The interstate travel ban must stay; students must not be exempted
THE ban on interstate travel will not be lifted for Hari Raya Aidilfitri, said Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently.
Despite the initial disappointment (it is, after all, the second year in a row that Malaysians were not allowed to balik kampung during Hari Raya Aidilfitri), the move made sense.
This is considering the fact that there has been a recent spike of COVID-19 cases nationwide lately. Staying where we are during the festive period would give us the chance to keep the virus contained, or so the logic goes.
This is why the Ministry of Higher Education’s recent announcement that all students at higher learning institutions – except those in Sarawak – would be allowed to travel interstate to balik kampung for Hari Raya took everyone by surprise.
According to news reports, out of a total of 1.3 million students from higher learning institutions, the exodus is expected to involve 104,994 students who were previously allowed back on campus for teaching and learning sessions.
The National Security Council (NSC) said in a press statement that several control mechanisms would be in place to ensure the students’ movement is monitored.
Except for Sarawak, the NSC has issued detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) for students’ movement to and from the Peninsula, Sabah and Labuan.
But here’s the question: Were university students immune to the novel coronavirus? Why were they given the exemption when there were so many others out there who were being denied the same opportunity?
The authorities must take into consideration our past experience with interstate COVID-19 clusters, proving that no amount of control mechanism or SOPs are completely fool-proof against the virus.
If fact, we must not kid ourselves by thinking that we would be able to minimise or eliminate the risks even if there are strict SOPs in place. A few COVID-19 positive cases slipping through the cracks would be enough to ignite another COVID storm – what then?
The best case scenario would be that these cases are caught on time. Worst case scenario? We will see another jump in the number of interstate clusters. And if that happens, we would never see an end to the pandemic, vaccine or no vaccine.
Balik kampung is no doubt a great tradition, but health is still paramount. Families have been separated, in many cases, for more than a year now and make no mistake, they will continue to be separated as long as we do not get the COVID-19 infections under control.
For now, opening up state borders and allowing selected groups to travel interstate is a bad idea for the country. This is especially if the country potentially has to grapple with more widespread infections in the short and medium term. – May 2, 2021
Despite the initial disappointment (it is, after all, the second year in a row that Malaysians were not allowed to balik kampung during Hari Raya Aidilfitri), the move made sense.
This is considering the fact that there has been a recent spike of COVID-19 cases nationwide lately. Staying where we are during the festive period would give us the chance to keep the virus contained, or so the logic goes.
This is why the Ministry of Higher Education’s recent announcement that all students at higher learning institutions – except those in Sarawak – would be allowed to travel interstate to balik kampung for Hari Raya took everyone by surprise.
According to news reports, out of a total of 1.3 million students from higher learning institutions, the exodus is expected to involve 104,994 students who were previously allowed back on campus for teaching and learning sessions.
The National Security Council (NSC) said in a press statement that several control mechanisms would be in place to ensure the students’ movement is monitored.
Except for Sarawak, the NSC has issued detailed standard operating procedure (SOP) for students’ movement to and from the Peninsula, Sabah and Labuan.
But here’s the question: Were university students immune to the novel coronavirus? Why were they given the exemption when there were so many others out there who were being denied the same opportunity?
The authorities must take into consideration our past experience with interstate COVID-19 clusters, proving that no amount of control mechanism or SOPs are completely fool-proof against the virus.
If fact, we must not kid ourselves by thinking that we would be able to minimise or eliminate the risks even if there are strict SOPs in place. A few COVID-19 positive cases slipping through the cracks would be enough to ignite another COVID storm – what then?
The best case scenario would be that these cases are caught on time. Worst case scenario? We will see another jump in the number of interstate clusters. And if that happens, we would never see an end to the pandemic, vaccine or no vaccine.
Balik kampung is no doubt a great tradition, but health is still paramount. Families have been separated, in many cases, for more than a year now and make no mistake, they will continue to be separated as long as we do not get the COVID-19 infections under control.
For now, opening up state borders and allowing selected groups to travel interstate is a bad idea for the country. This is especially if the country potentially has to grapple with more widespread infections in the short and medium term. – May 2, 2021
No comments:
Post a Comment