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KUCHING – The people in the State must be prepared to extend their horizon of opportunities and be willing to take calculated risks in their pursuit of greater progress in a globalising economy.
“ We have entered the gate of the new reality, and the future ahead of us is getting more complex because the world is becoming a new economic order”, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Haji Abdul Taib Mahmud when delivering his winding-up speech at the State Legislative Assembly here yesterday.
Stressing that expansion had no limitations, Taib said the world was increasingly inundated with a crisscross of interests driven by the economies of scale and desire to do better.
“ But we have to face all these, and the vagaries of the world market are a reality that we have to learn to live with”, he said, adding that the leaders must be committed in their effort to prepare the people with enough knowledge, strength and courage to cope with a bigger transformation.
The recent experience of the Communist bloc proved that it was better to part of the world free trade, he said. However, to be a member of the WTO, the State would be forced to open its door to the outside world, he added.
Said Taib: “ In all these, we need to find our strength, develop our own expertise, find external alliance and work on ways to cement that alliance.”
He spoke on the importance of knowing how to expand the success that been achieved to exploit opportunities in the world market, adding that this had to be done in the light of the rising expectations of the younger generation.
Interactive relationship between the leaders and people, he said, was germane to this new reckoning, as the future trend of development would entail participation of the people with greater creativity, skills and commitment.
“ There is a confidence today that the people can do things in a better way and this transformation is evident among those involved in the NCR land development schemes”, said Taib.
He referred to the success of the NCR land development schemes, now covering 400,000 hectares, as a fruitful application of what may well be described as the socioeconomic transformation model which had effected a positive change of mindset of the people.
The implementation of the NCR land policy, he added, provided the Government with the opportunity to explain to the people that in order to progress, they would have to learn to do things in a new way, taking into account the new forces at play and being able to use them to their advantage.
As a result of their exposure to market forces and transactions crossing racial boundaries, the longhouse folk had assumed a changed mentality and outlook of life.
These NCR landowners had now found themselves as participants in a big corporate deal in one sweep of change, said Taib.
He stressed that such a model of change should be extended to a wider perspective to involve other spheres of activity and generate greater transformation in the society.
In coping with the challenge of the Third National Outline Perspective Plan, he said: “ We in Sarawak must not look at agriculture as just a process of developing land, approving land applications and getting subsidies. We need to look at commercial agriculture in its entirety.”
To realise this, it was important to develop the right attitude and understanding of the farming community in the State so that they would be able to employ modern technology and absorb new research findings to expand their business.
Similarly, players in the other sectors of the economy must adapt to change and be prepared to take some amount of risk in their effort to break new frontiers.
“ We want to make part of our politics and development the willingness and preparedness of people to take risk”, said Taib who urged the State Assemblymen to complement the Government’s effort by disseminating their knowledge and understanding of development policies and programmes to the people at the grassroots level.
He stressed for the Government to be effective, it must have the willingness and courage to take risk to deliver what it believed and not choose to play to the gallery.
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