Naroden (centre) receives a memento from Zamri as token of appreciation after opening the Sarawak Halal Programme yesterday.
KUCHING: The government will continue to convince and encourage local entrepreneurs to tap the great potential at Tanjung Manis halal hub.
Assistant Minister in Chief Minister’s Office (Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development) Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais said a series of programmes have been conducted to create awareness among the locals but not many have the courage to start their business in the halal hub yet.
He believed the slow response could due to the wait-and-see attitude among most of the business community.
“This is the common attitude of most people. They want to be sure that the place is really good before they come in. This happens almost everywhere… only after they see others are doing well, then everyone will start coming in.
“Anyway, we will continue to tell existing as well as would-be entrepreneurs to grab the opportunity available in Tanjung Manis because we can foresee that it has very great future due to its strategic location,” he said.
Naroden, who is also Assistant Resource Planning Minister, told reporters this after opening Sarawak Halal Programme 2014 at State Islamic Council complex here yesterday.
He was confident that with the aggressive promotions overseas carried out by the various government agencies of late, some foreign investors would be interested to come in to set up factories in Tanjung Manis.
“They are interested not just because of the strategic location but also because of the incentives given to them such as cheap land, cheap electricity tariff and adequate supply of fresh water.
“All these are not found anywhere else and because of that, I am very confident that very soon we will be able to see Tanjung Manis booming into an important halal hub in this region,” he said.
He said the other contributing factor to this was the increasing awareness among people worldwide on halal products, including non-Muslim countries.
He said in the old days, most people would relate halal to food and drinks but now that they have greater understanding on the subject and ‘halal’ to them means more than that.
“Halal can be referred to as clean… not only the food that we eat but even the clothes that we wear and cosmetics that we use. So to avoid doubts among consumers we, as producers and manufacturers, must strictly comply with the halal standard set by the authority and this is the reason why we have this programme here today,” he explained.
The programme was jointly organised by Bumiputera Entrepreneur Development Unit (UPUB) in Chief Minister’s Department, State Islamic Religious Department (Jais) Tabung Baitumal Sarawak (TBS), Management Development Institute Johor (IPPJ) and Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC).
A total of seven working papers mostly on halal related issues were presented throughout the day.
Also present at the opening ceremony yesterday were IPPJ managing director, TBS general manager Datu Abang Mohd Shibli Abang Nailie and Universiti Technologi Mara (UiTM) Sarawak Campus rector Prof Datuk Dr Jamil Hamali.