Sabah should no longer be a “captive market”, where commercial activities are based on the extraction of raw material. The government needs to devise a plan to move up the production value chain. Here, industrial policy will be central to focusing Sabah on its manufacturing activities and diversification of production, which currently has scant attention paid to it in terms of state economic planning. It cannot just focus on extracting raw materials like crude oil; it has to focus on mid-tier or R&D activities, like Sarawak. More factories are needed to transform raw material to semi-finished and finished goods. It cannot simply export fish elsewhere and allow others to undertake the canning process. This can be done locally. Only through manufacturing and diversification can Sabah’s economic profile improve. Above all, if the state does not have sufficient autonomy to decide on its economic plans, then it will remain as it is.

Read More > Seeking economic transformation in Sabah

Source : The Malaysian Insight by Firdausi Suffian