KUCHING, Aug 1: There will be no 33rd Anniversary celebration for Kuching City Day this year as Kuching South City Council (MBKS) is focusing its efforts in combating Covid-19.
According to MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng, since last year, the council has to realign and recalibrate its resources to emphasise and ensure that the safety as well as the health of Kuching residents are adequately protected.
“Therefore, this year, we have decided to do the right thing, by not celebrating the City’s day in excess. Instead, we shall continue to concentrate in our effort to battle Covid-19,” he said in a statement today.
Wee noted, the council also has to make a difficult decision such as closing down premises suspected of being the location of Covid-19 cluster, including imposing stricter precautionary approaches in issuing business licenses.
For example, he said, the closing down of Stutong market, which is the heart and soul of many Kuching residents, and additional requirements as a mandatory criteria in business and commercial license applications.
“These tough decisions were made through careful consideration of all the pros and cons. I assure you, that no decisions were made lightly when it comes to balancing the interest of our residents and the need to swiftly curtail Covid’s virality,” he added.
On the same note, Wee said the council is also adopting the “digital way” through its Qmunity mobile application, including the soon to be implemented auto-tracking system to facilitate the application process in MBKS.
“When facing challenging situations like this pandemic, the only way for MBKS to go is to work twice or thrice harder than before. Not only that we cannot afford to take breaks in between, we have to speed up our efforts in areas like facilitating vaccination operations, quarantine, and enforcing standard operating procedures (SOPs) rules.
“The significance of Kuching’s City Day 2021 will be embraced fully in new norms. We must always remember that it is the spirit of unity, and togetherness of Kuching and its residents that gave this day its meaning,” he said. — DayakDaily
