Hi Steemiters, let's give a break to the road trip sharing in this post and I will share something that is more "serious" for us to ponder and look for. For a better future perhaps?
Recently, Chief Minister of Sabah Datuk Musa Aman mentioned about his vision of transforming Sabah or specifically Kota Kinabalu into Dubai or Singapore, by developing more hotels, convention centres, commercial areas. Therefore, it will attract more and more people's attraction towards the jewel of Borneo. Some may agree and some may disagree. Before we put a conclusion to the statement made by CM, we need to understand where Sabah stands and what it really means to everyone who stays on this beautiful land.
For people who agree with the statement, they probably know that by developing Kota Kinabalu into a city like Singapore or Dubai, it will elevate the status of the city and hence attract more investors to come to the state, let alone the city. Therefore will increase job opportunity and raise the living standard of the people. In order to facilitate the development, they need engineers, architects, builders, businessmen, entrepreneurs, etc. to move the mega vision by providing infrastructure, improving the existing facilities and eventually creating social lubricant, to move the huge vision. With this amount of works, job opportunities arise. Not only that, we also need to take account into the post-construction, where the management of the buildings come in and further increase the job opportunities in terms of service sector. With all these multiplying effect, people who agree with this will be very optimistic with the future.
Apart from that, Sabah's own strategic location in East Asia will be the one-stop centre for all tourists from Hong Kong, China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia etc. which you may identify, China and Japan as two of the greatest economies in the world. With CM's vision to transform KK into Dubai or Singapore, KK will be the gateway to Sabah as the epicentre of the economic gain from China and other economies. The amount of investment will be huge for the state and thus will elevate the living standard of the people, not only in urban but rural areas by providing high pay job opportunities. The development of infrastructure will be easily progressed and that's why people agree with them. Partly because we know Dubai and Singapore are cities with great qualities.
Let's see what people disagree on. Sabah is famous because of the nature. That's it. Some people may argue that why do we need to have that wastage to develop such vision. The development of convention centres, hotels and commercial centres are more inclined to the rich. What about the poor or low paid households? Will there be any classification in the society when the vision becomes a reality? People who disagree tend to be skeptical with the efficiency and transparency of the government. They do not believe that because the government has been complacent and improving less than what have expected. The inefficiency of the government will lead the said development into a white elephant project and the site will be left abandoned.
What about the nature? Don't forget that Sabah has the oldest rainforest in the world, even older than Amazon rainforest. Sabah is also famous for the beautiful sea and islands. Recent years increase of tourists have generated billions of RM and the figures are expected to rise from year to year. Tourists are attracted to the nature but not the "mega city" atmosphere. Tourists come to Sabah to experience something which they never have in their home country. That makes why Sabah is so different from other tourist spots
Of course, there is always some voice who neither support or disagree. Some may agree on the vision but by providing a more sustainable development to the state. Business sustainability, environment sustainability, cultural sustainability and socioeconomic sustainability. By looking at the current condition in Sabah, there are rooms for improvement especially infrastructure. Prior talking about how to make it happen, we need to know that economy develops because of great and systematic infrastructure. The lacking of emphasis in infrastructure by a country will definitely shun the investors and tourists away. That's really need to be considered deeply and planned meticulously.
So, what do you guys think? Let's share your thoughts here. There is no right or wrong in this issue. It is just for a better future for our kids and next generation. Give your upvotes for more interesting post!