Gaining from Musa’s vision
Published on: Saturday, April 22, 2017
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Those who had the opportunity of hearing Datuk Musa delivering the inaugural lecture “My Vision for Sabah” which was organised by the Rotary Club of Kota Kinabalu on 26th March 2017 or read the full text in the Daily Express have gained a rare insight of his vision for Sabah’s future.
His early vision, on taking over the CM job, for Sabah was Halatuju comprising the main thrusts of agriculture, industry, tourism and human capacity building. Since then, he has built up Sabah’s economy in scope as well as depth. Our economy has matured considerably from basic commodities to services and manufacturing.
The stage is ready for the “take off”. Many Sabahans, including myself, may not have realised the pretty dramatic economic progress that has been made. It takes visitors to open our eyes.
The most striking example is from Palawan Governor Jose C. Alvarez who wanted to set up a Palawan Business Office in Sabah before end of year. His reason is that Palawan businessmen can benefit tremendously by this office in KK. Most significantly is what he did not say – about setting up an office in Manila! KK has become a hub!
A regional hub for Southern Philippines, Brunei, Sarawak and Kalimantan. He has chosen KK and not Kuching.
Many Brunei and Sarawakian friends have been coming to KK for weekends and holidays because they think Sabah is a “happening place”!
What does it mean Sabah is ready for the “take off stage”? This is my interpretation. The major industries in Sabah have expanded considerably, have gathered sufficient momentum and sophistication for the next big leap forward.
For example, take tourism.
KKIA has become the 2nd busiest airport in Malaysia, tourist arrivals have increased tremendously.
All the hotels, including 5 star ones, have been enjoying unprecedented occupancy, room rates have improved to exceed KL rates. Clearest sign for better things to come is the arrival of more international hotel brand names like Accor [the biggest hotel chain in the world] and Hilton. More is coming.
The tourism game changers, SICC [Sabah International Convention Centre] and TAED at Tanjong Aru will propel Sabah’s tourism to a much higher level. The necessary tourism infrastructure and human capital are in place for a major tourism boom in Sabah. The same can be said for oil and gas and a lot of down-stream investment have already come in. Next exciting development to watch for is the up-stream on-shore exploration for Musa has successfully fought for a 25pc share for Sabah. POIC in Lahad Datu will continue to increase its value-add industry.
Musa has put all the “big items” economic ingredients in place for the “take off stage”.
The next part of the journey can be speeded up considerably if ministers, senior officials and private sector players can play their respective roles to complement him so that Sabahans can have better quality of life and future.
Some government officials are already “on the ball” in this.
Coming to mind is Mayor Datuk Yeo Boon Hai who has already implemented a number of progammes to change KK for the better. He is very much hands-on, quick to respond. KK is cleaner, safer and very liveable.
There is already a bicycle track with bikes available for free!
The Mayor has taken a personal interest to organise and join in family activities on 1st Sunday of every month!
No wonder our brothers across the borders think KK is a “happening place”. He has transformed KK into a family, fun place and a foodie paradise. Pushing KK to be the most liveable city in the region, Yeo has formed the DBKK Economic Bureau and is organising a workshop to enhance the competitiveness of KK. Competitiveness is crucial for KK to become the aviation and marine hubs.
Another department is JKR. Since taking over, Datuk Armullah Kamal has been delivering promises according to his newly minted slogan “Getting Things Right and on Time”. Bearing in mind that time is money.
Wasted time in traffic jam is costly, he has implemented measures to reduce this daily woe in and around KK.
Road maintenance and repairs are being carried out faster. Very importantly, new roads that have been built are of better quality and flyovers are completing on time. Armullah has plans for KK’s infrastructure that will cater for our future needs as the economy and population grow.
I am impressed that the Director of Land and Survey, Datuk Safar Untong has taken a lot of interest in improving the efficiency of his Department. Land is probably the biggest asset for Sabah and potentially, the largest income/economic generator. Better services for the public will create tremendous value-adds for Sabah and can create much better lives for all Sabahans. In fact, better land administration can touch the hearts of all Sabahans.
There is a direct co-relationship between the manner how our land is managed and quality of life in advanced societies like Australia, Singapore, USA and northern European countries. Efficient, world class land/property management means good lives for all. I particularly like that Safar has taken a personal interest in stopping sand thefts in our rivers. Stealing river sand will definitely destroy our beaches and coastal tourism assets.
If allowed to continue, these sand thefts will kill Sabah’s goose that lays the golden egg.
Proactive senior government officials can play an important part in bringing the true meaning and benefits of the Musa Vision to all Sabahans. Lethargic officials with no appreciation of the Musa Vision will become a heavy drag for the fulfilment of his vision.
I can see young Sabahans, especially those who have returned from overseas, are bringing a new vitality to Sabah, especially in the service industry, restaurants, computer engineering, design and so many others.
Those of us who are in the 50s and above should not judge them for we are grossly out of date!
It is their world, not ours. Encourage them to pursue their dreams.
I like to focus on some important factors that will hamper the fulfilment of the Musa Vision.
The first and the most important one is WIFI. WIFI in Sabah is “stone age”. It is expensive, slow and accessibility is extremely limited. Down time frequencies cannot be accepted. Only in Sabah do we hear WIFI can be down.
In advanced countries, this does not happen. It must not happen also in Sabah.
WIFI down time is costly and cuts into productivity. WIFI is important for all industries and for the creation of new industries and businesses. WIFI is our communication tool and lifeline to the world. Due to lack of competition, service providers have no urgency to act when their services are down.
Worse is that there is hardly any maintenance. Our internet must be on par with KL and Singapore in quality of service, speed and price. There must be fast and real time 24/7. Breakdown or no service must not be allowed.
I hope the relevant authorities in Sabah can put their foot down on the WIFI service providers.
As we are going to speed up economic growth and look for better lives, our society as a whole needs to evolve in tandem with economic development. Things like food hygiene will become critically important.
At present, we do not know actually what we are eating. No government ministry or agency can tell us what we are eating. What is the level of pesticides in our vegetables, steroids, growth hormones and anti-biotics in meat and chloroform in fish. Meats are being sold in the open air, with flies attacking them and spreading “God knows what” diseases among the population in KK. There is no monitoring and if there is, the authorities have kept them like state secrets! They should keep the public informed regularly.
Another is time management. As it is now, starting from some ministers down to senior government officials and even private sectors there is no attention or urgency to the need to be on time. Being late has become the accepted norm. People in government offices, in places of business are made to wait for inordinately long time.
There just isn’t any system to shorten waiting time for the public. For example, our public transport is completely devoid of time schedule. Nobody can say which bus will arrive at any bus station. Sabah’s system is not geared to be time sensitive. Not being organised to keep good time is costly to society, to the economy.
Time spent waiting is negative productivity. It is about time ministers and others in leadership positions to start leading the way in the critical area of time management. Do we want to benefit from the Musa Vision?
If yes, the relevant authorities must look into time management.
The spiral cost of living can be cushioned by better productivity in things like food production and distribution as food is a big item in the cost of living index. There is a huge price differential between the super markets, normal markets AND wholesale markets. I have noticed that this differential can be as much as 30pc.
The relevant authorities can look into organizing more wholesale markets so that it is convenient for the public to buy their daily needs. On the same subject, the Ministry of Agriculture can come up with its own vision on how to encourage small holders to cultivate more food crops and produce more meat and fish on land that has been left unattended and uncultivated.
There are possibilities to spawn and create new businesses and opportunities within the Musa Vision.
As example, tourism has not matured yet. It is only the beginning. From tourism, there are prospects in food, clothes with unique Sabah design, high end souvenirs. Honey and avocados can be turned into beauty products.
Milk into butter and other dairy products.
The bottom line is that we will no longer be constrained by a small domestic market. With an expanded tourism, our market outreach will be to a much larger number of consumers with money to spend.
There are plenty of exciting prospects in the context of the Musa Vision. Sabahans must get organized and gear up for it. If we don’t, we should not complain later that others have gotten a good start ahead of us.
Time, progress and opportunities wait for no man.
Sabahans must aim to position ourselves “ahead of the curve”. Time for all Sabahans – ministers, senior government officials and private sector to get organized and seek solutions which can hinder our ambition for better lives. Negative people see problems with every solution. They remain as armchair critic.
The future belongs to people with a positive mindset who see opportunities as opportunities.
They even see problems as opportunities.
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