KUCHING, May 28: The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC)’s announcement to implement a Movement Control Order (MCO) on Sarawak at this time of the pandemic is like “closing the stable door after the horse has bolted”.
This is the view of Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo when she said SDMC left it too late to announce a full lockdown in the face of the Covid-19 resurgence now.
“When the resurgence was evident in neighbouring countries, SDMC should have been on high alert and the debate on whether to allow festivities to continue was unnecessary when it is a foregone conclusion.
“Announcing an MCO and to come out with the SOP (standard operating procedure) only the next day shows their unpreparedness and failure to manage the Covid-19 pandemic when such a scenario should already have been anticipated months ago with a ready action plan in the inevitable,” she said in a statement today.
She also opined that putting the blame on the public for not observing SOP is futile and not the right solution when measures implemented by the authorities are the main concerns.
Regarding the vaccine roll-out, she said, the Sarawak government should be proactive in getting all Sarawakians vaccinated and not to wait for them to register themselves, as in other countries.
“In some neighbouring countries, the government does not wait for the people to register online, but the people may roll in at vaccination pods and get vaccinated on the spot.
“There are also mobile fully-equipped testing and vaccination vehicles which go to neighbourhoods to vaccinate the people, instead of waiting for the people to register online and then place the blame on the people when the registration rate is low,” she said.
While the people must do their parts to observe SOP, Soo viewed SDMC must also do a better job in managing the pandemic where the health crisis management should not be left in the hands of politicians but for competent professionals and experts. — DayakDaily
