KUCHING: Sarawak and Malaysia as a whole must be in line with the advanced digital ecosystem throughout the world in order to progress.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg said that Sarawak is on the right track on its journey towards digital economy.
He said therefore Sarawak cannot isolate itself from what is happening around the world, and though it takes time a start must be made somewhere.
“As the world renowned futurist and physicist Dr Michio Kaku said, the future is based on intellectual capitalism and the leveraging of nano and biotechnology,” he said during International Digital Economy Conference Sarawak (Idecs) 2019, at Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) yesterday.
For the state’s quest towards developing its digital economy, Abang Johari said there must be a right balance of input of technology and people with wisdom.
He noted that Sarawak is fortunate to have surplus energy from its rich natural resources, hydropower, plus talented and intelligent people.
According to him, now is the time to digitalise these strong points in order to drive economic development, and for this the infrastructure must be present.
“We have all these; we need to move on. That is why Sarawak developed its digital economy as a vehicle to drive up to 2030 when the ecosystem may change because of new technology,” he said.
He then said with the right input to formulate policies, there is also a need to balance rural-urban development.
“The rural population depends on agriculture for income, and we must embark on technology in the agricultural sector to enhance productivity. This is what we introduce to the rural population,” he stressed.
He said the state’s aim was also to develop a smart city connected with technology, but it must also be a green city.
To all the speakers of Idecs, he thanked them for their input.
He recalled that for the first Idecs in 2017, RM1 billion was allocated by the state to build the infrastructure within the first two years.
“Then after the second Idecs in 2018, we created Sarawak identity (ID) for providing the government services to the people. And now from this third Idecs, I will reveal our next plan after I have studied all the recommendations,” he said.
