By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Mar 20: The federal government is urged to be clear on the violation of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of Covid-19 before penalising the offender with a hefty fine.
Kuching South City Council (MBKS) mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng believed that the federal government should outline what are the offences and the amount of fine clearly before compounding the public who violated the SOPs of Covid-19.
“On the compound of SOPs, the amount must be specified clearly.
“The whole policy must be carefully drafted taking into consideration the feedback from the public for instance the amount of penalty before implementing it.
“When the public is confused by the policy, it creates ambiguity in their mind,” he said during his live streaming on Facebook entitled “Shall Wee Talk” today.
Wee was commenting on the recent policy by the federal government to penalise the public with an RM10,000 fine but subsequently reduced the amount of fine based on the severity of the offences.
To recap, the federal government announced on Feb 25 that individuals who breached the SOPs will be compounded with RM10,000 starting from March 11.
Subsequently, on March 17, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan announced that the government is[ay1] offering discounts for those who were fined and the amount was based on the severity of the offences which were divided into three categories of different risk assessment.
Meanwhile, Wee noted that it is important for the federal government to finalise the policy first before announcing it to the public in order to clear any doubts.
He noted that some people already suffered from mental breakdown due to the various policies such as the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) by the federal government.
He opined that those who violated the SOPs of Covid-19 should be penalised equitably.
In the meantime, Wee believed that enforcement of the law is also important to ensure effective compliance of the SOPs by the public. —DayakDaily
