LAWAS: The government has given the nod to build a border post at Ba Kelalan to curb smuggling of controlled goods across the border to Long Bawang in East Kalimantan.
Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism (KPDNKK) Datuk Henry Sum Agong said the project would be implemented as planned.
“It is undeniable that there are cross-border smuggling activities, particularly in areas not manned by enforcement or security agencies,” he said when visiting a Kedai Rakyat 1Malaysia (KR1M) outlet here yesterday.
He was accompanied by the ministry’s deputy director-general Datuk Razali Othman and state director Stanley Tan.
On public complaints about lack of enforcement at the border area, Henry Sum, who is also Lawas MP, said smuggling continued to happen due to loopholes in the present set up.
“It is not about the lack of enforcement. The smugglers resurfaced whenever the enforcement officers returned to base.”
On another matter, he called for more cooperatives to be set up in Sarawak to benefit the people socio-economically.
In addition, he said, there were ample rooms for cooperatives in Sarawak to improve upon when compared with their counterparts in the peninsula, which had, among others, properties in major towns.