SABAH TODAY

BY PHOONG JIN ZHE
COMMENT: The series of chaotic and confusing SOPs announced with MCO 2.0 (movement control order) has only triggered public grievances at the government that seems to be totally malfunctioning.

Different ministries, authorities and departments and giving out different answers when questioned regarding SOPs announced by Ministers” expressed by Phoong

According to the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (KPDNHEP), shops selling mobile phones are allowed to operate during MCO, but on the other hand, Kota Kinabalu City Hall (DBKK) and the Sabah National Security Council states that it is not allowed. However, the Tawau City Council is allowing shop owners to operate.

The government is not in sync and in stream with the announcements made by themselves, even members of the legislative are puzzled; how does the government expect the public to be able to be clear regarding the SOP.

Some essential workers are requesting to cross districts to get back to work, from the police, but they are told them to apply with MITI (ministry of International Trade and Industry). The ridiculous part is that in the National Security Council’s SOP, the public only has to present a formal letter from their workplace and get approval from the police, why is MITI suddenly involved.

The Prime Minister announced an implementation of Movement Control Order on the 13th of January 2021.

The Prime Minister, Chief Minister and senior officials are all unprepared after declaring a state of emergency while implementing MCO at the same time. They cannot even name the differences of the current MCO with CMCO,”

The current MCO cannot curb the pandemic nor flatten the curve as majority are allowed to operate but it increased the financial burdens of the people, does the government understand their own decisions.

Angered and concerned I conducted a livestream session on my Facebook to engage with the public and explain the latest SOPs. The live attracted 30 thousand viewers and over 2,000 comments .

Some netizens even commented that they don’t think that we have a government of the day after the underperformance of the ruling party.

I also call out to the state government and state ministers and ministry officials to stop hiding and take a proactive approach and answer the questions and concerns of the public.

It is not right when you need an opposition member to stand up and answer to questions by the public as if the government is not existing. The underperformance of government does not only affects the public but also it increases unnecessary workload for civil servants.

If the government does not resolve these issues now, not only they will fail to flatten the (COVID-19) curve but they would also increase the burdens of our frontliners and our economic situation leading to a never ending crisis.”

• Phoong Jin Zhe is the Democratic Action Party State Assemblyman for Luyang