Press Statement by Chong Chieng Jen:
After almost a month, finally today Dr Sim admitted to the existence of the circular issued by the Kementerian Kebajikan, Kesejahteraan Komuniti, Wanita, Keluarga dan Pembangunan Kanak-kanak dated 3-4-2020.
However, in his today’s statement, he did not mention the second final paragraph of the letter to the press, namely:
“ Bersama-sama ini disertakan lampiran menunjukkan peruntukan bagi setiap JBB (Jabatan Bencana Bahagian), dan senarai nama Ahli Yang Berhormat DUN termasuk konstituensi dan peruntukan yang layak diterima oleh setiap Kawasan DUN dalam satu-satu bahagian”
In the lampiran attached to the letter, it was listed that Dr Sim shall have the charge of a total of RM1,000,000 allocation for the constituencies of Batu Kawah, Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang and Kota Sentosa.
It is also stated clearly in the said circular that:
“ Pusat Khidmat ADUN akan mengurus semua pembelian barang makanan dan mengesahkan bil-bil pembelian, seterusnya mengemukakan pemohonan kepada JBB untuk pembayaran. Sekiranya Pusat Khidmat telah membuat
pembayaran bagi pembelian bekalan makanan, tuntutan balik boleh dibuat kepada JBB dengan disertakan bil-bil pembelian yang telah disahkan.”
In short, Dr Sim’s Service Center is to manage all the purchase of food, verify the bills of purchase and then forward the same to the JBB for payment. His Service Centre can also pay in advance and claim reimbursement from the JBB.
It is clear that the allocation which is supposed to be for Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang and Kota Sentosa (together with that of Batu Kawah, a total sum of RM1,000,000), all to be at his service centre’s disposal to decide what food to buy and who to receive.
The question is, why was he in charge of DUN areas which he is not the elected representatives? Is that not discrimination against the Opposition ADUNs and the people in the Opposition-held areas? Is that politicking on the part of GPS government using the Rakyat’s money at such emergency time?
Publicly, the GPS leaders have been calling for “working together to fight the Covid-19 pandemic” but behind the scene, they are actually practising such discrimination, thereby punishing the people for voting for the Opposition.
It is no wonder that I have received many complaints from the people from the Kota Sentosa area that they did not receive any food aids from the Welfare Department. Notwithstanding the said discrimination, DAP, with our limited resources, will still try to help the poor and those in need to tide over this MCO period.
