Farimah (second right) speaking during yesterday’s press conference.

KUCHING: Sarawak is getting its own State Social Wellbeing Index (SSWI) to indicate the social wellness of the state and establish a benchmark for social wellbeing.

Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Datuk Fatimah Abdullah said that this will help the government come up with policies and programmes, as well as any necessary intervention.

Pointing out that the nation already has the Malaysia Wellbeing Index, Fatimah said that Sarawak needs its own while taking context into account as the state has a unique geography, topography, population and size.

“In order to come up with our very own Index, we have to look at the existing indexes present nationally and internationally to see what others have done, and then see what we can adopt or adapt for our own.”

SSWI is endorsed by the cabinet, and is being developed by the Sarawak Social Development Council. It is still being drafted but Fatimah said that all this is being done systematically because it is crucial for the data to be credible and acceptable to policymakers.

There will be a workshop in July to fine-tune the index, before putting it into practice next year.

SSWI is made up of 10 pillars — Family Institution, Capacity Building, Social Harmony, Housing, Social Space and Infrastructure, Good Governance and Practices, Social Responsibility, Environmental Sustainability, Social Health, and Public Safety.

There are a total of 15 domains divided under the 10 pillars, each with its own benchmark.

Also present at the press conference were Women, Family and Childhood Development Assistant Minister Rosey Yunus, and the ministry’s permanent secretary Dr Saadiah Abdul Samat.