Welcoming the new dates for SUKMA 2020 in Johor set on March 6 to 14 next year

We welcomed the decision by the Malaysia Games (Sukma) Supreme Council in setting March 6 to 14 next year as the new dates for the Sukma XX Johor 2020. Personally I felt that this was the correct decision in view of the current situation where our country is still facing the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Sarawak athletes can also heave a sigh of relief with the new dates because it gives them more time to train since they are now facing various constraints after having to comply with the Movement Control Order (MCO) which was extended for until May 12.

Looking at how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the country and the various constraints we are facing while the MCO is in force, I think that is a good decision on the new dates for Sukma XX made by the Federal Youth and Sports, Minister Dato Sri Reezal Merican Naina Merican after having chaired a Sukma Supreme Council meeting on April 23.

Furthermore, the setting of the new dates was also a right move in view of the athletes who were facing constraints in their training in preparation for Sukma. They are unable to train as normal because they have to comply with the MCO directive from the government and we do not want them to take the risk of being exposed to Covid-19.

However, the new dates would be discussed again in October if there were any changes to the situation. In the same meeting, the council had also agreed to hold the Para Sukma Johor 2020 from Apr 5 to 10 next year.

Another consolation is that athletes who have been listed in the long list before January 2020 are also allowed to participate in Sukma XX and participating states have until June 2020 to make changes of athletes who were injured during training or unable to obtain release letters from their employers or institutes of higher learning.

All contingents are also required to submit their fully completed registration forms with athletes names (shortlist) to the Sukma Johor 2020 Secretariat no later than December 31 2020. With the decision, all athletes and backup athletes will continue with their own training programmes drawn up by their respective coaches during the MCO period.

Tiada sebarang penganjuran acara pelancongan berskala besar tahun ini

Saya mengucapkan terima kasih kepada rakan rakan Media di Astro Awani kerana sudi menemuramah mengenai keputusan Kerajaan Negeri Sarawak dimana tiada sebarang penganjuran acara pelancongan berskala besar diadakan pada tahun ini.

Sebagai Menteri Pelancongan, Kesenian dan kebudayaan Sarawak, keputusan ini ialah bagi mengelak risiko jangkitan COVID-19 terutama melibatkan jumlah pengunjung yang ramai.

Malah, walaupun pada satu ketika negara kita merekodkan kes sifar COVID-19, ia bukan bererti kita boleh terus menjayakan sesuatu acara pelancongan. Masih terdapat risiko dan berbahaya.

Kita turut menyedari kesannya kepada industri pelancongan Sarawak namun langkah ini adalah wajar diambil bagi memastikan keselamatan orang ramai diutamakan. Walau bagaimanapun, saya berharap agar pemain industri tempatan dapat terus bertahan dalam memastikan sektor pelancongan negeri mampu berkembang seperti sebelum ini.

Harapan saya kepada mereka yang berada dalam industri ini untuk bersabar dan dapat kekal dengan apa yang berlaku kerana akan ada jalan pengakhirannya. Kita perlu ingat bahawa penularan wabak ini bukan hanya melibatkan sektor pelancongan tetapi semua sektor lain.

Sementara itu, saya turut menyatakan bahawa sektor pelancongan tidak akan melonjak naik secara mendadak dalam tempoh yang singkat pasca COVID-19.

Ini kerana, pandemik itu membeirkan impak yang besar kepada semua sektor bukan sahaja di Malaysia tetapi juga di seluruh dunia.

Kalau kita nak mengharap industri pelancongan terus melonjak (pasca COVID-19) ianya tidak akan berlaku dan apa yang penting kita fokus kepada pelancongan domestik dahulu. Kementerian saya akan turut berbincang dengan pemain industri terjejas bagi mendapatkan maklum balas termasuk mengumumkan pelan rangsangan pelancongan bagi memperkukuh industri itu.

Pada 13 Mac lalu, perkara ini pun telah diumumkan secara rasmi disidang akhbar yang diadakan di pejabat saya dan terima kasih sekali lagi diucapkan kepada rakan rakan media yang membuat liputan dimajlis itu.

Sambutan hangat terhadap Siri 2 Sarawak Youth Stay-At-Home eSports Challenge 2020

Syabas diucapkan kepada Kementerian Belia dan Sukan Sarawak #MYSS yang bekerjasama dengan Sarawak eSports Association #SESA di atas sambutan hangat terhadap penganjuran siri kedua acara Sarawak Youth Stay-At-Home eSports Challenge 2020 yang berlangsung pada April 20 - 21 ini.
Selamat maju jaya juga kita ucapkan kepada semua pasukan yang akan berentap dalam kategori PUBG MOBILE yang pastinya rancak dan menarik.

Selamat menyambut bulan Ramadan Al-Mubarak & selamat mengerjakan ibadah puasa

Di kesempatan ini saya ingin mengucapkan selamat menyambut kedatangan bulan Ramadan Al-Mubarak kepada rakan rakan yang beragama Islan dan selamat mengerjakan ibadah puasa di bulan yang penuh keberkatan ini. Semoga amalan ibadah kita diterima oleh Allah SWT dan mendapat pengampunan dari Nya. Amin

Success of inaugural Sarawak Youth-Stay At Home eSports Challenge 2020

Kudos to Ministry of Youth and Sports #Sarawak #MYSS and Sarawak eSports Association #SESA for the success of organising the recent “Sarawak Youth-Stay At Home eSports Challenge 2020” which has received overwhelming response from participants from all over Sarawak. This has inspired us to organise similar events for our youths for them to interact with their peers via Online games and activities which observing the Movement Control Order (MCO).
We would like to continue with these initiatives for the benefits of our local youths to ensure that they will continue to stay at home in order to comply with the current situation caused by #Covid19 outbreak. We congratulate all the participants who have made it to the Top 10 positions during the Grand Finals of FIFA 2.0 Online game as well as the PUBG competitions.

Decision on which sectors to operate during MCO to be decided later

The Sarawak gov­ern­ment would make its own de­ci­sion on which sec­tors could op­er­ate dur­ing the move­ment con­trol or­der (MCO) pe­riod after the State Disas­ter Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee #JPBNS studied the mat­ter. I have told our media friends that we have taken note of the de­ci­sion of the fed­eral gov­ern­ment, but Sarawak will need to study first and de­cide based on the state's needs. The decision on which sec­tors would most likely be al­lowed to op­er­ate dur­ing the MCO pe­riod would de­pends on feed­backs from the peo­ple. We do not have to fol­low the fed­eral gov­ern­ment's de­ci­sion 100 per cent on this. For ex­am­ple, the open­ing of bar­ber shops has been the talk of the town now, which per­son­ally I think should not be al­lowed to open for the time be­ing. But we will make the de­ci­sion that is suit­able for Sarawak. On that note, local con­trac­tors deal­ing with wa­ter and elec­tric­ity sup­plies could con­tinue to op­er­ate dur­ing the MCO pe­riod. The po­lice and the armed forces will al­low them to op­er­ate. There is a lot of interest on this matter after the Min­istry of In­ter­na­tional Trade and In­dus­try #Miti had recently announced that sec­tors al­lowed to op­er­ate durign MCO would in­clude bar­ber shops, reg­is­tered tra­di­tional medicine ser­vices, hard­ware shops, elec­tri­cal and elec­tronic shops, op­tometrist shops, and fullser­vice laun­dry shops. It’s Min­is­ter, YB Datuk Seri Mo­hamed Azmin Ali said com­pa­nies in the ad­di­tional sec­tors listed, could sub­mit their ap­pli­ca­tions to Miti be­gin­ning April 13, from 9am. He said all ap­pli­ca­tions must be made on­line via www.miti.gov. my and only ap­pli­ca­tions that were com­plete and ful­filled the con­di­tions would be pro­cessed. Be­sides ad­her­ing to the en­hanced terms and guide­lines, op­er­at­ing per­mits would also be sub­ject to com­pli­ance with the re­quire­ments set by the Min­istry of Health #MoH and guide­lines by other rel­e­vant en­force­ment agen­cies from time to time. Datuk Seri Azmin Ali also mentioned fail­ure to com­ply would re­sult in the im­me­di­ate re­vo­ca­tion of the op­er­at­ing per­mit, and le­gal ac­tion taken against them.

Sarawak gov­ern­ment will soon reveal the new pro­ce­dures in deal­ing with Per­sons Un­der Sur­veil­lance (PUS) cases

On behalf of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee #JPBNS I have recently announced that Sarawak gov­ern­ment will soon reveal the new pro­ce­dures in deal­ing with Per­sons Un­der Sur­veil­lance (PUS) cases, who are presently undergoing quar­an­tined in local hotels. 
This is because there is a short­age of ho­tel rooms to be used to quar­an­tine and iso­late PUS cases around the state as more are ex­pected to re­turn to Sarawak from overseas or from other states dur­ing the Ra­madan pe­riod. I have mentioned this to our media friends on our State Government efforts to implement the new pro­ce­dures for those quar­an­tined in des­ig­nated ho­tels, tak­ing into ac­count the feed­backs we got from peo­ple, and the short­ages of ho­tels to house these PUS cases.
I have also mentioned that one way to deal with this would be to al­low the PUS cases to go home if their first test re­sults were neg­a­tive because maybe af­ter two or three days be­ing quar­an­tined in their ho­tel rooms, when their re­sults come back neg­a­tive, they are allowed to go home, but they must con­tinue their home-quar­an­tine for the re­main­der of the 14-day pe­riod. 
On that note, the Sarawak Mul­ti­me­dia Au­thor­ity (SMA) is going to or­der more smart wrist tags for PUS cases due to a short­age in the supply which also could not meet the in­creas­ing num­ber of PUS cases at the moment. In the mean­time, we are ad­vising those clas­si­fied as PUS to strictly abide by the Movement Control Order (MCO) as well as the quar­an­tine or­der or oth­er­wise the po­lice will take ac­tion against them.

Kudos to all NGOs and private companies which have supported our front liners

On behalf of #Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee #JPBNS I would like to thank the var­i­ous non-government or­gan­i­sa­tions #NGOs and private com­pa­nies that had come for­ward to present con­tri­bu­tions to the state government and lo­cal au­thor­i­ties.
Their con­tri­bu­tions came in the form of cash as well as per­sonal pro­tec­tive equip­ment (PPE).
Among the com­pa­nies, or­gan­i­sa­tions and NGOs that con­trib­uted cash do­na­tions for the state govern­ment to­talling RM10.9 mil­lion were Yayasan Sarawak, Weida Group of Com­pa­nies, Ca­haya Mata Sarawak Ber­had (CMS), Ta Ann Group of Com­pa­nies, Naim Group of Com­pa­nies, Solid Oil Palm Plan­ta­tions Sdn Bhd and Sarawak Cham­ber of Com­merce.
The lo­cal au­thor­i­ties that re­ceived the cash do­na­tions amount­ing to RM300,000 from Weida Group were Kuch­ing South City Coun­cil, Kuch­ing North City Com­mis­sion, Padawan Mu­nic­i­pal Coun­cil, Kota Sa­ma­ra­han Mu­nic­i­pal Coun­cil, Sibu Mu­nic­i­pal Coun­cil and Miri City Coun­cil.
Mean­while, Chec Con­struc­tion (Malaysia), which is a sub­sidiary of en­gi­neer­ing gi­ant China Har­bour En­gi­neer­ing Co Ltd, do­nated an as­sort­ment of PPE to JPBN to as­sist in fight­ing the Covid-19 pandemic. Among the PPE do­nated were 5,000 iso­la­tion gowns; 1,000 med­i­cal gog­gles; 50,000 face masks; and 1,000 sur­gi­cal gowns. Thank you so much for your generous contributions and donations which mean a lot to our front liners.

Kilang pemprosesan rumbia dibenarkan dibuka dari jam 7 pagi hingga 7 petang

Bagi pihak Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Negeri Sarawak #JPBNS, saya telah mengumumkan bahawa semua kilang-kilang pemprosesan rumbia dibenarkan dibuka dari jam 7 pagi hingga 7 petang.

Selain itu, jawatankuasa yang telah bermesyuarat hari ini turut memutuskan bilangan penerbangan dari Labuan ke #Miri akan dikurangkan semasa tempoh Perintah Kawalan Pergerakkan #PKP kepada tiga kali seminggu iaitu pada hari Isnin, Khamis dan Sabtu.

Manakala penerbangan dari #KualaLumpur-Miri-Kuala Lumpur akan diadakan hanya dua kali seminggu iaitu pada hari Khamis dan Ahad.

Syukur alhamdullilah, sehingga hari ini, pematuhan arahan #PKP adalah sebanyak 96.3 peratus.Pada Isnin (6 April) katanya, polis menangkap 35 orang di Sarawak kerana melanggar PKP dan 51 orang dituduh di mahkamah.

Sementara seramai 12 orang lagi dipenjara dan 29 orang didenda.

Pada kesempatan ini juga, kita ingin mengucapkan ribuan terima kasih kepada seramai 4,140 petugas #PDRM yang telah menjalankan #PKP dan mereka telah dibantu oleh seramai 1,220 agensi bantuan seperti Angkatan Tentera Malaysia #ATM (681), #RELA (397), Angkatan Pertahanan Awam Malaysia #APM iaitu seramai 63 anggota dan #Polis Sukarelawan #PVR (79).

Disini saya juga menyeru kepada orang ramai yang pernah menghadiri acara atau mesyuarat dengan mereka yang positif COVID-19 diminta untuk tampil membuat saringan di pusat pemeriksaan yang disediakan.

Kita amatlah berharap agar mereka yang hadir atau terlibat dalam acara ini untuk hadir membuat saringan. Mereka yang datang bukan untuk ditangkap tetapi kita mahu mereka menjalani saringan kerana kita tahu mereka juga mempunyai keluarga dan kita tidak mahu ia terus merebak dikalangan mereka.

Ini termasuk mereka yang tinggal di kawasan yang diisytiharkan Zon Merah dan kini terdapat kemudahan makmal yang digunakan untuk ujian pengesanan COVID-19 di Kuching berbanding sebelum ini dimana kita perlu menghantar ujian pengesanan ke Kuala Lumpur yang mengambil masa tiga hingga empat hari keputusan. 

Namun memandangkan setiap hari adalah amat penting bagi ujian ini maka di bandaraya Kuching terdapat dua makmal iaitu di Hospital Umum Sarawak #HUS dan Universiti Malaysia Sarawak #UNIMAS.

Dengan dua makmal berkenaan kita dapat mengetahui keputusan ujian dalam masa 24 jam dan buat masa ini, dua makmal masih memadai untuk kita.

Pada hari ini juga kita telah menerima sumbangan dari Yayasan Sarawak dan juga beberapa badan bukan kerajaan #NGO yang berupa Peralatan Perlindungan Diri #PPE untuk para petugas di barisan hadapan.

Kita turut berduka cita dengan 2 kematian akibat wabak Covid19 pada hari ini

Kita turut berduka cita dengan dua kes kematian akibat wabak #Covid19 pada hari ini dimana ianya menjadikan jumlah kematian di negeri #Sarawak menjadi sebanyak 12 kes. Kematian ini adalah dari Hospital Umum Sarawak #HUS
Mangsa kematian kesebelas merupakan seorang lelaki berumur 72 tahun dari Taman Sebah Height, #Kuching dan beliau telah dikesan positif #COVID_19 pada 28 Mac lalu.
Beliau telah dimasukkan ke wad Hospital Umum Sarawak dan meninggal pada 4 April jam 1.37 petang tadi.
Mangsa kematian kedua belas (12) merupakan seorang lelaki berumur 53 tahun dari Batu Kawa, Kuching. Beliau telah mendapat rawatan di Hospital Umum Sarawak pada 31 Mac lalu dan disahkan positif #COVID_19 pada 02 April. Beliau telah meninggal dunia pada 05 April pada jam 12.39 pagi. Setakat ini belum dipastikan kes telah mempunyai kontak dengan orang yang telah disahkan positif COVID-19.
Manakala terdapat 10 kes baharu positif COVID-19 dan ini menjadikan jumlah bilangan kes di Sarawak sebanyak 264. Daripada 10 kes baharu tersebut, 9 kes ini dirawat di Hospital Umum Sarawak dan 1 kes dirawat di Hospital Sibu.
Pada hari ini juga sebanyak 50 kes baharu Person Under Investigation (PUI) dilaporkan menjadikan jumlah keseluruhan sebanyak 1,629 kes. Daripada jumlah itu, 1,304 kes adalah negatif dan 61 kes PUI masih menunggu keputusan makmal.
Bagi pihak Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Negeri #Sarawak saya menyeru agar orang ramai terus mematuhi arahan Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan #PKP #MCO demi membendung penularan wabak #Covid19
Ikuti siaran langsung sidang akhbar yang telah saya pengerusikan bagi pihak Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Negeri Sarawak petang tadi. Sila klik https://www.facebook.com/ukascomms/videos/223463229011224/

Keadaan dibahagian Kuching masih terkawal walaupun dalam Zon Merah

Terima kasih diucapkan kepada rakan rakan #Media kita yang sudi hadir di sidang akhbar harian yang dianjur oleh Jawatankuasa Pengurusan Bencana Sarawak #JPBS yang berlangsung petang tadi.

Dalam sesi soal jawap yang diadakan tadi, saya berkata kerajaan negeri #Sarawak belum memutuskan untuk melaksanakan Perintah Kawalan Pergerakan Diperketatkan atau #PKPD dibahagian #Kuching yang mencatatkan jumlah tertinggi positif pandemik #Covid_19 padai ketika ini.

Walaupun bahagian #Kuching berada dalam zon merah dan telah mencatatkan 163 kes positif dengan lima kematian, namun situasi disini masih terkawal.

Saya sebagai timbalan pengerusi JPBS telah mengumumkan bahawa satu lagi korban pandemik #Covid_19 berlaku di #Sarawak menjadikan jumlah kematian di negeri ini kini meningkat kepada 10 orang.

Mangsa terbaharu itu seorang lelaki berusia 56 tahun disahkan meninggal dunia di Hospital Umum Sarawak (HUS) pada 4.16 petang, semalam.

Allahyarham berasal dari Kampung Demak Laut dimasukkan ke Hospital Umum #Sarawak pada 30 Mac yang lalu dan disahkan positif Covid-19 pada 1 April lalu dan disahkan meninggal dunia petang semalam.

Pada 4 April ini sebanyak 15 kes baharu positif Covid-19 dilaporkan dan semuanya menerima rawatan di HUS, sekali gus menjadikan jumlah kes di Sarawak kini sebanyak 254 kes sejak kes positif pertama dilaporkan pada 13 Mac lalu.

Saya turut mengesahkan, selain dua Timbalan Ketua Menteri kita yang sedang menjalani kuarantin di rumah ketika ini, tiga lagi Menteri turut menjalani proses yang sama.

Dua Timbalan Ketua Menteri yang menjalani kuarantin di rumah itu ialah Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas dan Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan, manakala tiga Menteri pula ialah Menteri Kebajikan, Kesejahteraan Komuniti, Wanita, Keluarga dan Pembangunan Kanak-Kanak, Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah; Menteri Perumahan dan Kerajaan Tempatan, Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian dan Menteri Utiliti, Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom.

Selain itu, seorang lagi anggota Kabinet Sarawak iaitu Menteri Muda Pengangkutan Sarawak, Datuk Dr Jerip Susil serta tiga Ahli Parlimen Sarawak disahkan positif pandemik Covid-19.

Mengenai tangkapan ingkar arahan #PKP pula, seramai 20 individu ditahan dalam tempoh 24 jam mulai 8 pagi semalam hingga 8 pagi hari ini menjadikan jumlah yang ditahan sepanjang penguatkuasaan PKP adalah seramai 401 orang.

Who is YB Chong Jen to suggest Sarawak Government to use its reserves in time of Covid19 pandemic

I thank our friends from #DayakDaily who has interviewed me on the recent suggestion made by the opposition particularly Sarawak’s  #DAP chairman, YB Chong Chieng Jen on the existing  Movement Control Order or #MCO which have affected all of us including our local business communities.

In fact, #Sarawak would have plenty of money if both DAP secretary-general YB Lim Guan Eng and YB Chong have kept their promises in the election manifesto to pay our state what its dues such as 20 per cent oil royalty and returning to us the 50 per cent tax collected.

In pointing this out, I asserted that they both had failed to fulfill these promises when both of them were in the Federal Cabinet during the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government tenure.

If YB Chong and YB Lim have not lied to Sarawakians and have given to Sarawak what they had promised in their Election Manifesto and in the DUN assembly, i.e. oil and gas royalty to Sarawak be increased from 5 per cent to 20 per cent and 50 per cent of taxes collected from Sarawak be returned to Sarawak, I’m sure Sarawak Government now would have lots more money to assist Sarawakians including the SMEs.

YB Chong and YB Lim as Finance Minister were in the Federal government for two years and they have all opportunity to assist Sarawak and commit their pledges but they chose not to. In fact, YB Chong had lied to all Sarawakians by not fulfilling their election pledges.

And now YB Chong suddenly becomes very Sarawakian at heart again. It’s better for him to shut up at this trying time and let the new Federal Government and State Government address this global Covid-19 problem the way they think best.

I have asserted that the top priority now was to make sure the implementation of MCO would prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus. It’s a temporary measure. It’s only two weeks that the MCO is imposed and YB Chong is already saying many SMEs are going to close shop and go bankrupt. Don’t be rhetoric and politically over-sensationalising things. The government is not dishing out monies like Santa Claus. Lots of the perks and benefits are meant to reduce burden of entrepreneurs, SMEs and companies too.

Has YB Chong even bothered to check all this or is he trying to ride on that call by some SMEs and running down what the has done? Who is YB Chong to suggest that the State government use its reserves to assist SMEs due to MCO as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic when all of us have undertaken the measures to mitigate the current situation.