By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, Aug 25: Both the ruling government and Opposition should be responsible in managing Covid-19 without pointing fingers to one another, said Sarawak Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He stressed that the Covid-19 is a shared problem and whoever became policy makers in handling the pandemic needed to look from a holistic perspective without politicising the health crisis.
“The virus does not choose its target whether the infected is a politician from Barisan Nasional (BN), Perikatan Nasional (PN), Democratic Action Party (DAP) or Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). Therefore, it should not be politicised.
“Be it the ruling government or the Opposition, both parties have to be responsible in managing the pandemic. What’s important is that they do not point fingers when the positive cases increase,” he told reporters at a press conference at Baitulmakmur 2 building in Kuching today.
The Asajaya assemblyman was commenting on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s offer for Opposition leaders sit in the National Recovery Council (MPN) and the Special Committee to Address Covid-19.
Abdul Karim who is the Sarawak Youth and Sports Minister said that the blame game should stop because the government has done its best to fight the Covid-19 pandemic.
“If someone passes away and we advise the community not to go to the funeral but they still go, how can you stop them?
“And if the virus spread fast among the attendees which cause funeral clusters to emerge, then you blame the government – it is just not fair.
“We cannot blame the government if the number of cases rises. However, we can blame the government if they do not manage the vaccination programme in an organised manner,” he elaborated.
Abdul Karim who is also a member of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) further said the State will abide by any policies on National Recovery Plan (NRP) formulated by the federal government.
However, he implied that there has been a good understanding between the federal and State governments should there be slight changes which will be determined by the State later.
“Since Sarawak has a big land mass, the federal government also agrees that any decision made by SDMC can be used as long as the main policy is not far off from what has been decided by the federal government.
“That is why we can see slight differences in various matters such that Southern Region of the State is still under Phase 2 of NRP while other areas have already moved to Phase 3.
“Such ‘staggering’ is the decision of SDMC, not federal government’s,” he said. — DayakDaily
