He said the Chinese business acumen, their vision and industriousness have positioned the community to be at the forefront of business, trade and industry in the state, and provided thousands of jobs for the people, apart from bringing revenue to the state through taxes.

“I would like to give the reassurance that the government will continue to adopt a policy that is friendly to the business community and investors as laid down by my predecessor,” he said in his Chinese New Year message here today.

“I must thank the Chinese community for having shown trust and willingness to work again with other communities in our power-sharing government,” he said, adding there was no other way to move forward except to work together.

He said Sarawak was a place where the respective races were free to practise their culture, tradition and religion without hindrance, where the people celebrate and find strength together in their differences.

Referring to the demise of his predecessor, the late Adenan Satem , on Jan 11, Abang Johari said it was without doubt a great loss to Sarawak and the nation, and the immense outpouring of grief from Sarawakians, from all walks of life and non-Sarawakians alike, was a testimony of the tremendous respect and honour on him.

“As an outstanding leader, he (Adenan) left a legacy that all Sarawakians are proud of and provided us the direction to follow in the years to come.

“I sincerely hope that in our times of sadness, his memory will always be with us and provide us with the inspiration to come out strong to continue his legacy for the betterment of Sarawak,” he said.

“Let me give the assurance that I will continue with his multi-racialism approach and also the policies that he had laid down. Our thoughts and prayers are always with him and the family that he left behind,” he added.