Abang Johari flagging off the convoy Jalur Gemilang, which is held in conjunction with the National Day month.
KUCHING: Now is not the time for excessive politicking but to mobilise time and energy to address the Covid-19 pandemic, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“When the state and the nation is facing a health crisis due to the pandemic, nothing is more important for the country and state to be governed by a stable government. Thankfully, Sarawak has a relatively strong government under the GPS administration.
“However, at the federal level, the situation is quite worrying due to power struggles and disputes between political parties,” he said when launching the state-level National Day Month and Fly Jalur Gemilang programme at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building today.
Abang Johari pointed out that as part of the Federation, the state must be governed in accordance with federal laws as well as state laws.
He said there are powers under the Federation and there are also powers under the state, in addition to powers under the Common List, which are all enshrined in the Federal Constitution in the spirit of the Malaysia Agreement 1963.
He said after 58 years what should have been within the jurisdiction of the state shall be returned to the state if there are any rights that have been eroded either intentionally or otherwise, and noted that so far Sarawak has made some progress to restore its rights and get a fairer return to the state and its people.
“The current federal government has set up a Ministry of Sabah and Sarawak Affairs and I believe this is an excellent platform to involve the state governments and the federal government in negotiations in an effort to find solutions.
“What is important, there should be an understanding between the federal and state governments in the context of the establishment of Malaysia which consists of the Peninsula, Sarawak and Sabah. The federal government and the state governments must co-exist and govern in a harmonious atmosphere in accordance with the Constitution,” he said.
Abang Johari assured that despite the current fluctuating Covid-19 statistics, the GPS government had never given up on implementing various measures to control and curb the virus spread among the people.
“The state government has set combating Covid-19 as the main policy by accelerating the vaccination programme to all eligible citizens. Sarawak has almost achieved herd immunity ahead of other states with the vaccination drive from the cities to the rural areas.
“Our struggle is not yet over and is still ongoing. However, we at the state government level always take seriously the need to work hard for the situation in the state to return to normal in the future,” he said.
Abang Johari said the state government has formulated the Post Covid-19 Development Strategic Plan 2030, which targets to grow Sarawak’s economy from RM136 billion in 2019 to RM282 billion in 2030.
“The GPS government is also looking at the long-term needs to ensure that the state economy continues to thrive and stay on the right track as it heads towards achieving developed state status by 2030.
“I am proud to say that we are the first state to come up with the post-Covid economic recovery plan,” he said.
National Day month and Fly Jalur Gemilang programme is held annually, in line with the National and Malaysia Day’s theme of “Malaysia Prihatin”, which values the determination and perseverance of all Malaysians and the government in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Abang Johari also witnessed the flagging off of the Jalur Gemilang convoy, which involved 10 government departments and agencies comprising the police, Sarawak Information Department (Japen), State Secretary’s Office, Sarawak Federal Secretary’s Office, RTM, Pos Malaysia, Telekom Malaysia, Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, Bernama and National Film Development Corporation (Finas).
Also present were deputy chief ministers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohd Asfia Awang Nassar; Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah and others.