KJ says he asked IGP to not punish vaccine whistleblowers

 

Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Khairy Jamaluddin today said he has spoken to inspector-general of police Abdul Hamid Bador on the issue of whistleblowers who expose shortcomings in the ongoing vaccination exercise.

Taking to Twitter, Khairy responded to queries that cited a Bernama report about an ongoing probe on claims that 200 staff of Kelantan state secretary had attempted to "jump queue" to get their Covid-19 vaccines.

"I have not revealed the identities of any whistleblower who has emailed me directly. Some of this information has been used to correct the list of appointments made," said Khairy, who is also science, technology and innovations minister.

"As far as police reports are concerned, due process follows but I have asked IGP not to punish whistleblowers."

Kelantan police chief Shafien Mamat on Tuesday said police expected to record a statement soon from an individual in Putrajaya, suspected of spreading the Kelantan queue-jumping claims.

Previously, Selayang Hospital nephrologist Dr Rafidah Abdullah posted on Twitter a screenshot of a message alleging that nurses and frontline workers listed as early recipients of the vaccine had to make way for 200 members from the Kelantan state secretary's office.

Kelantan health exco Dr Izani Husin has dismissed the claims as false and demanded the Health Ministry take action if any of its officers were found to spread the allegations.

While denying the allegations, the state Health Department and the state government had nevertheless rearranged the list of those who will be among the earliest to receive Covid-19 vaccines on March 2.

A source familiar with the matter told Malaysiakini the list might have been changed after the queue-jumping allegations surfaced.

‘IGP, too, was a whitleblower’

Khairy, who co-chairs the Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee (JKJAV), previously called for whistleblowers to come forward amid complaints of alleged attempts to jump queue for Covid-19 vaccines in response to Rafidah's tweet.

Khairy said Hamid too understood the importance of whistleblowers.

"IGP understands. He was also a whistleblower.

"I don’t want to be seen to nor can I interfere with the work of the police. But since this is an issue of public interest, I must clarify that I have spoken to IGP about this to leave whistleblowers alone," said Khairy.

In 2015, Hamid, then Bukit Aman Special Branch deputy director, was transferred to the Prime Minister’s Department not long after his press conference where he revealed that there was an attempt to hide key witnesses in the SRC International case with assistance of some people in power.

Khairy said on Monday that he had received over 200 complaints from whistleblowers related to the Covid-19 vaccination programme rollout, which have since been investigated and resolved. - Mkini