By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Feb 10: In ushering the year of the Metal Ox for the upcoming Chinese New Year (CNY) 2021, Sarawak Federation of Chinese Association (SFCA) president Dato Richard Wee’s biggest expectation is for the Covid-19 pandemic to be over soon.
As such, he hopes that the Chinese community will practice a high level of self-discipline by abiding the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of Covid-19 in order to break the chain of the coronavirus infection.
Noting that Covid-19 is a global health crisis which posed the biggest hurdle for everyone, Wee said it is important for the community to demonstrate a high level of cooperation in order to win the war against Covid-19.
While being sanguine that Covid-19 will be a thing of the past soon with the arrival of vaccine, Wee is cautiously optimistic that the business and the economy will recover in the later part of the year.
“For the upcoming CNY, it is important for the community to practice self-discipline and adapt to the new norm.
“We hope that Covid-19 will be a thing of the past soon.
“With the arrival of the vaccine, we also hope that the lives of the people will go back to normal soon,” he told DayakDaily through a phone interview today.
Wee who is also the Federation of Chinese Associations of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Division president hoped that the government will be more transparent in disclosing and dissemination accurate information to the public.
In view of speculation and various fake news circulating around on social media nowadays, he believed that it is important that the government provide transparency and accurate data to gain the confidence and trust of the public.
Apart from that, Wee hoped the enforcement authorities should show that they are serious in enforcing the rules and bye-laws specified in the SOPs to ensure compliance by all quarters.
For the effective implementation of all the SOPs, he opined that it has to be constantly monitored and checked at all times.
Wee, who is also Kuching Chinese Community Charitable Trust chairman also called on the people to take advantage of the various assistance and stimulus packages announced by the state and federal government.
That assistance he noted were meant to reduce the financial burden of the people arising from the Covid-19 pandemic.
While the outlook seems to be clouded by the Covid-19 pandemic at this juncture, Wee is hopeful that the economy will recover over the long term.
He is confident that 2021 will turn to be a better year than last year.
At the same time, he also took the opportunity to wish the Chinese community a Happy Chinese New Year 2021. —DayakDaily
