Military personnel on MCO duties won't be carrying rifles: PJ police chief

CORONAVIRUS | Armed Forces personnel who are assisting the police in movement control order (MCO) duties will not be carrying their rifles around, according to the Petaling Jaya district police chief.

Nik Ezanee Mohd Faisal told reporters earlier today that this was the latest order by the Armed Forces to its personnel on the ground.

"We were informed that the latest instruction from the Armed Forces is that soldiers assisting the police will not bring along their firearms.

"The firearms will be kept in police safekeeping where the soldiers are deployed to," he said.

Nik Ezanee spoke to reporters this evening when met after a ceremony by the district police to welcome a team of soldiers from the Royal Malay Regiment, who arrived in the afternoon to assist them in MCO duties.

Earlier today, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri in a press conference debunked rumours that the Armed Forces were taking over police duties to enforce the control order.

He had said that a lot of untrue stories had been concocted by certain quarters to create public alarm, including that the military is going to deploy its tanks on the streets.

On the soldiers' role, Nik Ezanee said for the time being, they will be assisting police duties in manning roadblocks around the district.

"In the future, depending on the need, they might be roped in for other duties," he said.

On the overall situation in the district since the MCO took effect on Wednesday, he said the level of public compliance has improved a lot.

Rate of crime cases had also gone down to about 40 percent, he said.

There had been several looting cases as shops were ordered to close, he added, but was not at an alarming level.

Earlier during the ceremony held in front of Taman Dato Harun multipurpose hall in Petaling Jaya, Nik Ezanee expressed his appreciation of the soldiers' sacrifice to help the police enforce the law.

He also reminded them that they are not facing an enemy of the country, but rather their fellow countrymen.

"Welcome to the policing world.

"May our efforts help to curb the spread of this outbreak, and bring the situation back to normal," he said. - Mkini