By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, May 23: Following the increase of minimum wage to RM1,500 per month, Tamin assemblyman (GPS-PRS) Christopher Gira Sambang requested that community leaders’ allowance be raised to the same amount.
He said that the current allowance for Temenggong, Pemanca, Tuai Rumah (longhouse chief), and Ketua Kampung (village chief) is set at less than RM1,500 per month.
“Given their duties to the community, these groups should receive their deserving amount of allowance. Therefore, I would like to appeal to the government to increase the salary of community leaders to at least the minimum wage of RM1,500 per month,” said Gira, who also urged the Sarawak government to implement the minimum wage across the board as soon as possible.
Apart from that, Gira also appealed to the Sarawak government to upgrade the following logging roads and construct new feeder roads linking settlements within the constituency to other towns. The requests include:
• Upgrading of 9.6km Jalan Ng. Tajam to Ng. Dijih, Tamin, Selangau, Sibu gravel road to tar seal JKR R3 standard road.
• Construction of 10km Ulu Selangau/Rh. Kudang, Selangau, Sibu to JKR R3 standard road.
• Upgrading of 25km Ng. Sekuau/Sk Pakoh/Rh. Enjah, Sg. Bunau, Pakoh, Selangau, Sibu logging road to JKR R3 standard road.
• Upgrading of 17km Sepudun, Balingian, Selangau, Sibu logging road to JKR R1 standard road.
• Construction of Sk Ng. Arau, Ulu Mukah, Selangau, Sibu to JKR R3 standard road.
• Upgrading the 8.26km Rh. Janggit to Rh. Bubong, Dijih, Tamin, Selangau, Sibu gravel road to tar seal JKR R3 standard road.
• Construction of a 18km entry road to Ng. Sekuau to Sk Ng. Pakoh/Rantau Lumbang, Ulu Oya, Selangau, Sib JKR R3 standard road.
On healthcare facilities, Gira requested for a hospital to be built in Selangau to service the increasing population of 45,000 following the boom in the palm oil industry in the area.
He said all this while, the people from Selangau have been seeking treatment at either Sibu or Mukah hospital, located about an hour from Selangau.
However, both the hospitals face the same issue of overcrowding, leading him to request for a hospital to be built in Selangau. — DayakDaily
