The decision to allow the Aidilftri pilgrimage in Sabah is correct, said the MP

Arabell Lawrence Anthony Soon

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Sabah's decision to allow Aidilfitri pilgrimage activities for three days is justified, said Kalabakan Member of Parliament, Ma'mun Sulaiman.

Although the decision was seen as inconsistent with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's announcement last Monday, which banned visits and pilgrimages in conjunction with Aidilfitri, he said, this was made after seeing the situation in Sabah declining.

“The Sabah government sees fewer and fewer cases, so to allow the pilgrimage is correct.

"It was also made because of the people's insistence because we have been celebrating like this for two years so the Sabah government made a decision like this so that the people can have some comfort to celebrate Aidilfitri," he told Malaysiakini yesterday.

He added that he was also confident that the people in Sabah were more careful about the standard operating procedures (SOP) and began to be careful.

“This pilgrimage is up to those who want it. The people of Sabah are also more careful about the SOP. So if they want a pilgrimage, they will be more careful. I'm sure, "he explained again.

On May 10, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the enforcement of the PKP nationwide starting today until June 7.

Among the SOPs set by the federal government is to ban any open houses and pilgrimages during Aidilfitri.

However, yesterday, Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister, Masidi Manjun (picture, below) said, Sabah allows visiting activities and pilgrimages to graves in conjunction with Aidilfitri until the third Eid.

“The Hari Raya pilgrimage session is limited from 9 am to 9 pm, which is two hours for every 10 people and the host must provide the MySejahtera QR code and adhere to the general health protocol.

"The latest updated SOP will be gazetted tomorrow and effective until June 7," he was quoted as saying by the Sabahpost portal .

For the record since yesterday, Sabah recorded a daily total of 70 Covid-19s, bringing the total number of cases to 59,073 in the state.

Meanwhile, Kota Kinabalu Member of Parliament Chan Foong Hin also agreed with the state government's move, noting that the situation in Sabah and the Peninsula is different.

“The situation in Sabah is different from the Peninsula. The state government (Sabah) has decided to ban the Ramadan bazaar from the first day of the month.

“The R index in Sabah is also 0.9. The case trend is seen to hit only two digits. So the Sabah government wants to manage the epidemic in its own way, not everyone follows the federal government's decision, "he said.

Despite acknowledging that there is a risk of the decision to allow the Aidilfitri pilgrimage, Chan hoped that the people of Sabah would maintain the disciplinary level of compliance with SOP Covid-19.

“I have concerns about the truth of the pilgrimage for three Eid days. The relaxation of the SOP will give false hope that everything has recovered.

"I urge the people to strictly adhere to the SOP," he added.