Joachim (seated centre) at IDS’ webinar entitled The State’s Industrialisation: A Solution to Migration & Youth Unemployment in Sabah.
KOTA KINABALU: The State Ministry of Industrial Development will work together with the Institute for Development Studies (IDS) Sabah to set up an industrialisation roadmap for Sabah.
Its minister, Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam opined that Sabah is in need of more openness and innovation to pave the way for a future full of development and prosperity.
He said that the state would need to opt for ‘smart industrialisation’ to shorten the process and thus it is vital for the state to seize opportunities in technological revolution and industrial transformation.
“In this age of economic globalisation, openness and integration are the unstoppable historical trend. To tackle this issue, the Ministry of Industrial Development is working with the IDS in the preparation of the industrialisation roadmap for Sabah.
“The objectives are to identify the critical issues faced by the manufacturing sector in Sabah and the potential markets as well as the amount of government expenditures required to support the growth environment of the manufacturing sector, among others,” said Joachim after officiating IDS’ webinar entitled The State’s Industrialisation: A Solution to Migration & Youth Unemployment in Sabah, on Thursday.
“Hopefully, when the study is completed, it will serve as guidelines to support strategic and long-range planning, by matching short-term and long-term goals with specific solutions in regard to industrialisation.
“Indeed, industrialisation is the way forward for Sabah,” he added.
Joachim said that in Sabah, the manufacturing or industrial contribution to the state’s GDP had remained low over the years.
“Sabah is far behind and in order to catch up, we can no longer follow the normal phase of industrialisation. We need a smart short cut.
“We also need to ask why such an intended industrialisation progress did not take place in Sabah,” he said.
Joachim pointed out that industrialisation in other areas of the country, especially in the Peninsula had caused a large migration of Sabah’s youths to those areas.
According to Joachim, the main reason for this is the lack of job creation in Sabah, which resulted in unemployment of youths or industries in Peninsular offers more attractive salary and better working environment.
He said the continuing migration of youths to Peninsular Malaysia and other countries gives a strong reason for Sabah to quickly progress itself into an industrialised entity.
The webinar was organised by IDS together with the Kondrad-Adenauer-Stiftung of Germany.