Bye Bye Immigration Autonomy - Kong Pun Boh Yong

 Bye Bye Immigration Autonomy - Kong Pun Boh Yong

 

Sarawak will urge Putrajaya to allow foreign workers to enter the state legally from next month to counter the influx of illegal immigrants who bring the risk of Covid-19 with them’ ..quote Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/02/19/uggah-swak-hopes-putrajaya-will-allow-foreign-workers-to-return-in-march/

The incoherence with which the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) handles the Covid.19 pandemic in Sarawak mirrors the way the federal government handle the pandemic through out Malaysia and can rightly be described as a recipe for disaster of titanic/gigantic proportion. It is characterised by u-turns and decisions mainly made based on political considerations rather than medical decisions that are backed by science. We have no doubt members of the committee include medical professionals and scientists but the measures taken thus far are more like political decisions designed to cater to the needs or to the whims of interest group.

CM Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari recently said that Sarawak was fortunate to have autonomous power that aids the government in the fight against the Covid.19 virus in the state. Unfortunately for him and for the GPS government, numbers do not lie. In the first week of Feb 2021 Sarawak was among the 6 states with the highest infectivity rate in Malaysia and with 73 Covid.19 related deaths (out of 1056 deaths nationwide).

https://www.theborneopost.com/2021/02/04/health-d-g-sarawak-covid-19-infectivity-rate-at-1-03-sixth-highest-in-malaysia/

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2021/02/21/malaysias-daily-covid-19-cases-rises-to-3297-today-perak-tops-list/1951639

https://www.newsarawaktribune.com.my/sarawak-fortunate-to-have-autonomous-powers/

Now DCM Douglas Uggah is suggesting that the federal government should allow foreign workers to return to Sarawak, to revive the business sectors that were dependent on foreign labour before the onset of the Covid.19 pandemic. We have no doubt that if foreign labour is allowed back, industries like the plantation and construction sectors will be rejuvenated. But we are not exactly in normal times now and we are still far from being in normal time. First of all, there is the emergency that was declared by the Yang DiPertuan Agung on the 12th Jan 2021 and that is scheduled to be uplifted only in August 2021. Are we to think that Sarawakians are required to be subjected to the terms of the emergency and the successive movement control orders in the bid to contain and eradicate the Covid.19 virus while foreigners with doubtful vaccination status are allowed to freely enter Sarawak. Should not the Sarawak’s government be exercising its autonomous immigration powers to seal Sarawak’s borders and keep potential Covid.19 virus spreader at bay?

What then is the point of demanding for complete autonomy from the Malaya-driven federal government when you are unable to effectively use the autonomous power that you already have to protect  Sarawakians?

It is rather like keeping the airport in Sibu opened while Kuching and Miri were closed, knowing fully well that there are insufficient quarantine facilities in Sibu. Now Sibu and Kapit in the central region of Sarawak has the highest daily new cases. This is also the result of pandering to the whims of small interest groups when it is the greater common good that the Sarawak government should focus on.

When the Sarawak government did not object to the federal government’s decision to reopen  schools next month it has opened Sarawak to the possibility that all schools in Sarawak will be potential new clusters and super spreader of the virus.

Jialak.

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2021/01/08/covid-19-teachers-returning-to-sabah-and-sarawak-will-be-tested-before-schools-reopen

But as in everything else, there is always some good in a bad situation. In this case, the Sarawak’s government has shown itself to be incompetent in managing when it matters most. The Sarawak government was ill-prepared to contain the spread of the virus. It was ill-prepared to mitigate the adverse effects of the pandemic on our education system and on Sarawak’s students. And, it was and still is completely unable to play its so-called kingmaker’s role to the full benefit of Sarawak. These are weaknesses that are now laid bare for all Sarawakians to see and these weaknesses have also smashed the myths that only the BN government (now renamed as GPS) can govern Sarawak and only they know what is best for Sarawak.

There is a viable alternative to GPS and the time to change will soon be upon us.