Implement our own travel bubble first, PH Sarawak man calls on state govt
MIRI: The state government should carry out its own interdistrict travel bubble first to study its effectiveness and possible side effects, rather than opening its border straight for incoming tourists.
In pointing this out, Pakatan Harapan (PH) Sarawak secretary Alan Ling acknowledged the importance for Sarawak tourism to get back on track, but he also highlighted the importance for the state government to conduct a thorough study on the implications from opening its borders for tourism, as well as on the proper contingency plan should there be a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases resulting from this move.
“I do not think Sarawak is ready to reopen its borders for tourism – we are just not ready yet.
“However, the state government could promote inter-district tourism to the people in Sarawak first, to see if it’s really working,” he said in an interview with The Borneo Post here yesterday.
He cautioned that the hastiness in reopening the borders to tourists might impose a major impact on the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak, especially with it being amongst the states that had been recording significantly high number of new Covid-19 cases in the country.
Ling also lamented that such high number of new cases was still being registered, despite Sarawak exhibiting high vaccination rate amongst all other states in Malaysia.
“The Sarawak government, through the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), owes the people some explanation as to why there are still high new cases despite the high vaccination rate.
“SDMC keeps saying that the people should not mind the high (number of) positive cases as they’re all under Category 1 or 2. Do bear in mind – those initially in these two categories could also deteriorate to the more severe Categories 3, 4 or 5,” stressed Ling, observing that the intensive care unit (ICU) beds’ utilisation rate in Sarawak, as at Sept 24, stood at 80.7 per cent.
Thus, he expressed deep
concern over the capabilities of hospitals and other medical centres in coping with a sudden spike in positive Covid-19 cases, which could result from the decision by the state government of reopening the borders to tourists.
“There must be contingency plan, should such thing happen. Both the SDMC and the tourism authorities must conduct a thorough study first before deciding to reopen the borders to tourists,” he said.
On Saturday, Assistant Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Sebastian Ting said Sarawak was ready to open its borders to tourists, now that SDMC would no longer subject incoming travellers to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon entry.
He also said Sarawak had achieved over 90 per cent of the adult population having received Dose 1 and 2 of the Covid-19 vaccine, justifying the state’s readiness to reopen its border. However, the assistant minister also said the final decision would come from the SDMC.
On another note, Ling called upon the SDMC to subsidise Covid-19 self-testing kit for the people, especially if the objective was to nurture in them that ‘sense of responsibility’ as the state was moving into the endemic phase.
“If we wanted the people to live with Covid-19, we must first teach them to be responsible, towards themselves, their families and friends, and towards their communities.
“If they could buy the Covid-19 self-testing kit at cheaper prices, they could carry out testing at home at any time. This would help them to know early and therefore, get treatment early,” he added.