CMCO: Ketari rep confirms paying compound for breaching SOP

Ketari state assemblyperson Young Syefura Othman said today she had been directed to settle a compound for violating the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the conditional movement control order (CMCO) in Selangor, recently.

Young Syefura said she would pay the compound soon and that the police informed her the case against her was considered resolved.

"I apologise for violating the SOP of the CMCO, which to some extent affected the Pahang state assembly sitting. I also apologise to all Pahang people for the mistake," she said.

She was speaking during the debate of the state's budget 2021 bill, which was tabled by Menteri Besar Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail at Wisma Sri Pahang in Kuantan.

Young Syefura assemblyperson was earlier criticised for uploading a picture of herself and four friends celebrating her birthday on the beach in Bagan Lalang, Selangor, on Instagram (photo), which was later deleted from the social site.

Selangor is among the states placed under the CMCO until Dec 6. Travel into the state, as well as between districts within the state, is prohibited with few exceptions.

During her debate, Young Syefura questioned whether the data presented to the state assembly about forest area - 2.05 million hectares or 57 percent of the state's 3.59 million total land area - was accurate.

"I have checked and found that the total forest area has not changed since 2017. Could it be so, when in fact, forest yield is a contributing factor to the state government's income and the amount has been increasing," she said.

Meanwhile, Bilut assemblyperson Lee Chin Chen proposed that assessment and land tax for hotel, homestay, and restaurant operators be exempted for the next three years, while licence fees for hawkers who lacked customers due to the pandemic be waived.

Lee said farmers should also receive special attention because some of them suffered losses when they could not collect farm produce or sell their crops due to movement restrictions.

"I propose a registration session be conducted for the provision of assistance, such as fertiliser and pesticide subsidies according to land area, thus easing the burden of farmers," he said.

The assembly sitting continues tomorrow.

- Bernama