KUCHING, May 22 — The Sarawak state government announced today that it would utilise Big Data by the first quarter of next year.
Sarawak Chief Minister Datuk Amar Abang Johari said Big Data will represent "a small but first step in its journey of a thousand miles" in the development of the state’s digital economy.
"Therefore, the Big Data will become a new strategic asset for Sarawak in the years to come," he said.
He added that the state government's database now is still small, but should be provided with sufficient capacity to grow with the digital economy.
The computer-savvy chief minister said in the digital world, “opening up” means that data of the government, industries and private individuals is synchronised to provide new information useful for the public.
He said the data will be analysed so that trends are identified and future needs are satisfied in the market place.
"This sharing of data of the whole society is what is called Big Data," he said in his winding up speech in the state legislative assembly.
He said Big Data will form the basic core of the digital economy that Sarawak must leapfrog into, so that the complete demand and supply situation is analysed and brought into control.
"With Big Data, the demand preferences of the consumers are be analysed, appropriate products or services designed, made and supplied to, and the necessary payments made.
"Big Data therefore opens up a whole new world of opportunities for businesses as well as for the government in providing useful services to the general public," he explained.
The chief minister said most of the databases of government departments and agencies in Sarawak are already digitised, but in separate dedicated servers.
He said he now wants the government servers to be linked so that non-personal and non-sensitive data can be shared and made accessible to the general public.
