Chong Chieng Jen
KUCHING (Sept 4): The State Legislative Assembly (DUN) should convene to allow the members to debate and discuss the Covid-19 management and operations rather than holding a briefing on Aug 8, says Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen today.
“I received a notice from the DUN secretary yesterday saying there will be a briefing for all elected representatives by the State Disaster Management Committee on the Covid-19 management and operations.
“With the Covid-19 pandemic threatening the lives and livelihood of all Sarawakians, the government, by merely holding a briefing instead of a proper DUN sitting, is taking the matter too lightly,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The Democratic Action Party lawmaker said a briefing had no force of law, and more importantly, in such a briefing, issues affecting all Sarawakians could not be raised by all the members, and ministers in-charge of the matter could easily avoid answering questions or deflect responsibilities in handling the pandemic.
Chong listed 10 issues the DUN sitting should be addressing.
Why is there a huge spike in the new infected cases and increase in Covid-19 related deaths in Sarawak despite more than 80 per cent of Sarawakians having been vaccinated?
Why is Sarawak recording the most Delta variant compared to other states?
How is the government going to effectively resolve the overcrowding issue at Covid-19 testing centres which are now becoming potential Covid-19 spreading centres?
Why, after more than a year into the pandemic, the state government is still caught unprepared of late of the outbreak and a huge shortage of quarantine centres for person-under-investigation (PUIs) and close contacts?
How effective are the quarantine orders on close contacts in containing the spread of the Covid-19, especially those on home quarantine?
How much should the state government allocate for economic stimulus packages in order to save businesses and livelihood of the people and to revive the state’s economy?
Why is there a delay in the disbursement of Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) aids to the people?
Given the closure of markets and the no dine-in order in the southern region, how and how much should the government allocate to help hawkers and small traders?
How is the state government going to help and how much should the state government allocate for SMEs to tide over this difficult time?
Since many countries are contemplating ‘living with Covid-19’ and starting to open up their economy, is the state government going to implement such strategy and what implications and effect such strategy will have on the lives of Sarawakians?
Chong these all are very pertinent issues to save lives and livelihood of the people in Sarawak which cannot be fully deliberated and discussed in a mere briefing.
“It involves government general policies, strategies and allocation of fund from the Consolidated Fund of the state government and thus must be fully debated and approved in a proper DUN sitting.”
He thus called upon the Sarawak government to convene a proper DUN sitting instead of just having a briefing, ‘so that the management and operation of the Covid-19 pandemic can be properly discussed and ministers held accountable’,” he added.