KUALA LUMPUR, April 21 — The Perak Health Department today said that it has given discounts to a group of six Perak Matriculation College students, who were fined for violating the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs), recently.
In a statement today, the department’s director Dr Ding Lay Ming said that the department will investigate the issue, after the college management requested for a further reduction of the discount, citing the students’ economic backgrounds.
She said a meeting between the department and the college’s management and the students was held yesterday.
“All the students were present and presented their appeals and a discount on the fines were given according to the existing regulations on fine reductions,” Dr Ding said.
“However, an appeal for a further reduction was submitted by the college management, reasoning that the students are from lower economic backgrounds and cannot afford to pay the amount issued.
“Therefore, an investigation paper on the issue will be opened and further investigation will be conducted to be brought for consideration by the management of the Ministry of Health. Stern warning was also given to the college management for not ensuring SOP compliance in their premise.”
She said that the students did indeed violate the SOPs, on April 19, 3.45pm, in the college premise, adding the MOH personnel found the students to not be wearing face masks properly and failed to observe physical distancing.
Yesterday, Perak Health, Science, Environment and Green Technology Committee chairman Mohd Akmal Kamarudin said the state government will help six matriculation students appeal their RM1,500 fines for movement control order violations.
Several Twitter users have come to the defence of the students who were allegedly fined in the incident, saying that these students have been confined or “quarantined” in their college for over five months in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In recent months, there has been an increasing amount of accusations against government authorities for practicing double standards when punishing people who violate Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs), where popular celebrities and high-ranking government officials have been dealt with more leniently than the public.
