By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, April 27: Chairman of Border Security Committee Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing is sending SOS to the federal government to further strengthen the 1,000 km-border with Kalimantan.
He said there is an urgency to strengthen border security with additional manpower to ensure no illegal crossings as Indonesia is seeing increasing Covid-19 cases.
“Now is the time for reinforcement. We need extra security personnel to man our 1,000 km long border. This to ensure that the border is sealed off completely as the Covid-19 is now slowly peaking up there (in Indonesia),” Masing told DayakDaily here today.
Since the beginning of this months, some 876 security personnel have been deployed along the border including three customs, immigration and quarantine complexes (CIQs), 20 jalan gajah, 23 jalan tikus plus numerous entry points such as the Long Singut, Long Busang and Tapak Megah entry points in
Kapit Division.
A few federal ministers, including Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and Senior Minister for Security Cluster Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakub had expressed that the country will continue to strengthen its borders due to the increasing cases of Covid-19 in the neighbouring countries notably Thailand and Indonesia.
According to the latest world Covid-19 statistics, Indonesia has recorded 8,882 cases with 743 reported deaths.
The Covid-19 pandemic, which was first detected in Wuhan China early this year, has infected almost 3 million people in 210 countries and has since claimed more than 200,000 lives.— DayakDaily
