Sarawak, in the words of Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg, aspires to be a national leader in economic development.
In terms of headline numbers for foreign direct investments, the state can certainly lay some claim in that direction.
According to Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, Sarawak chalked up over RM7 billion in such investments last year, excluding RM2 billion committed to expand two existing facilities at the Sama Jaya free industrial zone in Kuching.
The state has much to leverage: a ready supply of relatively cheap hydro-power, an abundance of natural resources and, with the more or less scheduled completion of the Pan-Borneo Highway (PBH) and the state's commitment towards state-wide digital connectivity, the requisite infrastructure to match.
Moreover, as the two major expansions in the electronic components sector attest, it can perhaps also leverage on multinationals' latest quest to diversify their supply chains out of a single country.
Be that as it may, the state administration is well advised to focus on serious headwinds buffeting businesses.
Such headwinds today are a global phenomenon brought on by severe disruptions and dislocations as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and now, the Ukraine war, which has sent oil and food prices soaring.
Almost every group is grumbling, from consumers to virtually all business sectors. Lately, local businesses have taken to airing their grouses publicly.
Oil palm plantation players may be perpetually harping about labour constraints; although the pandemic and border closures have made this problem more acute.
But, this sector is hardly unique in facing such a constraint. It is a constant refrain running through the entire economic spectrum.
Local quarry operators are also complaining about sky-rocketing prices of various operational inputs.
Moreover, at a time of heightened demand for stone aggregates (and all other building materials) caused by the construction of the PBH and the state's network of coastal highways, production may be impacted as well by what the industry said are delays in the renewing of expired quarry licences for up to a year.
Building developers, meanwhile, say rising prices (some, like aluminium, astronomically), serious labour shortages and slow government approvals are forcing contractors to bid at high prices.
They may be forced to sell housing units and other buildings at higher prices if costs rise exponentially.
The state's shipbuilders are also joining in with their own woes and urging the government to strictly enforce the cabotage policy (keeping in-country shipping to local players only) to protect the industry, as other countries are doing.
A trial lifting of cabotage earlier has evidently not had the desired effect of bringing down transportation costs in-country.
Even privately run universities are starved of foreign students as no visas have been issued for them since the pandemic, and students with expired visas are required to go out of the state to re-apply!
To be sure, serious global inflationary pressures may be hard for small countries and states to mitigate against but surely the Sarawak government can treat the almost universal business outcry of official delays in business and other approvals with urgency.
In common business parlance, time means money incurred or lost. Industry players will have little choice but to factor in the expected length of delays in approvals of various permits and licences into their costs and pricing structures.
Moreover, given the state's autonomy over immigration, why is the state leadership not taking on the nettlesome issue of labour shortages and delays and difficulties in sourcing foreign labour supply with greater creativity?
Unless and until the state government and its bureaucracy show a willingness and attendant determination to get to the nub of the problems confronting businesses within their control, the publicised aspiration to be an economic leader may be compromised or even threatened in the long run.
The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times
