How then shall we move on from here?

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KUCHING: It was a birthday bash.

Politicians, dignitaries and self-made personalities were among the guests at the celebration on Monday night.

They have one thing in common – they are Sarawakians and they love this land. The birthday boy – Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

Packed into a very personal and thought-provoking speech were his birthday wishes, not for himself, but the people of Sarawak.

The Chief Minister is very thankful for the successes the state has achieved thus far. This can be measured by an eightfold rise in per capita income over the past 30 years in terms of infrastructure which covers, among others, nearly 20,000km of roads throughout the length and breadth of Sarawak.

He remembers the people he has worked with over the years. He has also seen the people struggling to break out of the poverty trap, either by making a living from fishing in the river or out at sea; toiling in the field and the jungle or in small factories and offices.

“But they do not get recognition as much as I would like to see,” he said.

Chinese the pioneers

Moving on, the Chief Minister explained: “But the real success symbol of this struggle can be seen by the birth of many self-made personalities in this society — entrepreneurs who have been able to rise from humble beginnings to become millionaires and even billionaires.

“These self-made personalities are not confined only to the Chinese who are the pioneers of our economic development for a long time but have also spread out among the natives – Malays and Ibans — and we even have one Penan multi-millionaire.

“These are the best things that have ever happened in our society,” he said to a big round of applause.

He attributed this success to the government’s openness in not limiting the ability of the people to set goals for themselves and work hard to achieve them.

Developing human capital

Indeed, the hallmark of Sarawak should be to develop the ability of its people to fulfull their potential to the fullest in order to attain the highest achievements — and certainly not to waste time fighting one another.

The government has laid the foundation and started diversifying into smaller industries as well electronics and other heavy industries.

We have SCORE. With this visionary project, we will be creating ample job opportunities of a more technical nature.

We have to ensure at least 52 percent of the one million jobs created will cater for people with high technical skills or qualifications from engineering degrees or diplomas.

Education for people

Towards this, the Chief Minister said Sarawak had five universities, all geared towards 2030 when the state would be able man its industries and produce a workforce with bigger earning power because of their greater productivity through training in universities and higher learning institutions.

“The employer will be certain of having the right employee and our students will be certain of their prospects when they step out of universities,” he noted.

How, then, should the people move on from here?

Supportive and generous

His conclusion: The success from now on is what we can do for the people and what the people can do for themselves and the country.

He urged the people to be supportive of the government’s policies aimed at elevating their living standards, at the same time, exhorting them to live with generosity by being responsive to the needs of the others around them.

“None of the races should think of how to get more and more because fighting to get more is a zero-sum game. Instead, our task should be to arm our young people with more talents that can benefit all the races.

“Serious politicians should take up the challenge to ensure that Sarawak produce people who are of high quality, discipline and innovation.”

The Chief Minister has laid the foundation, and calling on the people to live with vision and foresight, he said: “I have started various projects. It’s now up to the next generation politicians to put in greater efforts to face the challenges ahead and do it with even greater success by 2020.

“Let us all move into future by making education a cornerstone to enhance the quality of our people so that together, they can help fulfill our aspiration of becoming a high-income nation capable of excellence in whatever they do.”

This is the Chief Minister’s hope. This is his birthday wish.