By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, April 8: Both Belaga and Murum assemblymen, Datuk Liwan Lagang and Kennedy Chukpai Ugon, have used their own initiatives to provide food to their constituents even before the RM200,000 for each constituency was announced on April 1.
In Belaga, Liwan took five days to distribute the food rations to some 4,000 households in the vast and challenging constituency.
As for Murum, it took six days for Kennedy to mobilise his teams to distribute the food items to 4,732 households.
“We have to use the conventional methods to distribute the food ration to the people in this vast constituency by using longboats, 4WD and lorries and in some remote areas we go there by helicopter,” Liwan told DayakDaily here today.
He added that if they were to wait for the army helicopters to deliver the food to far and isolated villages, then it would take another week.
“We can’t wait that long, so we have to use our own initiatives to deliver the food during this MCO period,” said Liwan.
The first area which received the food items were those living in Ng Merit, which is located downriver from Belaga Town.
“As for faraway places like Long Busang and Long Inai, we have to use boats. But Hulu Rajang MP Datuk Wilson Ugak and I also flew there to ensure that the food items were distributed properly,” he said.
Liwan, who is also Assistant Minister of Utilities, thanked the four district officers from Bukit Mabong, Tatau, Belaga and Merit, who have helped monitoring the situation in Belaga constituency.
Similarly, Kennedy mobilised his teams to deliver the food baskets to six zones starting on March 30, to Jelatong area, March 31 and April 1 to Tubau area, April 2 to Metalun, Tegulang and Long Urun area, April 3, to Sg Asap area, April 4 to Linau area and on April 5 to Lusong Laku area.
“We have deliver to all the households in my kawasan. However, if there are any families who are left out, we will assist them if they come forward,” he said, adding that he and his representatives could be reached via WhatsApp.
The first-term assemblyman disclosed that he has to use his minor rural project (MRP) funds to top up the RM200,000 allocated by the Sarawak Government for the purpose.
“We allocated RM125 worth of food items for each household. So, I have to top up the food basket allocation with my MRP. This is because, besides purchasing the food and distributing them, we also have to cover the logistic cost,” he said.
In all, Kennedy spent more than RM600,000 for the purpose. Liwan spent a similar amount due to the high cost of transportation.
Both of them also thanked Ugak for his cooperation and assistance. —DayakDaily
