Johor polls: Proposed SOP to be tabled in NSC meeting, Opposition reps included

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob. – Bernama

BERA: The proposed standard operating procedure (SOP) for the Johor state election will be tabled in a special National Security Council (NSC) session, which will also be attended by representatives from the Opposition, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The Prime Minister, who is also Bera MP, said the Health Ministry would prepare the proposed SOP in detail, as the priority is to prevent an increase in Covid-19 cases during the state election, besides taking into account the number of new cases which had exceeded 4,000 over the past few days.

“We cannot be complacent and need to continue to curb (Covid-19 transmission), even if we say we need to live with Covid-19 in the future. We hope that cases continue to drop to below 1,000 so that we can declare Malaysia as endemic, not pandemic.

“We leave it to the Health Ministry to determine the SOP and I can call a special NSC meeting to discuss it,” said Ismail Sabri.

On Saturday (Jan 22), Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, consented to the dissolution of the state assembly, paving the way for a state election.

Ismail Sabri also said that the government assures Malaysians that there will be no movement control order (MCO) and travel restrictions during Hari Raya Aidilfitri this year.

He said economic and social sectors, as well as interstate travel, had been allowed to return to normal, adding that in the event there was an increase in cases in certain localities, a targeted enhanced movement control order (EMCO) approach would be used.

“There has been speculation – including that people cannot ‘balik raya’ – as there has been an increase in cases over the past few days. Please don’t worry, we will not shut down the country, states or districts again.

“We will focus on targeted areas identified with high numbers of infections by enforcing EMCO. If the village is subject to EMCO, only those from that village will not be allowed to return,” he told a press conference after attending a closed-door meeting with staff from the Bera Community Development Department (Kemas) at its office here. – Bernama