Serian District Office denies not cooperating in federal govt programmes

KUCHING: The Serian District Office yesterday refuted allegations that it did not cooperate in the implementation of programmes initiated by the federal government.

A statement issued yesterday said the office had assisted in carrying out this year’s Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) programme as well as the i-Suri programme under the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

“The function and role played by the district office in the BSH programme is more towards assisting the 2019 BSH Registration and Payment Organising Committee in carrying out its activities.

“The committee is headed by the Sarawak Federal Secretary Office and the main secretariats are the Inland Revenue Board, Sarawak Federal Treasury and Bank Simpanan Nasional,” it stated.

The statement pointed out that the district office had been requested to prepare the necessary manpower and venue for the registration and payment process; lending equipment such as tables and chairs, internet and WiFi services (if needed); electricity supply, as well as carry out awareness programmes and ad hoc duties requested by the committee.

It further said the office had also advised the committee to contact the local organising committee for the BSH programme that was held on Feb 19 at Serian Community Hall, to instead be held at Tebedu Community Hall since a large part of the BSH recipients were coming from Tebedu district.

“This was to avoid overcrowding at Serian Community Hall, with the construction of Pan Borneo Highway underway and the lack of parking spaces at the area.

“The district office was also informed through a phone call between Sarawak Administrative Officer Ivon Endrew and 2019 BSH Registration and Payment Organising Committee officer Abu Kassim Ramli that the programme was to be held at Serian Community Hall since it was reserved earlier by the organising committee through Serian District Council.”

It further said that due to time constraint, the committee had sent out letters informing BSH recipients that the change of venue for the programme was not possible.

“On safety and traffic control concerns, the district office understood that the committee had written to Serian District Police Headquarters and Serian District People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) so that they would station their personnel at Serian Community Hall.

“Seeing that much of the correspondence was conducted by the organising committee and after being informed on the progress of the BSH programme, the district office took the initiative to organise talks on Feb 15 for all its staffers who would be assisting the programme.”

It highlighted that during the preparation work at Serian Community Hall of Feb 18, Abu Kassim gave a brief talk on the floor plan, duties and other important matters to district office personnel.

“Abu Kassim also said that individuals registering for BSH needed to fill and submit the forms and supporting documents to the nearest Inland Revenue Board office, as the documents needed to be verified by the Inland Revenue Board for it to be completed.

“However, no police and Rela personnel were stationed on Feb 19 at the venue during the BSH programme, resulting in 14 district office personnel having to assist the committee to control the situation besides handling works related to the BSH programme such as management and filling of forms.”

The district office also stressed that it was their personnel who played a crucial role in controlling the crowd, and that some of its personnel also assisted in distributing, receiving and taking BSH forms for members of the public.

The lack of manpower, it added, resulted in difficulties and delay in the filling of BSH forms.

As the place was overcrowded, a male senior citizen fainted and was rushed to Serian Hospital after experiencing breathing difficulties while another female senior citizen blacked out and was treated by Civil Defence Force (APM) personnel.