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Andrew Lo
KUCHING (December 31): The Sarawak Secretary of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), Andrew Lo, lashed out at Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah for calling public officials of the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) ‘smartass’ .
He said the recent comment by the Minister of Tourism, Art and Culture was an insult to SDMC officials who put their own health at risk in the performance of their duties.
“There are also the members of our Union. The minister’s comment reflects the ignorance of the workers and their struggles in Sarawak.
“They have the duty to follow the established rules without fear or favor of exemptions and without interference from politicians and ministers. Such comments will only compromise the rule of law.
“It is a reflection of the arrogance of some of our breast pounding ministers who think they can get away with it,” Lo said in a statement today.
She responded to Abdul Karim’s dissatisfaction that Malaysian artist Dayang Nurfaizah was forced to perform a second Covid-19 smear test and quarantined when she entered Sarawak despite being cleared yesterday.
The Sarawak-born artist was invited as the main guest at the Sarawak New Year Countdown 2021 event taking place tonight (December 31).
Abdul Karim was quoted yesterday 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 the president of the SDMC, Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas of 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.
In response to criticism, Abdul Karim today in a Facebook post urged opponents of the Sarawak New Year Countdown 2021 event, especially members of the opposition, not to politicize the issue.
He said the event was organized to recognize leaders in the state, and that only specially invited guests can enter the Perpaduan Stadium.
“I have challenged members of the opposition by inviting them to come to the Sarawak New Year Countdown 2021 event tonight at Stadium Perpaduan.
“I urge the opposition not to politicize this issue to win the support of the people. The important thing is that this event is for the first, and the guests must have a special ticket to enter the covered stadium.
“There is no SOP compliance issue as determined by the Ministry of Health and SDMC because they are also involved in the event to make sure everything goes smoothly.
“Therefore, there is no need for the opposition to sensationalize the issue because the intention of this event is good,” said Abdul Karim.
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