The recent ordinance implemented under the Emergency (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 has led to a lot of confusion and even become a major talking point amongst the public over the hefty compound of RM10,000.
To put it bluntly, this is another epic case of the incompetent of the PN government when it seeks to putting the cart before the horse on major national policies in difficult times caused by the pandemic.
Many times after announcing certain measures to fight Covid-19, the PN government would make U-turns. A statement by the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Takiyuddin Hassan, for example, clearly shows that the government had failed to discuss the RM10,000 compound’s implementation and offences before putting the ordinance in place.
These are half-baked policies from PN which have done damage to the ordinary rakyat who are already facing economic hardships. This has also resulted in a lot of frustrations to the general public and much time has been wasted over the appeal for reduction.
A question to ask Takiyuddin: Why wait until today to discuss the offences that are subject to the RM10,000 compound at its Covid-19 Emergency Management Technical Committee meeting? Shouldn’t this have been decided earlier?
The PN government should, in fact, cancel all the RM10,000 compounds issued before the list of offences are laid out in black and white by the minister in charge, whoever that might be.
While Takiyuddin can claim that “the law needs to be firm but at the same time we need to exercise discretion to strike a balance”, the minister in charge of law should be reminded to always keep the balance.
It has been reported that the Covid-19 preventive laws are seemingly to the afflictions of the ordinary rakyat, but it is forgiving when the violators are VVIPs such as Takiyuddin’s own colleagues in the cabinet.
Let’s see if the ‘powerful’ Covid-19 Emergency Management Technical Committee meeting scheduled today would address this double standard of hypocrisy in policy implementation.
Thank you,
Lim Lip Eng
Member of Parliament for Kepong
