Non-Muslim houses of worship allowed to operate from Feb 12-18, says National Unity Ministry

PETALING JAYA: Non-Muslim places of worship have been allowed to reopen starting Feb 12 for the remainder of the movement control order, which is scheduled to end on Feb 18, says the National Unity Ministry.

The ministry said the decision was made during a special National Security Council (NSC) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic).

"The government has agreed that the opening of non-Muslim houses of worship during the MCO is subject to strict SOP including to limit the number of attendance only to 30 people at one time," said the ministry.

Other SOP include the houses of worship must undergo a 30-minute sanitisation before and after any religious or prayers activities.

It also requires the use of MySejahtera application for recording purposes at areas with strong Internet connectivity, said the ministry.

"Exception to scan the code for MySejahtera app is given to attendees who are 60 years old and above and to those who do not have a smartphone," it added.

The operating hours for Buddhist, Taoist, Wat Thai temples and churches, will be between 6am to 2pm.

The ministry also noted that there will be two sessions allowed for Hindu temples; the first between 6am to 10am while the second session will be between 5pm to 9pm.

For Gurdwara, it will be allowed to operate from 6am to 9am.

"The compliance of SOP is subject to the approval of the NSC.

"The National Unity Ministry urged all religious followers to adhere to the SOP which will be enforced from Feb 12 to 18,2021, to ensure that there will be no spread of the pandemic among religious followers and together practice new norms in order to break the chain of Covid-19," it said.