Chong (seated, third left), PKR Sarawak chairman Baru Bian (seated, second left) and leaders of other PH Sarawak components speaking during the press conference.
KUCHING: Sarawak will have its first batch of 3,061 Federal Village Community Management Councils (MPKKPs) up and running in March, said Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
Speaking to reporters today after chairing PH Sarawak’s first meeting of the year, Chong said some 2,000 more MPKKP applications were still being processed and screened.
“I would say this is a success and (shows) the acceptance of MPKKP by the rural people is very high.
“More than 3,000 MPKKPs will be formally launched before the end of March and some more will be coming up,” said Chong.
Chong said the scouting for MPKKP had started in November, and this was followed by the bureaucratic process of scanning, filtering and checking the backgrounds of the names submitted for any criminal record or whether he or she was declared a bankrupt.
“We want to emphasise again this is not to replace Tuai Rumah and Ketua Kampung positions. The Tuai Rumah will still be Tuai Rumah, Ketua Kampung will still be Ketua Kampung, The MPKKP is just a committee under the Ministry of Rural Development.
“MPKKP is to help channel all the programmes, funds and initiatives of the federal government for the benefit of the rural people. It is not as alleged by GPS that this is an unconstitutional (move), that we appoint alternative Tuai Rumahs and Ketua Kampungs. The head of the MPKKP is just like an officer in charge,” said the DAP Sarawak chairman.
With MPKKPs now coming into fruition in Sarawak, he said this proved that all the anti-MPKKP propaganda by Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) was not working.
“They are saying this will split the rural people, I think this is not splitting. We are creating a channel for the federal government to provide more help, resources and programmes for the rural people.
“This politics of fear and suppression by GPS in making threats against rural people against forming MPKKP, will not work in this era of 2020. Now it is the era of free and fair competition, to see who can better serve the people,” he added.
It had been reported that the chairman of a MPKKP will receive RM500 while the secretary would receive RM300 as monthly allowances, while committee members will receive an attendance of RM50 every meeting.
Each MPKKP will also receive RM10,000 annual grants to carry out their respective activities.
There are about 5,900 villages and longhouses throughout Sarawak.