Riot (second right) symbolically issues payment to representatives of the contractor of the newly completed car park upgrading project which cost RM150,000 at SMK Serian yesterday.
SERIAN: The Proclamation of Emergency for the Batu Sapi parliamentary constituency is a wise decision, said Serian MP Datuk Seri Richard Riot.
He said this is because the fight to curb the spread of Covid-19 is a huge task and everyone has a role to play in combating the pandemic.
The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to East Asia also pointed out that it is not only the government that should fight the spread of the virus.
“The safety of the people comes first and the task to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in the country must be shouldered by everyone,” he added during an event held at SMK Serian yesterday.
On Wednesday, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah made a Proclamation of Emergency for the Batu Sapi parliamentary constituency, in effect cancelling the by-election for the seat.
The Proclamation of Emergency based on Clause (1) Article 150 of the Federal Constitution was made after studying the explanation given by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who had presented his advice based on a decision taken at the Cabinet meeting.
Meanwhile, Riot also said that he was satisfied with the development which he had helped to bring to Serian as an elected representative.
“There are many facilities which I helped build in my area (Serian) and the latest one is the Serian Industrial Training Institute, which is my ‘baby’. I will continue to bring more development to Serian as long as I am the elected representative,” he said.
Apart from that, he hoped to see the congestion in Serian Hospital become a thing of the past by building clinics such as the one which is still under construction at the Tangga bypass.
Before speaking to reporters, Riot witnessed the handing-over of the car park upgrading project which cost RM150,000 at SMK Serian, funded under Riot’s 2019 Rural Transformation Programme (RTP).
Riot also visited Kampung Krangan Tekalong after the event in SMK Serian, to witness the handing-over of a longhouse roof upgrading project there, also to be built with funding from his 2019 RTP, costing RM150,000.
“I will do my best to visit all the projects which are built with RTP funding but as for now, it is not easy for me to return to Sarawak very often due to travel restriction regarding Covid-19 because being based in Peninsular Malaysia, I have to go through procedures like any other Sarawakian, even though I am an MP,” he said.