KUCHING: Education, Science and Technological Research Assistant Minister Dr Annuar Rapaee was telling the truth when he said that Covid-19 relief funds did not go into the bank account of his Nangka service centre.
In stating this, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian said a leaked memo dated April 3 which showed that Dr Annuar was in charge of a RM1-million fund for four constituencies besides his own, was a dud.
“The earlier memo was withdrawn because many GPS lawmakers felt that it was not appropriate to operate through their service centres in time of crisis like now,” he explained to the press via WhatsApp yesterday.
He then chided the opposition for politicising the Covid-19 relief funds to smear the reputation of the state government.
“Stop politicking; focus on Covid-19. We need to make sure that in the next few weeks we do not lose more Sarawakians to the pandemic.
“Every Sarawakian has a role to play to stop Sarawak (from becoming) like Italy, Spain, USA (which has shown drastic surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths).”
Earlier, the state government had approved an allocation of RM200,000 for each state constituency to assist those affected by the movement control order (MCO).
An April 3 memo from the Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Ministry that was leaked to the public showed that Dr Annuar was in charge of his own fund as well as those for four opposition-held constituencies, namely, Bukit Assek, Dudong, Pelawan and Bawang Assan.
On this, Dr Annuar refuted claims that the funds were deposited into his service centre’s bank account. He revealed that the proposal in the memo never materialised as it was retracted after Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg disagreed to it.
Dr Annuar added that the funds were actually channelled to the divisional disaster management committees led by the respective Residents. In his case, the funds for Sibu constituency were channelled to Resident Charles Siaw.
