KUCHING, Sept 10: State Reform Party (Star) president Lina Soo has called for the resignation of Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas as chairman of the State Disaster Management Committee.
This following what she perceived as “soft handling” by the deputy chief minister in resolving the haze situation in Sarawak, especially when dealing with Putrajaya.
“He failed in handling the issue and (was) too soft in dealing with the federal government,” she expressed her view in a joint statement with Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) Baru.
Soo opined that the committee, under Uggah’s stewardship, was taking too long to control rabies in Sarawak since its outbreak in July 2017. She expressed discontent that the committee had delayed in responding to the haze situation in the state.
“Rabies outbreak would take a few years to be controlled. It took him (Uggah) a few days to come out with a statement responding to the haze situation in Sarawak,” she claimed.
Soo and PBDS Baru publicity chief William Mangor believed that there was a lack in serious effort from both the federal and state governments in dealing with the haze situation in the country, which had also affected Sarawak for the past few weeks.
Both PBDS Baru and Star will send a memorandum to the Indonesian consulate if the haze situation remained unresolved, the statement said.
“Where is our federal minister of environment? She seems to have forgotten about Sarawak, which has been choking on toxic haze, as she was very quiet about the haze condition in the state,” William opined.
“Yes, we are aware that the minister had said a diplomatic note will be sent to Indonesia but there seems to be no update regarding this matter,” he continued.
Meanwhile, air quality in the state capital has improved with Air Pollution Index (API) recorded at 167 as at 8am today, as compared to 249 at 3pm yesterday.
However, the air quality in Sri Aman remained at very unhealthy level with API of 202 early this morning, as compared to 245 at 3pm yesterday.
Several parts of Sarawak, particularly Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman, have been experiencing very unhealthy air quality over the past three days due to transboundary haze from Indonesia.
The State Disaster Management Committee also informed that cloud seeding may be carried out on Thursday (Sept 12) earliest to combat the haze in the state.
However, Uggah said that the operation will depend on the accuracy of the weather forecast as the availability of clouds in affected areas played a key role. — DayakDaily
