KIT SIANG TALKS SENSE, IGP TALKS NONSENSE: DON’T JAIL MCO VIOLATORS, INSTEAD CONSIDER EARLY RELEASE OF PRISONERS TO STOP OVERCROWDING, SAYS DAP STALWART – WHILE IGP OFFERS LAME ‘LOCKUPS ARE CLEANED DAILY’ – BUT THEN SO ARE AIRPORTS & HOSPITALS , YET THESE ARE HIGH-RISK PLACES

PETALING JAYA: Violaters of Movement Control Order (MCO) should not be jailed, in fact there should be early release of prisoners to reduce overcrowding in prison to curb the Covid-19 outbreak, says Iskandar Puteri MP Lim Kit Siang (pix).

He said this in support of the Prison’s Director-General, Zulkifli Omar’s proposal that the court should keep to non-custodial sentences instead of sending the violaters to jail because it will defeat the purpose of MCO which is to break the chain of transmission of the novel coronavirus.

“Sending the MCO violaters to jail exposes them to the danger of Covid-19 infections, especially as the country’s prisons are vastly overcrowded which makes social distancing impossible,“ he said in a statement.

This effort would not only protect the prisoners, but it will prevent the prison personnel as well, he stated.

Lim urged the government to consider giving prisoners early release just like Indonesia, India, and the United Kingdom because the unhygienic conditions and lack of health care resources in jails put lives at serious risk especially now, during the Covid-19 outbreak.

“The Malaysian government should do the same to avert a Covid-19 outbreak in view of the overcrowded conditions in Malaysian prisons, by allowing the early release of prisoners, especially the elderly, people within months of scheduled release, people whose charges are misdemeanors or non-violent felonies, individuals whose health leaves them at particular risk from Covid-19 and whose crime involves no physical harm to another person,“ he said. THE SUN DAILY

Covid-19: Lockups are cleaned daily, says IGP

KUALA LUMPUR: The Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) conducts daily sanitation of its lockups nationwide to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infection.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador (pix) said such a directive, for the daily sanitation of lockups, had been issued to all district police chiefs.

“PDRM always discharges its duties by taking into account human rights and all quarters should understand the work of the police,“ he told Bernama in Bukit Aman here.

Meanwhile, Abdul Hamid said so far, 33 members of the police force have been confirmed positive with Covid-19 and their family members, totalling 750 people, have been ordered to be quarantined.

“An officer has died from Covid-19, and there are those who were infected by the virus with history of traveling abroad and also some who got the virus from the tabligh cluster,” he added.

Abdul Hamid said all police personnel tasked with enforcing the Movement Control Order (MCO) were instructed to wear face mask and use hand sanitizer.

“There is a standard operating procedure (SOP) at roadblocks, which include not allowing the policeman on duty to touch the vehicles that stop, and also to wash their hands often,” he added.

He advised the public to comply with the MCO to help break the chain of the Covid-19 infection.

“MCO is enforced not to inconvenience the people, but for their safety, where everybody should understands and to comply with the order,” he added. — Bernama

THE SUN DAILY