Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud
KUCHING: Sarawak can be proud of the fact that the state has produced ‘towkays’ from various communities.
Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said there were now more races getting involved in various areas of economic activities. He said the economic activities had continued to develop as the state became more and more industrialised towards 2020 and beyond.
“Generally, the development of Sarawak is moving increasingly into areas of sophisticated industrialisation, and further and bolder steps into the new Asean and the new Asia, which is going to be the heritage of the past struggles of the people in Southeast Asia,” he said in his Chinese New Year message broadcast over RTM.
The transcript of his speech was made available to the local media yesterday.
“I believe more Sarawakians or even Malaysians will have opportunities to get the training much better than those that they used to have during the period where they were not masters of their own destiny namely before Independence.
“Therefore, I see today a real sense of fellowship among the people in sharing experiences and learning to consult each other in a more professional way in various areas of development in the overall efforts to make Malaysia a richer nation in future,” he said.
Taib said in the past, he spoke mainly about getting all the races to come together and mixing well with each other so that they could see the good in each community.
For example, the various ethnic groups could see the good in the Chinese, while the Chinese likewise could see the good in the Malays, Ibans, Bidayuhs or Orang Ulu, he added.
Because of that need, he said most of his political speeches during the first 50 years of his career in Sarawak and Malaysia were to encourage positive interactions among people of all races in order to create understanding and friendship among them.
“This is how this country can become a great nation. All the people whether they are Malays, Chinese, Iban, Bidayuh, Indian or Orang Ulu have been playing contributing roles towards the greatness of this state and nation.
“Obviously, the social interactions provide the people with opportunities to learn how to be more open towards each other; generally the people have an open attitude towards each other. This is particularly so in Sarawak,” he said.
He pointed out that the basis of the national economy in the future would likely be dependent on the efforts of people of all races to do their best in all they do.
More importantly, they must be armed with the best training and qualifications in doing the jobs according to their best efforts, he added.
“Quiet obviously, the wealth of the world will get more concentrated in the Western Pacific area. Therefore, the state or this country for that matter should learn to tap all the opportunities and make ourselves recipients of the legacies of Independence.”
“We have learnt and become quite successful in uniting ourselves and getting along very well with each other,” he said.