Press Statement By Sim Kiat Leng:
On 22.04.2021, Dr. Sim Kui Hian posted on his personal Facebook page that the ICOM Cluster should be called SWAG Cluster instead. This begs the question: What is Dr. Sim doing in SDMC?
Why is he only posting his suggestion after the name ICOM cluster had been published in all major newspapers? Is he not in the position, as the SMDC adviser, to give his input respecting the name of the cluster before it is published? Why wait till all newspapers carry the name of the cluster, then only did Dr Sim post on his Facebook making a suggestion that name of the new cluster is improper? By then, the damage is already done and all the business operators within the area would have suffered negative impressions from the public. It seems that even while being part of the SDMC team, Dr. Sim is only wise after the fact and has no part in the decision-making process of SDMC.
Instead of indulging himself in his Facebook postings, I call upon Dr Sim to focus more on the job of SDMC in battling the current Covid-19 situation in Sarawak.
From 01.04.2021 until 22.04.2021, Sarawak has accumulated a total of 9642 cases in 22 days, on average, 438 cases per day. This is an increase of approximately 100% as compared to the previous month, March 2021.
The SDMC has been relatively stricter in its enforcement of the SOPs in movement control in and out of the State. This has so far been an effective means of containing the spread of the Covid-19 virus in Sarawak.
However, sad to say, in the face of the VVIPs, all SOPs were blatantly flouted. The SDMC seems to have a totally different set of SOPs for the VVIPs and the GPS/PN politicians. It is not surprising to see the coincidence of the recent huge spike of new Covid-19 cases after the 3-days visit of our Prime Minister and his large entourage from 1-4-2021 to 3-4-2021.
While Dr. Sim knows that most of the Covid-19 patients now are asymptotic, the visit of our Prime Minister and his large entourage could be a potential Covid-19 carrier even though they have no Covid-19 symptoms. Hence, it is also not surprising of the recent announcement of several of our local authorities were discovered with Covid-19 cases which include MBKS, Land and Survey, Police Headquarters, PULAPOL as well as Welfare Department.
Dr Sim Kui Hian should focus on his role in SDMC and buck up. He should be attentive to the needs of the people. With Covid-19 cases at an all-time high for Sarawak coupled with the numerous restrictions in business operations, many small and micro enterprises are also suffering. This includes those enlisted in the entertainment and reflexology industry who have been closed for most of the past year. It is high time for the State Government to dig into their RM24billion reserves and also the RM2.95billion sales tax from Petronas to help these vulnerable businesses.
Hence, I urged Dr. Sim Kui Hian to play his role as an Advisor to SDMC and also a Cabinet Minister to curb the spread of Covid-19 and also get the State Government to provide financial assistance to all Sarawakians.
