By DayakDaily Team
KUCHING, Jan 19: Wang ihsan (compassionate assistance) for homeowners affected by a sewerage project in Petra Jaya was distributed in accordance with established procedures, based on verified ownership records at the time the allocation was approved, the P194 Petra Jaya Service Centre clarified today.
In a statement, the service centre said the wang ihsan involved 219 affected homeowners and was distributed according to data collected by the Village Security and Development Committee (JKKK) after the allocation was approved by the federal government in October 2022.
The clarification follows a Jan 17 media report in which an individual claimed she had not received the wang ihsan and had raised the matter with Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
According to the statement, the wang ihsan allocation was realised after Deputy Prime Minister and Petra Jaya Member of Parliament Datuk Amar Fadillah Yusof raised the issue with the federal government and facilitated a visit by former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to affected residents at Kampung Tunku in October 2021. Following the visit, the allocation was approved the following year.
The JKKK Kampung Tunku was tasked with collecting homeowners’ details and had gone house to house to obtain names and bank account information, as required by the Sarawak State Development Office (SDO) for payment processing, the statement said.
It also noted that the original homeowners in the affected area had lodged compensation claims with the contractor as early as 2018.
Addressing the specific complaint, the service centre explained that the complainant had purchased the affected house from the original owner, with the transfer of ownership completed on Dec 14, 2022. However, the wang ihsan allocation had already been approved in October 2022, and the collection of recipient details by the JKKK had begun shortly thereafter.
By the time the ownership transfer was finalised, all recipient information had already been submitted to the SDO for cheque issuance, with cheques distributed in January 2023.
Officers from the P194 Petra Jaya Service Centre had met the complainant several times since 2023 to explain the situation, and the complainant had acknowledged and understood the circumstances, the statement added.
The service centre stressed that it acted solely as a facilitator in coordinating the federal government allocation, while the JKKK assisted in preparing the required documentation for submission to the SDO.
On a police report lodged by the complainant in 2024, the statement said all relevant parties, including the service centre, the SDO and the JKKK, had provided statements to the police. Investigations later found that there was no case to be pursued.
The statement was issued by Irwan Zulkarnain Dato Muhammad Hasbie, Political Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Amar Fadillah Yusof. — DayakDaily
