Tourism, Arts and Culture Assistant Minister Datuk Sebastian Ting
MIRI (Jan 1): Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) is calling upon the people of Sarawak, regardless of ethnicity, race and religion, to continue to be united under the new political structure in facing the new challenges ahead.
Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts I Datuk Sebastian Ting, who is the party’s secretary-general, highlighted this in his New Year 2023 message released yesterday.
He regarded 2022 as ‘a year full of memories, both good and bad, which should be accepted with grace’.
He also hailed the 15th general election (GE15) as ‘a turning point’ for Sarawak, in that the state’s ruling coalition Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) won 23 parliamentary seats, complied with the decree of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong, and participated in the formation of a ‘Unity Federal Government’.
“It’s important to note that SUPP had taken back the Sarikei seat and maintained Serian.
“With the people in mind, GPS joined forced with the Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) to form a new government out to stabilise the political situation in the country.”
Ting stressed about the ‘utmost importance’ for Malaysia to have political stability, in view of the turmoil happening in the past years, the power struggles in Peninsular Malaysia, and the Covid-19 situation – all adding to the people’s misery to a point that it might seem there was no hope left for this country.
“Therefore, under the Unity Government, the people are hoping that the future would be better, the economy would recover steadily and the people’s livelihoods would be maintained.
“As member of the Unity Government, GPS is responsible for safeguarding the well-being of the people with representatives of the Deputy Prime Minister, ministers, and deputy ministers in the federal cabinet; GPS will ensure a better and more stable development for the country.”
In his message, Ting also spoke about the establishment of Sarawak Wealth Sovereign Fund and the legislation to manage carbon storage activities.
“The Premier of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg had announced the 2023 budget totalling RM10.797 billion, presented in the State Legislative Assembly, which is expected to generate revenue of RM11.0035 billion in 2023.
“This is proof of the outstanding governance of GPS.
“With GPS as the state government, we can foresee a better future.
“With the development of the new economy and efforts to develop new sources of income, the Sarawak government’s revenue will continue to increase and will be used for development projects set to benefit the people, including infrastructure, the autonomous rail transit (ART) projects, and education developments.
“The sovereign fund is to prepare for the future generation. We are confident that, under the prudent financial management of the Sarawakian government and the visionary leadership of the Sarawak Premier, the sovereign fund will eventually achieve its goals to benefit all Sarawakians, including providing free university education in future.”
On tourism industry, which was hit hard by Covid-19, Ting said 2022 seemed to be a better year for this sector, following the reopening of border sin Malaysia and other countries.
“In the first 10 months of 2022, the number of tourists in Sarawak reached 1,378,017.
“The Ministry of Tourism, Creative Industries and Performing Arts projects that the number of tourists visiting Sarawak (for the whole of 2022) would reach 1.8 million, surpassing the original target of 1.2 million, which is good and exciting news to those in the industry in that they can look forward to more tourists and business opportunities in 2023,” he said, also pointing out that the number of tourist expected for 2023 would be three million, set to generate RM7.25 billion in revenue.
In this regard, Ting called upon players from the tourism and other related industries to come up with more exciting packages and services.
“At the same time we, the Sarawak government, would do our best in promoting tourism and boosting the development of tourism facilities, creating the best tourism environment, and going all out in attracting tourists to come and visit,” he added.