ALLOWING festivals to be celebrated during the Covid-19 pandemic is proving to be a bad decision after all.
Only one day of merrymaking is enough to spark more than a dozen new virus clusters in kampung and longhouses, as well as over a thousand new cases in Sarawak, with more on the horizon.
The question, then, is why did the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee allow Hari Raya and Gawai Dayak celebrations to take place despite knowing full well the gravity of the pandemic in the state?
Committee chairman Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas might have thought that by limiting the first day of the celebrations to only family members instead of large gatherings that it will not result in a spread of the virus.
Well, he was wrong, as Sarawakians are now paying the price of the aftermath of these feasts, gatherings and prayer rituals.
This is yet another policy blunder by Uggah, who had last year banned such festivities under the first movement control order (MCO), because instead of limiting them to just one day and among family members, the limit on the celebrations, which include banned cockfighting, was extended beyond Day 1, with longhouse folk flouting movement standard operating procedures.
Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Jemut Masing yesterday revealed that those living in longhouses are using rivers to escape the lockdown – one of the reasons why Covid-19 continues to spread in such premises.
Such cases involve longhouse residents from Kapit, he added.
“These longhouse folk use rivers as escape routes since roads are cordoned off by police roadblocks.
“There are people bent on escaping longhouse lockdowns by using boats to go to towns for social outings.
“This could be one of the reasons why Covid-19 continues to spread in longhouses and in towns.
“There is an urgent need to control movement along the rivers, too, not just on land.”
Masing has since alerted the Sarawak Rivers Board to beef up patrols along rivers since many longhouses are located there.
Kapit is one of the rural areas in the state that has seen a surge in Covid-19 cases and deaths in recent weeks.
For the MCO to be fully effective, Masing said there must be thorough movement control not just among the urban population, but also rural folk, as the increase in infection is equal in both areas.
However, as one of the most senior Dayak ministers in Sarawak, Masing should have seen this coming and pushed for a total ban on the Gawai Dayak celebration this year.
He should have convinced Uggah, who is also a deputy chief minister and Dayak, and the committee to ban any sort of festivity.
Another blunder made by state leaders is allowing home quarantine for infected patients.
Now, the state government, like the federal government, is extending the MCO for another two weeks, but what is the point of this when lockdown policies are weak and considered blunders?
Soon, the Dayak from these longhouses will travel out to cities and towns, infecting their workplace, neighbourhood and the general public.
It is time for Uggah, Masing and other state leaders to think of the best way possible to avert this.
Hospitals in the state are already overwhelmed with the increase in infections, with more cases to come in the next few days, potentially from those infected during Gawai Dayak celebrations.
By now, state leaders must be regretting their blunder in allowing the festivities to take place, but when will they ever learn? – The Vibes, June 13, 2021
Stephen Then is a reporter at The Vibes. He is based in Miri
