KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Consultative Council for Islamic Organization (MAPIM) expressed its shock by the statement of Dr Adham Baba, who loosened the quarantine regulation for the Cabinet members who made official visit abroad.
The order has reduced the quarantine period of ministers from 10 days to merely three days.
“Is this the decision of the Minister or the MOH (Ministry of Health) led by him or from the MKN (National Security Council)?
“Are the ministers immune from being infected and infecting other people?” its President, Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid questioned in a statement today.
He also questioned the leniency given to the Cabinet while an extremely strict enforcement is being implemented on the civilians who violate the standard operating procedures (SOP) of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
Mohd Azmi questioned about the double standards in the legal system of the country, stating that the people are working hard to survive MCO, on the contrary, ministers who receive full salaries get all facilities and even leniency in SOP.
He said, the Covid-19 cases in the country is still high and further questioned the rational of the leniency given to the ministers.
“We think that the decision is unreasonable as the civilians’ movement are being tightened and they need to dig their own pockets to pay for the 10 days of full quarantine when they return to the country. However, the SOP are relaxed for the ministers.
“The message from the government in facing the pandemic is not a message which prioritise on leading by example. The people are forced to comply but the ministers get special treatment,” he added.
It seems like the government leaders do not show a good example for the people when they should be sending the right health message to boost the people’s confidence that the government does not practice double standard.
In the current critical situation, leniency should to be given to anyone.
“Rules should not be based on caste, where the people and the ministers get different set of standard operating procedures,” he added.
Therefore, MAPIM urges MOH and MKN to provide explanation to the people on the decision.
Minister of Health, Dr Adham Baba issued the directive to loosen quarantine regulation for his friends in the Cabinet who travelled abroad on official businesses.
The order reduces the quarantine period of ministers from 10 to three days in principle.
The order, “Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Exemption) 2021” is signed by Adham and gazetted in the Federal Gazette today.
Earlier, a cabinet minister was found to not undergo quarantine according to SOP after returning from overseas and was only fined.
The most recent returnee is Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who just returned to Malaysia last Friday after a two-day official visit to Indonesia at the invitation of the Republic’s President, Joko Widodo. –MalaysiaGazette
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