Its chairman, David Chu, questioned Putrajaya’s reluctance over the matter, saying the National Security Council (MKN) had allowed Sabah to issue daily statements on SOPs all this while.
“To retract it now makes no sense,” he said in a statement last night.
“Sabah has been able to contain the pandemic better than many states in West Malaysia by all accounts, in terms of per 1,000 population and much better in terms of per square km.
“It is not logical nor does it make economic sense to equate Sabah with other states with a much larger number of cases,” he said.
Chu said that when Sabah was locked down because of high daily infections, the MKN did not impose such restrictions in the peninsula.
As such, he said, Hajiji’s statement allowing dine-ins and other economic activities was actually to assist the nation’s economic recovery from Covid-19, which is the goal of the federal government.
“SEAC would like to ask the federal government to adopt a pragmatic policy to allow Sabah to continue to issue its own SOPs.
“The Sabah government leaders know the conditions in the state better than leaders at the federal level.
“To be fair, the federal government should not impose excessive restrictions on any state whose cases are on the decline and at an acceptable level.
“Excessive and unnecessary interference can be unproductive. Let Sabahans manage the SOPs to achieve faster economic recovery,” he said.
Hajiji had announced on Monday that several social and economic activities would be allowed in the state, including dining-in at restaurants, eateries and hotels, while hair salons, and stalls selling vegetables, fish and fruits by the roadside could reopen.
However, the following day, senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob reminded all states to abide by the regulations fixed by the MKN while the country was under the current lockdown.
Subsequently, Sabah local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said the state had submitted a new set of SOPs for Phase 1 of the national recovery plan to the federal government.
The state government is still waiting for the SOPs to be gazetted.
Yesterday, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah leaders, including deputy chief ministers Bung Moktar Radin and Jeffrey Kitingan, also rallied behind Hajiji over the issue.