KUCHING: Gawai rituals such as miring are allowed during the festival, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
However, he reiterated that house-to-house or longhouse-to-longhouse visiting during Gawai would not be permitted, reminding that the festival could be celebrated one day only.
“Gawai rituals like miring and others are allowed. So, it is not true that we are stopping the custom of celebrating Gawai,” he said at a press conference here today.
He also announced that there had been no cases of celebrants breaching the standard operating procedures (SOPs) during the recent Hari Raya celebration.
“The compliance by the people of Sarawak is very high and we thank them. It shows that they understand that they have to sacrifice for the benefit of all. We hope the same spirit will also be practised during the coming Gawai celebration on June 1,” he said.
He added that monitoring was being done throughout Sarawak — a cooperative effort between numerous agencies and departments such as the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM), People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) and local authorities.
Uggah, who is also SDMC chairman, also said that certain essential services personnel were exempted from undergoing quarantine upon returning to Sarawak.
“We have a procedure whereby some services considered essential such as judges, magistrates, some of our civil servants, some senior government officers, and ministers who have to carry out duties in Kuala Lumpur and come back – these essential services personnel do not have to be quarantined (upon returning to Sarawak),” he said.
However, he assured that these individuals were tested ‘time and again’ for Covid-19.
