KUCHING, May 5: ‘Rumah sewa’ or rented houses in Bintulu may face demolition if owners continue to defy standard operating procedures (SOPs), says Bintulu MP Dato Sri Tiong King Sing, giving a final warning as such premises including longhouses have become super spreader sites for many Covid-19 cases and clusters detected.
Tiong emphasised that this will be the final reminder as he had made repeated appeals to the public to not rent out units to new tenants from outside Bintulu district given the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak.
“There was one case (whereby) the tenants of a ‘rumah sewa’ have repeatedly crossed districts to work but tested positive after returning.
“This had resulted in the ‘rumah sewa’ being locked down a total of three times. Why do the people continue to stubbornly dismiss the SOPs?” he lamented in a Facebook post today.
Tiong, who is also the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the People’s Republic of China, pointed out that the authorities have repeatedly called on the relevant parties to cooperate with Covid-19 prevention efforts including not renting out units to people from outside the district, monitoring the flow of people, and maintaining sanitary conditions.
“Businesses will be subjected to rigorous inspections. If the ‘rumah sewa’ still do not cooperate (and comply) with these SOPs, they will face immediate demolition by the authorities.
“It would not be tolerated any further and the landlord cannot blame the authorities for taking stricter actions,” he warned.
Tiong was also infuriated to learn that there were a number of irresponsible persons who have tampered with the rt-PCR test reports used to apply for inter-district travel passes and even falsifying police reports.
In addition, he said, there were still groups of people who continue to violate the SOPs as observed during roadblock checks where many road users claimed to be travelling to work but hesitated to provide details of their workplaces.
“It is very difficult to understand why the public cannot exercise some self-discipline and self-sacrifice to stay home and not go out unless necessary for the sake of their families’ health.
“This is extremely infuriating and disappointing. We are facing a life-and-death situation on a pandemic scale but yet we continue to encounter behaviours (sic0 like this which threatens our efforts to battle the coronavirus,” he added. — DayakDaily
