‘Requiring physical presence to get travel permit defeats purpose of MCO’

SIBU: The Sibu Division Disaster Management Committee (SDDMC) has compromised its own efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 here by requiring folks to physically apply for work-related travel permit during the Movement Control Order (MCO), said Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) secretarygeneral Priscilla Lau.

In questioning why such application could not be done online, Lau said the long queues she witnessed at Sibu Central Police Station and Lanang Police Station yesterday morning defeated the call by authorities to observe physical distancing and also exposed those waiting in line to the risk of becoming infected.

“The purported solution by SDDMC to flatten the curve of Covid-19 here appears to have failed badly because what was supposedly meant to keep physical distancing implemented effectively has instead caused crowding at police stations, car parks, around the neighbourhood and on the roads,” she said in a statement.

“I urge SDDMC to be smart when announcing if Sibu’s MCO will be extended beyond Jan 29 – please also announce if those with police permits will automatically have their permits extended accordingly without the need to apply again.”

According to Lau, she was at Sibu Central Police Station at 9am to observe the situation there and found it to be “jampacked” with applicants waiting in line under the rain.

She then made her way to Lanang Police Station where she was met with similar scenes, with the queue extending all the way to the car park.

“After making a few phone calls, I was told not to bother visiting Sungai Merah Police Station because it was jammedpacked as well,” she said, adding that she instead went to Sibu District Police Headquarters where she was told that workrelated travel permits were not being processed there.

She maintained that the current practice of allowing essential services employers to issue a company letter for their employees to go to work was suffice.

SDDMC had previously announced that effective today, those travelling to work will require a police permit and can no longer use letters issued by their employers.

The move is to reduce the movement of people and number of vehicles on the road during the MCO, the committee explained.