SARAWAK will continue two major reform initiatives next year — the State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) Transformation Programme and Results-Based Budgeting (RBB) — with RM17.4 million allocated under the 2026 State Budget.
Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg said both reforms were central to strengthening public financial management and ensuring that government resources delivered measurable outcomes.
“We remain committed to strengthening our public financial management to ensure efficient and impactful utilisation of our resources,” he said during the 19th State Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting on Monday (Nov 24).
Under the SOEs Transformation Programme, he said Sarawak is introducing a State Ownership Policy developed in partnership with the World Bank.
The policy aims to position the state as an active and professional shareholder with clear oversight roles.
The policy will define the mandate of each SOE, whether strategic, developmental or commercial, while promoting performance-driven management and reducing fragmentation across entities with overlapping functions.
Abang Johari said the approach would reduce reliance on state funding, improve financial resilience and enable closer coordination between SOEs and the state’s budgeting process.
To support this, he said the Sarawak Code of Corporate Governance will introduce standards on board independence, accountability and ethical conduct, backed by a central monitoring mechanism to track compliance across all SOEs.
On the same note, he said the state is also conducting a study on developing financially self-reliant and high-performing SOEs, aimed at streamlining entities, improving efficiency and creating opportunities for greater private-sector collaboration.
Abang Johari said the ownership policy, governance code and self-reliance study formed the foundation of Sarawak’s long-term strategy to build stronger and more accountable state enterprises.
On the Results-Based Budgeting initiative, he said RBB, implemented in 2024, must be supported by an Integrated Results-Based Management (IRBM) ecosystem to align planning, budgeting, implementation and evaluation.
The Economic Planning Unit (EPU) Sarawak has been tasked to lead the development of the IRBM framework, which will strengthen accountability and ensure that government programmes deliver measurable results.
