If Wee Ka Siong can ‘U-Turn’ the punishment for loud exhausts, why can’t PN do it for the equally, if not more cruel Covid-19 SOP punishments?

DAP Secretary-General and Member of Parliament (MP) for Bagan, Lim Guan Eng in a statement today urged the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government to mitigate the harsh punishments for Movement Control Order (MCO) violations by turning them into advocacy actions instead. This was after the Minister of Transport, Wee Ka Siong made a ‘U-Turn’ on his ministry’s punishments against loud exhausts by allowing for offenders to only attend an interview and face advocacy action.

Furthermore, Lim also calls upon the Road Transport Department (JPJ) to cancel all summonses that have been issued to motorcyclists for loud exhausts in the interest of consistency and fair play. It is reported that more than 10,000 summonses have been issued so far under this offence.

Previously, motorcyclists with loud exhausts on their vehicles face the below punishments:

• Summons up to RM2,000.
• Imprisonment up to 6 months.

Now, motorcyclist offenders will only be called up for an interview under Notice 114 and face advocacy action with the Road JPJ, rather than be issued a summons or even have their motorcycles seized.

Considering how PN are able to make a ‘U-Turn’ regarding the excessive punishment for loud exhausts, Lim Guan Eng sees no reason as to why they can’t also implement the same mitigation to MCO offenders. The MP for Bagan asserted,

“Offenders of MCO restrictions should be permitted to attend an interview and face advocacy action, instead of being issued a compound summons for RM10,000 fines, similar to cases involving motorcyclists with loud exhausts on their vehicles.”

Lim added that the harsh RM10,000 fines imposed on individuals and RM50,000 fines on companies under the Covid-19 SOP law are equally, if not more cruel than the punishment for loud exhausts. Hence, it raises the question as to why the government can’t make a similar ‘U-Turn’ on the punishment for breaching Covid-19 SOP.

Lim stressed,

“Ordinary citizens are not as wealthy as Ministers to afford the RM10,000 fines.”

The DAP Secretary-General also warned PN that public anger has been mounting against their double standard enforcement of laws. Until today, Ministers such as Azmin Ali, Annuar Musa and Zuraida Kamarudin have been caught by the public breaking Covid-19 SOPs yet no action has been taken against them.

Lim also reminded Malaysians how Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali was compounded with only RM1,000 without being charged court when a 72-year old Malay lady was charged in court, fined RM8,000 and a day’s jail for a similar offence.

Most recently, Federal Territories Deputy Minister Edmund was not only allowed to travel to New Zealand for a 55-days holiday during MCO and the proclamation of Emergency, but he was also allowed to undergo home quarantine upon his return. The same option to undergo home quarantine was denied to an ordinary rakyat, an airlines pilot named S Mani Vannan even though he was returning from a low-risk country (Singapore), tested negative for Covid-19 and was even vaccinated against the virus. S Mani sought home quarantine so that he could take care for his cancer-stricken mother.

Lim also iterated that a majority of MPs from both the opposition and government backbenchers oppose these new fines imposed under emergency regulations. Legislative powers must be restored so that a parliamentary meeting can be convened and these harsh fines can be debated and repealed.

Currently the voices of the rakyat, through MPs are silenced due to the refusal fo the government to comply with the wishes of Yang di-Pertuan Agong that the Emergency Proclamation does not suspend Parliament. – The Rocket.