CORRUPTION is taking place at the Long Bawan/Ba’Kelalan border involving General Operations Force (GOF) personnel, Baru Bian (Ba Kelalan-PSB) claimed in the state legislative assembly on Wednesday.
He said there had been numerous complaints about such incidence over the years but no action was taken to plug the problem.
Towards this end he expressed disappointment that while aiming to be an efficient administration with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in mind, the nation has been let down by officers who abuse their positions to enrich themselves.
“In June this year, I received complaints from two Long Bawan district officers who had come with a delegation to attend the Lun Bawang Festival, that some of them were asked to pay money to the GOF personnel manning the border.
“These were legitimate visitors who had complete and proper inter-border documents (Pas Lintas Batas) when they passed through the checkpoint.
“They were asked to pay RM200 to RM1,000 but there have been incidents in the past where the personnel allegedly asked for up to RM1,500. There are also instances were upon leaving, some of the rations bought in Lawas were also taken by these personnel at the border.
“One of the officers said the rules on which items were allowed and not allowed to be brought to Indonesia also appeared to change according to who was manning the border, which is confusing, because there are times certain items are allowed, but other times not allowed,” he said when debating the 2024 State Budget.
Baru added that such ugly practice gives the neighbouring country, Indonesia, an extremely negative perception of Sarawak and deters them from visiting the country.
“I understand that state authorities had conducted an investigation into this June incident I referred to earlier and I would like to know the outcome of the investigation.
“We need people of integrity who are honest and sincere to man our border posts. Corrupt officers who bully our visitors must be dealt with severely to clean up the GOF,” he added
