Application for work-related travel permit can still be made after Jan 27, says Sibu police chief

Stanley (right) fields questions from the media, while on his right, Sibu Crime Prevention and Community Safety Division head DSP Ariffin Bahar, looks on

SIBU (Jan 27): Sibu police chief ACP Stanley Jonathan Ringgit has given assurance that the application for the work-related travel permit during the Covid-19 Movement Control Order (MCO) period can still be made after Jan 27.

When met by reporters after attending a meeting at Sibu Resident Office today, Stanley said the police would still process the permit application of those which have been received after office hours.

He made this clarification following a viral information that the police would only process the permit applications received between Jan 25 and 26.

“Because of this, members of the public went to the four police stations in Sibu and queued up. In actual fact, we will continue to issue the permit even after Jan 27 and they (applicants) can even come after office hours.

“Then, there were some companies that sent all their employees to go to apply for the permit yesterday, which crowded the station. But today, the situation has very much improved as you can see at the station,” he explained.

He said a total of 3,493 police permits were issued for the Sibu district between Jan 25 and 26, of which 723 permits were issued on Monday and  2,770 permits were issued yesterday.

“Twenty-one applications were rejected,” he added.

Stanley also said that employees of eateries including restaurants in Sibu need not apply for the permit.

“Only (businesses categorised under) essential services need to apply to show that those going to work are from the 30 per cent (management team) of their workforce.

“For those employees in federal, state (government) departments as well as PBT (local authorities), they need not apply for the permit,” he explained.

The quiet scene along Jalan Channel in Sibu taken at around 3pm today.

Essential services include the manufacturing, construction, services, distribution trade, plantation and commodities sectors with only 30 per cent attendance of the management team permitted, while the number of workers is determined by the implementation of social distancing and public health protocol in the workplace.

Stanley said for the essential services that are required to apply for the permit, only one representative from the company need to go to the police station.

On a related matter, he said they did not receive any instructions pertaining to online application for the permit.

“Each applicant must come physically to the police station to apply. The applicant will be interviewed, and application vetted (before approval),” he added.

Asked if there the essential services are required to reapply for the permit if the MCO is extended beyond Jan 29, he said they have yet to receive any instructions pertaining to that.

“Once it has been announced, I am sure SDMC (State Disaster Management Committee) will come up with new guidelines and instructions for that.”

To a question if there has been a reduction of 50 per cent traffic movement as intended following the requirement for a police permit to travel during the MCO period, he said there was no statistics, but the town appeared rather quiet.

For the record, the MCO imposed in Sibu Division runs from Jan 16 till 29.

Meanwhile, Stanley said only self-service laundry with workers providing hand sanitisers, taking temperature of customers, and registering their customers using MySejahtera or Qmunity are permitted to operate during the MCO period.

As for phone shops, he said only those providing top-up services are allowed to open.

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