KUCHING, Nov 8 — Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of Coronavirus Disease, 2019 (Covid-19) Bill will be one of the five government bills to be tabled at next week’s sittings of the Sarawak state legislative assembly, speaker Datuk Amar Asfia Awang Nassar said today.
He said the bill will be tabled by deputy chief minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is also the chairman of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), tomorrow.
“Members will be given the maximum time to debate on this bill and other bills,” he told reporters after attending Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) pre-council meeting at Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) headquarters here.
Asfia said Uggah will outline the details of the Covid-19 bill when he tables it tomorrow.
The other bills that will be tabled are the Supply (2021), Supplementary Supply (2020), Local Authorities (Amendment) Bill, and the Constitutition of the State of Sarawak (Amendment).
He said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg, who is also the state Finance and Economic Planning Minister, will table the Supply Bill or the state Budget 2021 tomorrow and it will be debated on November 11 and 12.
He said Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian will table the Local Authorities (Amendment) Bill tomorrow while state Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Karim Rahman Hamzah will present the Constitution of Sarawak (Amendment) Bill on Tuesday.
Asfia also said that apart from the chief minister, the three deputy chief ministers- Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, Tan Sri Dr James Masing and Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan – will wind up the debate on matters raised during the debate on the state Budget.
“Originally, it was supposed to be the chief minister alone to wind up the debate on behalf of other ministers, but at this pre-council meeting, it was decided that his three deputies will also wind up the debate,” he said.
He said other state ministers will not wind up the debate to shorten the duration of the state assembly’s sittings from eight to five days.
He said the time of sittings will remain unchanged, from 9am to 6pm.
Asfia said the State Assembly has rejected a motion received from Kota Sentosa State Assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen as it was received after the due date.
He added a notice to table the motion was received on November 2 while the due date was on October 30.
He said State Assembly Secretary Pele Peter Tinggom has informed Chong of the rejection.
He said Chong’s motion was to urge the state government to form a select committee to oversee the role and management of Petroleum Sarawak Berhad (Petros).
