MIRI: The success and achievements of Sarawakian youths today signify their immense potential to ensure that Sarawak would meet its aspirations of becoming a developed state by 2030.
Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg says Sarawakian youths have shown excellence in various fields including education, economy, sports, and performing arts – both nationally and internationally.
“These are quite complicated fields, but Sarawakian youths have been successful even in foreign countries. That is why I want to change our economy so that the Sarawak economy is similar to the developed economies including Singapore and they can serve in such an advanced economy,” he said when officiating at the state-level Youth Day 2019 celebration here yesterday.
“That is why I have the feeling Sarawak can become the most developed state in Malaysia in the year 2030 because of you. You have the potential. We will guide you.
“We’ll give you good education; we will give you scholarships; we will give you study loans to become successful in future. This is our hope for the youths.”
He pointed out that the Sarawak cabinet had been reshuffled to include a minister for youth and sports.
“This is for us to focus on the youth community so that they are exposed to good training and can play a part in our development of our state.
“Our young Sarawakians are tech-savvy, which is why I dare to transform our economy from conventional to digital, because our young people are so tech-savvy.”
Abang Johari said the future was bright for Sarawak youths as many had pursued tertiary education in fields such as information technology (IT).
“And now all our youth have mobile phones; they know what e-commerce is; they know what e-production is. They know how to manage drones and even the latest applications.
“I’ve been to Curtin University Miri and I’ve seen how our young people create their own drones that can fly so high. That means you can do it in terms of technology, and this is how we want to develop our state.
“That’s why I have given special allocations through (Minister of Youth and Sports) Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah in the field of technology arts, where we provide capital to our potential youth,” he said.
Abang Johari also launched the Sarawak Youth Index Book at the event.
The Sarawak Youth Icon Award went to Gary Ningkan and Dayang Nur’ Maisarrah Abang Abdul Razak, while the Sarawak Muslim Students Welfare Association and Saberkas Kampung Demak Baru Unit were the respective winner and runner-up of the Sarawak Youth Association Award.
Among those present were Minister of Transport Datuk Lee Kim Shin, Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Housing Datu Dr Penguang Manggil, and Assistant Minister of Youth and Sports Datuk Snowdan Lawan.