By Olivia Miwil - June 29, 2021 @ 11:55am
KOTA KINABALU: As some patrons were enjoying their breakfast at the state capital here, the authorities arrived and warned restaurant operators to close despite the state allowing dine-ins today.
State Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor announced yesterday the state would allow dine-ins, roadside stalls, hair salons, golfing, fishing and cycling starting today.
However, after 24 hours, there are no new standard operating procedures (SOP) issued to the public and business operators, nor justification on Sabah relaxing its rules despite earlier agreeing to follow Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
Dominic Sylvester said he was waiting for his breakfast order at an eatery here when a security guard came and told the owner not to allow customers to dine-in.
"I was confident that I could dine-in starting today. I even showed the statement by the Chief Minister to the restaurateur and he also allowed others to come in.
"However, a security guard came in and told the owner that no dine-in is allowed and asked the restaurateur to contact the management for confirmation," he said, adding the incident occurred at around 8.30am.
Kota Kinabalu member of parliament Chan Foong Hin also said he received a lot of complaints from coffee shop operators and hawkers near Damai, Lintas, Foh Sang near here.
"They have been warned by Health Ministry (KKM) enforcement officers not to set up tables for dine-in purposes or risk being issued with a compound as the SOPs were not yet ready.
"I find the action of such enforcement officers being rather high-handed. The Chief Minister of Sabah had already made his announcement expressly allowing dine-ins from today," he said in a statement.
Chan, who is also Sabah DAP secretary, urged the enforcement officers to properly exercise their discretion and not be so quick to punish, especially when it is the government's fault that SOPs are not in place.
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