SARAWAK Premier Abang Johari Openg paid tribute to outgoing state secretary Jaul Samion at a farewell dinner last night. 

Jaul is retiring after serving in the state civil service for 42 years. 

Abang Johari said when ex-Sarawak chief minister Abdul Taib Mahmud entrusted him to lead a new ministry to promote industrialisation in Sarawak in 1987, Jaul was among the State Planning Unit staff who were roped in to assist him.

He said it was not easy because Jaul was new and their task was to promote Sarawak to investors, but Jaul had displayed his commitment and contributed to the success of luring foreign investments, which included Toko Electronics and Taiyo Yuden from Japan, as well as a United States company renowned for producing motherboards. 

“We managed to start the industrialisation progress, starting with Sejingkat, Samajaya, Kemena and Tanjung Manis (industrial areas), and also Kidurong (industrial zone in Bintulu) where we worked with Petronas on a LNG (liquefied natural gas) plant. We managed to convince Petronas and Shell to set up an SMDS (Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis) plant, the first plant of its kind in the world, in Bintulu,” he said.

Abang Johari said three years after he was appointed to lead the state, Sarawak was hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, and to recover from the situation, he would make many calls to Jaul even at midnight to obtain the latest reports on Covid-19 and formulate post-pandemic development strategies.

“I asked Jaul to harness the expertise of those in the civil service and the private sector for us to formulate a strategy to restore our economy,” he said. 

He said Jaul had done his best to help the government orientate the economy towards promoting the digital agenda in Sarawak, although it was a new direction for the state.

“You have served for 42 years and I would like to say thank you for what you have done (for Sarawak),” he added. – Bernama, July 16, 2022.