New Bills to pave the way for Sarawak

KUCHING: Sarawak will be the first state in Malaysia to introduce and table the Ombudsman Bill, 2023 and Environment (Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emission) Bill, 2023.

In announcing this, State Legislative Assembly (DUN) speaker Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar pointed out the significance of the Bills for paving the way for Sarawak.

“Taking the Ombudsman Bill, the brainchild of the Premier, for example, this Ordinance is different from any other as it has power, clauses, and can impose penalties. Whatever complaints against maladministration will be directly taken up to the DUN.

“This Ordinance has been done in Sweden for over 200 years and several others have also practiced it. It can be seen that it cannot be weaponised for personal purposes,” he said.

He said this during the DUN press conference at Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) headquarters here today. The DUN sitting is scheduled to commence from Nov 20 to 29.

Adding on, he also stated that with the said Ordinance, the state would become more transparent and more investment will come in.

“With transparency and the system, people will be more confident in investing in Sarawak.

“At the moment, if you were to complain about maladministration, nothing is done. That is why, we see that this Ordinance is different from the ones we have in the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) and other anti-corruption acts,” he said,

Touching on the Environment (Reduction of Greenhouse Gases Emission) Bill, Asfia noted that it too is first of its kind in the nation.

“From this Ordinance, not only are we able to clean the world, we can also earn revenue through it (capturing the carbon dioxide). With that, Sarawak will be in the forefront in reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.

Adding on, he stated that despite the Bills being tabled and debated on the same day, the DUN will open the floor for debate to all the honourable members with a time limit.