SARAWAK has defended its policy that requires foreigners and non-Sarawakians to apply for permission to enter the state.

The state Disaster Management Committee said it needs prompt information on the travel history and whereabouts of people who have no fixed addresses in the event they are needed to be tracked down.

The October 16 ruling to retain the mandatory requirement for foreigners and non-Sarawakian Malaysians to apply for the permission via the EnterSarawak application has been criticised as discriminatory, politically motivated and not helping to ease travel.

However, Sarawak-Malaysia My Second Home visa holders, non-Sarawakians whose spouse is a Sarawakian, children of Sarawakians born outside the state, and federal officers serving in the state are exempted from applying for the permit.

Civil society organisation Rise of Social Efforts said the policy is not only discriminatory to non-Sarawakians, but will also spread speculation that it “can bar the entry of non-Sarawakian election volunteers and helpers in the coming state elections”.

State DAP chairman Chong Chieng Jen said the policy seems to state that the coronavirus “will differentiate between Sarawakians and non-Sarawakians before infecting an individual”.

Such discriminatory treatment is not based on science and medical data, but political sentiment, he added.

The committee said the requirement is based on a state Health Department recommendation, following a case earlier this month where a visitor from Kuala Lumpur had travelled in the state, including to Bakun, and stayed in several hotels before he was found to be Covid-19-positive in a random test in Bintulu.

It said health authorities had also faced difficulties in determining the gravity of exposure in a case involving four illegal Indonesian immigrants in Sibu last year.

Authorities had no contact number or history of movement of the quartet after they failed a mandatory Covid-19 test as part of their application for a work permit.

An investigation later found that after finding they were positive, the four individuals had left Sibu by taking a bus to the border town of Lubok Antu, some 240km away, to cross back to Kalimantan.

The committee said in this case, it was hard for health authorities to pinpoint who and how many members of the public had been exposed before the quartet were found positive.

Information on the movement history of those who have no permanent or fixed address is important to facilitate quick case and contact tracing, it added.

The Sarawak Health Department has recommended keeping the policy so that divisional or district health offices can make immediate contact tracing when a positive case is detected, said the committee.

However, it has admitted that the latest entry procedure is aimed at facilitating easy entry for Sarawakians and individuals residing in Sarawak, but hopes all parties will be patient and cooperate to curb Covid-19 in the state. – October 20, 2021.