# Doing Business in Sarawak — SCORE, State Licensing, State Immigration and the Land Code

> What is genuinely different about operating in Sarawak — the SCORE corridor and its power economics, three separate state licences instead of SSM registration, an immigration system the state controls, and a Land Code that bars most companies from most land.

- Category: business
- Language: en
- Status: published
- Updated: 2026-07-20
- Canonical: https://negaraku.md/en/business/sarawak-business-guide

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Start with a number that tells you what kind of place this is. Sarawak runs **two parallel
chapter-numbering series**, and both are live. Cap. 64 of the 1958 Edition is the Business Names
Ordinance. Cap. 64 of the current series is the **Regional Corridors Development Authorities
Ordinance 2006** — the statute behind SCORE.

Same chapter number. One tells you how to register a sole proprietorship. The other creates the
state's flagship industrial corridor. Cite "Sarawak Cap. 64" without the edition and there is no
way to tell which you meant.

That is not a curiosity. It is the shape of the whole problem. Sarawak is a separate legal system
for most of what a business touches — registration, licensing, employment, immigration, land and
electricity — and almost every national guide writes as though peninsular law extends across the
South China Sea. It does not.

## What SCORE is, and what RECODA cannot do for you

The Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy was launched in **2008**. RECODA, the authority that
administers it, was constituted earlier under the 2006 Ordinance — its existence is confirmed by
RECODA's own materials and by MIDA, though the constituting notification under s.4 of the Ordinance
could not be located and its instrument number is not published (see the verification note). Do
not conflate the two dates.

SCORE covers roughly **100,000 km², about 80 per cent of Sarawak's land area**. RECODA names five
growth nodes — Samalaju, Tanjung Manis, Mukah, Baram and Tunoh — although a second passage on the
same page adds Limbang and Lawas. The anchor is **Samalaju Industrial Park**: over 8,000 hectares,
the largest industrial park in East Malaysia, 60 km from Bintulu, with a deep-sea port.

Now the part that matters commercially. **The Ordinance contains no power to grant, waive or
exempt any tax.** Read ss.9 and 10 and what you find is:

- s.9(1)(c) — to **promote, stimulate, facilitate and coordinate** industrial and economic
  development within a regional corridor
- s.9(1)(h) — to make **recommendations or proposals to the Government**
- s.10(k) — **subject to the provisions of any other written law**, to grant or issue any licence,
  permit or authorization

That places RECODA in exactly the same position as NCIA under s.6(e) of Act 687 and IRDA under
s.5(e) of Act 664. Corridor authorities recommend; the Minister of Finance grants.

Sarawak's position is weaker still, because **MIDA publishes no SCORE-specific incentive package
at all.** Its SCORE page lists only the generic national reliefs — Pioneer Status, investment tax
allowance, infrastructure allowance — notes that specific incentives may vary by corridor, and
sends you back to RECODA. MIDA does publish named packages for the Sabah Development Corridor and
for NCER. There is no SCORE equivalent, and a sweep of MIDA's forms-and-guidelines index returns
nothing for SCORE, Sarawak or Samalaju.

So if you are choosing Sarawak, you are not choosing it for a tax rate.

## The actual proposition is power, and the price is not published

Two provisions show what the state is really selling. **Section 3(c)** ties the corridor concept
expressly to the water, hydropower and other natural resources of the State. And **s.14** deems a
Regional Corridor Development Authority to be **a native of Sarawak** for Land Code purposes —
letting RECODA hold land that an ordinary company legally cannot.

Sarawak Energy publishes around **3,558 MW of available large hydro capacity**: Batang Ai
(94 MW, 1985), Bakun (2,520 MW available, 2011) and Murum (944 MW peak, 2015), with **Baleh
(1,285 MW) under construction**. RECODA publishes 2,400 MW installed for Bakun and a 2028 date
for Baleh, against Sarawak Energy's 2030 — two official sources, two answers.

The published tariffs are checkable:

| Tariff | Rate |
| --- | --- |
| I1 Industrial | 24.0 to 26.0 sen per unit by band, minimum RM10 a month |
| **I2 Industrial Demand** | **21.7 sen** per unit, plus RM16.00 per kW maximum demand |
| **I3 Peak / Off-Peak** | **22.9 sen peak, 13.9 sen off-peak**, plus RM20.00 per kW peak demand |

Any applied load above 1.5 MVA is pushed into I2 or I3.

**But the number that decides a smelter is not on that page.** Loads above **5 MW** leave the
published tariff entirely and move onto a **power purchase agreement**. Sarawak Energy's investor
material describes the structure — PPAs available at a discount to the published tariff, around
2.5 per cent annual indexation, terms up to 20 years, take-or-pay — and gives **no rate**. It
gives a business development contact instead. Treat any specific SCORE tariff figure in a
consultancy deck as unsourced; the negotiation is the deal.

One more thing follows: **the Electricity Supply Act 1990 is suspended in Sarawak** in its
entirety, from 1 September 1990, by P.U.(A) 272/1990. Licensing for generation, supply,
transmission and distribution comes from the **Majlis Mesyuarat Kerajaan Negeri** — the State
Cabinet — under s.4 of the **Electricity Ordinance Cap. 50**, non-transferable without State
Cabinet approval and with no right of renewal. If your project involves captive generation or
selling power, your regulator is in Kuching, not Putrajaya.

## Three registrations, and SSM issues only one of them

An unincorporated business in Sarawak does not touch SSM. **ROBA 1956 s.1(2) applies the Act to
Peninsular Malaysia only** — the word "Sarawak" appears nowhere in Act 197. Three separate
instruments replace it:

| | Instrument | Statute | Authority |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **BNR** | Business name registration | Cap. 64 (1958 Ed.) | District Officer, or LHDN in Kuching |
| **TL** | Trade licence | Cap. 33 (1958 Ed.) | The Collector — the Director of Inland Revenue |
| **OL** | Operating licence | By-laws under Cap. 20 | The local council |

Yes: the state trading licence is administered by **LHDN, not SSM**, because s.2 of Cap. 33
defines the Collector as the Director of Inland Revenue, with District Officers appointed Deputy
Collectors under s.5(2). Section 3(4) confirms the three stack.

Incorporating a Sdn Bhd stays federal and stays with SSM — neither the Companies Act 2016 nor the
LLP Act 2012 carries a territorial limitation clause. But a Sdn Bhd trading in Sarawak still needs
the trade licence and the council licence on top. Deadlines, fees and penalties are in the
companion article on registering a business in Sarawak.

## Immigration is controlled by the Chief Minister

This is the one that surprises people mid-hire, and it is entrenched constitutionally.
**Article 161E(4)** of the Federal Constitution, inserted by the Malaysia Act 1963, treats state
rights over entry into and residence in the State as if they had been embodied in the
Constitution. Immigration is otherwise a Federal List subject, which is exactly why the carve-out
runs through **Part VII of the Immigration Act 1959/63**, headed *Special Provisions for East
Malaysia*.

The operative sections are not what most summaries assume:

- **s.62** — "State Authority" means **the Chief Minister**.
- **s.64(3)–(4)** — Sarawak is a separate immigration unit with its own Director. The
  Director General's general entry power under s.9A and the repatriation power under s.46
  **do not apply**.
- **s.66** — a **citizen** is not entitled to enter an East Malaysian State without a permit or
  pass unless he *belongs to* that State. Section 66(3) then deals with a non-entitled citizen
  under the rest of the Act **as if he were not a citizen**, and s.66(4) puts the burden of proof
  on him.
- **s.65** — the state Director **shall comply with any directions given by the State Authority**,
  including a direction not to issue a pass, to issue only on specified terms, or to cancel a pass
  and order removal from the State. On appeal, s.65(2) says the Minister **shall not allow the
  appeal without the concurrence of the State Authority**.

For foreign staff the practical consequence is blunt. **MYXpats states that the Employment Pass
is valid in Peninsular Malaysia only**, and the Immigration Department states that Sabah and
Sarawak applications are subject to the jurisdiction of the respective State Governments. Sarawak
runs its own channel, the **GENESIS** portal, with a stated minimum salary of **RM3,000 a month**
and validity of one to five years, approved by the state immigration office with labour
gatekeeping through Jabatan Tenaga Kerja Sarawak.

For Malaysian staff sent from the peninsula the legal direction is equally clear — a social or
business visit pass issued on arrival does not authorise employment, and s.65(1)(a) lets the State
impose terms. What is *not* clear is the paperwork: no official page names the specific pass, its
duration or its fee. Ask the state immigration office rather than relying on a figure from a blog.

## The Land Code decides where you can build

Land in Sarawak is classified under **Land Code Cap. 81** into five classes defined in s.2: Mixed
Zone Land, Native Area Land, Native Customary Land, Interior Area Land and Reserved Land. Interior
Area Land is the residual category.

**Section 8 is the operative bar.** A person who is not a native of Sarawak "may not acquire any
rights or privileges whatever" over Native Area Land, Native Customary Land or Interior Area Land.
An agreement to the contrary is void for illegal consideration, the breach is an offence, and the
court may order eviction. **A company is a non-native.** In practice that confines corporate
acquisition to Mixed Zone Land.

Then a second layer, keyed to foreign ownership. The section numbers here are frequently cited
wrongly, partly because the consolidated PDF's own arrangement-of-sections table is misaligned
with the body text by one letter — **cite the body, not the index**:

- **s.13A** — an absolute bar on holding or acquiring any estate or interest by a person who is
  not a Malaysian citizen and not permanently resident in Sarawak, by a foreign company not
  registered in Malaysia, or by trustees for either.
- **s.13B** — the workable route: **with the consent of the Minister**, land may be acquired by a
  company registered in Malaysia whose shares carrying more than 50 per cent of the voting power
  are held by non-citizens.
- **s.13C** — the bar extends to any transfer, **sublease** or transmission, or any dealing other
  than a charge. A long industrial sublease to a foreign-controlled entity is caught.
- **s.13E** — and here the corridor reappears. The State Cabinet may gazette a **Special
  Development (Exemption from Prohibition of Foreign Interests) Area**, within which foreigners
  may acquire land despite ss.13A to 13C. The qualifying purposes expressly include development
  of any area **within a regional development corridor established under the Regional Corridors
  Development Authorities Ordinance 2006**, and separately industrial estates including free
  zones.
- **s.13F** — offending instruments are void, registration is cancelled, fine to **RM50,000**.

On tenure, rule 13 of the Land Rules gives **60 years** for factory sites, shop lots and
non-residential brick or concrete buildings. Read it carefully: that is the maximum issuable
*without the sanction of the Director*, so it is a routine ceiling rather than a statutory cap.

## Two more things that only exist here

**A state sales tax.** The **State Sales Tax Ordinance 1998, Cap. 25** is charged under s.7(1),
with rates set by the State Cabinet under s.13. Petroleum products carry **5 per cent** — Swk.
L.N. 239/2018, effective 1 January 2019 — and coal 8 to 10 per cent by calorific band. Both bite
only on sale or delivery **outside** the State, so they are export taxes in substance, and they
sit entirely outside federal SST.

**A different employment statute.** Section 1(2) of the Employment Act 1955 applies that Act to
Peninsular Malaysia only. Sarawak runs on the **Sarawak Labour Ordinance Cap. 76**. The 2025
amending Act **A1754** inserted a replacement First Schedule that disapplies the s.2 definitions
of normal hours of work and overtime, among other provisions — there is no section-for-section
mapping to Act 265, so a peninsular compliance matrix cannot be find-and-replaced into Sarawak.
The LawNet consolidated Cap. 76 is current only to 2006; read it with A1754.

## Common mistakes

- **Citing Sarawak Cap. 64 without the edition.** The 1958 Edition is business names; the current
  series is the corridor authorities ordinance.
- **Expecting a SCORE tax incentive.** RECODA has no power to grant one and MIDA publishes no
  SCORE package. The federal MIDA route is the only tax route, and it works everywhere.
- **Quoting a SCORE power tariff.** No bulk rate is published. The I2 rate of 21.7 sen is the
  reference point a PPA discounts from, not the deal.
- **Assuming a federal Employment Pass covers a Kuching office.** It does not, and that discovery
  usually costs weeks.
- **Treating Native Customary Land as buyable with enough goodwill.** Section 8 voids the
  agreement, criminalises it and permits eviction.
- **Reading the Land Code's arrangement-of-sections table.** It is offset by one letter against
  the body text.
- **Applying Employment Act 1955 thresholds to Sarawak staff, or filing on EzBiz.** Both statutes
  stop at the peninsula.

## What's next

Sequence the state approvals first — they are the ones with no peninsular equivalent and therefore
no adviser bandwidth. Confirm the land class of your site before signing anything, and establish
whether it sits inside a gazetted s.13E area if any of your shareholding is foreign. Open the
Sarawak Energy conversation early if your load will exceed 5 MW, because the PPA is where the
economics live. Line up the GENESIS route before making an offer to anyone who is not from
Sarawak.

Then run the federal track — SSM incorporation, the MIDA incentive application, the manufacturing
licence — on ordinary national terms, because on that track Sarawak is like everywhere else. For
how the five corridors compare on authority, statute and application route, see the corridor
comparison.

## Sources

- Regional Corridors Development Authorities Ordinance 2006, Sarawak Chapter 64 — https://lawnet.sarawak.gov.my/lawnet_file/Ordinance/ORD_F-Cap64%20LawNet%202024%20-%201.pdf (State Attorney-General's Chambers, Sarawak)
- Land Code, Sarawak Chapter 81, incorporating amendments to 31 December 2024 — https://lawnet.sarawak.gov.my/lawnet_file/Ordinance/ORD_2025%20LANDCODE%20LAWNET%20%20(1).pdf (State Attorney-General's Chambers, Sarawak)
- Electricity Ordinance, Sarawak Chapter 50 — https://lawnet.sarawak.gov.my/lawnet_file/Ordinance/ORD_CAP.%2050%20Electricity%20LawNet%202024%20(2).pdf (State Attorney-General's Chambers, Sarawak)
- Immigration Act 1959/63 (Act 155), Part VII — Special Provisions for East Malaysia — https://lom.agc.gov.my/ilims/upload/portal/akta/LOM/EN/Act%20155.pdf (Attorney General's Chambers)
- Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy — https://recoda.gov.my/sarawak-corridor-of-renewable-energy/ (RECODA)
- Tariffs — https://www.sarawakenergy.com/customers/tariffs (Sarawak Energy)
- Baleh HEP — https://www.sarawakenergy.com/baleh-hep (Sarawak Energy)
- Bakun Hydroelectric Plant — https://www.sarawakenergy.com/bakun-hydroelectric-plant (Sarawak Energy)
- Economic Corridors — SCORE — https://www.mida.gov.my/economic-corridors-score/ (MIDA)
- State Sales Tax Ordinance 1998, Sarawak Chapter 25 — https://lawnet.sarawak.gov.my/lawnet_file/Ordinance/ORD_CAP.%2025%20watermark.pdf (State Attorney-General's Chambers, Sarawak)

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