SUPP Secretary General, Datuk Sebastian Ting Chiew Yew New year message

suppadmin | December 30, 2023

Welcoming the New Year, Datuk Sebastian Ting, Secretary General of SUPP said time indeed fly by fast as in the blink of an eye we have come to the end of 2023.

He said 2024 is going to be a milestone year as Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg had presented and approved by the State Legislative Assembly on 29th November 2023, a Sarawak Budget of RM 12.363 billion for 2024, the biggest ever budget in Sarawak’s history.

Ting said the projected revenue for 2024 is RM 12.749 billion, therefore it is a surplus budget of RM 386 million and Premier said Sarawak recorded RM 13.1 billion in revenue for the whole of 2023, above what was estimated.

“This is indeed a wonderful news because if we follow the latest projection, it is very likely we will have more revenue in 2024 hence more surplus. The biggest budget is thanks to the success of Sarawak GPS government in revenue engineering and prudent financial management. This is a people centric budget emphasis on investing heavily in infrastructures and places the well-being of the rakyat at its centerpiece.

Sarawak’s main source of revenue comes from State Sales Tax (SST). For example, in 2023, we collected in total RM 4.231 billion from SST alone and of that, RM 3.424 billion is from the exported petroleum products. The rest are from crude palm oil and palm kernel oil, aluminium, lottery and others. We must always remember that when the Pakatan Harapan government came to power in 2018, Sarawak’s power to levy sales tax on petroleum products was strongly rejected by them. However, with strong unity and determination by GPS leaders, Sarawak government successfully defended the rights and interests of the people of Sarawak and we won our Sarawak rights through court proceedings. Sarawak’s power to collect sales tax on petroleum products will surely benefit Sarawakians for generations to come. We must always remember this lesson. Only local political parties can truly defend our rights and interests. If we maintain such a strong unity, no one can exploit our rights and interest, ” he said.

GPS government, he added, took steps to safeguard the economic prosperity for the future with the establishment of the Sarawak Sovereign Wealth Future Fund which is going to be operational in 2024. The State Legislative Assembly approved the initial appropriation of RM 8 billion to the Sarawak sovereign fund where it is expected to grow sustainably through prudent and professional investments.

“The Sarawak sovereign fund belongs to the Sarawak government and with a committee made up of experts and professionals in the fields of finance, investment, law and governance, I am sure it will be well managed in a professional and transparent manner to ensure continuation of economic prosperity for the future generation. Furthermore, as the Deputy Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts, I am pleased to note that RM 52 million is allocated to Sarawak Tourism Board (STB) and Business Events Sarawak next year for operations, marketing and promotion. In addition, the 2024 Budget provides RM 200 million for the implementation of various tourism programmes and development projects for new tourism attractions and upgrade the existing facilities,” he added.

On the tourism sector, Ting believed that 2024 will be better and more prosperous. For Sarawak, he pointed out, we had successfully achieved the target of 3 million visitors in 2023. Indeed, by first week of November 2023, we had over 3.17million tourist arrivals. So next year our Ministry is targeting to achieve 4 million visitors. We believe we can achieve the target as we have several major national and international events lining up next year and with the continue strong support from the industry players, we will definitely achieve the target.

He hoped to see more industry players to continue innovating and launching new exciting tourism products to attract tourists. The Sarawak government will provide all the support to the industry players and assist in promoting tourism products to the international market.

He took the opportunity to remind fellow Sarawakians to be cautious of COVID-19 while traveling especially in crowded places. University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS) Institute of Health and Community Medicine Director Prof. Dr. David Perera said they had detected Omicron strain HK.3 and JN.1 in Sarawak particularly Kuching and Samarahan and that the number of cases will increase due to the holiday season and the coming Chinese New Year celebration. For the time being, fellow Sarawakians should be encouraged to wear face mask especially at crowded places and follow the TRIIS steps, which means, Test, Report to MySejahtera app, Isolate, Inform close contact and Seek treatment.

In welcoming the New Year 2024, Ting called upon fellow Sarawakians to remain united, maintain a spirit of perseverance in the challenging environment and continue to defend Sarawak’s good values of peace, harmony and mutual respect. We should not and must not allow anyone to destroy the long-established foundation of harmony and peace in Sarawak. Let us remain a model of harmonious pluralism in the country or even to the world.

With unity and peace in Sarawak and political stability, he said, Sarawak GPS government can truly focus on realizing various development agendas and continue to demand the return of Sarawak rights and interests enshrined in the Malaysia Agreement 1963, the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report and the Cobbold Committee Report, especially the autonomy of health, education and special grant to Sarawak and Sabah under Article 112D of the Federal Constitution.

He wished his fellow Sarawakians Happy New Year with lots of happiness, prosperity and excellent health in 2024 and to work together as an united team comprising of all Sarawakians, led by our Premier of Sarawak, next year will definitely be another good year of exciting growth and amazing development.