By Dorcas Ting
KUCHING, Dec 11: Sarawak United People Party’s (SUPP) Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian testified as a witness in court today in the ongoing legal battle with the Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) Chong Chieng Jen.
During the cross-examination by the counsel for the defendant, Michael Kong, when being asked if his complaint in the action for libel was by selecting and choosing the isolated or detached part(s) of the first alleged Facebook post by the defendant, particularly paragraphs 7, 8 and 9, Dr Sim disagreed.
He disagreed that the first paragraph of the first Facebook post referred to Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and SUPP; the tenth and eleventh paragraphs of the first Facebook post were directed at GPS and Sarawak Welfare Department, respectively. He said it must be read as a whole.
He said that although his name was not mentioned in the first Facebook post by the defendant, when read as a whole, paragraph nine mentions explicitly that one SUPP YB (elected representative) is on home quarantine, and he said that referred to him.
He disagreed that Chong’s alleged publication on his Facebook page mostly referred to matters of a political nature concerning and relating to Sarawak and Malaysia.
He further told the court that the two Facebook posts by the defendant, dated April 15, 2020, and April 18, 2020, started with the Sarawak Report and ended with the press statement by the defendant on April 29, 2020. It is a related series of campaigns to discredit him.
He stressed that none of the GPS or Opposition ADUNs (assemblypersons) were given control over the management or use of the RM200,000 allocation to buy food for distribution for their respective constituencies.
He disagreed that non-GPS ADUNs had to spend their own money to buy food items for distribution to needy families during the MCO (movement control order) period.
When asked if he agreed that in addition to the RM200,000 allocated, his Batu Kawah service centre was also granted an extra RM800,000 allocation initially supposed to be equally distributed to the service centres for the Pending, Padungan, Kota Sentosa, and Batu Lintang constituencies, he disagreed.
He also disagreed that his service centre was granted RM1,000,000 food aid fund allocation to buy and distribute food to the less fortunate in the Padungan, Pending, Kota Sentosa, and Batu Lintang constituencies.
When asked what essential foods his service centre supplied to people during MCO, he said it is managed by the District Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) depending on what they have, such as rice, cooking oil, salt, and sugar.
He said it is not true that the ADUN service centre manages the purchase of food items, approves the bills and invoices, and then submits the application to DDMC for payment. He said no ADUN service centre has authority on the purchase.
During the cross-examination conducted by Senior Counsel Chong Siew Chiang, when asked if it was true that the decision respecting the mode of allocation of food aid relief fund and the manner of distribution of food was not finalised until after the meeting on April 3, 2020, with the official memo and official letter issued by the Ministry of Welfare, Community Well-being, Women, Family, and Childhood Development, Dr Sim said he did not know of that because he is not in charge of that ministry.
When asked when he and his service centre started purchasing the food supplies, he said his service centre, with the donations from the public, began to help distribute on March 29, 2020.
When asked if he agreed that for the betterment and interest of the needy families in Pending, Padungan, Kota Sentosa, and Batu Lintang during the MCO, the non-GPS ADUNs or their respective service centres should have been granted the same opportunity of using RM200,000 food aid fund allocation to buy food for distribution of it to the needy people during the critical time of MCO, Dr Sim disagreed because be it GPS ADUNs or non-GPS ADUNs or their respective service centres, none were granted any money for the food aid.
He stressed that the money was channelled to DDMC. The Sarawak government, through DDMC, has a more comprehensive list of the less fortunate so that it is more organised and to avoid repetition. — DayakDaily
