SOP for houses of worship to be finalised

PUTRAJAYA: The standard operating procedure (SOP) related to the opening of non-Muslim houses of worship during the conditional movement control order (MCO) period will be finalised by tomorrow, says the NationaI Unity Ministry (KPN).

In a statement yesterday, KPN said minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique had an online meeting with representatives of religious bodies on Friday to discuss in general the SOP proposed by KPN and the Health Ministry.

The ministry said the representatives of various religions like Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism provided feedback and listed selected houses of worship in Covid-19 green zones that could be reopened.

Among the religious bodies that took part in the meeting were the Christian Federation of Malaysia, Malaysian Gurdwaras Council, Malaysian Buddhist Association, Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia and Federation of Taoist Associations Malaysia.

Others included the Christian Youth Association of Malaysia, Fo Guang Shan Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia, National Evangelical Christian Fellowship Malaysia, Malaysia Hindu Sangam, Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia and Council of Churches of Malaysia.

KPN said a follow-up meeting would be held tomorrow to finalise the SOP.

From there, Halimah would submit a list of houses of worship that would be allowed to reopen together with the related SOP to the National Security Council on Tuesday, it added.

The SOP for the reopening of selected mosques and surau was issued on Thursday and Friday. — Bernama