Sabah's decision to allow Aidilfitri visits for three days is justified, said Kalabakan Member of Parliament, Ma'mun Sulaiman.
Although the decision was seen as inconsistent with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's announcement last Monday which banned Raya visits nationwide, it was made after seeing the situation in Sabah which has a declining number of Covid-19 cases.
“The Sabah government is seeing fewer and fewer cases so to allow the visits is correct.
"It was also made because of the people's insistence and because we have been celebrating like this for two years so the Sabah government made a decision so that the people can have some comfort to celebrate Aidilfitri," he told Malaysiakini yesterday.
He added he was also confident that the people in Sabah were more careful about abiding by the health standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“This (Raya) visiting is up to those who want to do it. The people of Sabah are also more careful about the SOPs. So if they want to visit, they will be more careful. I'm sure, " he explained again.
On May 10, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the enforcement of a nationwide movement control order which will last until June 7.
Among the SOPs set by the federal government was a ban on any open houses and visiting during Aidilfitri.
However, yesterday, Sabah minister for local government and housing Masidi Manjun said Sabah will allow Raya visiting and prayers at gravesites in conjunction with Aidilfitri until the third day.
“The Hari Raya visiting session is limited from 9 am to 9 pm which is two hours for every 10 people and the host must provide the MySejahtera QR code and adhere to the general health protocols.
"The latest, updated SOPs will be gazetted and are effective until June 7," Masidi was quoted as saying by the Sabahpost portal.
Yesterday, Sabah recorded a daily total of 70 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 59,073.
Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Chan Foong Hin also agreed with the Sabah state government's move, noting that the situation in Sabah and the peninsula was different.
“The situation in Sabah is different from the peninsula. The state government (Sabah) had decided to ban the Ramadan bazaars from the first day of the month.
“The R-naught index in Sabah is also 0.9. The case numbers are seen to only hit two digits. So the Sabah government wants to manage the epidemic in its own way, not everyone follows the federal government's decisions," he said.
Despite acknowledging that there was a risk in allowing the Aidilfitri visits, Chan hoped that the people of Sabah would maintain their discipline in complying with the necessary SOPs.
“I have concerns about permitting the visiting for three days and that the relaxation of the SOPs would give false hope that everything has recovered.
"I urge the people to strictly adhere to the SOPs," said Chan. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.