KAPIT, Sept 10 — The Malaysia Day celebration, which will be held in Sarawak for the second consecutive year on September 16, should be a platform to show the state’s racial harmony and unity, said Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi.

He said that unlike other places in the country, where racial and religious issues always sparked unnecessary debate, the diversity in Sarawak had never been a problem among the people.

"This is something very significant to me. Despite our differences, we can still sit down and eat together since we, in Sarawak, chose to form Malaysia together with Malaya, Singapore and Sabah,” he said today when commenting on the celebration to be held in Sibu.

Speaking at a Sarawak Alternative Rural Electrification Scheme (SARES) Solar Power System title handover ceremony for the Kapit and Bukit Mabong districts here, he said Sarawak had been able to maintain the strong unity among its people until today under the strong governance of Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).

Nanta, who is also Kapit Member of Parliament, rubbished talks that the federal government did not care about the people’s welfare.

He said one prime example of the government’s effort in taking care of the people was in its effort to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

"What our government has done so far is far better than (many) other countries. We have a low number of Covid-19 deaths and treatment is given to every one of those infected,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said a total of 880 households or 6,550 dwellers from 32 villages in the Kapit and Bukit Mabong districts now enjoyed 24-hour electricity supply following the implementation of the RM42 million SARES.

"Through SARES, which is an initiative funded by the state government through the Sarawak Ministry of Utilities and implemented by Sarawak Energy, we are expediting electrification to remote areas which cannot be connected to the state’s electricity grid,” he said, adding that more than 3,100 households from 142 villages in the Kapit Division now had access to free electricity. — Bernama