Wong (left) and Chang (right) listen to a briefing on the progress of the ACD at SMC multi-storey carpark, presented by council chairman Clarence Ting.
SIBU: It is time for the government to put aside all politics and pool all its resources to reinforce Sibu in the fight against Covid-19.
In making this call, Pelawan assemblyman David Wong pointed out that Sibu folk had been going through a tough time over the past few weeks, yet instead of showing any improvement, the situation had just gotten worse.
“We’re willing to work with the government. Yes, privately they are open to us, but it should not be done privately – it must be on the official platform with all the political parties.
“Pool all the resources together, and we will see what can be done together in reducing the number of Covid-19 cases,” he told reporters here Saturday, believing that the situation could be addressed better if there were more decisive actions taken in the first place.
He said one of the shortcomings was the delivery of the test results, which was ‘too slow’ – resulting in the delay of contact-tracing.
By then, said Wong, the virus was already on the move.
“We need test results as soon as possible and do contact-tracing immediately after that; otherwise, it would be a waste of time and resource. All of the things that are being done are just superficial,” he pointed out.
Giving the example, he believed that Sibu could do an average of 2,000 swab tests per day, but Sibu Hospital could only do about 1,000 tests daily, with the rest of the samples having to be outsourced.
This, said Wong, caused a massive backlog.
The assemblyman also said he was in favour of another enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) if the situation continued to deteriorate.
“However, the government must provide all the resources including financial assistance to those small businesses to ensure that they could cope during this difficult time,” he pointed out.
Expressing similar sentiments, Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang said leaders from the Democratic Action Party (DAP) were all willing to work with the government in view of this ‘being everyone’s fight’.
“This is not a political fight.
“I think when you have more heads together in a meeting, there would be more suggestions, better ideas and we can see things from a fuller perspective,” she pointed out.
Chang also believed that the government needed to act faster and more decisively.
Taking the Tiong Hua Zone as an example, she said the government would have had the graph of Covid-19 cases earlier and thus, it should make its decision to do a targeted swab- test exercise for the area early, just like the one conducted for Sibu Jaya.
“The government should be more prompt in its action because this fight is about time; it’s a race versus the virus against time, to see who is faster.
“Nevertheless, we have come to this stage; we actually want to come and work together for the sake of the people.”
Chang said the DAP had always been in contact with the authorities, and had to give them credit for being open although such connection had been done in private.
“Whatever things that we have asked, they (authorities) would inform us.
“At the moment, we’re the one who would look for them first, and we thank them for being open with us,” she said.
Chang also commended the move to impose active case detection (ACD) on Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) multi-storey carpark – an area under the Tiong Hua Zone.
She suggested that if possible, the Ministry of Health could conduct ‘door-to-door’ swab-testing, instead of setting up a centre and asking the people to go there for swabbing.
She also hoped that the ACD would continue to be conducted in different parts across Sibu, until the number of Covid-19 cases here had gone down.
“We need an aggressive, more decisive approach.
“In the meantime, I hope that the people could be cooperative, because this is not just the task of the authorities and the government – it is everyone’s fight.
“Please observe the standard operating procedures,” she said.