KUCHING (March 15): The Federation of Chinese Associations Sarawak has proposed to the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) to allow the number of people involved in the coming tomb-sweeping activities to be increased to 12.
Its president Dato Richard Wee said they had proposed to Unifor to allow a maximum of 12 people to observe the Qing Ming Festival at cemeteries come April 4.
He, however, said the federation was merely forwarding its proposal to the Unifor, which should be making an announcement tomorrow (March 16) on the standard operating procedures (SOP) for tomb-sweeping activities.
“Based on last year’s SOP, the number of people allowed for tomb-sweeping activities was five. This year, the number has been increased to 12, based on the SOP announced for Peninsular Malaysia.
“From the feedback the federation has gathered, we also proposed to Unifor to increase the number from five to 12,” he told The Borneo Post’s sister paper See Hua Daily News here after a meeting with Unifor director Richard Lon today.
Qing Ming Festival or Tomb-Sweeping Day is an occasion for Chinese families to clean the tombs of their ancestors as well as to pray and make ritual offerings at the cemeteries.
Wee stressed that the Unifor would announce the latest SOP after a discussion with the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).
He said even though the federation had proposed the Unifor to increase the number of people allowed for tomb-sweeping activities to 12, it encouraged the communities to conduct prayers in the respective homes rather than going to the cemeteries.
According to him, cemeteries are open areas where the authorities may find it hard to stop people from carrying out the tomb-sweeping activities.
He hoped that those who insisted on going to the cemeteries would comply with the SOP set by the authorities.
In a statement today, the federation said it had received several public enquiries as to whether they could have the tomb-sweeping activities at the cemeteries.
The federation said it did not encourage the public to go to the cemeteries given that the number of daily Covid-19 cases remained high.
According to the federation, several cemetery managements have decided not to open for tomb-sweeping activities, instead, they have engaged some companies to do the cleaning job.
“We cannot stop people from going to the cemeteries for the tomb-sweeping activities but we appeal to them to strictly adhere to the SOP for the safety of all,” added the statement.
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