Chong Chieng Jen
KUCHING (March 20): Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen is calling on Kenyalang Gold Card (KGC) applicants from Stampin and Kota Sentosa areas to contact his service centre at Mile 7 or refer to DAP Sarawak’s Facebook page to see if their cards are available for collection.
He said DAP Sarawak had been asked by officers from the Sarawak Welfare Department to help with the distribution of KGC in those areas because many of them had not been claimed for a while, with some even remaining unclaimed for almost a year.
“What happened is that about a month ago when one of my assistants went to the Welfare office to help out some applicants to apply for their welfare assistance, he was approached by a Welfare officer telling him that there were a few hundred KGCs that were supposed to be distributed by the Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP), but after a few months, they (SUPP) still could not finish distributing them.
“So he (my assistant) was passed with 500 over cards from the Welfare officer asking us to help them to distribute.
“These cards have been sitting in the Welfare office waiting for SUPP people to go and collect and help to distribute to those applicants. After a few months, some of them close to a year, the task was not done by SUPP, so finally they approached one of my assistants to help distribute,” said Chong.
The Stampin MP and Kota Sentosa assemblyman was speaking during a press conference at DAP Sarawak headquarters here this morning.
Applicants from Kota Sentosa and Stampin areas who have yet to receive their KGC can contact DAP Sarawak Mile 7 Service Centre at telephone number 082-611624 or check DAP Sarawak’s Facebook page where the list of names that has not been given the KGC would be put up.
Apart from that, applicants can also contact DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) Kuching Vice Chief Leslie Ting at 016-8006068.
Meanwhile, SUPP Public Complaints Bureau chief Wilfred Yap told The Borneo Post that his Kota Sentosa branch has been distributing the KGC to applicants every week until the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) was declared on March 2, where strict adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP) must be complied with.
Supporting Yap, SUPP Women chief Kho Teck Wan said the distribution effort by SUPP had been slowed down because of SOP compliance, and the fact that Kuching has been classified as Covid-19 red zone.
“Please keep in mind that the KGC recipients are all senior citizens. They are the high risk group. Should we risk creating any KGC cluster for the mere reason of expediting the distribution?
“The intention of helping to distribute KGC was originally trying to send the cards to those who had applied through us, but now it is our responsibility to reduce the risk of senior citizen exposure to Covid-19 and to avoid community infection.
“The distribution of KGC continues on a regular basis at the SUPP branches as you can see in our social media postings. Actions speak louder than words,” she responded.
The post Chong: Welfare Dept officer sought DAP’s help to distribute Kenyalang Gold Cards, applicants told to check if ready for collection appeared first on Borneo Post Online.