State must leapfrog to digital economy to move ahead — Abg Jo

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Abang Johari (centre) and other state cabinet ministers and their wives wave the Jalur Gemilang during the National Day countdown at Bintulu Esplanade on Wednesday.

BINTULU: The development of Sarawak cannot depend on incremental basis anymore; our economy must leapfrog from one that is semi-mechanical to a digital economy otherwise we will be left far behind.

Saying this at the state-level National Day celebration here yesterday, Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg, said the rest of the world was now fully capitalising on  digital technology to move far ahead.

He said Sarawak had all the ingredients to be a digital economy powerhouse in the country or even in the region.

“All we need is for us to consolidate our natural and manpower resources, focus on our goal, avoid distraction by petty issues and stay united regardless of our differences in opinion,” he said.

One of the first few things he did upon taking over as chief minister, he added, was to ask the State Secretary to organise an International Conference on ICT Infrastructure and Digital Economy (IDECS) on April 3 and 4.

“We invited many world experts to present their ideas, including Canadian Don Tapscott, an expert on digital economy. We want to tap their expertise in our quest to digitise Sarawak’s economy and government administration,” he said.

He quoted ‘Economist’ as saying that  the most valuable resource in the world today is not ‘oil’ but ‘data’ based on the profits generated by Amazon Dot Com, Facebook and Microsoft in the first quarter of this year, which totalled US$25 billion. With this background, he said Sarawak had to be innovative enough to transform its economy from a conventional to a digital economy within 10 to 20 years from now.

“We cannot be incremental in our approach, we have to leapfrog because we are already left very far behind. Today, the developed countries are already at the stage that is called Industry 4.0. The First Industrial Revolution (Industry 1.0) was triggered by the invention of steam engine and water power that led to mechanisation.

“The Second Industrial Revolution (Industry 2.0) was an era of mass production, assembly line and electricity.  Industry 3.0 was an era of computer and automation. The current era is Industry 4.0. an era of automation and data exchange.”

Abang Johari said the internet infrastructure would be upgraded with an allocation of RM1 billion and the proposed setting up of 1,200 telecommunication towers.

“Our digital pursuit also needs us to ‘open up’ the humongous volume of government data of industries and individuals for sharing and linking with one another.  This sharing of data from numerous sources is called Big Data which breeds a lot of digital innovation in digital economies, especially in the West.

“We hope to be able to roll out our very first Sarawak Big Data by the first quarter of next year,” said Abang Johari.

On another subject, Abang Johari said he would table the Sarawak Multi-Media Ordinance in the November sitting of the State Legislative Assembly, which would govern all aspects of the digital development in the state. He said the ordinance would provide for the formation of  Sarawak Multi-Media Authority (SMA), which would be set up by January next year.

He also said the state government would be sending people to study in various new disciplines at masters and Phd levels at reputable research universities in the country and overseas with Yayasan Sarawak providing the loans and scholarships for the purpose.

“We are able to do this because Yayasan Sarawak can collect more money now that we have increased the timber premium on its concession areas from RM0.80 to RM50 per cubic metre.

“Yayasan Sarawak expects a revenue of RM300 million annually from this compared to about RM20 million previously. With more income Yayasan Sarawak will be able to set aside RM100 million annually for education compared to only RM9 million previously,” he said.