KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — DAP will continue opposing the amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342), as the proposed heavier sanctions are too burdensome on the public, party secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said.
The Bagan MP also took a swipe at Cabinet ministers, whom he said are themselves not able to adhere to the Covid-19 rules, with several already fined for their transgressions.
“Let us not make amendments to the Act that are detrimental to the people. Let us take care of the rakyat, not impose heavier punishments on them
“I am stating it again: Revoke the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) or we will fight it till the end,” the former finance minister said, in debating the royal address.
Lim also laid the blame for the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases at the government’s door.
“Don’t blame the rakyat. That is the reason. This is an attempt by the government to blame the people by imposing enforcement and penalties that are heavier on the rakyat, which I feel are unjust and not reasonable at all.
“That is why, on behalf of DAP, and I believe Pakatan Harapan (PH) too, we will oppose the amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act,” he said, adding that while the Opposition would support preventive measures, it would not back the government’s move to amend Act 342.
During his debate, Lim hit out at defence minister and Sembrong MP, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, in particular, who was recently fined for flouting the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs). He also tested positive for Covid-19 approximately a week after the incident.
Hishammuddin is also the chair of the Covid-19 Quartet Ministers Meeting.
“Do not blame the rakyat. If there is a fault, the fault lies with the government leadership, especially ministers. How can the rakyat be blamed for failing to adhere to the SOPs when the minister himself is not doing it? Where is leadership through example? The minister in charge of the ministerial quartet on the enforcement of SOPs, the Sembrong MP himself, did not abide by the SOPs he set, and was only fined RM1,000.
“This has no effect at all. It is completely meaningless. But now, if it were to be raised to RM10,000, to him, RM10,000 is not a problem; even RM100,000 is not a problem,” Lim said, pointing out that the situation, however, would be different for the public.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) had in December reduced some penalties on individuals and corporate bodies found flouting Covid-19 SOPs.
A copy of the documents given to MPs in the Dewan Rakyat on the proposed amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) was made available to Malay Mail.
The ministry is now proposing a maximum compound amount of RM500,000 for companies, which is half of the initial RM1 million amount proposed in the Bill.
The ministry has not proposed lowering the maximum RM10,000 compound amount for individuals that was listed in the Bill.
As for the general penalty for offences committed under Act 342, the ministry has also proposed a maximum fine of RM50,000 and a maximum three years’ jail or both for individuals, which is about half of the Bill’s initial proposal of a maximum fine of RM100,000 and maximum seven years’ jail or both for individual offenders.
For corporate bodies such as companies that committed Act 342 offences, the ministry however did not propose lowering the maximum RM2 million fine that was listed in the Bill.
Initially, the MoH had proposed to introduce Section 31(3) into Act 342, which would enable regulations made under the Act to state that any action breaching the regulations is an offence and to state the penalties as a maximum RM50,000 fine or maximum two-year jail term or both.
On December 15, the ministry proposed that the new Section 31(3) instead specify the penalties for breaking regulations under Act 342 according to whether the offender is an individual or body corporate.
The ministry’s proposed new Section 31(3) would state penalties for regulations breaches for individuals as a maximum RM20,000 fine or maximum three-year jail term or both, while body corporate such as companies can be penalised with a maximum RM1 million fine.
The three changes proposed are on the maximum compound amounts and maximum penalties which can be imposed under the Act, which courted ire from the Opposition in the Parliament, on December 14.
Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had, at that time, said that he and his bench members rejected the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Bill 2021, citing concerns over the excessive penalties imposed on Covid-19 rule flouters.
In a statement on his Facebook page, the Port Dickson MP and PKR president said that the decision was reached after gauging responses from MPs and the public as well as after going through the proposed amendments to the Bill.
The Bill was tabled in the Dewan Rakyat for the first reading on December 14 and the government had hoped to have it passed the day after, the last parliamentary meeting for the year. However, it was then postponed owing to criticisms and it expected to be tabled and debated in the current sitting.
Currently Act 342 confers the director-general the power to offer a maximum compound amount of only RM1,000 that Act 342 offenders would have to pay to avoid being charged in court, following the repeal of the Emergency Ordinances (EOs) in Dewan Negara on December 8.
In a media briefing with journalists to explain the rationale for the proposed amendments to the Act, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that it was not viable to impose the same maximum RM1,000 compound amount on individual offenders and companies or organisations that violate the Covid-19 SOPs.
On December 8, the Senate approved a motion to revoke the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021, the Emergency (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021; the Emergency (Employees’ Minimum Standards of Housing, Accommodations and Amenities) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 and the Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021.
The Emergency (Essential Powers) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021, the Emergency (Offenders Compulsory Attendance) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 and the Emergency (National Trust Fund) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 were also revoked.
