‘Exciting time to live in Sarawak’: Retired US Coast Guard Vice Admiral impressed by state’s bold growth plans

KUCHING (Jan 17): It is an exciting time to live in Sarawak, with ambitious development plans underway, including port construction, expanded offshore oil and gas activities, and the growth of educational institutions, said retired United States Coast Guard (USCG) Vice Admiral Peter Williams Gautier.

Gautier shared his views in an exclusive interview with The Borneo Post following engagements with Sarawak leaders and maritime stakeholders during his first visit to the state.

“I had a wonderful couple of days enjoying the food and the culture here in Sarawak, and I’m just mightily impressed by all the plans that are here, from just putting in bus transportation to building a port, to developing offshore oil and gas, to developing your educational institutions.

“It just seems like it’s a really exciting time for people to be living here in these communities,” he said.

Retired in September last year after a 42-year career with the USCG, Gautier said his service included a wide range of assignments, from serving as an engineer on Coast Guard cutters to most recently holding the position of Acting Vice Commandant.

“My background is predominantly in all types of maritime Coast Guard missions, but most recently and maybe most forthright has been disaster response,” he said.

He explained that his visit to Sarawak is part of a regional engagement programme initiated by the United States State Department to interact with key maritime stakeholders across Southeast Asia.

“Being in Malaysia is my first set of visits here in Sarawak, and then I’m following on with other countries in Indonesia.

“On behalf of the State Department, we’ve had a series of really terrific engagements in the past two days here in Sarawak,” he said.

Gautier retired in September last year after a 42-year career with the USCG, which included assignments ranging from serving as an engineer on Coast Guard cutters to acting as Vice Commandant.

“Our conversations have been interesting, productive, and wide-ranging, everything from maritime safety, security, and environmental protection to all the changes coming to Sarawak and the exciting plans for expansion.

“This includes port development, increased offshore oil and gas activities, the founding of the Sarawak Coast Guard five years ago, its ongoing build-up, and the growth of the university, including partnerships between Unimas and US institutions like Virginia Tech.

“So, while much of our discussion was maritime-focused, it really covered much broader developments in Sarawak,” he said.

On climate change and disaster preparedness, Gautier emphasised readiness and resilience as key to managing maritime-related hazards such as storms and flooding.

“When it comes to disaster response, the key is being prepared, being able to forecast tropical cyclones or heavy rains so that evacuations can take place, building resilience into societies, ensuring infrastructure can withstand flooding, and having robust response capabilities when disasters strike,” he said.

He noted that Sarawak has already taken significant steps in this area.

“We had a pretty in-depth conversation with the Deputy Premier who runs the disaster committee.

“He outlined all the things Sarawak has been doing in terms of forecasting, bolstering preparedness, planning, and ensuring that the right local and state response capabilities are in place,” he said.

During his visit, Gautier was also scheduled to speak at an event at Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, where he would engage stakeholders on emergency response.

“I will be having a conversation with stakeholders about emergency response. I gave a similar presentation in Kuala Lumpur to senior government officials.

“I used case studies from major incidents in the US, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and the Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore, to discuss community effort, emergency response, the relationship between professional responders and political officials, and how to communicate effectively with the media to ensure accurate messaging,” he said.