KUCHING, July 30: Closing the road section of Jalan Batu Kitang here is not the only way to enforce lockdown in Kampung Bumbok, opined special assistant to Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chief Chong Chieng Jen, Michael Kong.
According to Kong, this is a similar situation as what happened in Kampung Bintawa Tengah, where there are multiple access points and personnel being placed at each access point to enforce a complete lockdown of the area.
“Lo (Khere Chiang), cannot deny that this can be done alternatively and yet still yield the same result. So the question here is why is this not done for Kampung Bumbok?
“Any reasonable person who understands the plight of the people, including the road users, would have thought of this,” he said in referring to Lo, who is also Batu Kitang assemblyman cum Padawan Municipal Council chairman.
Kong pointed out that like any kampungs around Kuching, Kampung Bumbok indeed has many access roads, however, he claimed Lo has conveniently sidestepped the issue on why the authorities could not just man these specific entry points instead of closing off the entire section of Jalan Batu Kitang.
For example, he said, recently there was a Kampung Tabuan Abdul Drahman (commonly known as Kampung Tabuan Foochow) cluster, and there were a total of eight roads that allowed access to the said kampung.
“What the authorities did was to place personnel from the police, army or the People’s Volunteer Corp (Rela) to man the eight access points,” he added.
On July 28, Kong described the road closure from Batu Kitang to 7th Mile traffic light junction as a product of “idiocracy”, which has caused inconveniences to the local residents.
Yesterday (June 29), Lo explained that the road closure along Batu Kitang-7th Mile is a ‘necessary inconvenience’ in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. — DayakDaily
