THE Federation of Chinese Associations Malaysia (Huazong) says it was never invited to attend consultation sessions organised by the National Unity Ministry on the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) for Chinese New Year.

Huazong president Goh Tian Chua was reported as saying by The Star that he was puzzled with the ministry’s press statement which said it developed the SOP after consulting 21 Chinese cultural and religious groups last month.

“If we were invited by the relevant government departments or agencies, we certainly would have sent our representatives to provide our views and proposals on the issue,” Goh was quoted as saying.

Goh’s denial of being consulted was also carried in various Chinese media articles posted on Huazong’s Facebook page.

He said since there was no invitation, Huazong did not send any representatives to the dialogue sessions.

Goh urged the ministry to clarify its statement and prevent further confusion.

The ministry yesterday released the names of Chinese religious and cultural groups it said it had met in two dialogue sessions, held on January 12 and 18.

These sessions are understood to have been conducted as video conference calls.

The ministry’s move to release the names of the groups follows furore from Malaysians over the SOPs, which many have deemed illogical and out of touch with a major ethnic group in Malaysia. Ethnic Chinese comprise over 20% of the country’s population.

Senior minister and National Security Council (NSC) spokesman Ismail Sabri Yaakob also questioned why people were criticising the SOP when it was the result of consultations with the cultural and religious groups.

Among the SOP which have drawn ire and spawned jokes against the government, are that reunion dinners and the tradition of visiting people’s homes can only be held among “members of the same household”.

Some critics have also highlighted how the government’s Covid-19 SOP for Hari Raya last year allowed visits to homes among family members, with a cap at 20 people, but the same has not been allowed  for Chinese New Year celebrations.

The Chinese New Year SOP, however, comes as Covid-19 infections register in excess of 3,000 daily, since around mid-January.

The national unity ministry in its statement yesterday added that after hearing public complaints, it would forward those views and appeals for SOP revisions to the NSC. – February 6, 2021.