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Chong chieng jen
KUCHING (December 30): The recent ‘smart’ comment by the Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, against members of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) was highly unjustified, said the president of DAP Sarawak, Chong Chieng Jen.
Chong pointed out that there was no need to resort to name calling or harsh words against them just because they insisted that an artist entering Sarawak be given a swab test.
“The leaders are simply doing their job according to the standard operating procedures (SOP) established by the SDMC.
“Also, why should there be a special quarantine exemption for the guests of the ministers of Gabungan Parti Sararwak (GPS)?
“It is already a double standard SOP to have one set for government officials, ministers and elected representatives on the one hand and then another set of SOPs for ordinary Sarawakians on the other hand. Now, that double standard extends even to the guests of the GPS minister, ”he said today in a statement.
It was issued in response to Abdul Karim’s dissatisfaction that Malaysian artist Dayang Nurfaizah was forced to perform a second test with a Covid-19 swab and was quarantined when she entered Sarawak despite having authorization yesterday.
The Sarawak-born artist was invited as the main guest for the Sarawak New Year Countdown 2021 event taking place tomorrow (December 31)
Abdul Karim was quoted as saying that the procedure for certain personnel to enter Sarawak for special cases is that they must be tested with swabs in Peninsular Malaysia.
He also said that he had succeeded in obtaining authorization to enter the state from SDMC chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas for Dayang.
“But I know some ‘smarties’ at SDMC must have overdone (their duty). The minister, the president of the SDMC had given me authorization, but some ‘smarties’ tried to be better than the minister ”, he had said.
Chong asked if a swab test performed before entering Sarawak was sufficient evidence for exemption, why such a procedure may not be available to ordinary Sarawak inhabitants as well.
“Why is it that only the guests of the GPS minister have such a privilege?
“The Covid-19 virus is color blind, position blind and class blind. It does not discriminate between the high and low positions, the ministers and the commoners or the rich and the poor, ”he said.
Chong also pointed out that more importantly, at this height of the Covid-19 pandemic with new 4-digit daily cases for the past few weeks, it is very unwise to hold a countdown event involving 1,000 people.
“When the Health Ministry and SDMC have been asking people not to gather unnecessarily, even to the point of limiting the number of people who attend a meeting to 20 for real estate during the Christmas celebrations, it is astonishing that the GPS government is now hosting a massive gathering of 1,000 people to celebrate the countdown.
“On the one hand, the government is asking everyone to ‘Stay home, stay safe’, on the other hand, the GPS is organizing this 1,000-person concert. Another double standard practice of the GPS government.
“Abdul Karim tries to justify the event by saying that it is organized to reward the leaders. I think there are better ways to reward them (which they rightly deserve). Doing something that is high risk and that will potentially increase workload and burden is surely not the right way to reward them, ”he said.
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