Abang Johari (fourth left) cutting the Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division’s 41st Anniversary cake together with the federation’s president Dato Richard Wee (second left), Zhang (third left), Minister for Local Government and Housing Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian (third right), organising chairman Tay Boon Sin (second right) and Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting (right).

KUCHING: Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg will propose to the Sarawak cabinet on how the state government can help China in facing the Covid-19 epidemic.

This is in appreciation to the government of the People’s Republic of China for its contribution to Sarawak as well as to the world community, he said.

“We sympathise with those affected (with Covid-19), particularly China. We hope this epidemic will end soon because today I heard the World Health Organisation (WHO) said that China manages some success in controlling this virus.

“It is not the concern of the Chinese, but also humanity. We like to express our gratitude to the Chinese government for being transparent and also shared what they have done to the world community.

“I will bring forward to the state cabinet on how we can assist the Chinese government in this issue,” said Abang Johari.

He was speaking during the Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division’s 41st Anniversary and Chinese New Year Dinner here last night.

The Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division also presented a contribution of RMRM107,500 to China’s Deputy Consul-General in Kuching Zhang Yang, raised by the various organisations and associations in Kuching.

Meanwhile on the Covid-19, Abang Johari said Sarawak’s economy will not be greatly impacted by the epidemic because the state government had injected billions of Ringgit to the state economy for infrastructure development.

On top of that, he said Sarawak’s gross domestic product (GDP) does not rely so much on tourism, where some other states in Malaysia were affected because they rely on tourism, particularly those from China.

“In other words we are not so much affected by this virus if you were to consider the tourism sector. Our tourism sector is not that hugely contributing to our GDP.

“But construction and export in terms of volume contribute very much to our GDP growth. For us I think we can safely predict that our GDP growth would be five to six per cent this year,” Abang Johari assured.

This was considering that Malaysia’s economic growth was only at 3.6 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2019, the lowest since 2009, he said.

“Although it is more of a concern for the federal side, it is our concern as well because it will affect us a bit.

“But we will do our part to strengthen our economy by giving emphasis on our construction sector, and also to provide services especially education to our people,” said Abang Johari.