OKTOBER 2024
Sarawak Mulls Formation Of Investment, Asset Management Arm - Premier
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, Thurs: Sarawak Government is considering setting up a consolidated entity as an asset management and investment arm of the government, Sarawak’s Premier, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Haji Johari revealed here, today.
He pointed out that he had instructed a study to be carried out by experts to determine its feasibility aimed at increasing government revenue for the long term.
He said this in his keynote address at the closing of the three-day Sarawak’s Civil Service’s One Team Retreat (OTR) held here in conjunction with the launch of the Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office Brunei (STATOB).
The Premier said currently Sarawak’s investment branch was under the Sarawak Incorporated while the Sarawak Sovereign Wealth and Future Fund (SSWFF) had been operating with an initial capital injection of RM8 billion by the Sarawak Government.
Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari in explaining the modus operandi of such an entity said it would work much like similar entities in other developed countries such as the Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and the Government Of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), Mubadala Investment Company of UAE, China Investment Corporation and Japan Investment Corporation.
All government assets held by various statutory bodies and government-linked companies like SEDC, Sarawak Energy Bhd. and Petros would be consolidated under this one entity and to be run like any other business body, he further said.
He envisaged that this model of assets and investments management with the member-bodies as shareholders would provide an atmosphere conducive to the “mobility” of professionals among the member bodies along the principle of “hire and fire” to ensure that the bodies were well-run.
Such a model would also enable remuneration to be set at a high level and comparable to those in developed countries, he added.
On the acquisition of majority shares in Affin Bank, the Premier said the bank as a retail bank would be a platform to spur development in small and medium businesses as well as a platform to facilitate the current robust overall development of Sarawak.
In a similar vein, he added that the Development Bank of Sarawak (DBOS) set up in 2017 had been a financial platform mandated with the development of strategic projects such as infrastructure to boost Sarawak’s economy.
Earlier, State Secretary, Datuk Amar Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki spoke among others on the solutions to ensure speedy and interrupted implementation of government projects and the management of assets in the Sarawak Civil Service.
Among those present were Deputy Premier, Datuk Amar Dr. Sim Kui Hian and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan, ministers and deputy ministers.
The Premier, later in the day officially launched the operation of STATOB aimed at enhancing trade and tourism relations between Brunei and Sarawak.