KUCHING, May 2 — Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) today urged the Sarawak government to exercise caution over the re-opening of industries and businesses under the conditional movement control order (CMCO), as announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.

Its president Voon Lee Shan said not every directive on the re-opening of economic sectors from the federal government or prime minister has to be followed when the state is still battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

"A friend of mine who is a foreign medical specialist has told me that the re-opening of industries and businesses at this moment is a grave mistake,” he said.

"The state government must know that we are fighting a war against Covid-19 and the war is not even won yet with many frontliners having contracted this deadly virus,” he said, stressing that Covid-19 is an invisible and dangerous enemy.

Voon expressed his fear that the re-opening of economic sectors at this crucial moment may result in a sudden surge of Covid-19 cases, adding that it is absolutely not safe to ease MCO.

He added that the virus can spread quickly within the community, which in turn leads to a massive mobilisation of resources to contain it.

Voon alleged that the federal government’s decision to allow economic sectors to re-open now is mainly due to "the love of money over the love of lives”.

"The loss of revenue caused by this Covid-19 should be taken as a blessing by all in a positive way.

"We are in massive debt and with very little cash in hand, it is time for the government to tighten its belt and to tell the citizens to do the same,” he said.

He suggested that the state government should start rationing essential goods, saying that it is also its responsibility to find ways to take care of people’s daily needs.