File photo showing a temple.
KUCHING (July 25): The Malaysia Buddhist Association Sarawak branch is letting their members decide whether to open their temples for devotees after the Unit for Other Religion’s (Unifor) recently permitted the reopening of non-Muslim houses of worship.
Its president Dato Sri Dr Tay Chin Kin said devotees who visit temples would usually spend only about 10 to 15 minutes inside a temple and interaction between people would be reduced to the minimum during this pandemic period.
“Our temple can usually accommodate 700 people but now we are limiting to only about 40 to 50 visitors at any time. With strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place, it should not be a problem,” he said, referring to the association’s own temple at Jalan Tun Abdul Razak.
Tay felt the temple premises should be safe for devotees to seek spiritual guidance and support as long as social distancing and mandatory wearing of face mask are adhered to.
“Some temples in the city are quite small and normally they will only allow a small number of devotees. So, we leave it to them on whether they want to open their premises or not,” he said when contacted.
Tay said some bigger temples now will only allow 20 to 30 visitors at any point of time and he was confident there would not be any untoward incidents of Covid-19 outbreak at the premises with the latest SOPs being strictly enforced.
Unifor had decided to allow non-Muslims houses of worship to open from 6am to 8pm at a 50 per cent capacity or a maximum of 50 individuals, whichever is lower. Their secretariats were also allowed to open from 8am to 5pm with only 50 per cent of workforce.
At the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple located at Jalan Rock here, the temple president Shankar Ram said devotees will have to follow the SOPs when they visit for limited purpose.
“Even with SOPs in place, we still have to be cautious. The state government has been doing its very best to contain the Covid-19 outbreak and fighting the pandemic relentlessly,” said Shankar when contacted.
He commended State Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas and advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian for their effort in making Sarawak one of the top places worldwide today with the highest vaccination rate.
On Saturday, Association of Churches in Sarawak chairman Archbishop Simon Poh had strongly urged churches in areas under Enhanced Movement Control Order not to open due to risks posed by Covid-19.
Poh, however, expressed his appreciation to Unifor for allowing religious houses to open with strict SOPs.
Bishop of Anglican Church in Sarawak and Brunei Datuk Danald Jute also said Anglican churches and chapels in the state will remain closed due to the rising Covid-19 cases and the more infectious Delta variant.