ENTERTAINMENT CENTRES & INDOOR BUSKING
KUCHING: Directives on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the operation of licensed entertainment centres and indoor busking activities respectively will start to take effect on August 20.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said that the Ministry of Local Government and Housing had presented the SOP, adding that it must be adhered to.
“Indoor busking should be based on the live event SOP prepared by the Sarawak Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture,” he said at the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) Covid-19 daily update press conference today.
“We will not hesitate to shut down premises that fail to comply with the SOP,” he said.
On Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s statement that state governments were not allowed to impose their own regulations on business and social activities as this would be superseding the federal government, Uggah said that the federal government had earlier recognised that Sarawak had its own ordinance and regulations.
Uggah, who is also SDMC chairman, said that this allowed Sarawak to adjust the SOPs to suit the state’s circumstances.
“Our SOP is guided and based on what has been decided by the federal government, and we adjust it to be suitable with the condition in Sarawak,” he said, adding that the SOPs set by the state were not against those set by the federal government.
Earlier, Ismail Sabri said that state governments had to refer to the federal government and the National Security Council (MKN) prior to making decisions on Covid-19 SOPs.
