Uggah presents the data during the Covid-19 update in Kuching.
SIBU (Feb 17): The government will not be distributing food aid during the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) except for the longhouses and areas that have been placed under lockdown, said Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
Noting that the government has spent a lot of money on food aid, Uggah, who is Deputy Chief Minister, said food aid distribution is unnecessary during CMCO as people can go out to work and their farms during this period.
“But there was a distribution issue in Sibu during the Movement Control Order (MCO) recently. Some complaint that they did not get the food aid while some got the aid twice, causing dissatisfaction among the people.
“Due to this issue, we decided not to enforce MCO in Sibu, Kanowit, Selangau, Song and Kapit.
“We decided to stop MCO and move on with CMCO so the people can go out to work and they do not need to worry about food,” he said during Facebook Live Session hosted by Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Clarence Ting today.
The session was also joined by Senator Robert Lau, Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) chairman Sempurai Petrus Ngelai, Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) Sibu chairman Chambai Lindong and SMC councillor Augustine Merikan.
Chambai had earlier asked Uggah on duplication in food aid applications.
On this, Uggah said that the government may have to review their distribution and delivery system in the future so that it will be more efficient and effective.
Meanwhile, he said that the government had conducted community policing courses in October last year to educate longhouse chiefs on Covid-19.
Despite so, Uggah said the longhouse chiefs of 214 longhouses affected by lockdowns had problems uniting and educating their charges to comply with standard operating procedures (SOP) at the beginning of lockdown.
“There were unwanted incidents but I hope we can learn from our past mistakes and not to do what we should not do.
“We should follow the SOP not because we are worried of getting a compound but it is because we want to make sure the longhouse community not infected by Covid-19,” he said.
He took the opportunity to urge Dayak non-governmental organisations to assist the government to educate the community to comply with the SOP in effort to fight Covid-19 spread in the longhouses.
“We did very well in the first and second wave of the pandemic.
“In fact, we were admired by other states but in this fourth wave the spread is like peat fire,” he said.