Miri bakery owner files report against SDMC, claims no Covid-19 cases visited premises

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Madam Chin (second right) is seen at the police station with PBK members. Ting is at second left.

MIRI (Aug 2): A bakery owner here today lodged a police report against the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) as she claimed her premises was wrongly listed as having been patronised by customers who were Covid-19 positive.

The woman, who only wished to be identified as Madam Chin, said she was surprised when her bakery was listed by SDMC for two consecutive days.

“According to the list issued by SDMC on July 30 and 31, my premises had been patronised by positive cases, which stated date of exposure between 1.40pm and 2.10pm and 1.40pm and 1.55pm — both on the same date which was on July 19.

“However, when I checked on my premises’ CCTV (closed-circuit television) video, there were no customers entering the shop during that time and date as stated on SDMC’s list,” she claimed.

Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) Miri political affairs deputy Leslie Ting, who accompanied the owner at the police station, called on SDMC to be transparent and show the public how it came up with the list of premises patronised by Covid-19 cases.

He claimed many business owners were already badly affected due to the pandemic and mistakenly listing their premises was like adding salt to their wounds.

“As stated by Madam Chin, she checked her CCTV numerous times but could not find any customers patronising her premises on the day and time listed on SDMC’s statement.

“Therefore, how did SDMC come up with the list? Did they list their premises based on what the patients said without investigation?” he asked.

He urged SDMC to conduct a thorough investigation before publicly sharing the names of premises.