DEPUTY Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas took a jab at Chong Chieng Jen (DAP-Padungan) here today on his overseas trips when he was Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs under the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government.
Uggah displayed a photo documenting Chong’s official travels, quipping, “I saw you smiling in Shenzhen and Shanghai as deputy minister. Who paid for these trips? Was it DAP?
“Luckily he only stayed in the Cabinet for one year seven months. Otherwise, there might have been more trips.”
The exchange took place after Chong raised a question on the Second Supplementary Estimates of Ordinary Expenditure 2024, which included an additional RM888,000 allocation for the Ministry of Public Health, Housing and Local Government to cover expenses such as travel allowances, rent, professional services, and hospitality.
Speaker Tan Sri Datuk Amar Mohamad Asfia Awang Nassar intervened to clarify the procedural guidelines, citing Standing Order 66(4).
Asfia explained that the Deputy Premier was not required to provide details on specific expenditures but was instead expected to focus on policy-related explanations for the allocation.
“If you go in to the details of every off-field trip, the ifs and the buts, that will be until the cows come home,” he jested.
Uggah went on to say that the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government follows a stringent and clear policies for any official trips abroad.
“We in the GPS government are very responsible government. We follow a clear stringent guideline, well established policy.
“Anyone here who wants to go abroad must get Cabinet approval. It’s not allowed to just go like that, and for the ministry mentioned earlier, all the details are thoroughly reviewed by the State Financial Secretary’s Office,” he added.
