Elevating Sabah - Malaysian Institute of Accountants

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Creating Opportunities
Elevating Sabah
Accountants have a role to play in Sabah as the state moves ahead
with its development plans, especially now that the idea of the
Sabah Development Corridor (SDC) is beginning to take root.
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ACCOUNTANTS TODAY • August 2008
Creating Opportunities: Elevating Sabah
T
he accounting fraternity has an
important role to play in educating the public on the need to promote the adoption of best practices in corporate governance, says Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman.
This was his answer when Accountants
Today asked what role the Chief Minister
saw for accountants in Sabah’s overall development plan.
“This will no doubt in the long run
contribute towards enhancing the competitiveness of Sabah, thereby adding
to its attractiveness as a preferred location for business and investment,” he
added.
In the larger scheme of things, much
hope is pinned on the development
blueprint, especially in hastening the
pace of development in the state. Sabah
does lag behind many other states in
Malaysia when it comes to developing
infrastructure.
Perhaps it was due to this that Musa
made it a point to state that “none will
be left behind” as SDC unfolds in the
state popularly known as the Land Below the Wind.
Sabah occupies the top portion of
Borneo, the third largest island in the
world. It covers an area of 74,500 sq
km and has a coastline of about 1,440
km washed by the South China Sea and
the Celebes Sea.
That is quite a bit of area to cover.
However, the state government is determined to reach out to as many of its
citizens as it possibly can as SDC kicks
in.
“The ultimate aspiration of the SDC is
to enhance the overall quality of life and
well-being of the people and to see that
every Malaysian in Sabah will benefit from
the development initiatives,” said Musa.
How will it pan out? Under the SDC
blueprint, it is envisioned that the benefit
of development will spread out to the entire geographical area of Sabah. The SDC
is fundamentally using the same area-specific planning approach as the other corridors to develop dynamic economic clusters by optimising the locational advantage and factor endowments of specific
areas. “These planned areas which will be
developed into economic or industry clus-
August 2008 • ACCOUNTANTS TODAY
ters will act as growth poles or centres,”
the Chief Minister said.
Hence, in the case of the SDC, these
growth centres will be spread throughout
the state. The spreadout ef fect will be
optimised by enhancing the linkages —
backward and forward — between these
economic clusters and the related hinterland. Enhanced linkages between these
“The accounting fraternity has an
important role to play in educating
the public on the need to promote
the adoption of best practices in
corporate governance.”
Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Sabah Chief Minister
economic clusters will catalyse the emergence of economic sub-corridors and
thereby help integrate the entire economic space of the state.
“This then will ensure that the benefit
of development will spread throughout
the state and thereby benefit ever y one
in Sabah. This approach will also ensure
that the economic potential of every district or area will be optimised,” he said.
Corridor Highlights
But all this will not happen overnight.
On the whole, the corridor blueprint for
Sabah will be implemented over an 18year period.
In that period, it aims to stimulate,
promote and accelerate the development of the Sabah Development Corridor into a vibrant, economically successful and liveable region for the benefit and well-being of the people of
Sabah in par ticular and Malaysia in
general by ensuring sustainable economic growth, balanced socio-economic development and effective environmental conser vation.
At the SDC launch in January 2008,
the state announced that some RM16
billion wor th of projects had been
signed. Any plans for the State Government to attract more investments?
Certainly. To further attract investors to SDC, apart from the incentives
already provided by the Federal Government such as the pioneer tax status, the state is looking at a number of
options.
In broad terms, some of these incentives will cover broad areas such as tax
and fiscal incentives, access to land and
human capital, approval of permits and
licences, approval of development and
building plans and provision of infrastructure, utility and ser vices.
This brings us to the question of investment opportunities in SDC for both
foreign and local interests.
“Foreign and local investors are all welcome to invest in the SDC,” Musa made it
plain and clear.
There are tremendous investment opportunities in the tourism, logistics, agri-
“The ultimate aspiration of the SDC is to enhance the
overall quality of life and well-being of the people and to see
that every Malaysian in Sabah will benefit from the
development initiatives.”
Datuk Seri Musa Aman, Sabah Chief Minister
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Creating Opportunities: Elevating Sabah
“… while the SDC aims at accelerating the development
of the state, it will not do so at the expense of the
environment. The SDC will ensure sustainable economic
growth via environmental conservation.”
culture and manufacturing sectors, especially in industrial crops and food production, downstream processing resourcebased industries, real estate and signature
resorts development.
In April, Malaysian High Commissioner
to Brunei Datuk Ku Jaafar Ku Shaari said
Brunei was looking for opportunities to
diversify its economy as its oil reser ves
were depleting. He said, for example, it
has agents in Thailand to handle its rice
requirement and in Australia for beef. He
added that Brunei also planned to establish its Muara port as a transportation hub
for the energy sector and it hoped to attract oil from Sabah and Sarawak.
One-stop Centre
In making the SDC work, the state government realises the importance of a welloiled machinery to assist both entrepreneurs and investors. Here, the role of the
public services delivery system cannot be
underestimated.
On that score, what is being done?
Musa said the Sabah State Government
has set up a one-stop centre to expedite
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the approval process and it is chaired by
the State Secretar y. The establishment of
the Sabah Economic Development and Investment Authority (SEDIA) will also help
to expedite the approval and implementation processes, especially for those applications involving both State and Federal
authorities.
“These two major initiatives, I believe,
will help enhance the public deliver y system in Sabah,” he said.
Another key feature would be the development of the Sabah Eco-Certificate
Programme (SECP) given that Sabah
aims to be a premier eco-adventure destination. Furthermore, the global demand
for sustainable tourism is rising.
On this point, Musa acknowledged
that SECP is indeed one of the key initiatives under the SDC to turn Sabah
into a premier eco-adventure tourism
destination. “This hopefully will be put
in place once the SEDIA is established,”
he said.
Another area of concern to many would
be the potential damage that may come
with development. Some quarters are al-
ready raising the alarm bell by asking if
SDC would lead to further damaging the
environment. Here, Musa tries to reassure all parties involved. “I have already
highlighted earlier that while the SDC
aims at accelerating the development of
the state, it will not do so at the expense
of the environment. The SDC will ensure
sustainable economic growth via environmental conser vation,” he said.
The end in mind here, he reiterated, is
the good of the people.
“In the first place, I wish to clarify that
the SDC initiative is a joint initiative of the
State and Federal governments and it is
entrusted primarily with the task of reducing regional imbalance through an integrated area or regional development approach,” he said.
Hence, the Sabah State Government
will continue with its mandate to improve
the state’s economy as well as the wellbeing of its people through activities such
as the provision of basic infrastructure
and efficient deliver y services, especially
urban and rural ser vices and water supply. AT
ACCOUNTANTS TODAY • August 2008