News 📰

Rural schools in Sarawak are included in a national solar programme covering 283 schools across Sarawak, Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia. The 283 is a combined total, not Sarawak's allocation. DayakDaily reported on October 14 that the works minister described a wider JKR programme using both grid-connected and off-grid photovoltaic systems. Its scope also includes 46 federal government buildings, four police border posts and an Orang Asli village. The minister estimated potential energy-cost savings of up to RM115 million a year across the wider initiative. That is an estimate for the programme, not a saving already measured at Sarawak schools. The report does not provide a state-by-state school list. A handover at Wisma Putra on October 14 concerned five projects at six government premises, with combined installed capacity of 779.86kWp and potential annual generation of 1,070MWh. Those figures belong to the handed-over projects; they should not be read as the capacity of all 283 rural schools or as new installations at a Kuching site.

Ba Kelalan's planned RM14.8 million Type 7 health clinic is at the tender stage, with completion projected for the fourth quarter of 2028. It is not yet a new facility residents can visit. The update came in an October 14 reply in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly by the deputy minister of public health, housing and local government, The Borneo Post reported. A separate RM4 million electricity-infrastructure upgrade at Long Semadoh Health Clinic in Lawas includes a solar power system. That project started on July 19, 2026 and is expected to finish in the third quarter of 2027. Together, the two projects account for RM18.8 million, but they are at different stages and have different delivery targets. Earlier repairs should not be confused with either project. Upgrades costing RM450,000 at Ba Kelalan and RM300,000 at Long Semadoh were completed in November and October 2024 respectively. Those completed works are not evidence that the new clinic or the current power upgrade has been delivered.

The RM74 million road upgrade from the Bau–Lundu junction to Bau Town is only one section of the network, not the whole Bau–Kuching dual-carriageway upgrade. Serembu assemblyman Miro Simuh asked the Sarawak government to set out when subsequent phases would proceed during the October 14 state-budget debate, DayakDaily reported. He pointed to the route's daily role in getting people to Kuching for work, classes, healthcare and business. The distinction matters for commuters: progress on the town section does not establish a delivery date for the rest of the corridor. The report identifies the first phase as 3.65km and records a separate announcement in May 2025 approving more than RM500 million for Phase 2 of Jalan Bau Lama. Miro's latest request is for a clearer implementation timetable. It is not an announcement that the remaining phases have started, and the report gives no new opening date for the full route.

A joint operation caught seven crocodiles in the Baram River at Marudi on October 13, following residents' complaints about frequent sightings near their community. The Borneo Post reports that licensed crocodile hunters worked with Sarawak Forestry Corporation personnel. A team spokesperson said the sightings were a concern particularly for fishermen using the river. The team placed 33 baits on Monday afternoon, October 12, and found seven had been taken when it checked them on Tuesday. All seven captured crocodiles were male, the spokesperson said; their reported lengths ranged from 8.3 to 17.2 feet. This is a result from the Marudi stretch of the Baram River, not a Kuching river alert. The report does not identify the exact capture points or announce that the river is now free of crocodiles. Seven captures cannot establish how many remain along the waterway.

Bukit Semuja had received 1,706 Native Customary Rights land titles by September 30, an October 14 reply in Sarawak's assembly reported. The figure is a cumulative total, not a single handover held today. DayakDaily reported that 1,255 titles covering 741 hectares came under the second phase of the New Initiative NCR Land Measurement Programme. Another 451 titles, covering 21 hectares, were issued through the Traditional Village Measurement Programme. Of the first group, 312 titles involved two areas documented by the Dayak Bidayuh National Association, covering 528 hectares. Community documentation must still be verified and validated by the Land and Survey Department before gazettement and title issuance can be confirmed. The reply also recorded 9,653 hectares of perimeter surveys and 2,282 hectares of individual-lot surveys involving 3,069 lots in Bukit Semuja as of September 30. These are different stages of the process: a surveyed area or a recorded lot should not be read as an issued individual title. The department is to hold dialogue sessions with claimants to explain survey guidelines and responsibilities. The report gave no completion timetable for the remaining individual-lot surveys or titles.

Sarawak's assembly approved a further RM120,003,793 in ordinary expenditure on October 14, covering ministry and department services left unfunded or short of funds in earlier 2026 estimates. The Supplementary Supply (2026) Bill, 2026 passed without amendments after consideration by the Committee of Supply and a third reading, DayakDaily reported. This is additional provision for the current year, separate from the 2027 budget tabled on October 12. The expenditure details are set out in Command Paper No. 10 of 2026; the second supplementary estimate is in Command Paper No. 9. Those documents, rather than the headline total alone, identify the purposes of the extra funding. The assembly had already approved RM1.323 billion in extra ordinary expenditure and RM391 million in development expenditure in May. Today's RM120 million approval concerns ordinary expenditure: it is not a new household cash-aid announcement or proof that the full allocation has already been spent.

Muara Lassa Bridge in Mukah Division has won the Large Scale Projects category at the Road Engineering Excellence Awards 2026. The Road Engineering Association of Malaysia award was presented in Kuala Lumpur on October 13, DayakDaily reports. The category covers road engineering projects valued at more than RM100 million; that is an eligibility threshold, not a cash grant announced with the award. Four of the nine shortlisted projects were under JKR Sarawak: Muara Lassa Bridge, Marudi Bridge, Sebauh Bridge and the access road to the southern area of Kuching International Airport. For Kuching, the local connection is the airport access road's place among the finalists. Muara Lassa is the winning bridge in Mukah Division, while Kuala Lumpur was the award venue. The other three Sarawak projects were shortlisted, not reported as category winners.

Sarawak has 500 teaching vacancies despite an overall teacher fill rate of 98.84 per cent, the Education Ministry told Parliament on October 13. The ministry's reply, reported by Bernama through DayakDaily, puts the vacancies at 224 in secondary schools and 276 in primary schools. Secondary-school shortages include Design and Technology and Science specialisations; Mathematics, Music, and Guidance and Counselling have higher vacancy figures in primary schools. The statewide fill rate rose after new teachers and teacher-training graduates were placed on September 30. The reported rates are 98.61 per cent for secondary schools and 98.98 per cent for primary schools. A high aggregate rate does not mean every school or subject has a full complement. Separately, the ministry asked the Education Service Commission in September to appoint 317 reserve candidates for vacancies nationwide. That figure is not a promise of 317 new teachers for Sarawak. As of September 30, 3,537 of the 4,417 reserve candidates from the 2025 intake had received appointment offers, including 114 candidates from Sarawak. Those are candidates' origins, not a count of postings to Sarawak. Interviews for the 2026 open-market recruitment began in May and are expected to finish in November; the report does not allocate new appointments school by school.

Batu Kawa's new Pines Square Market is planned with a mini collection centre to help farmers handle surplus produce, alongside space for traders and food outlets. The RM15 million project broke ground on October 13. The Borneo Post reports that Lee Onn Group is fully funding the single-storey market on 3.43 acres of Padawan Municipal Council land. Plans include 270 market stalls, 18 food court outlets and a lock-up facility. The collection centre is intended for produce arriving during abundant harvests, including items that cannot be sold immediately or need further processing. That gives the project a role beyond retail shopping: it is also meant to support growers supplying the Kuching area. The reported overall provision has been reduced from the original 400 stalls to 300 to accommodate parking and the collection centre. Plans provide 286 car spaces and 28 motorcycle spaces. The market is to be handed to Padawan Municipal Council for management, with the council handling stall applications. A completion date and application opening date were not given in the report; the groundbreaking does not mean the market is already trading.

Schools under the Serian, Sri Aman and Lubok Antu district education offices will switch to home-based learning on October 14, but three scheduled assessments and examinations will continue. The Sarawak Education Department's October 13 statement, reported by The Borneo Post, orders the temporary closure of all primary and secondary schools under the three offices because of haze. Teachers and support staff may work from home. The exceptions are the Special School Entry Assessment (PKSK), Malaysian Higher Religious Certificate examination (STAM) and the Primary 6 Dual Language Programme assessment (UP-DLPS 6). The closure notice is therefore not a cancellation notice for candidates sitting those assessments. Families in the affected districts should follow their school's specific instructions for home-based learning and examination arrangements. JPN Sarawak says further assessment instructions are on its official Facebook page. The general closure notice does not replace those candidate-specific instructions. The closure is specifically for October 14 in the named districts, not a blanket shutdown of all Sarawak schools. The federal education minister separately confirmed the three districts in a statement reported by Bernama through DayakDaily on October 13.

Bintulu Port Holdings has launched a shared digital procurement marketplace connecting its subsidiaries with more than 250 suppliers. The platform replaces paper-based quotations with catalogue-based purchasing and links to the group's existing BePRO system. Buyers can compare prices and delivery lead times, while orders are tracked from purchase order through goods receipt to invoice. Under the arrangement reported by The Borneo Post on October 13, Koperasi Pelabuhan Bintulu Bhd (KOPELA) acts as the sole master vendor and Borong runs the technology. The contract lasts two years, with an option for a further year. Bintulu Port says the suppliers already onboarded include 99 existing registered bidders and 153 Sarawak-based vendors. For local businesses, the change is a digital catalogue channel to reach the group's buyers, not a promise that every registered supplier will receive an order. Specialised maritime services, including vessel supplies, bunkering and maintenance, are described as the next expansion step. They should not be mistaken for services already available on the new marketplace.

Sarawak has approved 143 hectares in Meradong for hybrid paddy cultivation through a 20-year collaboration with Onemas Agriculture Sdn Bhd. The land arrangement, involving the Land Custody and Development Authority (LCDA), was reported on October 13 by DayakDaily, citing TVS. A sub-lease memorandum ceremony between LCDA Agri Business Sdn Bhd and Onemas Agriculture took place that day. The agreement is a step towards bringing the Meradong land into cultivation. A precise planting start date was not announced. The food industry minister said early hybrid-paddy trials showed yield potential of up to 11.08 tonnes per hectare, compared with about 1.5 tonnes under traditional planting methods. That is a trial-based projection, not a recorded commercial harvest from the newly approved land. Sarawak's stated rice self-sufficiency level is 21 per cent, against a target of at least 60 per cent by 2030. The Meradong land approval provides a specific site within that wider effort. Its contribution will depend on cultivation and actual harvests, not the acreage announcement alone.

Sarawak's UP-DLPS 6 assessment begins on October 14, with all marking moving online for the first time this year. Government primary-school pupils in Primary 6 will sit the English, Science and Mathematics assessment on October 14 and 15. The education ministry's statement, reported by DayakDaily on October 13, puts the expected results date at November 23. The change is to how answers are marked, not an announcement that pupils will take the assessment remotely. Families have two dates to keep separate: this week's assessment and the later release of results. The ministry says online marking should improve efficiency and transparency and allow more detailed analysis of pupils' strengths and areas for improvement. Those are the aims of the new system; its performance will become clearer when the first set of results is available.

A Bahasa Melayu pass is not a compulsory condition for UEC holders entering Sarawak's four participating institutions or qualifying for the Free Tertiary Education Scheme, Deputy Minister Annuar Rapaee said on October 13. The education, innovation and talent development deputy minister told the state assembly that applicants must still meet the academic and course-specific requirements set by their chosen institution. He described the general degree-entry requirement as five UEC Grade Bs, with extra prerequisite subjects for some programmes. The participating institutions are Swinburne Sarawak, University of Technology Sarawak, Curtin University Malaysia and i-CATS University College. This is not a blanket promise covering every university or every course: students must enter one of the 64 courses covered by FTES. Once admitted to an eligible course, UEC holders do not need a separate FTES application, he said. English remains important because it is the main teaching language for most programmes. Some institutions have their own English-proficiency requirements, including IELTS or CEFR-based criteria. Applicants should therefore check the exact programme requirements rather than assume that the clarification removes all language or subject conditions. As of June 30, the minister said 192 UEC students had tuition coverage under the scheme: 137 at Swinburne Sarawak, 33 at UTS, 21 at Curtin Malaysia and one at i-CATS.

Sarawak is assessing 1,059 applications to create community-leader and village-chief positions. The review includes requests from Lundu, but the applications have not yet been approved. Deputy Minister in the Sarawak Premier's Office (Law and Native Customs) Jefferson Jamit Unyat gave the update in the legislative assembly on October 13. The reply addressed a request submitted through the Lundu District Office in 2021 for an additional community-leader position in Sematan, where the existing Penghulu oversees a large number of villages. Sarawak currently has 7,710 official Community Leader and Village Chief positions, known collectively as KMKK: 671 community leaders and 7,039 village chiefs. Kuching Division accounts for 641 positions, including 129 in Lundu District. These are the existing posts, not jobs newly approved under the current review. Population growth, settlement patterns and the size of the area covered are among the factors assessed when creating posts. A village, longhouse or settlement needs at least 20 households to qualify for a village-chief position. For communities awaiting a decision, the update confirms that applications remain under scrutiny; it does not provide an approval date for the Sematan request or a timetable for the full batch.

Being able to find an archive entry online is not the same as being able to read the document. That distinction was raised in Sarawak's legislative assembly on October 13. Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong called for a public-friendly platform that lets students, researchers and residents explore historical records without having to visit the library in person. She was debating the Sarawak State Library (Amendment) Bill 2026. Her proposals go beyond scanning: records should be accurately catalogued, kept in formats that remain readable, securely backed up and covered by disaster-recovery arrangements. She also sought priorities, targets and timelines for digitising historical documents, photographs and publications. Yong acknowledged the existing Sarawakiana digital collection and Records and Archives Reference Service, but asked how readily people can access the contents rather than just catalogue descriptions. Copyright, personal information, ownership and legitimate confidentiality restrictions would still need to be respected. These are proposals raised in the debate, not an announcement that a new access platform or recovery system has already been launched. For readers outside Kuching, the practical issue is whether more records can eventually be studied remotely, subject to those legal limits.

Night-time drivers on the Kuching–Samarahan Expressway face temporary road closures near the Sarawak Heart Centre roundabout during ART station bridge works. Sarawak Metro's notice, reported on October 13, covers two overnight work periods from October 12 to 14. Work runs from 10pm to 3am the following morning, meaning the second period falls on Tuesday night, October 13, into Wednesday, October 14. The operation is to install a fascia truss at the pedestrian link bridge for the Sarawak Heart Centre ART station. The restriction concerns sections near the roundabout, rather than a reported all-day closure of the entire expressway. Drivers using this stretch late tonight should follow the temporary traffic-management arrangements, signs and posted speed limits. For clarification before travelling, the KUTS hotline is 1300-88-5887 during office hours.

Three more private hospitals are planned for Kuching, representing about RM1.45 billion in committed private healthcare investment, the tourism ministry says. Kuching currently has five private hospitals. The additional three were described as expected market entrants in a ministerial speech at the Borneo Global MediTourism Congress and Expo at BCCK on October 12, according to DayakDaily. The report does not give their opening dates or identify the sites, so the planned expansion should not be read as three new hospitals already accepting patients. The ministry reported RM109.9 million in Sarawak healthcare-traveller revenue for January to June 2026, against RM90.6 million in the same period last year. Traveller numbers rose from 46,793 to 48,480. These are statewide figures, not revenue or visitor totals for Kuching alone. The local business opportunity extends beyond treatment. The speech highlighted accommodation, transport, food and tourism services used by patients and accompanying family members. Opening schedules and actual hospital capacity will determine when the planned investment becomes additional services on the ground.

SALCRA's headquarters in Kota Samarahan is now named Menara Alfred Jabu, honouring the former deputy chief minister who helped establish the land-development authority. Premier Abang Johari Tun Openg announced the change at SALCRA's Golden Jubilee Dinner at Imperial Hotel on October 12, DayakDaily reported. The building being renamed is Wisma SALCRA in Kota Samarahan, not the hotel where the announcement was made. The citation presented at the dinner says the State Cabinet approved the name on September 24. Alfred Jabu Numpang moved the Bill to establish the Sarawak Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority in the state assembly on March 24, 1976; the authority was established on May 1 that year. For anyone dealing with SALCRA, Menara Alfred Jabu is the new name of its existing Samarahan headquarters. The announcement concerns a change of name, not a newly opened office or a move to another town.

A school-cleaning task became the basis of SMK Long Bedian's winning national STEM project: a camera identifies waste, then opens the bin for the appropriate category. The Baram school took first place at the Petrosains Tech4All 2026 National Level Competition in Kuala Lumpur on October 12, DayakDaily reported from the organiser's release. The competition was held at Petrosains, The Discovery Centre—not at the school in Sarawak. Called S.O.R.T., the project combines Arduino coding, a camera and AI tools including Teachable Machine to distinguish cans, plastic and paper. Its stated purpose is to make sorting easier for the school's cleaner while helping students practise waste separation. That is a practical school prototype, not evidence that an automated recycling system has been rolled out across Baram. The report gives no tested accuracy rate or wider deployment plan, so the award should not be read as a claim that the system can identify every type of rubbish. The national competition brought together 40 students and 20 teachers from ten schools across six states. For Sarawak's STEM learning, the distinctive result is the use of coding and image recognition on a familiar local task, rather than technology presented only as a classroom exercise.