KUCHING: The Rise of Social Efforts (ROSE) organisation has urged the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to immediately allow all fully vaccinated Malaysians to enter Sarawak without having to apply through the EnterSarawak website.
Its chairman Ann Teo said making non-Sarawakians apply to enter the state in the manner set out in the recently revised entry policy also suggests that the committee can now act arbitrarily in deciding who can and cannot enter Sarawak.
"It also leaves us to speculate that this rule means that the SDMC can bar entries of election volunteers and helpers who are not Sarawakian but who are coming to Sarawak for legitimate political activity during an election.
"Will the committee refuse their entry but admit GPS-friendly helpers?
"Although we welcome the relaxation of the entry policy into Sarawak on Saturday (Oct 16), we query the discriminatory nature of the standard operating procedures (SOP) when it was amended the next day," she said in a statement today.
The latest SOP exempts fully vaccinated Sarawakian, Sarawakian born in other states, non-Sarawakian spouses, federal civil servants, those with valid work permits and holders of Sarawak MM2H visa from applying for permission to enter the state. Meanwhile, other Malaysians must first apply for permission to enter Sarawak through the EnterSarawak website before flying in.
"What is the reason for this discriminatory requirement?
"Since no polymerase chain reaction (Rt-PCR) or the antigen rapid (RTK-Antigen) swab test is required anymore, does this latest discriminatory ruling assume that only Sarawakian and the categories stated above travelling from other states are immune from Covid-19 infection?" she questioned.
Teo said SDMC would have by now gathered enough scientific data and information about the Covid-19 virus to inform the public health and movement protocols put in place. The virus does not discriminate in infecting people based on their place of birth or which state they are from.
"Sadly, the discriminatory nature of this SOP also contradicts the state's intention to attract domestic tourism in wanting to reopen the state's economy. If any sector has been crushed by this Covid-19 pandemic, it is our tourism sector."
"Hence, why is SDMC denying our state's tourism industry access to desperately needed business? Why make ourselves less competitive?" she further asked.
Teo said to reopen more economic sectors safely must also mean to reopen fairly, hence, ROSE urges SDMC to play a professional role to manage and control the risks associated with the spread of the Covid-19 virus, instead of acting like some quasi-immigration authority guided by protocols that are not based on the science.
"This is also the time to remind the state government that to hold the Sarawak election before the end of the year is to deny and suppress the votes of more than 600,000 new Sarawakian voters who will only get onto the electoral roll upon implementation of Undi 18 and automatic voter registration."