SANDAKAN – The local council here is tired of being blamed for the flip-flop on allowing businesses to operate under the conditional movement control order (CMCO), saying it is only following instructions from the National Security Council (NSC) and state government.
Sandakan Municipal Council (SMC) president Wong Foo Tin said it does not have a say in the matter.
“During this CMCO period, SMC, as the local authority, is just the mediator between the government and the people. We are only doing our job by executing the government’s instructions.
“SMC has no intention of confusing the people. A lot of people do not understand that these instructions do not come from SMC.”
On Wednesday, the council issued a notice stating that only certain businesses can operate, and that, too, from just 6am to 6pm.
Sandakan has been under the CMCO even before the notice was issued, and the change in standard operating procedure came only after the movement curbs were applied to the whole of Sabah on Tuesday.
SMC yesterday came out with a notice saying businesses can operate up till 8pm, following an announcement by Sabah spokesman on Covid-19 matters Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun.
“Locals are blaming SMC. It is not what we want. We just follow instructions from NSC and the state government,” said Wong. –The Vibes, October 17, 2020
