Sabah’s economic direction on right track, says PGR info chief

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s economic direction is heading in the way it is designed to, says Datuk Nizam Abu Bakar Titingan.

The Parti Gagasan Rakyat information chief said this in dismissing Parti Warisan’s claims that the current Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS)-led state government was not focusing on the right economic industries for Sabah.

Nizam added that each state has its own economic strengths to bank on.

“Warisan leaders disputed Sabah’s export value for 2022 because 73.4% of it came from crude oil, palm oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG),” he said in a statement on Monday (Aug 7).

Nizam said Warisan leaders claimed this export value differed from Sarawak where its manufacturing trade recorded more than half of the value.

Warisan had said that Sabah should have also focused more on building the local manufacturing and downstream industries.

“The fact is, there is an attempt to confuse Sabahans by hiding the fact that Sarawak’s manufacturing industry revenues are from the state’s manufacturing factories that have existed for decades,” he said.

Nizam said GRS in Sabah had managed to boost economic returns, activities and investments since taking the helm of the state government more than two years ago.

The GRS government has pulled in a copper foil manufacturing factory by a South Korean-based investor and a silica processing factory among other economic boosting activities, he said.

“When these industries operate fully, our people will get job opportunities and businesses will flourish, and the state would be able to generate more revenue for the development of the state and its people,” he said.

“Yes, Sabah’s export value in 2022 was at RM77.2bil, of which about 70% camed from crude oil, palm oil and LNG gas but this ratio would change in future when the export value from the manufacturing industry fully achieves its potential,” Nizam said.

He said there are reasons why Sabah chose to push more on the manufacturing side because it has comparative advantages where it does not have to compete with the same manufacturers and thus bring about cost effective practices.

“Warisan leaders must accept the reality that all states have their own strategies and focus when managing their economic activities.

“Sabah uses tourism, agriculture and plantations as its sunrise industries, or the industries of the future,” Nizam said.

He said when one looks at the export value from these industries, of course, they would not see tourism with export values but the revenue that comes from tourism would benefit the state.

“Sabah is on the right track to mould and build its economic growth, and it has a clear vision on how it plans to reach greater economic heights,” Nizam added.

Recently, Sri Tanjong assemblyman Justin Wong and Warisan deputy president Datuk Darell Leiking had expressed their dismay at the state’s continued dependence on raw commodities with crude petroleum, natural gas and crude palm oil as the state’s main exports.

They said these industries would not benefit Sabahans in terms of job creation and socioeconomic upgrades and suggested that GRS focus on building the local manufacturing and downstream industries.

Wong said the Department of Statistic Malaysia (DOSM) reported in its Sabah External Trade Statistics for 2022 that the state’s total export revenue for 2022 was worth RM77.2bil with a trade surplus at RM36.2bil.

Wong said of this amount, 39.3% was contributed by the export of crude petroleum (RM30.3bil), 27.4% crude palm oil (RM21.1bil) and 6.7% natural gas (RM5.2bil).

He said that although the state government will collect the requisite taxes from these sectors, the problem with the production and exportation of raw commodities was that it did not benefit Sabahans in terms of job creation and socioeconomic upgrades.

This was also the very reason Malaysia transitioned itself from exporting raw commodities to industrialisation in the early 1980s, Wong said.

Leiking stated that Sabah’s continued dependence on raw commodity exports showed that it does not have any specific policy, direction or framework to improve the economy of Sabah.