State minister Julaihi Narawi said intervention and early awareness could be provided to young students about the importance of such infrastructure.

He said this approach had already been initiated at Sekolah Seni Malaysia Sarawak in Kuching and SMK Sematan.

“We admit it is difficult to totally eliminate vandalism. What we can do is to reduce the occurrence of such activities through early education,” he said after visiting the Digital Economy Centre (PEDi) in Kuala Tatau here today.

Julaihi said vandalism to utility infrastructure, such as water supply, electricity and communications, is among the major challenges faced by the ministry.

“For example, in one case, we found a communication tower that had yet to become operational had all its copper parts stolen,” he said.

On Oct 12, the ministry announced that it would consider using the latest technology to combat vandalism of state utility infrastructure, which has resulted in losses amounting to millions of ringgit.