KUCHING, May 11: Two Supplementary Supply Bills tabled by Second Finance Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas have been passed at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly sitting today.
The two bills are the Supplementary Supply (2019) Bill, 2020 and the Supplementary Supply (2020) Bill, 2020.
The Supplementary Supply (2020) Bill, 2020 aimed to put on record of Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) worth RM2.55 billion which was launched to cushion the impact of Covid-19 on Sarawakians.
“The three stimulus packages under BKSS were BKSS1 (RM1.15 billion), BKSS2 (RM1.11 billion) and BKSS3 (RM0.29 billion). These packages are to cushion the impact of Covid-19 on our people and businesses.
“The state government is fully aware of the difficulty faced by all Sarawakian, the business community, self-employed, SME (small medium enterprises, farmers, fisherman unemployed and B40s, due to the effect of the imposed MCO,” Uggah said while tabling the two bills at the Sarawak Legislative Assembly today.
He pointed out that a preliminary report on the impact of Covid-19 on the socioeconomic well-being of communities in Sarawak was conducted during the third phase of Movement Control Order (MCO).
The report, he said, focused on six areas that include business, agriculture, self-employment workers, education, social welfare and health.
“From the report, it has shown that all sectors are heavily affected by the effect of the MCO. Evidently the businesses and employment sector with unemployment and reduction of monthly income for both employers and self-employed were the hardest hit,” Uggah who is also Deputy Chief Minister said.
He added that another RM16.4 million was also allocated under Sarawakku Sayang Food Aid Programmes where RM10 million was used to purchase Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for State Health Department (JKNS) frontliners while the remainder is used as additional funding to run the quarantine centers throughout Sarawak and providing accommodation for health care workers such as doctors and nurses.
“All these packages and support given by the State Government reflects the State’s concerns over the welfare and well-being of all Sarawakian during the movement order control (MCO) period,” said Uggah who is also State Disaster Management Committee chairman.
Meanwhile, the Supplementary Supply (2019) Bill 2020 was also passed to include further expenditure of RM299,171 in 2019 which was in access of the expenditure sanctioned by the Supply 2019 Ordinance, 2018, and another RM382,320 for 2020 which was not provided for by the Supply (2020) Ordinance 2019. — DayakDaily
