Dr Sim (fourth right) in conversation with Shankar (left) at the court lobby at the end of the proceeding.
KUCHING (Feb 6): The High Court here was told today that the Kiraan Isi Rumah (KIR) in Padungan, Pending, Batu Lintang, and Kota Sentosa would help in providing specific information regarding the Covid-19 food aid in 2020.
Lawyer Michael Kong, representing Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen, said the information would assist the court to determine matters which are important for the case, namely whether everyone had indeed received food aid from the government in a timely manner.
He said this in when cross-examining Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian in the defamation suit filed by Dr Sim against Chong.
According to Kong, DAP had produced documents to show that there was a lack of food aid as at April 9 and April 13, 2020.
Therefore, he asked Dr Sim to produce the number of KIR and the total number of people in the four constituencies as at 2020.
“The KIR which we are asking PW13 (Dr Sim) to produce may work both ways. If the KIR is low, then it shows that the Sarawak government is doing a good job, whereas if the KIR is high, then it shows that there is a delay in rolling out the food aid to the intended people for the four constituencies.
“So, we are only asking for a document so this court is fully informed on the entire matter and not only to boost our case,” he said.
Kong said Dr Sim, as someone holding the second-highest position in the state Cabinet, has all the resources and contacts to obtain this document.
“We are only asking that he makes the necessary arrangement with his office to prepare this document for us.
“Meanwhile, while his office is doing the necessary, I am more than happy to move on with my next line of question and only deal with the KIR when the document is produced,” said Kong.
In response, Dr Sim said he had asked his office to contact Department of Statistics Malaysia (DoSM) but there was no information on the KIR as well as the breakdown for the four constituencies.
“The Sarawak food aid is given out to those in need. The population and the KIR does not correlate with the population who needs the food aid and hence the speed of food aid rolling out.
“In fact, there are families who asked for food aid more than once and they were given the food aid more than once,” said Dr Sim, who is Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) president.
He also said that the presentation of these documents was unrelated to his position as Deputy Premier.
In 2020, Dr Sim filed the defamation suit over Chong’s allegation that the deputy premier had failed to manage food aid funds worth RM800,000 meant for four opposition-held state constituencies – Padungan, BatuLintang, Pending and Kota Sentosa.
Dr Sim is represented by lawyer Shankar Ram who is assisted by Yu Ying Ying and Russell Lim, while Chong is represented by Kong, Chong Siew Chiang and Brenda Chong.
The defamation suit heard before judge Dr Alwi Abdul Wahab continues today.
Kong (left) poses with his legal team.