KUCHING, April 8: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hasan’s breach of Covid-19 SOPs should not be taken lightly, opines Dapsy Stampin chief Abdul Aziz Isa.
According to Abdul Aziz in a statement, for Awang Tengah as an elected representative, forgetting to wear a face mask is unacceptable and out of the norm.
“Awang Tengah should not take this issue lightly. He should be aware that wearing face masks in public spaces is the new normal,” he said.
Abdul Aziz released the statement in response to a DayakDaily news report about Awang Tengah admitting his mistake and being willing to pay the compound for not wearing a face mask when visiting an eatery in Matu, in a video that went viral on social media recently.
At the same time, the Democratic Action Party Socialist Youth (Dapsy) Stampin leader pointed out that the deputy chief minister also has to explain to the public the details of the compound after being contacted by the police.
He said this is also important because the public wants to ensure that relevant authorities take necessary action on the deputy chief minister without fear or favour as they did with ordinary people who breached the standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“Firstly, when did the police contact him? Did he receive the call from the police after he attended the event at Pantai Kuala Matu on March 31, 2021 or after the 25-second video had gone viral (April 7, 2021)?
“Secondly, when afternoon had passed, did the police officially issue a compound on him for flouting the SOP guidelines? If yes, how much is the compound issued to him? Will he need to pay the full amount of RM10,000 like other ordinary people or will he be given any discounts?
“Thirdly, since he claimed that he was walking hurriedly and didn’t realise that his face mask was off, does it mean that the police who escorted him had breached their duty of care to warn, advise or inform him?” he asked.
Abdul Aziz, who is also a special assistant to Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen, also questioned whether there will be any disciplinary actions taken if the police personnel who escorted the deputy chief minister are found to have breached their duty of care.
He said this is to make sure that the relevant authorities will act accordingly to the rule of law with integrity and accountability.
“From the video, we can see that the police was a few metres away from him and it is out of logic (sic) if we say that the police was not aware that he took off his face mask,” he added. — DayakDaily
