Press Statement By Michael Kong：
The instruction by PBB Women’s Wing Supreme Council to open and operate their election operation rooms is worrying. Despite the numerous calls from members of the public and politicians from both sides, GPS has persistently been toying with the idea of having elections during this Covid-19 pandemic.
GPS is wrong to use countries like New Zealand and Singapore as examples of how elections can be carried out while having to combat Covid-19. In New Zealand and Singapore, the government enforced strict lockdown restrictions which yielded tremendous results. Their people are all happy at the way the government handled the pandemic and they can all go back to their normal lives. The extent of success is clearly reflected by the fact that face masks are no longer mandatory in New Zealand.
On the other hand, our local government has failed to deal with the pandemic. Instead of trying to fight Covid-19, much time has been spent to solidify their grip on power through unnecessary politicking. During tough times when money should be spent on essentials like economy, livelihood, education and healthcare, the politicians still have the audacity to think of megaprojects.
We can only speculate that the main reason GPS insists on holding early elections is that they want to play on the people’s fear of Covid-19. With this fear, it is most likely that the voter turnout will be low and this would naturally bode well for the ruling government which can rely on postal votes from the police and army personnel. This attempt to steal democracy from the people should not be allowed and must be put to a stop.
As such, I strongly urge GPS to get off their high horse and be sensitive to the public’s concerns. The people have suffered enough from the current weak leadership and GPS should not take advantage of the current Covid-19 pandemic to maintain its political grip in Sarawak.
Michael Kong Feng Nian
Special Assistant to YB Chong Chieng Jen
