Lau Pang Heng
KUCHING (Aug 21): Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) Kota Sentosa Branch representative Datuk Dr Lau Pang Heng hopes that the new federal government under the leadership of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob can put together strategies to reduce Covid-19 infections and death.
He also hoped that the new federal government can unite all Malaysians and re-engineer economic recovery as its top priority.
“We hope that he is the prime minister of all Malaysians and will serve and protect the interest of everyone regardless of race, religion and background.
“As Sarawakians, we hope the new prime minister can return all the rights and privileges as mentioned in the Malaysia Agreement 1963 to Sarawak without further delay,” Lau said in a statement today.
He added that the Covid-19 situation had deteriorated in the state, with an average of 583 daily cases in the second half of the year compared to 137 cases – an increase of almost three-and-a-half fold.
In Malaysia, it was an average of 14,992 cases per day from July 1 to Aug 20 compared to the 1,260 daily cases from the start of the pandemic to June 30 this year – an increase of 11.8 times.
Lau said that this has led to the public wondering why the infection rate has increased when people have gotten vaccinated.
The authorities, on the other hand, blamed the increase on non-compliance of standard operating procedures (SOPs) but Lau said that the public have become confused due to the ever-changing SOPs.
“At the end of the day, it is the people who suffer from compounds and Covid-19 infections.”
“The Ministry of Health has published data on infections by unvaccinated and vaccinated. As of Aug 20, with a total infection of 23,564 cases, 82.3 per cent of them had not received any vaccination.
“However, 17.7 per cent of the infections were vaccinated. This means those who have been vaccinated need to follow the SOPs strictly as well.”
He also pointed out that there was a decrease of 37 per cent in the daily vaccination rate from Aug 1 to 10, and hopes the authorities can enlighten the public on the reason why.
“Sarawak has health autonomy to exercise and make decisions whether to start vaccinating those between the age of 12 to 17 years old earlier,” he said.
Lau added that the public have also expressed their hopes that schools will continue to operate on a hybrid model so students can study online.
“For rural students in Sarawak’s interior, where there is no internet, the government is urged to take the necessary actions so that every part of Sarawak is digitally connected,” he said.