Churches to open in stages

Local churches are opting to open in stages with many looking into the requirements imposed by authorities.

Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur Chancellor Rev Fr Michael Chua said most of its churches were still in the process of preparation and were not open yet since it was given the approval to reopen beginning from the recovery MCO period (June 10 to Aug 31).

In a Chancery notice he issued on June 15, he said the number of attendees at any service was limited to one-third of the capacity of the place of worship.

Among others, those aged above 70 and below 12 and those exhibiting symptoms are not allowed to participate, while those with medical conditions are not encouraged to attend, he added.

Trinity Annual Conference (TRAC) of the Methodist Church in Malaysia president Rev Dr T. Jeyakumar said none of the Methodist churches have opened up.

“We have earlier decided to remain close up to end of June and we are maintaining it that way and will start opening up in stages beginning July.

“But not every church will open beginning July because they still need to look into the various state governments’ requirements,” he said in an interview.

The Methodist denomination is the biggest denomination among the Protestant churches in Malaysia; it comprises 492 churches operating services in English, Chinese, Tamil and Iban and has a membership of more than 200,000. TRAC covers the English-speaking churches.

On June 15, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said all 5,230 non-Muslim places of worship could begin to operate but could only take in one-third of their usual capacity and attendees must download the MySejahtera application.

Worshippers are also expected to adhere to social distancing rules and temperatures must be taken, he said.

Ismail Sabri noted that it was also up to respective state governments to decide on when places of worship could start opening their doors.

Jeyakumar said different state governments had imposed different requirements – the Perak, Selangor and Penang state governments have given favourable response without imposing any further requirements but a couple of other states had sent out forms for churches to fill up and impose additional requirements.

Council of Churches of Malaysia (CCM) general secretary Rev Dr Hermen Shastri noted places of worship in red zones are still not allowed to open according to the National Security Council.

“The churches are opening gradually as we weigh the situation.

“They need to self-regulate and follow the advice from state authorities,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Kuching, Bernama reported Bishop of the Anglican Church for Sarawak and Brunei, Rev Datuk Danald Jute, as saying that churches in the state would only open its doors to worshippers next Sunday, although they had been permitted to do so from today.

He said the decision was made as the church authorities felt that the reopening of places of worship must be carried out with caution to safeguard the health and safety of their members.