Kuching: DAPSY Sarawak Secretary George Lam has urged SUPP leaders to stop politicising the haze-related school policy and fuelling divisions between East and West Malaysians.
Lam said the Education Ministry’s decision to implement home-based learning when the Air Pollutant Index (API) reaches between 150 and 180 was prompted by a royal decree from His Majesty the King, who expressed concern for the health and safety of teachers and students exposed to polluted air.
He said the original nationwide standard operating procedure (SOP) required schools to close when the API reached 200, a threshold previously followed by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).
Lam questioned why SUPP leaders continued criticising the Federal Education Ministry while overlooking the SDMC’s own decision to maintain the API 200 threshold for school closures in Sarawak.
He pointed out that the SDMC, led by Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, is Sarawak’s highest decision-making body for disaster management, with the Sarawak Director of Education serving as a committee member.
“Since the decision on school closures was made at the SDMC level, why have SUPP leaders not questioned their coalition partners over the decision made by the committee? Why are they directing their criticism at the Federal Education Ministry instead?” he asked.
Lam said the Sarawak Government could establish its own haze-related SOP based on local circumstances and determine the appropriate API threshold for school closures and home-based learning if it considered this necessary.
He questioned whether SUPP leaders were genuinely interested in resolving the issue or were more concerned with creating divisions between East and West Malaysians.
Lam urged SUPP leaders to stop making divisive statements, warning that such rhetoric would neither protect public health nor resolve the haze situation.
He called on Sarawakians to remain vigilant, assess the issue based on facts and recognise the political motives that might lie behind divisive narratives.
He stressed that protecting public health and safety through concrete action must remain the priority during a disaster, rather than fuelling political disputes and undermining national unity.
