Press Statement By Michael Kong:
Based on the recent spike in Covid-19 positive cases and the new SOPs as of 14.04.2021, I sense SDMC is losing the will power and ability in this fight against Covid-19. We now have an increasing number of Covid-19 positive cases every day. Even with this increase, it does not seem to encourage SDMC to take more stringent steps or procedures.
When the number of cases was much lower, we saw the operating hours of business being limited until 10 p.m. However, despite the high number of cases now, we see the businesses being allowed to open until 12 a.m. At the same time, the government still allow schools to reopen and parents have no choice but to send their beloved children to school for fear of being left behind in their studies.
The result of such illogical SOPs definitely plays a part in contributing to the high number of Covid-19 positive cases. There are numerous reports of Covid-19 cases amongst the school children and/or their family members which then caused many classes to close down. The fact that the entire school is not shut down despite the high likelihood of exposure to a possible close contact has caused much concern amongst parents.
This is a drastic departure from the past practices of SDMC. In the past few months, SDMC had been very cautious when dealing with Covid-19. We saw the SOPs imposed in Sarawak being more stringent than what was recommended by the National Security Council (NSC). On a few occasions, SDMC decided to imposed a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) instead of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) as announced by the NSC. However today, we see a change in the manner SDMC dealt with Covid-19. While the NSC announced last night that five districts (Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri and Meradong) will be put under MCO, SDMC has decided otherwise to continue with CMCO.
The public is all at a loss now with the numerous different stance between NSC and SDMC. While the government continuously implore the people to play their part in this fight against Covid-19, the chaos and uncertainty that NSC and SDMC continue to create are counterproductive. We need the government to stand up tall and take charge during these trying times. I implore SDMC to buck up and be more proactive so that we can all beat this common enemy.
Michael Kong Feng Nian
Special Assistant to YB Chong Chieng Jen
