Sabah targets threefold revenue from manufacturing sector

 By Olivia Miwil - May 20, 2021 @ 12:50pm

State Industrial Development minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam (centre) said currently the sector only contributes RM6.47 billion, which is mainly due to the lack of downstream processed products available for export. - Photo courtesy of Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is aiming to increase contributions from the manufacturing sector to about RM20 billion of the state's gross domestic product (GDP) by 2030.

State Industrial Development minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam said currently the sector only contributes RM6.47 billion, which is mainly due to the lack of downstream processed products available for export.

In 2019, Sabah recorded a 5.8 per cent unemployment rate, which is the highest in Malaysia and saw a brain drain of talents to other states in the country which have better industrialisation.

"The Ministry of Industrial Development is on a mission to rejuvenate the state's manufacturing sector.

"It also aims to generate more job opportunities for our youth, ranging from low-skilled to high-skilled jobs," he said during a keynote address for the "State's Industrialisation: A solution to migration and youth employment in Sabah" webinar.

The one-day hybrid event was organised by the Sabah Institute for Development Studies with the Kondrad-Adenauer-Stiftung foundation of Germany.

Dr Joachim, who is also state deputy chief minister, said despite the country's trade-intensive policy since independence, the manufacturing or industrial contributions to the state's GDP had remained low over the years.

He added Sabah is far behind and to catch up, it can no longer follow the normal phase of industrialisation.

"We need a smart shortcut. We also need to ask why such an intended industrialisation progress did not take place in Sabah," he said.

Dr Joachim added that there were several lessons from the industrial revolution that could bring changes which include strong support from a stable government in terms of funding, infrastructure, policy, regulation, skills, talents and technologies.

Dr Joachim added that the state also needs to look into smart manufacturing, which will eventually lead to the emergence of smart cities and services.

"At the same time, we also need to envision Sabah as a primary destination for high-tech industries.