GEORGE TOWN (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK, XINHUA) - With the emergence of the new Omicron variant, Sarawakians residing in Penang are holding back plans to return to their hometown to cast their ballots on Saturday (Dec 18).
Mr Brendan Lo Rick, 33, who is a manager with a multinational corporation here, said initially he was open to returning home to cast his ballot in the Sarawak election, but changed his mind due to safety concerns.
"Many of my friends from my own hometown who are working in Penang have also decided not to return home to vote.
"In pre-pandemic times, I would fly home to Kuching to cast my ballot.
"But now, times are different and my priority is the safety and health of my loved ones.
"I am also unable to return home on such short notice due to important work commitments," he said.
Mr Lo, who is from Kuching, called on the Election Commission to allow Sarawakians living in Peninsular Malaysia like him to qualify as postal voters for future elections.
A record number of 349 candidates are contesting 82 legislative seats in Malaysia's largest state, making it the country's most crowded state polls. The previous record was 229 candidates, set in 2016, also in Sarawak.
Another Sarawakian, recruitment consultant Lau Hon Wee, 26, also from Kuching, said he had no plans to return to his hometown anytime soon.
"To me, the situation is not convincing. I have not returned to Kuching since 2019 and I have no plans to do so until next year, depending on the situation then.
"Looking back at the Sabah election, the situation then should be a lesson for us.
"I remember at that time, we only had few cases and even zero cases on some days for a long time, but all our efforts in battling the pandemic were undone because of one election," he said.
Mr Lau also urged the government to change the law to allow Sarawakians and Sabahans working in the peninsula to qualify as postal voters in the future.
"As much as we want to carry out our responsibilities as citizens, we have to think of the health and well-being of ourselves and our family," he said.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on Thursday said Malaysia has detected its second case of the Covid-19 Omicron variant in an eight-year-old girl who had returned from Nigeria with her family.
The country's first known case of the variant was a fully vaccinated 19-year-old woman who arrived from South Africa via Singapore on Nov 19.
Mr Khairy also announced that there are 18 probable cases that are currently undergoing genomic sequencing to determine the type of variant.
The results he said are expected to be known on Friday.
Malaysia reported another 3,900 new coronavirus infections - 3,881 of which are local transmissions - as of midnight Wednesday, bringing the national total to 2,703,140.
Another 33 more deaths have been reported, bringing the death toll to 30,989.