The sitting of the Sarawak State Legislative Assembly this week — the first since Gabungan Parti Sarawak was overwhelmingly returned to power last December — saw several interesting legislation carried.

While much attention focused on a constitutional amendment designating the post of chief minister as premier, of greater impact economically was the creation of two state agencies dedicated to agricultural pursuits the state has traditionally been noted for — rubber and two perennials endemic to the state's mangrove swamps, sago and nipah palms.

Of these, sago is probably the most interesting. Extracting starch from the trunk of the sago palm has been a manufacturing activity associated with the Melanau community in the Mukah region of central Sarawak since time immemorial.

Ranee Margaret Brooke, wife of the second white Rajah of Sarawak who ruled from 1868 to 1917, even recounted in her autobiography, My Life in Sarawak, that the venerable Borneo Company, a trading house, had a sago factory in Mukah processing starch for export all the way to England. Such an early headstart achieved by sago as an export commodity has, sadly, not translated into it becoming a mature growth industry.  

It was not for want of trying, though. Former chief minister and current Yang di-Pertua Negeri Tun Abdul Taib Mahmud, whose ancestors hailed from Mukah, had, decades earlier, talked of plans to start cultivating sago plantations in hopes of turning a traditional industry relying on naturally growing palms into a modern, mass-producing one fed with a readily available supply of sago logs from plantations.

Although plantations were started, there has not been much clear successes. For starters, planted sago palms face a long gestation before they can be harvested for commercial processing. Unless further research and development come up with quicker maturing palms, this looks to be a major obstacle to the greater commercialisation of the sago industry.

Sago flour also has to contend with equally acceptable alternatives, such as corn and tapioca flour which are competitively priced. Sago farmers and factory owners cannot prosper if faced with competing producers of alternative flours keeping prices continuously at rock bottom.

It remains to be seen if a state agency dedicated to sago can really do much to help the industry grow. Again, science and research may help to discover ways in which sago can find special market niches, thereby enabling it to command a price premium.

Does it require more government-initiated intervention to finally turn the state's sago industry into a major export commodity? It remains to be seen, of course. The danger is always that a government agency dedicated to assisting an industry ends up believing its business is to be in business itself. As often said and for good reason, it is not the government's business to be in business.

A good example of such a truism is the foray into the building and managing of hotels and resorts by state agencies such as the Sarawak Economic Development Corporation. Despite decades of involvement in the industry, many of these properties remain a drain on scarce public funds.

A case may be made for government agencies to be involved in businesses at their initial, pioneering days and to quickly pass such businesses on to capable private investors as soon as they start showing promising prospects.

In the case of the government wanting to galvanise the commodities sector into something bigger and better, it is probably best that the agencies created for such a purpose first ask private-sector players involved in the industry what needs to be done, lest new layers of bureaucracy further burdens the industry instead of facilitating its growth.

The writer views developments in the nation, region and wider world from his vantage point in Kuching

https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2022/02/772710/challenges-expanding-sarawaks-sago-industry