Malaysian government entrepreneurship seminars provide education, useful tips for entrepreneurs limited by government policies.
Published: May 10, 2009
Daily Express
Kota Kinabalu: The future of Sabah's economy depends on its land assets, former Chief Minister Datuk Harris Salleh said, Saturday.
He said there were more than one million acres in the State that were developed but hardly productive or even completely unused.
"If one happens to travel along Papar, Beaufort or Penampang, one can see plenty of land but not many are put to use for agriculture," he said.
In his address at the opening of a seminar on micro-credit and opportunities for Bumiputera and non-Bumiputera entrepreneurs here, he said government policies, both at Federal and State-level were to be blame for shortcomings in the agriculture sector.
The most obvious was the subsidies given by the Government on various items.
He recalled that in the old days, people produced their own sugar from sugarcane, salt as well as planted crops such as rice and many were self-sufficient.
However, these subsidies, he said, "had made the people lazy", pointing out that because of subsidies for rice, cooking oil and sugar, among others, not many people were too keen to toil their land as it was cheaper to buy than grow.
He said it was high time for the Government to stop subsidising and instead use the funds (from the subsidies) to "jumpstart" the people, particular for the people in rural areas, with each adult given RM300 per month for a certain period of time, adding that this was already practised in Thailand and the United States.
On another matter, Harris said while entrepreneurship seminars were important to disseminate information as well provide the know-how, it was not a guarantee that one would be successful.
He pointed out that many businessmen, although without formal education or the opportunity to attend seminars, have gone on to create business empires worth billions of ringgit.
It goes to show that while education is important, it must be complemented by hard work, thriftiness and discipline, he said.
The seminar aimed at providing information on the micro-credit schemes offered by banks to entrepreneurs, said Haji Faisal Haji Mohamad, chief executive officer of Crystal Knowledge Sdn Bhd, the seminar's organiser.
It also serves to disseminate information regarding entrepreneurship with the aim of encouraging more people to venture into the field, he added.
