MEI 2022
Winding Up Speech
DATUK PATINGGI TAN SRI (DR) ABANG HAJI ABDUL RAHMAN ZOHARI TUN DATUK ABANG HAJI OPENG, THE PREMIER OF SARAWAK
FOR THE SECOND MEETING OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE NINETEENTH SARAWAK STATE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
26th May 2022 (Thursday)
PREAMBLE
Tuan Speaker,
1. Terlebih dahulu saya mengucapkan setinggi penghargaan dan terima kasih kepada Tuan Yang Terutama Yang di-Pertua Negeri Sarawak di atas Ucapan Pembukaan Persidangan Kedua Penggal Pertama Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak Yang Kesembilan Belas.
2. Saya turut menzahirkan rasa terima kasih dan penghargaan kepada semua Ahli-Ahli Yang Berhormat yang telah mengambil bahagian dalam perbahasan Rang Undang-Undang. Semua rakan Ahli-Ahli Yang Berhormat telah menunjukkan kematangan dalam penyampaian hujah masing-masing yang disokong dengan maklumat hasil rujukan yang penuh dengan fakta.
3. Seperti sebelum ini, dalam ucapan penggulungan saya kali ini, saya tidak akan menyentuh perkara-perkara spesifik kerana saya percaya Timbalan-timbalan saya dan Menteri-Menteri telahpun menjelaskannya dalam ucapan penggulungan masing-masing. Sebaliknya saya akan mengambil kesempatan ini untuk menerangkan halatuju Sarawak ke arah mencapai status negeri maju menjelang tahun 2030.
Tuan Speaker,
SARAWAK ECONOMY
4. Economies around the world have experienced immense stress for the past two years. COVID-19 pandemic took the world by surprise and affected the healthcare system, livelihood of the people and brought many economies into recession. We know, Sarawak shared the same experience.
5. Throughout this challenging journey, we have seen how economies shift away from usual way of doing things prior to COVID-19 and quickly made adjustments to new methods to unlock new growth prospects.
6. We are grateful to see a brighter outlook with recovery in progress and businesses start to operate near to normal with Sarawak transitioning to the endemic phase as we enter the year 2022.
7. Nonetheless, we are mindful that while the pandemic induced crisis subsides, the geopolitical tensions with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to greater uncertainty that carries a huge threat to the currently fragile global economic recovery process.
8. Against all these challenging backdrops, Sarawak Government is glad that we have formulated and is now implementing the Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030. The Plan is to address reforms of Sarawak’s economy as Sarawak moves towards a high income and developed State by 2030.
9. Under the PCDS 2030, our economy is targeted to grow at an average of between 6.0 to 8.0 percent per annum. I am confident we will be able to take this leap of faith in achieving the target and Sarawak’s aspiration through new economic model. Although to some, the target is high, I am certain with new growth areas and promising prospects, the average of 6.0 to 8.0 percent growth per annum is achievable.
Tuan Speaker,
10. We are aware that Sarawak’s current economic model is easily influenced by the fluctuation of commodity prices, particularly the crude palm oil, oil and gas. Based on the past trend, our economy is concentrated on these primary commodities as our main source of revenue.
11. Thus, to emerge as a stronger region, we must embark on a full-fledged transformation and capitalise on mega-trends around the world. Our focus is on restructuring and diversifying our economy into high value downstream industry.
12. We need to be innovative, productive and resilient, in the global business environment that are dynamic and volatile. Therefore, with small domestic market, we need to scale up productions and develop more export-oriented activities while ensuring clean and healthy environment through adoption of innovation and digitalisation to spur productivity growth.
13. This will broaden our economic supply chain. Sarawak economy will be more sustainable to shocks in spite of the many unprecedented crisis that may arise in the future. It will also create more high paying jobs and entrepreneurship opportunities as well as generate more private sector investments.
14. The spill over from all these new economic activities will translate to produce higher household income. This is important because we want to ensure our economic prosperity is equitably distributed and shared by all rakyat.
15. Our top priority now is to build both physical and digital infrastructure to increase efficiency and link Sarawak to global market. This will become the platform for Sarawak’s economy to grow in the coming years, and create a thriving society that enjoys economic prosperity, social inclusivity and sustainable environment.
Tuan Speaker,
HYDROGEN ECONOMY
16. I would like to quote the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen in her speech on 8th March 2022, “The quicker we switch to renewables and hydrogen, combined with more energy efficiency, the quicker we will be truly independent and master our energy system.”
17. Hydrogen is an essential component of a net zero energy system for deep decarbonisation that is required to meet the current climate targets and limit the temperature increase below 2°C.
18. The global hydrogen market is picking up speed. Recently, the Hydrogen Council estimated that approximately 520 projects are gaining momentum around the world. Clean hydrogen production capacity has increased more than doubled since January 2021.
19. Globally, USD160 billion of direct private investments have been created until 2030, and more than USD400 billion additional private investment have been made to realise government targets and commitments.
20. We must now actively shape Sarawak hydrogen market throughout the entire value chain, if not we will be left behind. Sarawak shall create an ideal ecosystem for hydrogen economy to be pioneer in Asia Pacific to explore, innovate and produce green hydrogen.
21. Therefore, we must spur investments in integrated hydrogen facilities and infrastructure. I believe this may bring down hydrogen production costs and will stimulate demand for hydrogen.
22. For the information of this august House, Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) has partnered with Samsung Engineering, POSCO and Lotte Chemical from South Korea to develop an environmentally friendly hydrogen and green ammonia plant in Bintulu.
23. Once completed, the plant will produce 630,000 metric tonnes of green ammonia, 600,000 metric tonnes of blue ammonia, 220,000 metric tonnes of green hydrogen, of which 7,000 metric tonnes will be for domestic use and the rest will be exported to South Korea. This new development will further diversify Sarawak’s export, besides the traditional oil and gas exports.
Tuan Speaker,
SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL
24. As a step forward, Sarawak is exploring the production of alternative aviation fuels such as Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). SAF could be the key to sustainable air travel in the transition for low carbon fuel in the industry.
25. Our SEDC is collaborating with Airbus and Rolls Royce through Aerospace Malaysia Innovation Centre (AMIC) is undertaking research and development on green hydrogen and fuel cell as future aviation fuel in Demak, Kuching.
26. Meanwhile, Sarawak Energy Berhad and Sarawak Biodiversity Centre are undertaking proof of concept (POC) on the utilisation of algae as biofuels to complement our quest in the hydrogen economy.
Tuan Speaker,
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
27. The world is focusing on policies and actions to achieve the goals of Paris Agreement to reach global net-zero emissions.
28. In the Paris Agreement, particularly on Article 6, the high-level principles were intended as a basis for countries to develop detailed rules for how countries can “pursue voluntary cooperation” to reach their climate targets.
29. At Conference of Parties (COP) 26 in Glasgow in 2021, countries agreed on a package of rules to govern and implement international carbon market mechanisms under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At the same conference, nearly 200 countries agreed to increase their national pledges this year to align with a target of capping global warming at 1.5oC above pre-industrial levels.
30. Carbon market is another solution to reduce carbon emissions. A well-designed and well-connected market, particularly the carbon market, can prove that Sarawak can grow her economy and protect the environment at the same time.
31. I am determined to establish such markets that support cooperation, with consistent and robust rules underpinned by environmental integrity in line with sustainable development objectives for Sarawak.
32. A price on carbon promotes investments in cost-effective emissions reduction today while allowing innovation in low-carbon technologies for the future. Energy efficiency earns its full return and forest protection has clear economic value.
33. Carbon market is gaining momentum around the world. It plays a key role as one of the most effective measures available to reduce climate pollution at the scale and pace of science demands.
34. Rest assured, Sarawak will be embarking on all necessary best practices benchmarked against internationally acceptable practice including the verification of carbon credit trading from internationally acknowledged verification entities.
35. I envision that our new economy towards carbon market will provide an ambitious signal to future generation and building deep, transformative change we urgently need.
Tuan Speaker,
36. I am convinced our efforts to deploy Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) in Sarawak is timely with the passing of the Land Code (Amendment) Bill, 2022. We are in a much better position with some of the important policy tools in place.
37. I know we have all the tools to do so. Our models consistently show that CCUS are very powerful mitigation technology and that, without them, our transition to low-carbon will be very difficult.
38. I envisioned the creation of ideal ecosystem for CO2 storage hubs to emerge and linking them with industrial hubs and the international carbon market.
39. I believe with the newly established Ministry of Energy and Environmental Sustainability, we will intensively embark on this initiative collaborating with expertise internationally as well as recruiting our own Sarawakian talents, both locally and abroad.
40. Hence, we all need to be well versed and updated with climate change agenda, mitigation and adaptation measures as well as understanding the concept of carbon market mechanism.
Tuan Speaker,
OIL AND GAS DEVELOPMENT
41. Sarawak Government has successfully signed the Commercial Settlement Agreement (CSA) with PETRONAS on 7th December 2020, which provided PETROS the role to regulate and monitor oil, mining and exploration in all the onshore areas of Sarawak.
42. For the information of this august House, among the achievements that PETROS has made are to secure:
(i) A 29-year contract for Sarawak Onshore Block SK433, Adong Kechil in Miri-Marudi area;
(ii) Carried interests in all four new Exploration Blocks offshore Sarawak in the Malaysia Bid Round 2021 (MBR 2021) namely SK427, SK439/SK440 and SK437; and
(iii) 1,200 mmscf/d natural gas resources volumes to drive the growth of the downstream industries, power generation and petrochemical hub in Bintulu as well as supporting downstream industries across Sarawak in the long term.
43. We have achieved greater share of revenues from oil and gas produced in Sarawak through State Sales Tax (SST). As mentioned by the Second Minister for Finance and New Economy in his winding up speech, the SST collected from crude oil and liquefied natural gas since 1st January 2019 has become the major contributor to our revenue, amounting to RM8.52 billion to date from the RM11.01 billion of the overall SST collected thus far.
44. We are able to control the distribution of gas, including LPG, under the Distribution of Gas Ordinance. For information of this august House, LPG is a controlled item and the price of LNG is fixed for the whole Malaysia under the Control of Supplies Act 1961.
45. Household price of LPG is already subsidised up to 50% by the Federal Government. The current controlled price for 14kg LPG-filled cylinder is at RM26.60.
46. GPS Government will continue to protect the interests of gas consumers through Ministry of Utilities and Telecommunications to ensure security of supply and equitable price throughout Sarawak.
Tuan Speaker,
RISING COST OF LIVING
47. Sarawak Government takes note of the rising prices of food and thereafter affecting the cost of living. All these are due to the current geopolitical tension that leads to imported inflation and the ringgit performance against USD that had declined 0.7 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
48. Malaysia’s weakening currency will increase import prices, burdening both consumers and importers. As Malaysia is a net importer of food, the imported inflation has caused higher food price domestically. Therefore, most of this is beyond Sarawak Government’s control.
49. For this reason, Sarawak Government will intervene within our power and means to cushion the impact of rising cost of living especially on food prices, on to the rakyat.
50. For this, I will introduce discount on electricity tariff to our food producers and retailers, including coffee shops, restaurants, and other food and beverages industry in order to reduce their cost of doing business. Therefore, I expect it will mitigate market price of food.
51. Against this backdrop, Sarawak Government’s efforts to transform our agriculture sector to become net food exporter under PCDS 2030, will eventually provide “farm-to-table” food security and self-sufficiency level (SSL) for Sarawak.
Tuan Speaker,
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
52. With Indonesia confirmed plan to relocate their capital city to Nusantara in East Kalimantan, Sarawak stands to gain benefits from the rapid development as we share long borderline and has established bilateral cooperation with Indonesia. Nonetheless, Sarawak needs to position herself and develop our competitive advantages.
53. Cross-border accessibility will be improved through the opening of more border exit and entry points, road access and integrated CIQS facilities.
54. There are plans to upgrade strategic exit and entry points in the Northern and Central regions of Sarawak into international gateways to facilitate better movement of people and enhance our border trade. Nevertheless, border security must be our utmost priority. Therefore, we are working closely with Federal Government to strengthen our border control.
55. Reviving cross border trade with Indonesia, particularly with West Kalimantan will be our main priority. We need to develop our resources in complementing with Indonesia on a win-win situation.
56. Sarawak will strengthen our position as the powerhouse of ASEAN and contribute to the ASEAN Power Grid initiative. We will continue to supply our surplus electricity regionally, but not at the expense of our own power needs.
57. Given our track records in hydropower development, Sarawak will strengthen her profile within the ASEAN through active involvement in North Kalimantan hydroelectric project.
58. To facilitate our initiatives and collaboration with Indonesia, Sarawak Government is currently moving forward with our plan to establish Trade and Tourism Office in Pontianak.
59. Sarawak will also strengthen economic collaboration with Brunei Darussalam. We have been working closely with Brunei in several economic sectors including telecommunication, energy, trade, tourism and agriculture.
60. With the establishment of Sarawak Trade and Tourism Office in Bandar Seri Begawan soon, we should be able to move forward in a more efficient manner to capture the economic opportunities and take advantage of the Brunei’s strategic connectivity and accessibility to other parts of the world.
Tuan Speaker,
PENDIDIKAN SEKOLAH ANTARABANGSA
61. Kerajaan Sarawak menekankan pendidikan berkualiti dan menyediakan ekosistem yang menyeluruh untuk pembangunan modal insan, terutamanya golongan anak-anakkita yang selama ini telah ketinggalan dalam arus pembangunan kemudahan pendidikan negara.
62. Memandangkan kawasan geografi Sarawak yang luas dan penempatan yang bertaburan, ianya menjadi antara cabaran kepada Kerajaan untuk membangunkan kemudahan persekolahan yang sempurna.
63. Walau bagaimanapun, Kerajaan Sarawak sentiasa bekerja sama dengan Kerajaan Persekutuan untuk menyediakan persekitaran pembelajaran dan pengajaran yang selamat dan kondusif.
64. Dalam pada itu, Kerajaan GPS telah mengambil langkah proaktif dengan menubuhkan lima buah sekolah antarabangsa yang dibiayai oleh Kerajaan Sarawak demi pendidikan berkualiti kepada rakyat Sarawak yang mana, sekolah antarabangsa yang pertama telah mula beroperasi pada Mac tahun ini.
65. Pelaburan ini sangat penting kerana kita mahu member ruang dan peluang yang sama kepada anak-anak Sarawak yang pintar, terutamanya dari kawasan luar bandar.
66. Seperti mana kita sudah ketahui, sekolah antarabangsa ini akan menggunakan kurikulumCambridge International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) untuk membantu mengembangkan kemahiran anak-anak kita dalam pemikiran kreatif dan penyelesaian masalah. Anak-anak inilah, yang akan menjadi pemimpin dan pemikir masa depan.
Tuan Speaker,
SOVEREIGN INVESTMENT FUNDS
67. Through the various transformational programme and revenue re-engineering initiatives, Sarawak has promising future to set up our own sovereign investment funds.
68. By establishing the sovereign investment funds, we will build up our financial reserves for the young Sarawakians. Sarawak will be able to strengthen our future financial capacity to compensate the potential loss of future revenue from our depleting oil and gas resources.
69. However, the idea of our sovereign fund is still work in progress, where more studies need to be carried out to ensure the best model and robust international standards be adopted.
70. I would like to emphasise that, the key principles for our very own sovereign fund, moving forward, must be of good governance with well-defined regulatory framework, and greater transparency and accountability.
Tuan Speaker,
MALAYSIA AGREEMENT 1963 (MA63)
71. Negotiation on the Malaysia Agreement (MA63) is always close to our heart in the GPS Government. We have been actively negotiating with the Federal Government to restore Sarawak’s rights as stipulated in the MA63.
72. As of today, we have witnessed significant progress where we have several accomplishments particularly on the amendment to Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution which has restored the status of Sarawak and Sabah as before the amendment to the Federal Constitution in 1976.
73. Despite the accomplishments, we should not rest on our laurels. We must continue to fight to preserve our interests and rights from Putrajaya to develop our beloved Sarawak to be on par with the rest of Malaysia in terms of development.
Tuan Speaker,
PENUTUP
74. Akhir kata, kita rakyat Sarawak perlulah mengekalkan perpaduan yang erat untuk sama-sama membangunkan Sarawak ke arah Sarawak berpendapatan tinggi menjelang tahun 2030.
75. Hanya dengan Kerajaan yang kukuh, berlatar belakangkan kestabilan politik, didokong oleh keyakinan rakyat, maka kemakmuran akan dapat kita kecapi bersama.
Tuan Speaker,
76. Perpaduan adalah amat penting. Tanpa perpaduan, maka kita tidak akan menikmati keamanan, dan jika tiada keamanan, maka tiadalah pembangunan dan kemakmuran.
77. Denganini, saya ingin mengambil kesempatan untuk mengucapkan terima kasih kepada Tuan Speaker yang telah mengendalikan persidangan DUN dengan teratur dan cemerlang.
78. Tidakkelewatan juga saya mengambil kesempatan ini untuk mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Selamat Hari Wesak dan Selamat Hari Gawai yang akan disambut tidak lama lagi kepada semua lapisan rakyat Sarawak yang meraikan perayaan-perayaan ini.
Sumber dari : Sarawakku