(Sarawak, Wednesday): The Sarawak State Assemblyman for Kidurong Chiew Chin Sing call on the Federal Fire and Rescue Department to strengthen its scope of services so as to serve the public even more efficiently.

The Federal Fire and Rescue Department was known as The Federal Fire Department in the past. At that time, the responsibilities of the Fire Department was mostly fire fighting. Since the later part of the nineteen nineties, after the amendment in Parliament of adding the Rescue Department, the scope of works had also been broadened.

The reason was to keep up with a changing  society where the problems faced by the public were getting more and more complex . Very often special help would be necessary to solve the problems.

That is why the Federal Fire and Rescue Department got to solve the problem of the hornet nest faced by the residence of Taman Kemena, Tg. Batu road, immediately, so that the matter would not  get worse and eventually hurt the folks living there.

The Headquarter people  of the Federal Fire and Rescue Department in Kuching got to understand and instruct the department here to take immediate action. The Headquarter should give support  if the Bintulu Department  here do not have the special trained personnel or facilities to handle the hornets. She can even send in personnel from other areas to Bintulu  to solve this and other similar thorny problems here or anywhere.

Further more The  Federal Fire and Rescue Department should not  charge the general public  any more fee for such services  because all government servants salary, including the officers of the Fire and Rescue Department, are paid by the tax payers money. So the salary is already paid, why is there the add on service charge.

After all  the hornet event did not happen because of any deliberate act. What can the house owner do about the hornets nest which was built by the hornets on the tree planted by the Bintulu Development Authority on the road side outside the fence in Taman Kemena. The tree is on a public place.

If it is said that the hornets had come because of the tree which was planted by the Bintulu Development Authority, what if one day a thief climbed up the tree, who should then go after the thief. The officer concerned in  Bintulu Development Authority had said that he would do the best  he can to arrange to solve the problem.

The people hold high hopes and respect for rescue departments and being  national rescue departments they carry the holistic mission to rescue. The rescue departments should live out the high spirit of willing to help other people at all time.

I call on the Federal Ministry of Housing to  look into this matter.

(04/10/2006)