The wedding ceremony can be conducted if the places of worship and non-Muslim religious associations has an assistant marriage registrar who was appointed under Section 28 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 (Act 164). File Photo
KUCHING: Wedding ceremonies at places of worship and non-Muslim religious associations will now be allowed starting July 1, with the total attendance limited to 20 people after taking into consideration the social distancing etiquette of one metre.
This was announced in the guidelines issued by the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) in the Chief Minister’s Department today.
The wedding ceremony can be conducted if the places of worship and non-Muslim religious associations has an assistant marriage registrar who was appointed under Section 28 of the Law Reform (Marriage and Divorce) Act 1976 (Act 164).
Aside from that, the guideline also stated that attendance at funerals was currently limited to 50 persons, including funeral services personnel), and immediate family members only.
Grave visitation on the other hand, is limited to 20 people at any one time, and only immediate family members are allowed. Both are also to take effect starting July 1.
This is in accordance with the resolution agreed to by the State Disaster Management Committee, following the reopening of houses of worship for non-Muslims across Sarawak since June 20.
On these three matters, the committee has decided that children under the age of 12 and those with symptoms of fever, cough, cold or temperatures above 37.5ºC are not allowed to attend. Any social activities (eating, drinking and others), and those involving physical contact are also not allowed.
For those who do attend, they are advised to wear face masks at all times, to wash or sanitise their hands regularly, not to ‘bersalam’ with one another, to fill in an attendance list or use the MySejahtera or COVIDTrace app, not to gather before and after the event, and immediately leave once the event or activity has ended.
For places of worship and non-Muslim religious associations who are holding wedding ceremonies, they are to sanitise the space used for the event, use only one entrance for entry and exit, provide an attendance list or QR code for attendees to scan and ensure all attendance record their details, set up a counter to take the temperature of all attendees and staff, ensure that everyone wears a face mask, wash or sanitise their hands regularly, and ensure that all SOPs are followed, especially those concerning social distancing.
All places of worship and non-Muslim religious associations who plan to conduct any of the three are advised to do so with caution, according to their respective ability and level of readiness, to ensure that the situation is always in control and in full compliance of all standards (SOPs), Unifor said.
The SDMC can and may amend this guideline at any time if the need arises.
The Guidelines can be downloaded on the Unifor website. It is also available at the headquarters of respective places of worship, Resident and District Offices.
For further inquiries, call or email Unifor Policy and Public Relations Division: Simon Engka Crown ([email protected] / 082-550610 ext 126 / 014-5750990) and Ambrose Linang Sidu (ambrosels@sarawak/gov.my / 082-550610 ext 127 / 019-8780787).
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