Sarawak launches BESA, adopts Legacy Impact initiatives
- BT
- Dec 17, 2025
- 4 min read
KUCHING, 17 December 2025 – The groundbreaking Business Events Sarawak Alliance (BESA), a pioneering partnership that transforms conferences, exhibitions, and business meetings into powerful tools for long-term growth, was successfully launched earlier today at the inaugural Sarawak Business Events Forum, which took place at Sheraton Kuching hotel here. The launch, officiated by the Premier of Sarawak, Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Haji Abdul Rahman Zohari bin Tun Datuk Abang Haji Openg, represented by Minister for Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Sarawak, Dato Sri Haji Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, was attended by members of Sarawak's ministries and agencies. The historic event marks a decisive shift in how the State Government harnesses business events to deliver meaningful, lasting benefits to the people of Sarawak.
Starting in 2026, all State Government ministries will work together with Business Events Sarawak (BESarawak) to organise and host events that create lasting positive impacts on society, the economy, and the environment. These impacts must align with Sarawak's ambitious Post COVID-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030.
Each ministry will commit to organising at least two national or international business events, and events created by local ministries will get priority support through the Sarawak Business Events Fund.
The Premier of Sarawak, whose keynote address was delivered by Karim, proudly highlighted the State's impressive achievements in securing business events. In his speech, he emphasised that: “Business events are no longer optional activities. They are strategic national instruments, connecting policy to people, vision to action, and ambition to measurable legacy.”
He continued: “Since integrating business events into the PCDS 2030, 50% of the 541 secured events between 2021 and 2025 are legacy-driven. We have strengthened Sarawak's value proposition, achieving a 100% success rate in event bidding and pitching in the same period.”
The Premier outlined the substantial investments made, saying: “The Sarawak Government has invested decisively to support this strategy. These include the expansion of the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching or BCCK II to a capacity of 15,000 delegates, the introduction of AirBorneo, new hotels, enhanced public transport, and emerging economic sectors that will position and enable Sarawak to host larger, more complex, and higher-impact international events.”
“The Sarawak Business Events Fund – established in 2008 and managed by Business Events Sarawak – provides a centralised mechanism to support and develop strategic events. This fund will be strengthened further to meet future demands,” he said in highlighting the strengthening of financial support mechanisms.
“Beyond economic figures, the true value of business events lies in knowledge transfer, innovation, partnerships, and long-term national benefit. This is where Sarawak has chosen to lead,” he continued.
“Importantly, a growing proportion of these events are legacy-driven—measured not only by economic return, but by their social, environmental, and knowledge impact, aligned with PCDS 2030 and Malaysia's commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This is what we define as legacy impact – outcomes that endure long after the event concludes,” he said.
Since including business events in PCDS 2030, Sarawak has developed an impressive 72 homegrown events, including major conferences on water management and energy, showcasing strong community support for hosting high-impact events.
Deputy State Secretary (Operation) and Chairman of Business Events Sarawak, Datu Hii Chang Kee emphasised that the remarkable growth in business events year after year comes from both strategic planning and a robust support system.
“The next step is building an even stronger ecosystem, with closer collaboration between government and industry, to secure Sarawak's future. These achievements show that winning high-value, legacy-driven business events is not just about having the right strategy – it is also about how well the ecosystem aligns, collaborates, and contributes at every level,” he explained.
He said since 2006, Sarawak has successfully hosted 1,288 national and international business events, and created a substantial RM4 billion in economic impact and supporting over 120,000 jobs.
This year alone, Sarawak secured 152 business events to beat the target of 140 by 109%. These events will bring 55,690 delegates, who will spend 162,377 delegate days in Sarawak, thus contributing RM248.2 million directly to the economy, RM27.4 million in taxes, and supporting over 36,000 jobs. Sarawak has also maintained a perfect 100% win rate in bidding for international events since 2022. This is an outstanding achievement that demonstrates the State's strong appeal and competitive edge.
Meanwhile, today's forum also marked Sarawak’s adoption of the Borneo Legacy Declaration, a groundbreaking commitment made by 36 policymakers and industry leaders from Malaysia, Australia, Korea, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and formed on Oct 3 during the Legacy Event Advocacy Policy (LEAP) Summit, in October 2025. By adopting this influential declaration, Sarawak commits to:
Integrating business events into government economic policy
Applying a whole-of-government approach
Translating global expertise into local benefit
Measuring long-term outcomes, not short-term outputs
Strengthening Sarawak's global reputation as a legacy-driven destination
BESarawak’s Chief Executive Officer, Amelia Roziman described today's achievement as a major victory for the sector.
“The Sarawak government's adoption of a legacy impact strategy places us firmly on the right path toward long-term national development. It marks a significant step in bridging knowledge with development outcomes, reinforced by Sarawak's 13th Malaysia Plan (2026–2030) and its strong focus on sustainable development,” she said.
January this year saw Sarawak launching AI.LEGACY, the world's first intelligent system to measure the impact of business events, developed in collaboration with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS). This innovative system places Sarawak among distinguished global leaders in the industry.
Through BESA, ministries will also receive training and be invited to attend selected business events to build their skills in organising high-impact events.
The forum also introduced Sarawak's 13th Malaysia Plan, which outlines the State's development priorities from 2026 to 2030, focusing on infrastructure, renewable energy, digitalisation, human capital development, and rural growth while protecting the environment.
