THE grouses raised by residents to Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tunku Azizah Aminah Maimunah Iskandariah during the Kembara Kenali Borneo tour will be studied and resolved accordingly. 

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who gave the assurance, said Sultan Abdullah was touched by the reception he received during 11-day tour. 

“On Thursday, in my audience with the Agong, His Majesty was deeply touched by the love shown by the people to the royal couple when discussing the tour,” he said when speaking at the national level Malaysia Day celebration in Kuching last night.

The delegation of Sultan Abdullah and Tunku Azizah began the tour in Tawau, Sabah on September 3  before concluding the 11-day visit at Telok Melano in south Sarawak on September 13.

“The entire nation, not just Sabah and Sarawak, was amazed by the rousing reception shown to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong (in the tour),” he said. 

In this regard, Anwar said Sarawak has succeeded in progressing far from its image when Malaysia was formed 60 years ago to become the state at the forefront of the country and has the potential to develop further.

“Today, Sarawak is not the Sarawak in 1963. Today Sarawak has the potential to become a regional hub for the development of green industry, hydrogen as well as several downstream fields in Asean,” he said. 

He said the seriousness shown by Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Openg to develop the state via several new initiatives led him to call Abang Johari to give his views at a cabinet meeting held yesterday evening at Wisma Bapa Malaysia.      

“Just imagine in the past, we used to come to counsel Sarawak leaders but at the cabinet meeting today, I asked Abang Johari for his views and to advise our federal ministers,” he said.

“I mentioned it without intending to praise my friend Premier Abang Johari but the fact is that no state leader has ever been asked to give views on the development of new fields successfully explored based on their implementation in Sarawak,” he said. 

Anwar also expressed his appreciation to the governments of Gabungan Parti Sarawak and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah in their strong support to the uphold His Majesty’s decree to create a unity government.

He said through the strong cooperation among components of the unity government, there is a now a stable political climate, with the people united to rehabilitate the country’s economy. 

“We have the capability to do it. We achieved new heights but later we tumbled and fell. Now with the unity spirit, and stable political condition, the government is benefitting from this to defend Malaysians.” 

He said the cooperation also enabled the unity government to focus on its development strategies for Sabah and Sarawak, especially in preparing the two territories for Indonesia’s plan to relocate its federal capital to Nusantara in Kalimantan. – Bernama, September 17, 2023.