More than half of the population of the state now reside in urban areas, with cities like Kuching and Miri and main towns like Sibu and Bintulu attracting the people with good services, education, opportunities for business and employment and good living.
However, the process of urbanisation, which is becoming more intensive, must be handled judiciously to preserve stability and harmony in the livelihood of the people.
The Yang di Pertua, Tun Pehin Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud, in his speech during the opening of the sitting of the State Legislative Assembly last Thursday, appealed to all parties involved in the planning and development of towns to give priority to the needs of the people, namely, to construct more units of affordable houses, develop good public transport systems and develop more recreational areas.
Undoubtedly, the people in urban areas with access to infrastructure and modern facilities could experience positive changes in their way of life, which is getting more complex. However, the people should preserve their customs and traditions, sense of belonging and the attitude of mutual respect to ensure good understanding and harmony among themselves.
Essentially, the people of diverse ethnic and religious groups should preserve the friendly, peaceful and harmonious relationship among themselves in accordance with, for example, the concept of liveable city in the city of Kuching.
Tun Abdul Taib appealed to all parties, which were responsible for the maintenance of security, to raise efforts to protect the security and public order in the state.
They must ensure, for example, that Sarawak remained free from various social problems and negative elements that could impair development as besides, stability in politics and economy, security played a critical role in the process of development.
In this regard, the negative social problems must be tackled in a more effective manner as only the people, who are free from social problems, have the capability to support development.
Essentially, the development of a strong family institution, the community that cares and is responsible, must be absorbed at various levels, especially among the new generation.
He is happy that the people, in spite of their diverse backgrounds in terms of ethnicities, religions, customs and traditions, can live in peace and harmony among them.
He said the unity and harmony, enjoyed by the people, were the outcomes of the attitude of mutual respect and the spirit of trust among the people of diverse ethnic groups in the state.
The strong unity among the people of diverse ethnicities and religious beliefs must be preserved at all times.
Tun Abdul Taib said as the public service was the nerve and pillar of the administration and development, all members must absorb the fine values and put them into practice in carrying out their duties.
The values such as integrity and professionalism must be absorbed and put into practice in carrying out their duties all the time in the overall efforts to prevent all forms of abuses of power in the public service.
Undoubtedly, the Civil Service plays very important roles to ensure that the administration and development can be carried with greater efficiency to meet the needs and aspiration of the people.
Tun Abdul Taib said Sarawak must keep up with the fast pace of development in technology throughout the world in order to sustain the ability to attract large-scale investments in high technology industries.
The development of technology, with continuous research being carried out, has been able to bring drastic changes in industrial development with high technology throughout the world.
Tun Abdul Taib said Sarawak through the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) had been successful in attracting a lot of industries that produced primary products, which could be used as components or inputs that attracted high value downstream industries.
For this reason, the state government will continue to give emphasis to the development of downstream activities, namely, small and medium industries, which have value-added and high technology contents.
He believed industries that were already available at Samalaju Industrial Estate would be able to develop their respective clusters with a number of investors showing interests to invest in them.
Tun Abdul Taib believed efforts to modernise and commercialise the agriculture sector would help to reduce the development gap between the rural and urban areas, not only in terms of infrastructure but also the incomes of the people.
It is notable that rural areas are blessed with vast agriculture resources, which could be harnessed through modernising and commercialising the agriculture sector as planned by the government.
He called on communities involved in agriculture to develop the sector in a modern and commercial way to increase export of the agricultural products and guarrantee food security in the state.
Sarawak, with a huge land mass, has high potential in the development of the agriculture sector, which can be considered as the foundation of the socio-economic development of the people, particularly those in the rural areas.
He believed the development of infrastructure and the application of modern system of agriculture, which was supported by the strategic management and marketing system, would enable the agriculture sector to contribute towards the socio-economic development of the state.
Tun Abdul Taib called on the state government to give appropriate focus to the activities of research and development in the agriculture sector to raise the level of productivity and competitiveness in the agriculture sector in the overall efforts to push further the growth of the economy.
Generally, research and development are very important to promote growth and development of the economy as the findings from such activities can be commercialised and become the basis to upgrade product values in the value chain of the economy.
Tun Abdul Taib has been informed that the discussion on oil royalty between the state and Petronas was being carried out actively. A number of matters that benefit the socio-economic development of the state have been achieved through the discussion.
He believed the discussion would continue to be carried out smoothly with the good relationship between the state and federal governments. The issue of petroleum royalty, which is close to the hearts of every Sarawakian, will continue to be part of the negotiation and discussion with the federal government.
Tun Abdul Taib is happy with the intensive efforts to provide rural areas with diverse infrastructure facilities like the development of a good network of roads, water and electricity supplies and telecommunication, which are enablers to the development of rural areas, through the implementation of Rural Transformation Projects (RTP), which are people-centric.
He believed the development approach, which was more organised in the rural areas, would help efforts to raise the status of the socio–economy of the local people.
He is also happy that a new division, districts and sub- districts, which were created in 2015, have begun operations, which make it easier for the people to deal with the government. The efforts to transform the rural areas also included raising the quality of government service for the people.
Essentially, Sarawak is entering an increasingly challenging phase of the development and economic transformation towards a high income economy. Hence, the state government must continue to focus effort on structuring and transforming the economy to achieve the status of a developed state by 2030.
Although, Sarawak could be quite pleased with the progress and achievement since Independence, there is still much more to be done particularly in transforming the rural areas to catch up with urban development.
Tun Abdul Taib, once a long-serving parliamentarian both at the federal and state levels, called on the State Assemblymen and State Assemblywomen to observe proper decorum and discipline to uphold the dignity and sancity of the Dewan.
Besides, they must uphold their status, image and behaviour as members of the august house and reflect the true characteristics of the people of Sarawak, which were being recognised throughout the country.
He suggested they must put forward issues and problems affecting their constituents with good proposals on how the issues could be settled and problems solved .
Generally, members of the Legislative Assembly, as elected representatives of the people, must endeavour to play their roles and carry out their duties with full responsibility and trust in serving the welfare and interests of the people and the state.
He took the opportunity to wish members of the Dayak community, who will soon be celebrating Gawai Dayak “Selamat Hari Gawai Dayak, Gayu Guru Gerai Nyamai” and “Siramat Andu Gawai.”
He called on the people to continue with the traditions of having open house and visiting one another during the celebration to strengthen their friendship.
Tun Abdul Taib wished fellow Muslims “Selamat Menjalani Ibadah Puasa”. Semoga ibadah puasa yang dilaksanakan ini akan diterima dan dirahmati ganjaran pahalanya oleh Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta’ala.
