Today the speaker allowed for the Emergency Motion under Standing Order 18(1) that I submitted to be discusse this matter since it involves matters of public interest with regards to the spread of Rabies in Sarawak and the claims by Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, who leads the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee that the Federal Government has put on hold the sending of Veterinarians to assist in our fight against Rabies.
Thus, in my debate I pushed for a clearer picture of the situation on the ground especially with regards to conflicting reports on the severity of the situation. I also urged for the Federal government to assist and work together with the State Government to come up with a solution and an effective plan to address this issue as this involves lives and is beyond politics. As of now, 10 lives have been lost and that is 10 lives too many from a disease that count have prevented and controlled better.
The Minister of Agriculture and Agrobased Industry, YB Salahuddin Ayub responded on behalf of the federal government and is fully aware of the situation on the ground. He shares the ministries concerns on the matter and also respect the special standing and autonomy with regards to Sarawak especially on matters in the concurrent list of the Federal Constitution.
In response to the issue that was raised, the Minister thus promised that they respond to the situation and will send over manpower and assist with the efforts the curb the disease in the nearest future. On top of that, a total of RM 3 million was allocated specifically for this including cost on vaccines and other necessities. This will be the immediate step that will be taken by the Federal Government on the matter in response to the need of the State and the issue that was raised. If needed, the Minister will seek for more allocations from the Cabinet as they are serious in their efforts to help curb the spread of this disease.
On top of that, RM 18 million has been approved under his Ministry and part of the fund will be used to upgrade the veterinary lab in Kuching so that it is equip to do the required testing to detect the Rabies Virus. Currently all samples are sent to Ipoh for testing, and this step may save up on logistical cost and also enable us to get results quicker since it will be done locally in Kuching.
I want to express my gratitude to the Minister on the quick response on the matter and their concern for the issues faced by us here in Sarawak. This shows that under the Pakatan Harapan government, even though the State is under a different government, we show concern for the interest of the people in Sarawak and welfare of the people will always be our concern.
However, what was interesting to point out, while we get a lot of criticism by members of GPS when this issue broke claiming that the PH Federal Government do not care about our interest with regards to this issue of rabies, none of the Member of Parliament from GPS whether from SUPP, PBB or PDP raised this issue up in parliament requesting for assistance, involves the safety, welfare and interest of the people of Sarawak.