The government should not be blamed for the lack of standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance at Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s 100-day report card event last week because it was the event organiser who failed to deliver on its promises, said Senior Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.
Whenever people request permission to organise events like this, he said they would promise to abide by all the SOPs and regulations but they often end up failing in terms of monitoring and enforcement.
“It is not fair to accuse the government of failing because it is the (organiser) who could not fulfil what was promised to us.
“But no matter what, a wrong is a wrong and the organisers should view this as a lesson for the future.
“We do not differentiate between the government, the private sector or NGOs (when it comes to violations)… and we have to face the punishment,” Hishammuddin said in a press conference in Parliament today.
The defence minister was answering questions on the proposed amendment to the Prevention and Control Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) which was tabled for its first reading in the Dewan Rakyat.
Increasing fines
Previously, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the amendment is to increase the maximum compounds of offences under this Act to RM10,000 for individuals and RM1 million for companies or agencies.
Hishammuddin agreed with this, saying that the maximum fine of RM1,000 was not sufficient to act as a deterrent, especially for companies that may be earning billions.
“For example, when we talk about the 100-day report card event, there were some who said the RM1,000 fine was not appropriate as it was too little.
“This is why we want to amend the Act,” he added.
The report card launch event was in conjunction with '100 days' of Ismail Sabri’s Keluarga Malaysia government.
The four-day event held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre was packed with those attending mostly ignoring physical distancing measures meant to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The organiser of the event, the Shared Prosperity Delivery Unit (Sepadu), has since defended its crowd control efforts by saying it outlined a strict set of SOPs but individual compliance has been a challenge faced by every event organiser.
It was also slapped with the maximum RM1,000 compound under Act 342 for failing to ensure physical distancing.
The compound limit was raised to RM10,000 for individuals and RM50,000 for corporations during the state of emergency.
However, the emergency ordinance that raised the limit has lapsed and has been repealed. - Mkini
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