These mind-boggling rule changes are just not fine

 

Here we go again. There has been another change of mind in the freewheeling merry-go-round of Malaysia’s law enforcement in offences involving Covid-19 standard operating procedures.

Now, enforcers are going to be asked to advise offenders instead of slapping them with fines. Fines, says law minister Takiyuddin Hassan, will be the last resort.

It’s all a bit mind-boggling. You have to really ask yourself – is this really the final decree or will there be more changes coming? After all, change seems to be the only constant.

First, it was a flat RM1,000 for all – and that obviously wasn’t the right fix. While it was hard for many poorer Malaysians, most richer ones cocked a snook at it.

What was worse, companies which were earning billions in a single quarter were also being hit with the same fine.

A company committing a litany of offences could only be fined a maximum of RM1,000, while the poor lad who lowered his mask to breathe easier at the LRT station also had to pay the same.

So, the first – and drastic – change happened. The fine suddenly became RM10,000 a person and RM50,000 for a company.

We were suddenly at the other extreme. RM10,000 is about three months’ salary for most ordinary wage earners. The Malaysian average salary for 2019 was RM3,224 per month.

For those on minimum wage, it was almost a year’s salary.

No amount of alphabet soup handouts – Prihatin, Permai, Pemerkasa, whatever you may call it – was going to help the poor guys caught making one mistake.

The outcry was enormous. And there were questions over summonses issued by the police.

Since when do police write the amount of the fine on the summonses? They can only issue summonses with the offence written on it. The quantum of the fine has to be decided by someone else.

A friend, a high-ranking police officer until his retirement recently, was equally dumbfounded.

“Police only assist the health ministry in the enforcement,” he said, adding that he had no idea who had directed that the RM10,000 fine be stated on the summons, or why.

“Even under traffic offences, only the offence is stated, never the amount,” he said. For him, too, it was all very confusing.

There is even talk that a whole new enforcement force, with different uniforms and all, will be deployed just to look out for SOP offenders.

David Gurubatham, the co-founder of Industries Unite, a body that has brought together some 110 trade associations, summed it up quite well.

“Everybody is clear about one thing – that nobody is clear about anything,” he said.

The enforcement has been befuddling. There have been those who have complained of being hit with fines for taking off their masks even after the food and drinks had arrived.

A restaurant owner complained of being fined for playing piped-in music. And who can forget the Bangsar Telawi fiasco, where customers were chased away when (it was finally decided) no offence was committed.

Takiyuddin then set out to make things less confusing, or so he thought.

Now, if you enter a pub or nightclub, it is the maximum of RM10,000 while the owner is fined RM50,000. Offences in an EMCO area could land you with anything between RM3,000 and RM4,000 while companies face RM20,000 fines.

If you fail to wear a mask (for the first offence)), record details or do not maintain physical distancing, it’s RM1,500.

The IGP, meanwhile, said the fines could be reduced to as low as RM50 for the poor, or they may even be exempted from paying.

Is that clear? No to me, it isn’t. There’s a lot we don’t know.

Who keeps track of who is a first-time offender or not? Who decides who is poor?

And why the double standards between the poor and the not-so-poor? Is it only about how much money can be collected?

Any punitive action must apply to all. We cannot justify the poor breaking the law. That’s called equality in the eyes of the law. And it’s enshrined in Article 8 of our federal constitution.

By the way, you can now get a 50% discount if you pay within a week and 25% if you pay within a fortnight.

That’s an even cheaper option than the original RM1,000 because it’s only RM750 for a smaller offence if you pay within a week.

Even our former prime minister Najib Razak, convicted of misappropriating RM42 million of SRC International funds, is going to get away with a RM750 fine after not checking in or having his temperature taken before settling down to a meal of chicken rice.

He wants to be issued with a summons and has promised to pay within seven days. Truth be told, RM750 will be chicken feed for Najib.

Who knows, they might even let him off with some advice, now that Takiyuddin has come up with this new, kinder, ruling. - FMT

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.