A DAY after the Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow and state executive councillors had pledged to contribute their June salary to the Penang Covid-19 Fund, a total of 15 assemblymen and 10 Penang Island City Council (MBPP) councillors have stepped forward to contribute part of theirs.
State Local Government, Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said for now 15 of the 40 assemblymen in the state have pledged to contribute 30% of their salary to the fund.
He thanked them as well as the MBPP councillors for committing a portion of the earnings to the fund at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic is raging.
“I believe that more elected representatives and councillors (from MBPP and Seberang Perai City Council) will be joining in as well.
“I understand that many Penangites are facing a difficult period now, especially with the current total lockdown. Their livelihoods have been severely affected ever since last year.
“Therefore, the state is doing its best to help out in these challenging times,” he told reporters after conducting a spot check on standard operating procedures (SOPs) compliance at Taman Free School Market today.
This is the second time Chow and his state exco are contributing their salaries to the fund since last year.
On top of that, Jagdeep said the state government has approved RM3 million for mass Covid-19 screening programme in all 40 state constituencies.
He said 1,000 people from each constituency would be selected from the programme, which means a total of 40,000 people would be screened for the first phase.
He said the programme was important and he expressed hopes that all elected representatives would support it.
“The mass screening programme will be implemented in a targeted approach and the assemblyman of each constituency should know better the group of people to be screened.,” he added.
Jagdeep, who is also Datok Keramat assemblyman, also donated 1,000 packets of basic necessities to the needy households in his constituency.
Northeast district police chief ACP Soffian Santong, who was present, called on the public to adhere to SOPs all the time.
“Don’t only follow SOPs only when policemen or enforcement officers are around. Please do it for the sake of your health and safety.
“We need to break the chain of infection,” he added.
Story by Edmund Lee
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi