KUCHING: A state DAP branch leader has questioned the federal government’s latest announcement on the standard operating procedure (SOP) guidelines for Chinese New Year (CNY) during the movement control order (MCO).
Batu Kitang DAP chairman Abdul Aziz Isa said he found the SOP guidelines, which were announced by Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, laughable, adding:” What kind of joke is this?”
Claiming that the guidelines had received brickbats from the public throughout the country, he said the SOP, among others, mentioned that the traditional family reunion dinner was only allowed within the family members of the same household.
“Then how does this ‘everyday Reunion Dinner’ differ from the CNY Reunion Dinner?’ When the public read the latest SOP guidelines for CNY, they may have different interpretations.
“If the latest SOPs were to be applied by the Chinese communities in Malaysia, it means that every day is a ‘Reunion Dinner’ since the family members of the same household will be having dinner together.”
Abdul Aziz, who is also DAP Socialist Youth (Dapsy) Stampin chief, said CNY reunion dinner was considered the most important get-together meal of the entire year and it was normally held on the eve of CNY.
Secondly, he said the SOP mentioned that the guidelines would come into force effectively from Feb 12 until 13 when the CNY reunion dinner was supposed to be held on Feb 11.
Thirdly, the SOP guidelines mentioned that house visiting during CNY is limited to only 20 persons.
“For me, this is normal SOP guidelines during MCO but what seems to be absolutely ‘abnormal’ here is that the house visiting during CNY can only be held among family members of the same household. This is so ridiculous and a total joke.
“Can you imagine family members of the same household making ‘house visiting’ among themselves?
Abdul Aziz said the ‘epitome’ of the joke on the SOP guidelines was that while open house is limited to only 20 person at a time, night markets were allowed to be opened from 4pm until 10pm.
“Since the CNY gathering is only limited to 20 persons at a time but there’s no limit for the number of people visiting the night market at one time, the public might literally interpret that the only way to have mass gathering to exchange ‘angpows’ during CNY is by visiting the night market.”
