BY JACQUELINE DAVID
KUCHING: A few initiatives to mitigate the drought season which has affected Sarawak will be announced by the government tomorrow.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said he would be having a meeting pertaining to the drought season with the Sarawak Drainage and Irrigation Department (DID) and make a courtesy call on Premier Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“I will be attending a meeting at Sarawak DID office tomorrow (Monday), to hear the briefing on the flood mitigation plan in the state, and also anything related to water here.
“Thereafter, it will be followed with a courtesy visit to the Premier, where I will bring my entire management team from our Petra Jaya Service Centre, and from there we will know what the priorities are, what can be implemented, and what needs to be reviewed. Tomorrow, you can ask that question again (drought season plans),” he said.
He said this when met by the reporters after officiating at the distribution of Nasi Beriani to the community of Kampung Simpang Tiga Jalan Mendu at an event ‘Rewang Kampungku Lit’, collaborating with NexGen, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) under Petra Jaya P194 Service Centre, and the Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) of Jalan Mendu, at Surau Darul Ibadah Kampung Simpang Tiga here, today.
A total of 250 packets of Nasi Beriani were distributed to the community living in the area.
Meanwhile, the NGO NexGen according to the event coordinator, who is also a special officer to the Petra Jaya MP, Abdur Rahman Abdul Rahim is associated with Petra Jaya youths, where they coordinate various programmes for the society, and one of the purposes is partly for leadership training.
“This will be good training for the youth to make them aware of social life surrounding them, to understand, deepen and immerse themselves in the local community.
“The NGO has done various programmes all over the state and including today, our first collaboration with the ‘surau’. Usually we distribute Bubur Lambuk or Bubur Pedas, but for a change today, it is Nasi Beriani,” he said, adding that the NGO also includes programmes for other festive seasons such as Chinese New Year and Gawai Dayak.
Also present at the event were two community leaders Hashim Kipli (community leader for Kampung Mendu, Simpang Tiga), Sapiee Anis (community leader for Kampung Sri Maimunah, Pending) and the surau representative, Shaharizal Lim Abdullah.
