Lina Soo
KUCHING (June 1): Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo wants the State Disaster Management Committee (SMDC) to state its stand on the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Sarawak.
The public is confused, she said, as Sarawak faces two different sets of MCO, that of the Sarawak government and another of the federal government. She lamented the SMDC adviser Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian also added to the confusion with another new word, full MCO or FMCO.
“I call upon the SDMC to clarify if the federal MCO supersedes Sarawak MCO. If Sarawak MCO precedes, since PDRM is federal, who will enforce SMDC MCO? Or if we get slapped with a compound by PDRM in violation of federal MCO, can we turn to SMDC to ventilate?
“We also want to know if it is mandatory to follow federal standard operating procedure (SOP) by updating our MySejahtera every other day or be fined RM1000, or Sarawak SOP does not require us to do so,” she asked yesterday.
Soo said many Sarawakians are struggling and the SMDC is not making life any easier with ambiguous policies and about turns in its chaotic management of Covid-19.
Sarawakians also want to know if the MCO in Sarawak will end on June 11 or June 14, she added.
“When SMDC can clarify once and for all to end all doubts for Sarawakians, I hope SMDC will improve enforcement to make the MCO meaningful and effective as the circuit breaker, as it is meant to be.
“What had contributed to the high number of cases in Sarawak had been half baked SOPS at varying times to placate certain groups of people to score brownie points, and this had resulted in failure to flatten the curve, as each day sets a new record for cases,” she remarked.
She said what is even more alarming is the reach, where the Covid virus has penetrated all districts.
“The Covid spreads at rapid geometric infectivity rate and with poor healthcare in our rural areas, the threat for a humanity disaster remains real, and must be averted,” she said.
The party also called for the vaccination process to be expedited to reach rural folks and curb the limitations of the MySejahtera system.
“It is not really a massive effort or impossible mission just to carry out four million inoculations if the government has the political will to do it.
“In many countries, it is a simple task just to vaccinate two million people in less than a month,” she said.