KUALA LUMPUR: Dewan Rakyat proceedings has been temporarily halted for 15 minutes to allow for an urgent engagement on the controversial Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Bill 2021.
Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun announced the postponement of 15 minutes to allow the last minute engagement session.
"I was informed that there is an urgent engagement session that is being conducted now.
"So, I will postpone it for 15 minutes and we will resume immediately after that," he said in parliament on Monday (Dec 20).
The government has agreed to defer the second and third reading of Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Bill 2021 on Monday.
The decision to extend the Dewan Rakyat meeting by an additional day to debate the Bill comes after intense engagement between Opposition leaders and health ministry officials on Thursday (Dec 16), following outcry over excessive penalties proposed under the amendments.
The Bill was tabled for the first reading on Tuesday (Dec 14), but saw Opposition MPs voicing concern over the excessive fines and prison terms to be imposed on companies and individuals that flout Covid-19 standard operating procedures.
On Wednesday (Dec 15), the Health Ministry proposed lowering the penalties by half in the wake of outcry over the initial sums proposed in Bill.
The Bill initially proposed a maximum RM100,000 fine or seven years’ jail under Section 24(a) for individuals who flout Covid-19 regulations.
Also deemed excessive was the proposed RM1mil for a corporate body under Section 25(b).
Under the present Act 342, the health authorities are only empowered to impose a maximum fine of RM1,000 against companies and individuals who flout Covid-19 SOPs. - Star
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