State premier announces Sarawak as Malaysia’s first legacy capital

Sarawak will establish and position itself as Malaysia and Borneo’s first legacy capital for business events in the wake of Indonesia’s new capital city development on Borneo, the Premier of the state said at the 10th Anak Sarawak Awards organised by Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak). The industry’s role now, the prime minister said, was to drive sustainable, purpose-driven business events and strategically prioritise topics that fall within the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030. He said the old narrative of measuring business event success purely by its return on investment and economic values is no longer relevant. Instead, the new narrative of Sarawak’s business events would be to measure according to its return on objectives and influence on sector and community development, environmental and social sustainability, and promoting good governance in addition to its economic viability. The business events industry, is one of the six priority economic sectors listed in the PCDS, and is poised to play a pivotal role in achieving the strategy’s mission. “This is Sarawak adopting transformative thinking — first-tier thinking,” said  premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Dr Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg. “Legacy impact is Sarawak’s value proposition beyond business events, but the proposition for all sectors and industries. We can no longer confine our thinking to just Sarawak. We must adopt a broader perspective that incorporates the opportunities present in Borneo. Indonesia’s new capital Nusantara is already developing and once it emerges, our business events industry should be ready to seize opportunities.” “To support these measures, the Sarawak government is already planning to develop new infrastructure,” the Premier added. “Borneo Convention Centre Kuching will be expanded; Miri will have its own convention centre, and Sarawak is establishing its own airline to improve our connectivity around the region. We will also expand the manpower at Business Events Sarawak, who will drive these changes. The agency will take on a critical role and funding will be increased to support sustainable, purpose-driven business events.” The Premier also announced that the current Anak Sarawak Awards will be retired in favour of a bigger and bolder programme to complement Sarawak’s vision of becoming a legacy capital. The new programme is titled ‘Borneo Inspires Legacy Awards’ and will encompass fresh categories and welcome nominations from all over the world. Meanwhile, speaking at the same event, Sarawak’s minister of tourism revealed that, in 2022, Sarawak exceeded its initial target by 111% to secure 100 business events worth RM326.3min total economic impact. The Honourable Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said the state had won every international bid last year – an increase of 7% on 2021. Sarawak is launching its Legacy Impact Master Action Plan in Germany on 23 May at IMEX Frankfurt and Amelia Roziman, BESarawak’s CEO, said: “One component of the action plan is to recognise the innovation and social impact of the business events industry, hence the new award programme as announced by Premier.”