PARLIAMENT | The tabling of the bill proposing amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) has been postponed yet again to the next sitting so that a consensus on the amendments can be reached with the opposition.
This follows a meeting by the parliamentary special select committee on health, science and technology held at 8am, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
“After discussion with the prime minister and the opposition leader just now, and also taking into account that attention should be given to the flood disaster right now, I would like to take the decision made by the select committee.
“Upon the spirit of our memorandum of understanding and the spirit of bipartisanship, and in line with Standing Order 62, I would like to request for the second and third reading of (this bill) to be postponed to the coming sitting,” Khairy said in the Dewan Rakyat today.
The select committee had unanimously recommended for the tabling of the bill to be postponed in order to conduct more comprehensive engagements with all stakeholders to further fine-tune and improve the bill, he added.
This is not because they do not support the bill on principle, he said, as most of the substantive issues have been sorted out.
“It is just a few more details that still require more engagement sessions for us to reach an understanding together,” he added.
Make guidelines public - Yii
The select committee’s chairperson Dr Kelvin Yii (Pakatan Harapan-Bandar Kuching) said they had listened to presentations from Khairy, the Health director-general, Health Ministry officers, Attorney-General’s Chambers officers as well as opinions from a panel of independent experts in the two-hour meeting this morning.
Yii added that the guidelines for the enforcement of the proposed amendments for Act 342 should also be made public so that it can be scrutinised by the rakyat before the bill is re-tabled in the next sitting.
Khairy said he agreed with the committee’s decision as bipartisan support for the bill is necessary in order to encourage public compliance.
Public acceptance and compliance, he said, are of the utmost importance when it comes to Act 342 and the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and future diseases.
“In a public health crisis such as this, it is not just punitive actions but compliance to public health interventions is also very important.
“Compliance comes from trust and credibility and a bipartisan legislative process.
“So I agree with Bandar Kuching’s (Yii) suggestion just now and we will publish the guidelines so that it is clear what are the wrongdoings, the magnitude of the wrongdoings, what are the compounds, what is the value of the compound and so on,” Khairy said.
Consensus needed
The minister added that even though his ministry had hoped to push through the “very necessary” amendments to Act 342 today, it would have created more problems down the line if they passed the bill without consensus.
“If the rakyat feels that this bill did not receive support from all quarters, there might be contentions and problems in terms of compliance.
“So in public health matters, it is very important for us to get the trust and acceptance of the rakyat,” Khairy said.
The proposed amendments to Act 342 is to introduce stiffer penalties for both individuals and entities.
However, it has been met with huge backlash from the public and the opposition bench due to concerns over the exorbitant compounds and that it could lead to abuse and corruption.
The bill was supposed to be debated and decided upon in the Dewan Rakyat last Thursday, which was initially scheduled to be the last day of the sitting.
The sitting was extended by one day so that the bill can be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat today instead.
Among the proposed amendments is to increase the maximum fine for an individual to RM100,000 or a jail term not exceeding seven years or both.
This was later revised to a RM50,000 maximum fine or a jail term not exceeding three years. - Mkini
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