The Malaysian Insight

CHRISTMAS mass on the eve and December 25 will take place with limited capacity, as per Putrajaya’s standard operating procedure, said the Council of Churches Malaysia. 

This involves Protestant churches nationwide and Catholic churches outside the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur.

CCM’s general secretary Reverend Hermen Shastri said the churches will be conducting services with 20 people capacity, and will be livestreaming for their members.

“The capacity (nationwide) and one-third capacity for the Federal Territories will be conducted in green and yellow zones. 

“But this is only for CCM mainline Protestant churches. There are no Catholic masses in the Kuala Lumpur Diocese,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Hermen also said all churches were abiding by strict SOP.

On December 17, the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur said there would be no public masses in the Klang Valley throughout the Christmas season. 

Archbishop Julian Leow decided that public masses in all parishes under the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur will be suspended from Christmas Eve on December 24 until Epiphany on January 3.

Kuala Lumpur Department of National Unity and Integration had said activities at non-Muslim houses of worship in the Federal Territories in conjunction with the Christmas celebration are allowed.

This, they said, was based on the attendance limit set by the National Security Council (NSC), Health Ministry and the Federal Territories Ministry. 

They said the permission is in line with SOP and protocols on the Christmas celebration issued by NSC for the period during the recovery movement-control order (RMCO) and the conditional MCO.

Attendance for prayers is allowed up to a third of the capacity of the houses of worship or not more than 30 people per session, it said. 

Last Friday, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that open houses and carolling in conjunction with the Christmas celebrations are not allowed throughout the country. 

However, those celebrating the occasion are allowed to perform prayers on December 24 and 25 in the areas under the RMCO and CMCO.

These are among the SOP for the festival, which also stipulates that visiting each other’s houses is only allowed on the first day (December 25) in areas where the RMCO and CMCO are being enforced. 

Yesterday, Selangor continued to record the highest number of Covid-19 cases for the eighth day in a row after logging 535 cases. 

Kuala Lumpur saw the second-highest number of cases at 226, followed by Sabah with 189. – December 24, 2020.