KUCHING: Diversity of cultures, races and religions should not be an obstacle for us to become a society that is united and harmonious based on the spirit of respect for each other.
Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Haji Johari Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg said that we in Sarawak are fortunate because religion and races had never brought issue disturbing the spirit of our unity.
“In the past our society of various races and religions had very close relationship with the practices of visiting each other and sitting at the same table at coffeeshops to share ideas and stories of daily lives. This is a picture of how close the relationship among our society in the past. I am sure there are a lot of other similar stories that we have that showed how close our community in Sarawak in the past,” the Chief Minister said in his Gawai Dayak 2017 message.
He hoped the spirit of brotherhood that is very sincere could be brought back in effort to strengthen the spirit of unity among the people.
Abang Johari said Gawai season is when the Dayak Community should forget differences and finding similarities to lift the identity and dignity of the Dayak.
He said it is not wrong to have different views but similarities should become something that need effort all the time for the immunity of the whole Dayak community.
He said Dayak community leaders in the past were far sighted in 1963 when they made effort to obtain recognition to have a public holiday to celebrate Gawai Dayak in Sarawak. Abang Johari said among those who actively applied for the recognition were the late Dato Sri Tra Zehnder and his own father Tun
Datuk Abang Haji Openg.
He said Gawai Dayak which was celebrated for the first time in 1965 was a unifying factor and identity symbol of the Dayak community.
Abang Johari emphasised that he would continue the policies introduced by Tok Nan and the decision such as not giving anymore timber licence on government land and no more permit to develop oil palm estate are still in force.
Meanwhile, he also gave assurance that the negations with Putra Jaya to take back Sarawak rights that had been eroded, negotiation with Petronas and so on would continue.
In a period of two months that he become Sarawak 6th Chief Minister, Abang Johari said the government that he led is determined to give focus to a number of initiatives to boost the Sarawak economy into a digital economy.
“I am very confident that an internet-economy will open up space and vast opportunities for Sarawak to step into a new era that won’t recognise political and physical border. Sarawak population is small to become a basis for a strong economy. But the Asean region with an overall population of three billion is a place for us to build an era of digital economy that is dynamic,” he said.
In line with our dream to become a digital economy, concerted efforts are being made to provide an internet highway upto 4 terabit per second and at least 100 megabytes per second for each household so that our internet network will be highspeed, he said.
He said Sarawak needs to have fast internet network to support the development of a digital economy in a period of 10 years time.
Abang Johari said he had stated his commitment to spend RM1 billion from State-owned fund to developed ICT infrastructure including building of 5,000 telecommunication towers throughout the state.
As Sarawak could no longer wait for fund from the federal government as the process had proven to be slow down the development of Sarawak, he said the state had set up its own Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) as the state’s own source for finance.
He said the new financial model will enable Sarawak to implement strategic projects later and among it were to finance the upgrading and rebuilding of hundreds of dilapidated schools in the rural areas. Beside the setting up of DBOS, he said Sarawak also now owned Bakun Hydro Dam after taking it over from the Federal Government at a reasonable cost of RM2.5 billion.
In the first 100 days he held the post of Chief Minister, Abang Johari said a number of initiatives had been announced to boost Sarawak economy to an era of digital economy while at the same time continue to give focus to industrial development.
“The announcement is not rhetoric because I will ensure that all these initiatives will be implemented successfully,” he said.
The Chief Minister said festival season such as Gawai had become a norm for Sarawak people to share the joy with their friends through visits and the spirit of respects for the traditions and culture of other races.
“I believe we as Sarawakians feel very fortunate because the multi racial society in this State had long known the meaning of accepting and respecting one another. Our diversities should be our strength and not a factor of separation and division between the races.
“The sincere closeness of our pluralistic society in the past should be the guide in our relationship today,” he said.
The Chief Minister hoped the Dayak community will have a joyous celebration with their relatives and friends. He also urged the non-Dayaks to take the opportunity during the Gawai festival to visit their Dayak friends.
