Chong Chieng Jen
KUCHING (May 5): Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) vice-president Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah should not belittle the role of the State Legislative Assembly (DUN), says Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
His statement was issued yesterday in response to the remark made by Abdul Karim, who is the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Sarawak, about Chong’s call for DUN to convene and discuss the state’s immunisation process and vaccine purchase being deemed as ‘a cheap publicity stunt’.
Chong, in turn, regarded Abdul Karim’s points about the required 28-day notice for convening a DUN meeting and the expiry date of DUN Sarawak this June 6 as ‘the most ridiculous and ignorant excuses made by a minister over the refusal to call for a DUN meeting’.
According to the DAP man, the DUN Standing Order 6 clearly provides that in cases of urgency to be certified by two ministers, the DUN Speaker can reduce or entirely dispense with the 28-day notice requirement for convening the DUN sitting.
“More importantly, more than two months have elapsed since the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS)-led government first indicated that it would buy (Covid-19) vaccines for the people of Sarawak should the supply from the federal government is slow and insufficient.
“So far, it’s been all talk but no action by the state government.
“To purchase the vaccines and to carry out mass vaccination would involve additional state funds to be allocated and thus, all government allocations must be subject to approval from the DUN,” added Chong, who is Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman.
He then reminded Abdul Karim that no one was above the law and that no one should be allowed to use public funds without the authorisation and approval from the DUN.
Adding on, Chong said with the DUN being the only legal channel for the approval of the usage of public funds, it would be the most appropriate forum for the government to inform the people of Sarawak about its plan to purchase the vaccines and the roll-out to the people.
In relation to this, he said the state government must also inform the public about what type of vaccine that it intended to purchase; whether such vaccine had been approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA); how much would the estimated cost be; and when would the purchased vaccines arrive in Sarawak.
Given that only 56,000 people in Sarawak had been vaccinated with two doses of Covid-19 vaccines throughout the period of two months (from Feb 27 to April 29), Chong then questioned the state government as to how it intended to vaccinate 50,000 people in a day, as claimed by Minister for Local Government and Housing Sarawak Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.
He further questioned how many vaccination centres would be set up throughout Sarawak and how many medical staff would be deployed for these mass vaccination exercises.
“For those who are not on MySejahtera app, how is the government going to manage the appointment dates and the personal data for the vaccination programme?
“How will this vaccination programme be run in the rural areas of Sarawak?” he questioned.
Chong claimed that the people of Sarawak were in the dark over these questions and the state government also seemed clueless about them, despite having made statements about ‘wanting to purchase vaccines on its own’ and ‘(administering) 50,000 vaccines a day’.
“Therefore, I call upon the government to immediately convene the DUN sitting to inform the public about its plan and the timeline for the purchase of the vaccines, as well as the vaccination exercise for the people of Sarawak,” he added.
The post Abdul Karim should not belittle DUN’s role, says Chong appeared first on Borneo Post Online.