KOTA KINABALU,: With Sabah entering Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP), with effect from tomorrow, the Federation of Chinese Associations Sabah (FCAS) hopes the federal government and the National Security Council (NSC) could endorse the relaxed standard operating procedures (SOP) which was recently announced by the Sabah state government.
This includes allowing dine-in at restaurants and eateries.
He noted that, the SOPs for the 2nd phase of NRP issued by the NSC on 5 July, among others mandated that, businesses like restaurants, eateries, food stalls, food trucks, roadside hawkers, street hawkers, food courts, hawker centres, roadside food stalls or kiosks are allowed to operate between 6.00am to 10.00pm by takeaway, drive-by or delivery. Dine-in and park and dine services are not allowed.
“This (SOPs) is obviously not in line with the relaxed SOPs issued by Sabah state government earlier, which among others allowed for dine-in at restaurants and eateries. We thus hope the federal government could respect and endorse the state government’s recent decision, so that the people, the businesses and the enforcement agencies are no longer in confusion,” he said this in a statement issued today.
Goh who is also a member of the Sabah Economic Advisory Council (SEAC) and President of the Federation of Sabah and Labuan Hokkien Associations (FSLHA) was responding to the announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Thursday that the National Security Council (NSC) decided that Sabah has met the threshold of the three main indicators that can allow it to enter next phase of the plan.
Noting that Sabah is the 7th state which has moved into Phase 2 of the NRP, Goh who is also President of the Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) hopes the federal government could start supplying ample vaccines to Sabah, from this month onwards. He emphasized that this is crucial, so that Sabah could achieve its immunization target, as soon as possible.
He acknowledged that vaccination rate is key in determining the status/progress of each state i.e. whether a state should remain in the second phase or to advance into 3rd or 4th and final phase of the NRP.
He thus opined that Sabah needs to further boost its vaccination rate, citing that as of 6 July, the registration rate for vaccination via MySejahtera was only 33.09%; and as of 7 July, a total of 392, 408 individuals or 10% of the total population had completed the first dose of vaccination, while 265,407 people (or 6.8%) have had the second dose of vaccination.
He also welcomed and supported the Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Mohd Noor’s announcement on Thursday that Sabah is expecting to receive 2.2 million doses of vaccines within these two months i.e. 1 million doses by this month, and 1.2 million doses by next month. Besides this, the state government will also ramp up vaccination programs in the rural areas.
Goh thus hoped the federal government could deliver its promise of ramping up vaccine supply for Sabah without fail.
He also called on all quarters, businesses included, to continue to remain vigilant and to fully comply with the SOPs issued by the government and the relevant authorities, in order to get through this challenging period intact.-,or/BNN
