The army's arrest power will be limited to undocumented migrants along the country's borders and illegal routes (lorong tikus), said Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
In a media briefing today, the minister stressed that while the army leads the Op Benteng multi-agencies operation to guard the borders against any encroachment attempts, the army's power is limited as they don't have the authority to make arrests.
"That's why during the emergency order, we (the army) are given power like that of the police - to arrest.
"However, our focus now is to guard the borders against any intrusion. With the power to arrest undocumented migrants along the border and especially at lorong tikus, we can reduce the number of undocumented migrants (in the country)," he said.
Last week, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong consented to the proclamation of emergency as advised by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
The move came after the country recorded continuous four-digit figures in Covid-19 cases since November last year.
Subsequently, Ismail had noted that the armed forces and police have the same power to make arrests with the emergency ordinance.
Human rights groups had expressed concerns on the development, fearing that the army was ill-equipped to deal with civilian arrests.
NGO Tenaganita had also accused Ismail of using undocumented workers to justify the state of emergency.
Meanwhile, Ismail reiterated that other than Op Benteng, the army will still assist the police at roadblocks just as during the movement control order (MCO) last year.
On a separate matter, Ismail said the National Security Council (NSC) would wait for a report from the Health Ministry to decide whether the MCO would be extended.
"We will look into the Health Ministry's report before the current two-week period ends," he said.
The MCO 2.0 in six states and territories, including Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, is slated to end on Jan 26. However, it was announced today that several other states operating under the conditional MCO would be moved into a full MCO following a surge of new Covid-19 cases.
As for allowing restaurants to operate until 10pm, Ismail said the NSC would seek advice from the Health Ministry on the matter.
This came after many people were frustrated as they could not order food because restaurants are required to close at 8pm according to the standard operating procedure in states placed under MCO 2.0.
Following the renewed tighter measures, Ismail also announced that the Census Department had extended the online census to allow those who have yet to fill the 2020 census form to do so. - Mkini
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