S’wak govt will continue with business friendly policies – Awang Tengah
KUCHING (July 5): The success of Sama Jaya High Tech Park here and the continuous expansions of Multi-National Corporation (MNC) in Sarawak augur well with the industrialisation agenda of the state government to leapfrog Sarawak to become a high income economy by 2030, says Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Tengah Ali Hasan.
He assured that the Sarawak Government will continue with its business friendly policies to attract more investments in high tech industries.
He noted that over the years, Sama Jaya has attracted more than RM12 billion worth of investments and created many economic spinoffs, which continue to benefit the local business communities.
Awang Tengah, who is Minister of Industrial and Entrepreneur Development, pointed out that Sama Jaya for far has created some 10,800 employment opportunities, of which 99 per cent of them are filled by locals.
He said in 2017 alone, Sama Jaya generated RM380 million in total wages for the workers, which ultimately flows back into the local economy, while for the same year the export value generated from Sama Jaya was RM3.2 billion.
“I would like to thank Taiyo Yuden and all the MNCs for their commitments to recruit Sarawakians and I hope you all will continue to give priority to hire local workforce, as well as to engage our local SMEs to support your operations in Sarawak,” he said at the ground breaking ceremony of Taiyo Yuden (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd new factory building project here yesterday.
Awang Tengah also urged local entrepreneurs, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to continuously upgrade their capabilities and capacities so as to meet the stringent requirements of the global players in Sama Jaya.
He said the government could only facilitate, but the private sector (SMEs) as the engine of growth should be proactive and grab the opportunities made available from government as well as private sector initiatives.
“Our SMEs must be creative and innovative by adopting the latest technology to remain competitive in this globalised and challenging environment.
“The SMEs must change their mind set and not continue to rely on the low cost, low tech and labour intensive strategy for growth,” he said.
Figure 1: Awang Tengah, accompanied by Yoshio Akimoto, walks to the Taiyo Yuden new building project site at Sama Jaya High Tech Park in Kuching.
Awang Tengah said Sama Jaya High Tech Park was the brainchild of the Head of State Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud when he was the Chief Minister of Sarawak, and credit has to be given to Chief Minister of Sarawak Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg for the successful implementation of Sama Jaya when he served as the Minister for Industrial Development.
He said the Park has since grown to include several major multinational corporations such as X-FAB (semiconductor), Western Digital (or HGST-glass and aluminium substrates) and LONGi (solar ingots, wafers, cells and modules) as well as their supporting industries which have formed a cluster here at the Park.
He noted that the latest MNC to invest and operate at Sama Jaya is Iljin Materials Co., Ltd. from South Korea, which produces copper foil for smart phones and electric vehicles.
Assistant Minister of Entrepreneur and Small and Medium Entreprise Development Datuk Mohd Naroden Majais, Assistant Minister of Industries and Investment Malcolm Mussen, Taiyo Yuden Co. Ltd, Japan director Hirokazu Zhazono and Taiyo Yuden (Sarawak) Sdn Bhd managing director Yoshio Akimoto were among those present at the ceremony.
[Source: “S’wak govt will continue with business friendly policies – Awang Tengah” published by BorneoPost Online]Photo Credits: Chimon Upon
