KUCHING, March 16 — Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg today said that he and members of his State Cabinet turn to books in order to come up with better policies for Sarawak.
“All of us are reading books. If we don’t, we will be left behind, our policies will be at the outdated.
“We have to read more books so that we can improve our policies and come up with good ones,” he said at the opening of Sarawak Career and Training Fair (SCaTFAIR) 2019 here.
He said the books are mostly on government administration, digital economy, economics and biographies of successful people.
The chief minister said that the State Assemblymen from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) are also reading lots of books to improve themselves.
Abang Johari said as the chief minister he has to be creative to come up with new ideas for his government.
“If I am creative, the people will also be creative. If I am terrible, the people will be the same,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience consisting mostly of secondary school students.
“You must have the vision. I am very fortunate because members of the State cabinet and State Assemblymen are creative and want to transform Sarawak with great intensity and want it as the most developed state in Malaysia by 2030,” he said.
Abang Johari said former Chief Ministers Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud and the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem had their own visions to develop the state.
“As the chief minister now, I will continue their visions, but by leapfrogging Sarawak to IR 4.0 era,” he said.
He said his vision to leapfrog to IR 4.0 was questioned by critics as being too fast and ambitious, but he does not care since it is the way to move Sarawak forward
“You must dream to achieve your dream, that is, a dream to move on, not stuck with the present era of 2.0,” he said.
The chief minister urged students to select technical courses that are relevant to the market demands, otherwise, he said they will find it difficult to get jobs.
He also asked them to master English and Mandarin, adding that these two international languages will be an added advantage for them when it comes to employment in the private sector.
