Kepong MP offers to pay distraught youth's RM1,000 mask fine

Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng has offered to assist a teenager who was fined RM1,000 for purportedly pulling down his face mask while waiting on a platform for a train.

In a Facebook post, Lim urged the youth to contact him for help, not long after a video which showed the boy crying after being slapped with the compound had gone viral.

"Kepong DAP sympathises with the student fined for not wearing a mask at a commuter station.

"To the student, please contact me for help to pay the RM1,000 fine," he said.

"I also hope that the public, particularly youths, would follow the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent Covid-19 infections," he added.

Earlier today, netizens had rallied behind the teenager, as they questioned the seemingly uneven enforcement of the compulsory face mask rule.

This was with regard to a number of politicians who had been photographed without masks in public places, and not given a summons for it.

There has been confusion over what constitutes “crowded public places” since the ruling came into force on Aug 1.

On Aug 5, the National Security Council released a full list of places and occasions where members of the public have to wear face masks.

There was also an uproar among social media users during the initial stages of the movement control order which began in March, where there were claims that authorities were slow to act against politicians and VIPs who were seen breaching SOPs in pictures.

Several of those politicians were later compounded, but netizens again questioned why there was a delay when the public was often fined on the spot or even hauled to jail. - Mkini