First of all, on behalf of Sarawak United Peoples’ Party, I would like to extend to all Sarawakians “Happy, Peaceful, Successful and Prosperous Chinese New Year 2021” and wishing everyone good health, lots of happiness and an auspicious Year of the Ox.

Last year, 2020 was a difficult year to everyone due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic which started from Wuhan and it quickly spreaded across the world. Almost every country’s economy suffered a big hit from COVID-19 pandemic and resulted many people lost of jobs, lost of businesses and some were forced to change job just to get by.

Furthermore, the pandemic has completely changed on how we go about our everyday lives as we become more self-aware of our surrounding and avoiding the 3 C’s: crowded places, close-contact setting and confined spaces. The freedom to travel to any part of the world like we used to, is no longer possible with most countries border remain closed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

In fact, this year many Sarawakians staying in West Malaysia, Sabah and in other countries have decided not to come back for Chinese New Year reunion with their family members due to the traveling restriction and the fear of infecting their loved ones. Yes, it is a tough decision but I am sure loved ones will understand that it is for the good of everyone.

As we celebrate the Chinese New Year, we must not forget our doctors, nurses, police personnel, bomba, army, medical workers, health officers, security officers and volunteers, our front-liners who had worked tirelessly the whole of last year and sacrificed a lot to curb the outbreak and to care for our fellow Sarawakians. They are truly the heroes of Sarawak.

Indeed, it is our hope and we pray that this Year will get better for Sarawak and all Sarawakians. We appreciate and thankful to our Sarawak Government will continue to provide financial assistance under Bantuan Khas Sarawakku Sayang (BKSS) to help mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. To date, the Sarawak Government has extended 5 packages of BKSS with total value of nearly RM 3 billion.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic last year, Sarawak Government remain focused to bring people benefits, including development, education, employment, security and housing such as launching of our own television station TV Sarawak, collecting substantial revenues of sales tax on petroleum from Petronas, getting Japanese companies to invest in Sarawak to produce hydrogen, setting up our own International Schools for students from poor family and establishing our own coast guards.

This year the Sarawak Government is set to launch more initiatives and projects to benefit people across the state. Therefore, it is important that we continue to stay united to push forward and win over the pandemic together. We like to believe that celebration of Chinese New Year is a celebration of unity. We are all in a big family united under the name Sarawak.

We have high hope that things will get much better with the arrival of free COVID-19 vaccines to all Sarawakians in the later part of this year. So until then, please continue to stay safe and follow all the SOPs to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Lastly, we would like wish all Sarawakians “Happy, Peaceful, Successful and Prosperous Chinese Chinese New Year 2021 and Beyond”

60

SHARES

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us

Share

Share

Share

Share

Share