KUCHING: Too much politics must be put aside as Malaysia is still facing the Covid-19 pandemic.
In saying this, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg stressed that it was important to devote time and energy to address the threat.
He said the current situation at the federal level was quite worrying due to the power struggle and disputes between political parties.
“As the country is still battling the pandemic, it is extremely important for the country to be administered by a stable government.
“Thank God, Sarawak has a strong government under the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS),” he said when officiating at a state-level National Month and Flying of the National Flag 2021 event at the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) Complex on Monday (Aug 16).
Abang Johari, who is also the GPS chairman, gave his assurance that despite the current fluctuations in the Covid-19 transmission statistics, the GPS government would not give up on implementing various measures to curb and control the virus spread among the people in the state.
“The state government has expedited the provision of vaccines to all eligible citizens to combat Covid-19.
“Thank God, Sarawak has almost achieved head immunity ahead of other states with the provision of vaccines from the urban centres to the interior areas near the border such as in Long Singut, Ulu Baleh,” he pointed out.
Acknowledging that the struggle was not over yet, Abang Johari said that the state government would continue to work hard until the situation in the state returned to normal in the future.
“The GPS government is also looking at the long-term needs to ensure that Sarawak’s economy continues to be on the right track towards achieving the status of a developed state by 2030.
“The state government has formulated an economic recovery strategy through the Post Covid-19 Development Strategy (PCDS) 2030 which targets the state’s economy size to grow from RM136 billion in 2019 to RM282 billion in 2030.
“Thus, I am proud to say that we are the first state to come up with the post Covid economic recovery plan,” he said.
Abang Johari added that efforts between the state and federal governments in helping the people in facing Covid-19 were ongoing.
“Sarawakians are very fortunate to have received assistance from both the Sarawak and federal governments to ease their burden during the pandemic.
“Through the Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) 1.0 to BKSS 7.0 financial packages, the state government has provided various aids worth RM5.3 billion to various sectors,” he said.
Abang Johari hoped that the assistance together with the ones under Prihatin Nasional could provide some relief to the affected groups, particularly heads of households, vulnerable persons as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Also present were Deputy Chief Ministers Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan; Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture and minister in charge of the state-level National Day celebration Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah; DUN Speaker Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar; State Secretary Datuk Amar Jaul Samion and Sarawak Information director Swady Guliling.
