JAKARTA: Borneo Island has the potential to emerge as ASEAN's new economic power through strengthening strategic cooperation between countries in the region, particularly in the green energy, semiconductor and digital economy sectors.

Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri (Dr) Abang Abdul Rahman Zohari Tun Datuk Abang Openg said that Borneo Island, which consist of three ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia (Kalimantan), Malaysia (Sarawak) and Brunei Darussalam, have the potential to work together in a collaborative framework that will contribute to the development of ASEAN and subsequently between ASEAN and the outside world.

"In this case, Malaysia, when it became the ASEAN Chairman, has identified energy potential and Borneo Island, especially Sarawak, has the potential to develop renewable energy or green energy.

"This is a very important energy against the backdrop of the climate change issue that is currently taking place.

"With that, I think we can work together to supply surplus energy that we can share with countries in ASEAN," he said in a press conference after delivering a keynote speech at the Indonesia Economic Summit (IES) 2026 here on Tuesday.

Datuk Patinggi Abang Zohari added that Sarawak currently supplies electricity to West Kalimantan through Sarawak Energy, which currently invests 25 per cent in a hydro project in North Kalimantan.

"In addition, Sarawak has supplied 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Sabah with the potential to increase capacity in the future.

"By the end of the year or the first quarter of 2027, we will also supply energy to Brunei and after that we will supply energy via submarine cables to Peninsular Malaysia and also Singapore," he explained, stating that the effort would be the basis for efforts to attract foreign investment.

Meanwhile, the Sarawak Premier explained that in the context of regional cooperation, the existence of a government-to-government (G2G) cooperation framework between Sarawak and Kalimantan and the Brunei Darussalam–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) platform would strengthen cross-border economic collaboration.

Meanwhile, the Sarawak Premier also revealed Sarawak's progress in the new generation semiconductor sector through SMD and a research center in Cardiff, United Kingdom, including the development of AI-powered chips which are currently awaiting intellectual property (IP) approval.

"The chips have the potential to be used in the healthcare, automotive and aerospace sectors.

That is why we are focusing on aerospace and our university has established a collaboration with Istanbul Technical College, Turkiye.

"And with this (collaboration), we can also collaborate with our neighboring countries in the semiconductor field," he added.

Also present were Sarawak Secretary Datuk Amar Mohamad Abu Bakar Marzuki, Deputy Sarawak Secretary (Economic Planning and Development) Dato Sri Dr Muhammad Abdullah Zaidel and other senior state government officials. -UKASnews