Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas said the federal government had also agreed to pay the allowance of the JKKK chairmen in full.

Last year, it was reported that the Pakatan Harapan (PH) government had established Federal Village Community Management Councils (MPKKP) to replace the JKKK in the country.

The PH government had also decided to reduce the allowance of the chairmen of MPKKs nationwide (JKKK in Sarawak) to RM500 from RM900. However, the Sarawak government decided to maintain the RM900 monthly allowance.

After the fall of the PH government following political turmoil in February, the Perikatan Nasional (PN) in July announced that the MPKKP would be improved upon and rebranded as the JPKK.

The JPKK, it said, would be enforced in 10 states, including Sarawak.

Sarawak had resisted the implementation of MPKKP and JPKK and insisted on adopting the JKKK system instead.

“We have disagreed with it and the current federal government has allowed us to maintain the JKKK system. However, the system is named differently in the Peninsular,” he said at a press conference today.

He said there was no reason for the Sarawak government to change the name of the JKKK.

He added that the JKKK system in Sarawak was well established with the appointments made by the state government.