KUCHING, July 16: Why take down the Sarawak crown flags when there is plenty of space for them and the Sarawak flags to fly side by side, asks Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo.
She stressed that the Sarawak crown flags are after all part of Sarawak’s heritage and history when Sarawak attained self-government on July 22, 1963 with the appointment of its first Chief Minister (Tan Sri) Stephen Kalong Ningkan.
While expressing welcome for the Kuching North City Council (MBKS)’s enthusiasm of putting up Sarawak flags all over Padungan in preparation for Sarawak Independence Day, Soo merely questioned the logic for the council to remove the old crown flags she and his team had erected.
“S4S (Sarawak for Sarawakians) volunteers had put up 120 of these Sarawak Kingdom crown flags the previous year, and to my dismay, most of them were missing when the team went to replace with new ones.
“I have no problem with MBKS using taxpayers’ funds to put up the Sarawak flags, but what is the logic of pulling down what is not their property to replace them with Sarawak flags, when there is plenty of space for both to fly side by side,” she said in a statement today.
Meanwhile, Soo also questioned the authority that MBKS has to “pursue a policy of barring members of the public yet to be vaccinated from entering the market which is a public place”.
If Covid-19 vaccination were to be mandatory, why must then the applicant sign a consent form in acknowledgement that the vaccination process is a voluntary act with a disclaimer clause before getting the vaccine, she said.
Believing that no one should be punished for vaccine hesitancy, Soo hoped that MBKS mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng would give clarification to his policy statement as she understood that there are still individuals who chose not to be vaccinated for reasons of their own.
“Until the government legislates to make the Covid-19 vaccination mandatory, the mayor should refrain from applying pressure upon a section of society which is already enough stressed as it is,” she added.
On July 14, Wee announced the implementation of a new policy that requires all market, hawker and coffeeshop license holders under MBKS jurisdiction to be fully vaccinated before they can resume business.
He added a certificate or a sticker will be issued by MBKS to those who have completed both doses so that it can be displayed on stalls as proof of vaccination.
A dialogue session was held between MBKS and those group of businesses on July 13, in which Wee said all of them agreed and supported the new policy. — DayakDaily
