Ismail Sabri shares pic, denies violating social distancing protocols

 

Senior Minister (security cluster) Ismail Sabri has come out to deny what he calls slanderous material depicting himself, Malacca Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali and Malacca state speaker Abd Rauf Yusof in apparent violation of conditional movement control order (MCO) standard operating procedures (SOPs).

"Several pictures (are circulating) with slanderous material against me and the chief minister of Malacca and the speaker of the state assembly of Malacca when I made a working visit to Malacca last Saturday - supposedly showing no social distancing between us," he said in an Instagram post.

Ismail said that those who shared the post mischievously took a picture from the side to make it seem that they were very close, and that was no social distancing.

"But this is the real picture. May Allah opens the hearts of these people so that they will no longer slander anyone in this way," he said.

In a response to a complaint that he did not appear to be observing the one-metre gap, Ismail said that in restaurants there was no need for the one-metre distance and that just having a chair in between was enough.

Ismail, who is responsible for daily public briefings in which he announces how many Malaysians are arrested or issued summons for violating the SOPs introduced to stop the spread of Covid-19, appears to have been reacting to a social media post by activist/artist Fahmi Reza.

Fahmi had posted a picture of Ismail and the other political leaders at the same event with the apparently sarcastic comment:

"Sometimes we see photographs in which many people are seated at a meeting closely around the table, but in fact, it is at different times in different places, but thanks to modern technology the picture can be put together as if to make it seem like they are all meeting together."

In his latest riposte to Ismail's post, Fahmi posted another photo at 11am this morning on Twitter. His photo highlighted that Ismail was not wearing a mask and appeared to be significantly less than a metre away from Sulaiman.

Fahmi also included an infographic from the National Security Council which emphasised social distancing guidelines at a table.

 - Mkini