Conditional MCO defiance: Sabah 'not consulted', Selangor, Sarawak insist decision lawful

Sabah, Sarawak and Selangor have defended their decision not to completely comply with the federal government's decisions on reopening the economy yesterday.

In the case of Sabah, Chief Minister Shafie Apdal (above) said his state government was not consulted by Putrajaya before the decision to reopen the economy was made.

"The federal government must understand the situation in the state and whether we implement (the new) policies immediately.

"What is important for the state government is we need to prioritise saving lives before reopening the economy," wrote Shafie on his Facebook page today.

Shafie said his government will continue to enforce the movement control order (MCO) rules - which mandates the closure of most businesses to avoid public gatherings - until May 12 as scheduled.

"I hope this decision will help business owners in Sabah to fully prepare themselves for May 12," he said.

Last night, International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali had claimed that all chief executives of states have been informed of the federal government's resumption of most business activities from May 4 onwards.

Five other states - Sabah, Penang, Kedah, Pahang, Kelantan and Sarawak - did not comply yesterday.

Penang will resume business activities on May 8 while the other states said they needed a few days to decide.

Meanwhile, Selangor has defended its decision to include additional measures not mandated by the federal government.

Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said his state had the authority to do so.

Selangor has not placed additional restrictions on businesses that could operate.

However, restaurants are not allowed to serve dine-in customers.

Sarawak, which has decided to maintain the status quo and not reopen its economy for the time being, said it has the power under the Ninth Schedule for the Federal Constitution and Section 15 of the Protection of Public Health Ordinance 1998 to do so.

“The state intends to ensure that activities no longer prohibited by the conditional MCO will be engaged in a manner that will not jeopardise the protection of public health.

“The state minister charged with the responsibility for public health can make an order to regulate the movement of people in the infected areas, as well as to prescribe measures to prevent the spread of the disease,” the state disaster management committee said in a statement today.

It added that the state has agreed to reopen its economy in three phases, but the date for each phase would only be announced in the future.

The state government would first refine the standard operating procedures for businesses in the first stage, and then ensure stakeholders and familiar with it and are prepared to implement it during the second stage.

The conditional MCO would come into effect in Sarawak only in the third stage, but green zones would adhere to a different set of rules compared to yellow and red zones.

For the record, the Sarawak government classifies areas with no new cases in the past 14 days as green zones.

Those with 40 or fewer cases are considered yellow zones, while those with more cases are classified as red zones. Unlike the federal government, is has no classification for "orange zones" and such areas would have been classified as a yellow zone instead.

As of May 4, two districts in Sarawak are classified as red zones, namely Kuching and Samarahan.

Nine other districts are yellow zones, while 29 districts are green zones. - Mkini