DayakDaily readers weigh in on CMCO extension

DayakDaily 24-hour Facebook poll on “Should the Sarawak Government follow the federal government’s decision in extending MCO to June 9? created on May 10.

By Lian Cheng

KUCHING, May 12: A majority of Sarawakian pollers prefer to take the preventive step of extending conditional movement control order (CMCO) until June 9 despite the Covid-19 curve in Sarawak flattening.

This is reflected by DayakDaily readers in a poll entitled “Should the Sarawak Government follow the federal government’s decision in extending MCO to June 9?”

Of the more than 3,100 who voted within the 24 hours, more than 2,600 voted ‘yes’ while 382 said ‘no’ which meant 88 per cent opted for an extension while 12 per cent were against such a decision.

The 24-hour Facebook poll was created by DayakDaily from May 10 at 6.23pm and concluded on May 11 at the same time.

As of 11.56 pm of May 11, of the 43 comments posted, almost all readers, including Marudi assemblyman Datuk Penguang Manggil wrote a simple “yes” as their response, but none went on to explain why they voted for the extension.

DayakDaily created the poll with the intention to gauge the preference of the public with regards to the extension of CMCO to June 9 in view that there were dissenting voices advocating for the lift of CMCO as coronavirus-related death rates and positive cases were seen to be stabilising in Sarawak. While there were no new Covid-19 cases on May 11 in Sarawak, case tallies leading up to May 11 were single digits with one case on May 10 and two cases on May 9.

The argument to lift CMCO was that the longer the restriction movement order, the longer it would take for Sarawak’s economy to be revived.—DayakDaily