Referring to the above question, the Sarawak BN government was touting that only a close federal-state relationship will be able to bring prosperity and development for Sarawak. However, since federal BN lost two-thirds of the parliament in 2008, Sarawak nationalism slowly creep back into state politics, influencing both the state Barisan Nasional (now GPS) and Pakatan coalition and also the formation of more right wing political parties that call for the secession of Sarawak from Malaysia. All of them seem to agree that Sarawak is poor because the federal government had siphon out petro dollars into Peninsular Malaysia. For me, this only explains half of the problem. The most important factor that makes a country rich or bankrupt is a strong and a transparent institution. This statement can be summarized into two words “good governance”. In my opinion, for countries without natural resources but with good governance, the country can be become very rich; however, in resource-abundant countries, an inefficient government can result in a poor country.
The resource curse
I have read one research article titled, “Why do some resource-abundant countries succeed while others do not?” published by Oxford Review of Economic Policy in 2009. It is such an irony that African countries such as Algeria, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, and Zambia and some Latin American countries such as Venezuala and Ecuador are poor despite their rich natural resources. For example, after the independence of Venezuala, the country experienced a short period of economic boom due to its large oil reserves (one of the largest in the world) but a rapid decline after that because the government put the money in social welfare programmes without diversifying its economy. Rapid fluctuation of oil prices subsequently crippled the Venezualan economy. In Sierra Leone, a country rich in diamonds had a prolonged civil war. Both sides of the political divide used diamonds to finance their military campaigns. The people at Sierra Leone instead of benefitting from vast diamonds resources; were made even poorer. This is where the word “Blood Diamond” comes from. Therefore, such a paradoxical situation is called the “resource curse”.
The Sarawak situation
Sarawak previously was almost unknown to the world. Although Brooke government had almost eradicated headhunting, slavery, and piracy amongst the natives, westerners still regarded Sarawak and Borneo as a wild place rife with blood thirsty savages during World War II. Throughout history, Sarawak has always been the “stepchild” of the world’s major powers when compared to Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore. For example, when the Japanese troops was close in occupying the whole South East Asia, British decided to station more troops in the Peninsula and Singapore rather than in Sarawak.
So, history repeats itself in the today Malaysian state of Sarawak. Although in terms of infrastructure, Sarawak is much better than its previous self, but its development is still lagging behind when compared to the Peninsula. The government of the day always has the same reason of not aggressively developing Sarawak: sparse population with difficult terrain. Therefore, lesson of the story: Sarawakians have to take upon themselves to develop their own homeland. Sadly, Sarawak BN (now GPS) took years to realize this reality. Only until federal BN was severely weakened in 2013, Sarawak BN started to talk about 20% oil royalty and state autonomy. After federal BN fell from power in 2018, only then they decided to leave the federal BN coalition and started to develop Sarawak without expecting any handouts from the federal government. Negotiations with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib on the return of full oil rights to Sarawak ended in a mirage when Petronas sued Sarawak after the 2018 general election. Therefore, the state government has to step up its approach in taking back the Sarawak oil rights. In regards to state based oil and gas company, Petros, it would be good if the company make its earnings public and accountable to the people.
Only in 1986, Sarawak started to get publicity around the world. Sarawak had been criticized of its handling of timber resource and native land rights. The Sarawak government did make some changes in response to foreign criticisms by creating Sarawak Forestry Corporation from Sarawak Forest Department. In 2016, chief minister Adenan Satem declared 2 million acres of forests as protected lands. Fast forward to today, did the timber industry gave equitable development to both the rural and urban populations? Does Sarawak have a formidable timber manufacturing industry? I leave that for readers to decide. Anyways, a strong institution is required to ensure that both rural and urban population can get the fair share of the resource benefit. There should also be a strong regulation on native land rights.
Will all the Sarawak woes be solved after getting back its oil and gas rights? No, it is just the baby steps. There is still a long way to create a transparent institution to prevent Sarawak from falling into the resource curse. The proceeds from the sale of natural resources in Sarawak has to be carefully invested in education and industries that can generate higher and long lasting economic value for Sarawakians such as training of more high skilled workface, development of the manufacturing industry, encouraging enteprenaurships and innovation, and involvement in digital economy. The Sarawak government is trying to industrialise the state but with little success. Why? This is because there is not enough human capital who is interested in the government initiatives. Therefore, the state has to attract human capital to come and work in Sarawak, including those from Peninsular Malaysia. A good quality human capital is essential so that natural resources in Sarawak will not be squandered away. I remain neutral on whether Sarawak should secede from federation, because Sarawak can get back oil rights and attain prosperity in either way. It is up to the ordinary Sarawak people fight for Sarawak rights. This comes to my last question:
How ordinary Sarawakians can do their part?
Meanwhile, for average Sarawakians, lifelong learning, thinking, asking questions, and problem solving are the most important skills in sparking technological innovation. There are so many unsolved engineering problems in the state such as: how to clean up the muddy rivers in Sarawak?, how to prevent a road from sinking into the ground? Can a tunnel be drilled into a mountain to connect two opposite settlements? can a bridge be built between two mountains? Sarawak needs to produce more renowned engineers, mathematicians, physicists, and programmers in order to make Sarawak an advanced state in Malaysia. It is the economy that guides the development, not the voting pattern of a constituency.
Urban people of Sarawak should take time to learn about the problems faced by the rural population and if possible help to improve the standards of living of the remote areas. This is because outsiders still view Sarawak as predominantly rural state as rural areas cover 70% of the Sarawak land area. Like it or not, rural seats are still the deciding factor on who will take helm of the state government. The Sarawak people should have the mindset, “Ask not what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country”. We the Sarawakians should do our part to excel and to promote Sarawak first. Only then, the outsiders will put Sarawak in a different light. The minds of the people have to be changed first, only then the politicians will offer what the people wanted in order to get votes. Until then, continuous education is the only tool to achieve the change.
Conclusion
The Sarawak people are living in racial and religious harmony. This should be an advantage in formulating impartial policies benefitting the people with sustainable management of resources.