GPS THE NEXT TO WITHDRAW FROM MUHYIDDIN’S SHAKING PERIKATAN? DELIBERATE OR NOT, ‘LAZY MINISTER’ AZMIN STIRS UP A HORNETS’ NEST FOR PM8 – IN ULTIMATE SLAP, SARAWAK SAYS WILL REOPEN ECONOMY ON ITS OWN TERMS – NOT PUTRAJAYA’S

SARAWAK will reopen its economy under the conditional movement-control order (CMCO) but not on Putrajaya’s terms, said Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas.

Uggah said the state is reluctant to rush into reopening its economy due to public health concerns and has unveiled a three-stage strategy on how factories and businesses should resume operations.

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

“We consider economic issues but health is our priority,” Uggah, who chairs the state Disaster Management Committee, said in his daily Covid-19 briefing in Kuching today.

He was responding to senior minister and International Trade and Industry Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali’s threat of legal action against states that do not comply with the CMCO.

Under the eased restrictions announced last Friday, most economic sectors are allowed to resume operations yesterday, provided that businesses follow strict procedures to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Azmin had warned that the CMCO was gazetted under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act and covered all states.

Uggah said Sarawak is also guided by Section 15 of the state’s Protection of Public Health Ordinance, which empowers the administration to “make an order to regulate movement of people in the infected areas, as well as to prescribe measures to prevent spread of the disease” to the state minister in charge of public health.

The state official with the responsibility is housing and local government minister Sim Kui Hian.

Uggah said the law was enacted pursuant to the state’s legislative powers under item 7 of the Concurrent List in the Ninth Schedule of the federal constitution.

He also said Sarawak could not follow Putrajaya’s SOP as the issuance of licenses, business permits and trading licences is a state matter.

“The state will ensure that those activities comply with our local government laws and regulations, including those made under the Protection of Public Health Ordinance,” he said.

Uggah said Sarawak will nonetheless study Putrajaya’s guidelines on reopening the economy but will tailor it to the state.

Fine-tuning standard operating procedures for the economy’s reopening is stage one of Sarawak’s three-step strategy.

Stakeholders are then familiarised with the SOPs in stage two to ensure that they are aware of the peculiarities of the state.

The final stage is monitoring and enforcement of SOPs after businesses and industries reopen.

Uggah said operations in green zones will have different SOPs from those in yellow and red zones.

When asked if stages one and two can be completed in a week, Uggah said: “Keep your fingers crossed”.

He said the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak is fluid and he cannot pinpoint an exact time frame.

Earlier today, Selangor had also defended its constitutional right to not fully adopt the CMCO, while Penang dared the federal government to sue for not following the order, which began yesterday.

THE MALAYSIAN INSIGHT