SIBU: All MPs should evaluate the offer from Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and vote with their conscience during the confidence vote, says Robert Lau Hui Yew.
KUALA LUMPUR - Sarawak, once considered one of the states that had managed the Covid-19 outbreak well, has been shattering records in infections amid Malaysia s recent spike.
The East Malaysian state was long regarded as a model in managing the pandemic. It has had a rigorous testing regimen and mandatory quarantine imposed on people who arrived in the state from all other parts of Malaysia since last year.
At the end of 2020, Sarawak had recorded only 1,117 Covid-19 infections and 19 deaths, around 1 per cent of Malaysia s total infections, which stood at 113,010 on Dec 31.
Even when most of Malaysia entered a movement control order (MCO) in January - a strict partial lockdown - Sarawak, whose response to the pandemic has been largely driven by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), was one of the few states that was not placed under it.
Wednesday, 21 Apr 2021 03:35 PM MYT
SIBU, April 21 Senator Robert Lau has urged Putrajaya to return healthcare autonomy to Sarawak following the debacle over the Health Ministry’s (MoH) delivery of inoperational used ventilators to aid hospitals in the state in the war against Covid-19.
He said this must include the fair distribution of the federal annual budget to cater for the whole healthcare operation in Sarawak, reiterating a call he had made twice in his debate on the national budget in the Senate.
“Looking ahead, I believe the only way for a fairer relationship between Sarawak and the Federal government is for full autonomy over healthcare to be returned to Sarawak,” he said in a statement.