SARAWAK Deputy Chief Minister James Masing has slammed banks designated to disburse the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN) and Bantuan Sara Hidup (BSH) aid for not “thinking outside the box” on how to handle the expected rush to withdraw the financial assistance.

“Bankers must think out of the box to solve out of the box happenings,” he said.

Masing was sharing the frustrations and anger of people in the state’s rural hinterland who in the past week had to spend hours in a long line outside the police station nearest to their longhouse to get their inter-district travel permit and then spend an equally long time queuing outside the bank to get their money.

Some reportedly had to make repeated trips to the bank before they eventually got their financial assistance.

In the small rural area of Pakan, 283km from Kuching, long lines of people were reported to have been forming outside the local police station for days to get travel permits to Sarikei, where the banks are, a distance of 50km to 80km.

Masing, an assemblyman from the rural area himself, said recipients have slim chances of withdrawing the funds even if they reach the banks as they are only operating from 10am to 4.30pm.

He said the banks should have drawn up procedures to handle the rush.

Adding to the frustrations, Masing said only a few bank outlets are open, and with minimal staff.

He criticised the Finance Ministry for not allowing mobile banks to serve rural areas that have no banks or internet.

Masing said the country is in an unprecedented situation and standard protocols must adapt and change accordingly.

“Therefore, we must take unprecedented steps. Standard operating procedures (SOP) must be put aside,” he said, adding that “we have never done this before” should not be an excuse. – April 24, 2020.