KUCHING: The Malaysian Buddhist Association Sarawak Branch (MBASB) has called upon all Buddhist groups in the state to comply strictly with the reopening standard operating procedures (SOPs) for houses of worship as laid out by Unit for Other Religions (Unifor).
MBASB chairman Datuk Seri Tay Chin Kin said all related SOPs must be observed so that devotees could safely visit the temples and participate in religious activities under the new norm.
“We welcome our Sarawak government and Unifor’s latest policy on the reopening of houses of worship under Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) effective from July 24.
“As such, we urge Buddhist groups to continue cooperating with the government’s guidelines,” he told New Sarawak Tribune today.
He added that the respective temple leaders can also make their own decision on whether they open to congregation or not.
“According to the new SOPs, all houses of worship that intend to open, their priests, monks or staff must complete two doses of vaccinations two weeks before opening.
“Besides complying with the operation time and the number of attendees, Buddhist groups should also continue to enforce some other Covid-19 prevention measures,” he said.
The SOPs are to ensure that all devotees entering houses of worship or temples wear masks at all times, use hand sanitiser, check body temperature, scan attendance using MySejahtera application or register manually in the record book, he pointed out.
“It is also reminded that anyone with Covid-19 related symptoms and children aged 12 and below are not allowed to attend,” he said.
Tay also called upon all devotees to cooperate and abide by the instructions and arrangements set by the Buddhist groups.
