KUCHING: The matter of whether the 12th state election should be held this year or to wait until Covid-19 has been classified as being in an endemic stage, has received mixed reaction from the public.
For some, they viewed that it can be held this year for as long as there are proper guidelines and protocols in place to ensure a safe campaigning and election process.
While some are of the opinion that it is better to wait until next year as the Covid-19 cases in Sarawak are still high, making it not safe for the election to be held just yet.
David Siaw, Senior legal practitioner
The King has earlier proclaimed a state of emergency for Sarawak until Feb 2, 2022, thus the issue of calling a state election this year is purely academic. Plus, given the very high Covid-19 infectious cases with the highly transmittable Delta strains, I believe that for health concerns, we ought to wait until next year. It must be promptly held once the health authorities deem safe to do so under stringent standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Abang Farid Abang Taha, Assistant land officer
It won’t be wise to hold the election this year as it will be too sudden while we are still in the phase of recovering and adapting to the situation. Plus, as the voting age has reduced to 18, those in that age group need time to be able to have a proper understanding of who they will choose as their elected representative.
Lorna Phang, Freelancer
I think it is fine to hold the state election this year. Waiting for Covid-19 to be classified as an endemic is very arbitrary as to who sets the guidelines of what an endemic is. The important thing is how the elections are held under strict compliance to the SOPs and ensuring a smooth voting process. Also, if the implementation of electronic voting is viable, then it should be used. This could also be an opportunity to showcase Sarawak’s digital prowess.
Kho Wee Chien, Financial planner
I think that we should wait until it is really safe to do. Because during campaigning and election times, it means that there will be a lot of people at one place and it will be crowded. Hence there is a high risk that it will form another Covid-19 cluster, putting both the government and the people in a very difficult situation.
