KUCHING: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong should consider the circumstances in Sarawak and grant a special extension to the State Legislative Assembly (DUN) so that the state government can focus on crucial matters until Covid-19 cases are under control.
Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Women chief Kho Teck Wan is of the view that the Sarawak election should be held on a later date.
She stressed that not only politicians but all levels of society in Sarawak should be focusing on the three most important aspects for now – namely saving lives, getting vaccinated, and economic recovery – instead of the election.
“We have many other obvious reasons why the state election should be delayed,” she said in a statement today (July 29).
She pointed out that Kuching’s daily Covid-19 cases were still high.
“Coupled with the highly infectious Delta variant, any election campaign without observing standard operating procedures (SOPs) is a cluster in the making,” she said.
She also urged the Election Commission (EC) to formulate the most stringent SOPs for the election, adding that lower daily Covid-19 cases should not be the reason to loosen the SOPs.
Kho noted that currently, about 58 percent of the state’s adult population were fully vaccinated.
“We should focus our efforts on achieving at least 80 percent of the population being fully vaccinated.
“The vaccine may not prevent one from getting infected by Covid-19, but statistics show that the vaccine reduces the severity of cases and death rates due to Covid-19. It also prevents the collapse of our healthcare system,” she said.
She noted that Sarawak was entering the third week of Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan, with most businesses being allowed to operate with only 50 percent workforce capacity.
“Let’s allow the market a period of recovery before the election is held,” she said.
