BY JACINTHA JOLENE & ALEXANDRA LORNA
KUCHING: The year 2026 will mark a starting point in Sarawak’s efforts to develop the right workforce to support the state’s new economy, in line with strategies to avoid the middle-income trap that has ensnared many developing countries.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said the economy can no longer operate on a business-as-usual basis as such an approach fails to create new value and ultimately constrains long-term growth.
“In other words, 2026 is the beginning for us to train the right people for our new economy.
“That is why many developing countries are trapped in the middle-income trap – because they do not create anything new.
“So what is happening now in Sarawak is that we are using the resources we have to create something new,” he said during the session titled ‘The 2026 Sarawak Budget Aspiration: Empowering the Future of Sarawak’, held in conjunction with the 2026 Sarawak Budget Conference here today.
According to him, one of Sarawak’s key focus areas is the development of the hydrogen economy, which positions the region at the forefront of the clean energy transition, including at the international level.
In addition, Abang Johari said water is set to emerge as a new strategic commodity over the next five to ten years, in line with the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
“People now rely on AI. AI is about data collection, and data is stored in data centres. Data centres require energy and water. So water, in the next five to ten years, I think will become another important commodity.
“It will be a tradable commodity. If that is the case, we have so many rivers. Other countries share rivers – Germany shares rivers, as do Egypt, Kenya and Sudan, which share the Nile River,” he said.
As such, he said Sarawak’s advantage of having numerous rivers, such as the Samarahan, Baram and Rajang rivers, must be leveraged through the production of treated water for export purposes.
“That is what I am aiming towards. This is part of the strategy we will adopt for the new economy so that we do not fall into the middle-income trap,” he said.
However, Abang Johari stressed that natural resources alone are insufficient without quality human capital.
In this regard, he said the Sarawak Government places strong emphasis on education, including the provision of free tertiary education to eligible Sarawakian students, particularly in new technology-related fields.
He said a total of 64 selected programmes are offered free of charge, most of which are in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), to meet the needs of a high-income economy.
“First, we are providing free education for selected programmes that are more focused on the needs of the new economy. We have chosen 64 programmes, and most of them are in STEM disciplines because we need a skilled workforce.
“This is because our new economy will be at a high-income level and will require people with specific skills,” he added.
