Taking Sarawak To New Heights

KUCHING: The Sarawak government is setting up its own bank called Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) to help fund strategic projects with high impact that could propel Sarawak’s economic and digital transformation.

In announcing this yesterday, Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari Tun Openg said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) had approved the setting up of the new bank and Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had been informed of it.

“The plan will be carried out immediately. The state government will operate DBOS with full financial support from the state government and it will function as a development bank only,” he said.

“This will be the second major asset besides Bakun Dam that will transform our economy within our control,” he added.

Abang Johari was addressing a press conference after the wrap-up session of the International ICT Infrastructure and Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (Idecs) 2017 at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) here.

“The bank will be operated on a financial model and will help to fund high impact projects in line with the state’s effort to promote social economic transformation catch-up plan (2017-2030),” he added.

This initiative is one of the eight resolutions which the state government has come up with following the two-day conference that concluded yesterday.

To further reflect its mandate as an approved institution under the Development Financial Institution (DFI) Act, the chief minister said DBOS would not undertake or advertise for public deposits as provided under Section 137 and 138 of the Act.

“DBOS is meant to foster economic growth in Sarawak and to contribute towards the acceleration process of economic development of the state. In the process, the state will ensure a successful and prudent operation of DBOS,” he said.

He added that DBOS would ensure that revenue generated from the financing activities of the state’s strategic projects will prosper the state’s economy and that of the rakyat.

“With further consistent and sustainable revenue generated, the state will be able to further support both the state’s economic development and transformation agenda,” he said.

The strategic projects, he pointed out, will focus on key development sectors; namely ICT infrastructure (digital economy), energy sector including power generation as well as oil and gas, urban public transportation and services sector including healthcare and tourism.

DBOS’ main objectives include mobilisation of investment of private and public capital for productive purposes and financing the state’s strategic development projects which contribute most to the harmonious growth of the state as a whole, with special emphasis on high impact projects.

“Coordination of plans and policies of the state with a view to achieving better utilisation of the state’s resources, making them economically more complementary and expanding Sarawak’s foreign trade.

“Provision of technical assistance to state government for the preparation, financing and execution of development projects as well as undertaking of such other activities which may help to achieve its main objectives,” the Chief Minister said of its other objectives.

On loans, he stated that DBOS will approve a substantial amount of setup and seed capital for projects and assured that more information would be disclosed later as it was still in the formative stage.

On the rest of the resolutions that will be implemented to turn Sarawak into a cyber powerhouse, Abang Johari revealed that the government will establish Sarawak Multimedia Authority to regulate the development of ICT infrastructure and digital technology utilisation.

“This will be tabled in the DUN (State Legislative Assembly) sitting this year as we are now setting up the framework and pass the legislation first. We are not competing with federal but we must have our share to develop digital economy in our digital ecosystem,” he said.

“Thirdly, establishing the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation is to coordinate and manage properly all digital economy initiatives focusing on key areas; namely infrastructure, e-government, talent development, e-commerce, and cyber security,” he added.

Fourthly, the government remained committed to boost speed connectivity of the state’s ICT infrastructure so as to put in place the state’s digital highway backbone and boost digital traffic flow, he said further.

“You can’t have digital economy without speed which can be obtained through fibre optics or cloud computing. We need the speed and the rest will fall in place,” he explained.

“We must set up a fast digital highway backbone that’s connected to the international backbone and which will be linked to two gateways, one southern that may link to Indonesia, and northern with Brunei,” he added.

He said the fifth resolution is on the Digital Village and E-Com Y30 which will provide young entrepreneurs an avenue to unleash their creativity and innovate to create something new.

“This may be located at Samajaya and boast some 50 incubators to allow young people to translate their ideas into real products,” he said.

Other initiatives include promoting e-learning, making Sarawak a data centre in relation to its rich biodiversity, establishing labs and workshops for the next six months to brainstorm and chart the roadmap for Sarawak to realise its vision to become a centre of digital economy and organising another Idecs in 2018.

“These must be done and we must work together to transform Sarawak to become a power to be reckoned with,” he emphasised.

The press conference was attended by Deputy Chief Ministers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Masing, Second Resource Planning and Environment Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Local Government Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian, Second Finance Minister Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh, Youth and Sports and Solidarity Minister Dato Sri Michael Manyin, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Abdul Ghani and Assistant Land and Air Transportation and Safety Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin.-BP