SCORE menjadi tumpuan

IN DISCUSSION: Taib (right) discusses something with Adenan during a photo call with recipients of the Chief Minister’s Special Award. – Bernama photo

SCORE our main devt thrust — Taib

Borneo Post on December 6, 2012, Thursday

KUCHING: The emerging Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy (SCORE) will heavily dictate how the state shapes its educational development and economic planning for the future.

This is because the state seeks to make SCORE the main development thrust to provide strong and stable economic growth, said Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud, considering that SCORE will be able to relate to the development of the global export market, producing many intermediate manufactured products through its heavy industries related to steel and renewable energy.

At the same time, he said, the state would prepare sufficient manpower to meet the needs of the industries, projected to generate more than 1 million jobs by 2030, through extensive educational development plans.

“In the past, the state had to look into agriculture and agro-based industries to complement the slow growing industrialisation development here due to the limited domestic market. Sabah and Sarawak, despite strong economic collaboration, could not provide a strong impetus due to insufficient infrastructure in place to serve its wide area when compared to the peninsula.

“In this sense, the state had to skip the phase of industrialisation in regards to imports substitution industries as the state could not take full opportunities on such development.

“SCORE is the new development method the state will rely on, taking full advantage of its sustainable hydro energy to counter the increasing prices of bio-fuel,” said Taib when officiating at the 2012 Chief Minister’s Special Awards presentation ceremony at Hilton Hotel here on Tuesday.

Also present at the event co-organised by the Sarawak Foundation and Education Department were Special Functions Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem who is also the foundation’s chairman, State Secretary Tan Sri Datuk Amar Morshidi Ghani, State Federal Secretary Datuk Mohd Yahaya Basimin and state Education director Abdillah Adam, among others.

Highlighting that about 32 per cent of job opportunities in SCORE will require skilled and semi-skilled workers, Taib asked Sarawak Foundation to assist in looking for the best approach to promote education based on technical skills among students in the state.

“After designing the right kind of education to suit our economic development, we should concentrate our efforts in this initiative. Technical education has emerged important to our development, considering our changing way of life which requires us to be involved heavily in the manufacturing sector.

“The export industry here is also growing significantly, where a favourable balance of payment of the country each year has been contributed by the state.

“The export aggressiveness among Sarawakians has grown to substitute the inability to be heavily involved in the import substitution industries. Considering all these, there is a good reason for the state to plan its education system based on certain line of skill development that can assure good employment opportunities,” he explained.

Despite certain quarters suggesting that the state focus on developing tourism and other industries rather than building hydroelectric dams, Taib stated that income generated from these industries would not even reach half of the employment opportunities and other rewards that SCORE could give to Sarawakians.