Chong
KOTA KINABALU (Sept 19): Elopura assemblyman Calvin Chong hopes to be given the opportunity to speak at the State Assembly sitting from Sept 21 to 23.
There are many important issues pertaining to Sandakan that need to be voiced out, said Chong.
According to him, state elected representatives will be raising important issues pertaining to progress and development of their respective constituencies during the three-day sitting.
“Among the issues I want to raise is the registration of children born during the Covid-19 pandemic by the National Registration Department (NRD). I have received complaints from parents that they are facing difficulties to register the birth of their children born last year and this year.
“This, they claimed, is because the NRD Sandakan is undergoing a slow management process and is taking a long time to settle the birth certificate issues, sometimes up to almost six months,” he said.
Chong added that among the reasons for the delay was that the closure of the NRD Sandakan office due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the fact that appointments had to be made online.
“But because the appointment dates are always full, the public have to wait a long time for a new available date,” he said, adding that there needs to be a more efficient solution to this problem so that the birth certificates would not be classified as ‘late registration’,” he stressed.
This is only one issue with regards to NRD matters as there are others he would be voicing out with the hope that all could be resolved urgently, Chong said.