KUCHING: After fasting for a month, Muslims are looking forward to celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri in a few days’ time.
Usually at this time of the year, city dwellers will rush back to their respective hometowns or villages to be with their families for the festival.
However, many Raya celebrants are not going anywhere this year because of the current movement control order period.
Police permits are also needed for inter-district or inter-zone travel.
“Yes, certain standard operating procedures (SOPs) have to be followed in order to ride the bus for inter-district travel,” said bus operator, Ahmad Razali, 57.
“Passengers need to get a permit from the Royal Malaysia Police in order to travel between districts but the permit only can be obtained for emergency cases such as the death of a family member, when a person needs medicine or healthcare and because of a job.
“For healthcare, there must be an appointment letter from the hospital and if there isn’t any, then we, as bus operators, will prohibit them from riding the bus.”
Another bus operator, Ghazali Abdullah, 59, said, “A passenger who wants to go to Mukah, Bintulu and Miri, also needs a permit and must show a negative Covid-19 test result.
“Passengers need to take the Covid-19 tests in order to travel to Mukah, Bintulu and Miri.
“Sometimes, there are very few passengers and sometime none at all. But we do not want to take any risk due to the increased number of Covid-19 cases.
“I hope everyone can adhere to the SOPs set by the government. There are some passengers who still want to travel to other districts or zones by bus without the permission of the authorities.”
Another bus operator, Mohd Rahman Ismail, 57, added passengers from Malaya, Sabah or Labuan needed to show they had completed a 14-day quarantine with a letter issued by the Health Ministry.
“They must also have a police permit. Only those with the permit can ride the bus. This requirement has obviously reduced the number of passengers.” he added.
