Sunday September 16, 2012

CM: Gain competitive edge with science and technology

By VANES DEVINDRAN
vanes@thestar.com.my

KUCHING: Sarawakians must aim to be competitive world citizens by learning from the past as well as embracing science and technology, among others, said Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.

He said that this was necessary in order to have balanced development.

“We must realise that we cannot keep on harping on one or two commodities to get by on. From manufactured goods, we must gradually provide service in a specialised nature and the people must be ready for this,” he said when launching the Sarawak Regatta and the Science and Innovation Carnival Sarawak zone at the Kuching Waterfront yesterday.

Let the race begin: Taib opening the Sarawak Regatta at Kuching Waterfront.

He said Sarawakians must be prepared in tandem with the world and this was with progress spearheaded by science and technology.

The regatta, he said, was an example of the progress path he was talking about. When the event first started in the 19th century, he said it was done to introduce friendly competition to tame inter-tribal rivalry.

Since then, he said the regatta grew in scale and prominence, the people started becoming more innovative to improve the event.

“It shows here how innovation plays a role in whatever we do in our development,” he said.

Taib said Sarawak strongly subscribed to a development which was people-inclusive as a competitive society was the way forward.

“We want to have a competitive society that’s governed by science and technology.

“Use this regatta as a platform to interact while the science and innovation carnival inspires the youth. This is an event which features the coming together of tradition and the future”, he added.

Earlier, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Johnity Ongkili said the combination of the carnival with one of the state’s grand events would make for a stronger impact to instill the interest of science among the people, particularly the young generation.

With this year being the Science and Innovation Year, he said the event here was the ministry’s fifth. The next stop will be in Negri Sembilan and it will culminate with the World Innovation Forum Kuala Lumpur from Nov 5 to 7.

He said other events pertaining to science and innovation include Bio-Malaysia 2012, the National Innovation and Exhibition Conference and Nano Malaysia Summit and Expo.

Apart from the excitement of the regatta, the carnival also had 72 science-and innovation-based activities. Some of the activities included water rocket launching, geocaching using GPS, F1 Technology challenge, digital sketching, roboclinic, 5D simulation and more.

News

Sunday September 16, 2012

CM: Gain competitive edge with science and technology

By VANES DEVINDRAN vanes@thestar.com.my

By VANES DEVINDRAN
vanes@thestar.com.my