Inter district travel allowed except in Sabah

KOTA KINABALU: Travel across district is allowed except in Sabah effective from March 5 to 18 and the prohibition on crossing state nationwide still remains.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said inter district ban in Sabah would be maintained for two weeks based on the request of the state government.

“We understand Sabah is very big, one district in the state is larger than most states in the Peninsula. As such the Sabah government asked the matter (cross district) to be postponed in the state,” he told a media conference on the development of Movement Control Order (MCO) in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun explained that the state Covid19 management committee recommended for the inter-district travel ban to remain in the state.

Masidi, who is also the state’s official Covid-19 spokesman, said this decision was taken into consideration as Sabah had a large presence of undocumented migrants.

“The number appears to be stabilising but give us a couple of days to monitor the situation,” he said yesterday.

“Our situation in Sabah is a bit more complicated than Peninsular Malaysia with the presence of many undocumented aliens. We need to put in place some form of tracing mechanism when these people start to move around in Sabah again.

“We will consider making adjustments to the SOPs from time to time to facilitate economic activities that may require some travel.”

Sabah Employers Association president Yap Cheen Boon said it was inconceivable that Sabah is the only state unable to have such travel when local tourism and localised services rely on locals to travel across districts in order to revive from the current economic slump.

“Sabah’s infection numbers have been low when compared with other states, hence, the logic to defy inter-district travel for the state is hard to fathom.

“Businesses, even though they are allowed travel inter-district with official company letters and approvals from local authorities, would surely benefit without the paperwork, thereby saving costs.

“Now that Sabah is under RMCO, the measures should be more relaxed instead of being singled out with tighter control,” he said.

Sabah Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents (Matta) chairman Lawrence Chin agreed, saying lifting the inter-district restriction will help save the hospitality industry in the state.

“Matta urges the government to implement a more comprehensive and holistic framework balancing lives and livelihoods.

“Every business establishment should be allowed to carry out their economic activity but by embracing the highest level of safety standards to contain Covid-19,” he said.