KUCHING (May 15): The Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) Backbenchers Club has criticised Sarawak DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen for questioning whether the state government was withholding Covid-19 aid until closer to the state election.
It said Chong’s statement was aimed at scoring cheap publicity as the state government had been actively assisting people affected by Covid-19 and rolled out various types of assistance to cater to different groups through Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) worth over RM3.2 billion.
It also rubbished Chong’s claim that the Sarawak government was not assisting small businesses in the state.
“Policies made in terms of imposing movement restrictions have taken into account the hardship faced by the people, especially small businesses, private-sector workers, the self-employed and those without fixed income – allowing them to recover from the first movement control order (MCO) last year.
“This was further supported by the decision to not impose the MCO in Sarawak recently, instead continuing with the existing conditional MCO (CMCO),” it said in a statement today.
Yesterday, Chong, in a statement, questioned whether the state government was withholding funds and waiting to dish them out for the state election.
Meanwhile, Tupong state assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman, in a separate statement, said GPS had continued to serve the people, be it public servants, private-sector workers, small businesses or the public in general, at all times.
“This has been the practice throughout the five-year term of [GPS] being elected as the state government and will continue in the future.
“GPS does not subscribe to the notion of only showing up during the election season to champion the welfare of the people. This, to us, is not a seasonal thing as the people need to be assisted at all times,” he added.
