SIBU: The Sarawak government urged media practitioners and local university students to become “unofficial agents of information and public sentiments” on state government polices.
According to Deputy Minister in the Premier’s Department (Corporate Affairs, Information, and UKAS) Datuk Abdullah Saidol, it is important so that the state government can evaluate the people’s level of understanding of the implemented policies.
“Do they understand why we talk about hydrogen, why we want to take over banks or airlines when there are still many roads and bridges yet to be built?
“The government wants to understand the people’s perceptions, which may not necessarily be positive, and try to explain why these policies are being implemented,” he said.
He said this in his speech at the breaking of the fast ceremony with Sarawak Public Communication Unit (UKAS) which was attended by 270 participants at a renowned hotel here last night (Apr 3).
He said that feedback is important so that infrastructure and economic development policies align with what the people of Sarawak truly desire.
In his speech, the Semop assemblyman also stressed Sarawak’s ultimate asset, which is unity among people with different backgrounds.
“This is the biggest asset. You can build the tallest building in the country, the tallest pole, the longest bridge, infrastructure, but trust me, the one thing that we have built and structured for a long time and maintained is our unity.
“Unity is not easy to build, but once cracked, nobody can repair it, not even JKR or DID. No government agencies can repair that. The burden is on us to ensure that this unity is strengthened and remains strong,” he emphasised.
Also present were Deputy State Secretary (Operation) Datuk Hii Chang Kee, Sibu Resident Datuk Wong Hee Sieng, UKAS director Samuel Simon and University of Technology Sarawak (UTS) vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr Khairuddin Abdul Hamid.
