KUCHING, June 26: Tanjung Batu assemblyman Chiew Chin Sing should do more and complain less about the efforts of others in helping the people overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, said Bintulu MP Dato Seri Tiong King Sing.
According to Tiong, as the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the People’s Republic of China, he does not need to explain every single detail of what he is doing to help accelerate the rate of vaccination and achieve herd immunity.
“My goal is simple, and that is to do my best for the people and my constituency to ensure they are safe and healthy and obtain sufficient vaccine supply to deal with the pandemic. It is not necessary for Chiew to dress his cynicism in false concern that what I do for the public is to gain publicity.
“As elected representatives, we should not be too concerned with media coverage as long as we sincerely stand up and work hard for the people, this includes him too,” he said in a statement today.
Tiong was responding to Chiew’s statement published on June 24, calling his efforts in helping the people in Bintulu to fight against Covid-19 pandemic “cheap political publicity and stunts”.
Tiong, who is also Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president, said Chiew has tried to incite doubt against the authorities by distorting information, such as saying that authorities were pressured by the public against extending the Sg Plan lockdown.
He asserted that Sg Plan’s lockdown being shortened to two days has been subjected to a lot of misinformation and speculation based on a lack of proper understanding of the facts, which has misled the public.
He explained that the red zone there had undergone a lot of testing, and there were still samples that have not yet been fully analysed.
“But on the day the lockdown was lifted, all of the samples had already been checked and the decision was made to lift the lockdown for the sake of the residents. Opening it too early without being sure would not have been beneficial to the whole community,” added Tiong.
He said the fact is, the medical resources that have been collected and sourced for are to complement the national health system to improve everyone’s overall response to the pandemic.
“I urge Chiew to find an actual purpose that would directly help the people, instead of continuing to criticise the ongoing efforts by the government. Or, are they going to continue to condemn everyone else’s sincere efforts to express their jealousy and hide their inability to do as much?
“If Chiew is so eager to point out that I am doing my work purely for publicity so that he can win the people’s hearts and votes, by all means, he ought to continue his tired and superficial behavior,” he said.
Tiong also pointed out that judging by Chiew’s statements several days ago, his complaints that opposition MPs could not do anything without allocation is not consistent with his habit of simply making statements to get on the news pages and taking his monthly salary.
He clarified that Bintulu parliamentary constituency has not received any additional funding to combat the pandemic either.
“Isn’t it necessary to take some initiative and source funds via other channels to face this unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic? I am still waiting for Chiew to ‘turun padang’ together,” said Tiong. — DayakDaily
