MP trio has right to vote in Parliament, minister insists no breach of SOP

Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has reaffirmed that there was no breach of standard operating procedures in allowing three MPs under home quarantine to cast their votes in Parliament.

Ismail said the three - Health Minister Dr Adham Baba (BN-Tenggara), Human Resources Minister M Saravanan (BN-Tapah) and P Prabakaran (Pakatan Harapan-Batu) - were made to wear full personal protective equipment in compliance with Covid-19 prevention procedures.

"Their right to vote is a right protected under the Federal Constitution.

"They have a right to be granted permission to vote in Parliament," Ismail said during a Covid-19 update press conference.

"For voting in Parliament, the rule is that they must be physically present in the Parliament.

"It cannot be carried out online, for instance. So we gave them permission because they have a right to vote," the Bera MP added.

Ismail said similar exemptions were also granted in the past for urgent requests, such as to attend a funeral, even in the first phase of the movement control order that saw stricter nationwide lockdown protocols.

Sabah voters arrived in an ambulance to cast their votes during the recent state election

"We allow, in certain cases, for those under quarantine to (leave and) exercise their rights.

"For example during the Sabah state elections, we allowed voters to cast their ballots, even though they were under quarantine," he said.

"These people under quarantine, they are negative.

"If they are positive (for Covid-19), of course, we will not allow and they will be in the hospital," Ismail added.

Unhappiness over the presence of the MPs in the Dewan Rakyat while wearing full personal protective equipment had prompted a group of opposition lawmakers to walk out from a bloc vote for the Federal Territories Ministry's budget yesterday.

Responding to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim this morning, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said the three MPs had obtained permission from Health director-general (DG) Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to attend Parliament.

Of the three, Azhar said he was also informed that Adham had ended his 10-day Home Surveillance Order yesterday. Prabakaran will end his today and Saravanan has until Thursday to complete the new 10-day shortened quarantine period for who had close contact with a Covid-19 infected person. - Mkini