By Peter Sibon
KUCHING, Mar 31: To relieve the people of psychological pressure and to ease business back to normalcy, Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Jemut Masing has suggested that the Movement Control Order (MCO) should be gradually lifted from areas which have been identified as green zones in Sarawak.
He said he will be meeting with the Kapit Disaster Management Relief Committee in Kapit on Friday (April 3), to get the necessary feedback on the MCO, which he can recommend to the State.
“Since Kapit Division is considered as green zone area by State Disaster Management Relief Committee, we want to keep it that way by controlling all road access to Kapit Division, i.e. from Sibu and Bintulu, including express boat access from Sibu, so that partial economic activities can be arranged by the Resident’s office.
“So, after the 3rd April meeting, I will then seek advice from State Disaster Management Relief Committee, whether MCO can be relaxed so that the business community can slowly take place, but with very stringent measures as required by MCO,” Masing told DayakDaily today.
Besides Kapit, 18 other towns and districts declared green zones from Covid-19 pandemic are Sri Aman, Asajaya, Baram, Bau, Belaga, Dalat, Daro, Julau, Kanowit, Julau, Matu, Maradong, Pakan, Saratok, Song, Tatau, Lubuk Antu and Selangau.
Meanwhile, on border security, Masing, who is also the chairman of Border Security said that most of the entries along the border with Kalimantan have been deployed with security personnel since the partial lockdown was announced on March 18.
“A few new areas, mostly ‘jalan gajah’ in Ulu Rejang Development Agency (URDA) areas like Long Busang, Tapak Megah and Long Singut in Kapit Division will be monitored by PGA personnel for the whole month of April,” he said.
A total of 876 security personnel from the army, police and customs are involved in the security measures along the border during the MCO period.—DayakDaily
