SARAWAK Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas has dismissed a news report that claimed that “more than 1,000 people” in the locked-down Sibu district are on the “brink of starvation”.

He said the report, released by Bernama and carried in several print and online media outlets, was merely being sensational and that it got the facts wrong.

“Sensationalising (issues) does not help,” he told reporters at his Covid-19 news conference in Kuching this afternoon.

Uggah, who is also chairman of the state disaster management committee, added skewed and erroneous news reports could later be exploited by politicians to gain political mileage.

The report, purportedly based on claims made by Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) Sibu branch chairman Chambai Lindong, stated that more than 1,000 people in the district are in desperate need of food aid after having lost their jobs or income following the closure of their work places due to the movement-control order (MCO) that came into force on January 16.

The MCO, which was to have ended at the end of the month, has now been extended by another two weeks to January 14.

Lindong said that these people are from rural areas and have been laid off from jobs as general labourers, cooks, waiters, waitresses and helpers at coffee shops, restaurants and bistros, hair salons, electricians, welders, lorry drivers and attendants, shop assistants, security guards and cleaners.

Lindong also said they would not be able to last another 11 days without any assistance. – February 4, 2021.