to explore when it comes to the green economy.
Towards this end he asserted that Sibu has to move on par with the state government by approaching the green economy with an open mind.
Among those present were Lions District 308-A2 Governor Kapitan Ronny Hiew Ah Choy as the event’s guest of honour, Past Govenor of Lions District 308-A2, Datuk Betty Wong Yieng and organising chairman, Tiau Kiu Ung who is also LCSP’s first vice president.
