S’wak DCM supports call to start a Kapit Division CIQ

KUCHING, Aug 6 -- Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister II, Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing, has supported the call to set up a Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) post at Tapak Megah in the Kapit Division, which is 20km from the border with Kalimantan in Indonesia.

He said the post was necessary to stop illegal border crossings and the smuggling of goods like petrol and sugar to Long Nawang, a settlement in Kalimantan with a population of 5,000. 

“Bearing this in mind, the establishment of a CIQ in Tapak Megah can also control and reduce the entry of illegal immigrants to Sarawak,” he said in a statement issued today after receiving a courtesy call from Sarawak General Operations Force (GOF) Brigade Commander, SAC Mancha Ata.

Hulu Rajang member of Parliament, Datuk Wilson Ugak Kumbong, had also suggested at Dewan Rakyat recently that a CIQ should be built in Tapak Megah, as well as at Long Singgut in Baleh, to curb illegal border crossings.

He said that the three main dams in Sarawak -- Bakun, Baleh and Murum -- were located in his constituency, which is not far from the Sarawak-Kalimantan border, thus requiring the creation of the CIQs to improve security.

Masing, who is also Sarawak’s Infrastructure and Port Development Minister, said that the effort towards sound social demographic change needs to begin as soon as possible to address the migration issue with people from Long Singut and Pandora Camp near Sungai Baleh.  

“Before the Baleh Dam operates, those residing in these low-lying areas need to relocate and migrate. The upgrading of the existing logging road that connects Long Singut to Mantan Camp will enable the movement from the Kenyah settlements at Long Singut and Pandora Camp to Long Busang,” he said.

From there, these people can proceed towards the Bakun Hydroelectric Project and Belaga, he added.

-- BERNAMA