Chang urges authorities to extend work-related travel permits along with MCO should it be prolonged

Chang (left) at the police station observing the application process.

SIBU (Jan 27): Bukit Assek assemblywoman Irene Chang has called on the Sibu Disaster Management Committee to extend work-related travel permits automatically in the event that the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Sibu is extended.

In a press statement today, she said the permit should be made valid for the duration of MCO to avoid another circus at the police stations which had put both police and people at high risk of infections from Covid-19.

She said people were angry and frustrated for the last two days over the latest work-related travel permit that is required for their employees to travel for work.

She pointed out that the policy was obviously hastily put together without much consideration and thought on whether it could be properly implemented in such a short period of time.

On Monday, Sibu Disaster Management Committee announced that the businesses classified as essential services are required to apply for work-related travel permits from the police.

The policy was to take effect today.

“Though I appreciate the intention of Sibu SDMC in their effort to contain the rising numbers of positive Covid-19 cases in Sibu, the latest policy has caused employers to amass at the few police stations in Sibu during the last two days and today.

“There was confusion all around because the guidelines issued last minute by Sibu SDMC was not sufficiently detailed to the applicants and did not coordinate with the resources available to the police on the ground who have to process the applications. Online applications were also not available.

“As a result of this, people were made to go in and out of the police station a few times,” she lamented.

She said that different police stations had their own separate set of instructions of how the application forms should be filled in and what supporting documents were required.

Thus, the applicants were totally at the mercy of the officers who were also stressed out from the lack of manpower to carry out the implementation smoothly.

“From what I understood from certain persons, the policy was implemented with the purpose of deterring people from opening their businesses and to indirectly force them to stay at home in compliance with the MCO in Sibu.

“If that were true, Sibu SDMC had suffered a backlash when Sibu employers thronged the few police stations under both rain and shine in order to get the permit,” she said.

She said from her observation, the approval was given as a matter of course to whoever came in to apply for as long as the supporting documents were produced.

She said in most cases, there seemed to have no scrutiny on the most basic requirement, that is whether the applications were made in respect of essential services employment.

“No fault should lie with the police on this as they themselves were not even properly briefed on what is or is not an essential service that is allowed to operate during the MCO,” she pointed out.

She said the disaster committee should have provided the police with the list.

“And now that the people of Sibu have suffered miserably for the last two days, in a lot of cases, the permit given was only till Jan 29 when the MCO is supposedly set to end,” she lamented.

Thus, she urged the disaster committee to allow these permits to be extended along with the MCO period, should it happen.

The post Chang urges authorities to extend work-related travel permits along with MCO should it be prolonged appeared first on Borneo Post Online.

from Borneo Post Online https://ift.tt/3ciqOZ4
via IFTTT