KUCHING, Feb 11: Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Youth Central is adamant that equal treatment should be applied to everyone in enforcing coronavirus regulations throughout the nation.
Its Secretary-General Milton Foo in a press statement today, said no one shall be exempted from mandatory quarantine period as per section 15 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).
“Any form of overriding of political arrogance and superiority over standard defence procedure shouldn’t be tolerated,” he said.
Foo said this in response to the federal gazette signed by Minister of Health Dato’ Sri Dr Adham Baba which empowering ministers who return from overseas duties to undergo a shortened quarantine period of three days.
Foo noted the virus does not discriminate, and the measure that emplaces ministers as “supernatural human under the pandemic” as an anti-intellectual and anti-scientific joke.
He said the move by the Ministry of Health has severely affected the credibility of the federal government, at the same time giving certain parties the golden opportunity to seize political advantages by playing around the issue, especially under the name of Chinese New Year traditional customs.
According to him, a group of people, for instance, have labelled themselves as “representing Chinese absolutely” while playing the issue of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Chinese New Year in West Malaysia.
He explained that the public were not informed with the fact that it was the same group of persons who declared themselves as “do not represent Chinese” when they were in the ruling coalition that formed the former federal government.
“Neither the move by the Minister of Health nor the remark of these opposition politicians brings a contribution to the nation and the people, who are in a tough fight with the pandemic.
“The improper aspects of the SOPs shall be criticized and corrected. However, the celebration of Chinese New Year 2021 ought to be handled in a special manner during this extraordinary period, fully considering the severity of the current epidemic. Protecting ourselves, our elders and our relatives from the epidemic is an absolutely uncompromising responsibility.” he added. –DayakDaily.
