Sarawak’s ‘high-income’ status not felt on the ground: business leader

MIRI – A Sarawak business leader has called for caution over a World Bank economist’s declaration that Sarawak has achieved high-income status, saying such metrics do not reflect the reality on the ground.

Datuk Richard Wee said while the news may be welcomed by the state government, Sarawak still has a long way to go in eradicating poverty and ensuring an equal distribution of wealth. 

Wee, who is president of the Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations, said the state’s gross national income (GNI) per capita of more than US$13,205 (RM61,660) as cited by the World Bank “is only an overall statistical figure”.

“It only reflects the GNI of Sarawak as a whole state and not the actual income and financial situation on the ground among the general population.

“It did not take into consideration the income distribution situation in Sarawak. It does not mean Sarawak has no more poor and needy people.”

He urged the state government to continue efforts to improve local incomes.

“Eradication of poverty in Sarawak and equal distribution of wealth are still areas of concern,” he said.

Wee was reacting to the announcement by the World Bank’s economist for Malaysia, Apurva Sanghi, who tweeted on Thursday that the latest high-income data released by the institution on July 1, 2023, categorised Sarawak as a high-income state.

This is under the World Bank’s country classifications by income level for 2022-2023.

Apurva also shared a chart on Twitter that showed that Sarawak had joined Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and Labuan as high-income states.

Malaysia has been classified as an upper-middle-income country since the 1980s, when the country underwent rapid industrialisation.

Sarawak’s premier had welcomed Apurva’s announcement, saying it showed the state’s strong progress in building its economy after the Covid-19 pandemic, as reported by Bernama yesterday.

Speaking yesterday, Tan Sri Abang Johari Openg credited Sarawak’s Post-Covid-19 Development Strategy and said the state government would continue with the strategy.

To increase incomes, he said Sarawak will need talent development, basic infrastructure and technology. With these, living conditions in the state could improve by 2030, the premier said. – The Vibes, July 8, 2023