MP SPEAKS | Quarantine breach: Health, Foreign ministries, why the silence?

MP SPEAKS | Are Health Minister Dr Adham Baba and Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein pleading guilty to PAS’ accusation that both their ministries were to be blamed for Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali’s breach of Covid-19 quarantine standard operating procedure (SOP)?

Otherwise, why are they keeping silent over the accusation by PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin?

At the PAS muktamar last weekend, Hashim said Khairuddin should be considered a "hero" even though he broke Covid-19 quarantine rules as his trip to Turkey had brought "benefits" to the oil palm sector.

Hashim (below) said: “He (Khairuddin) broke the rules, but he brought good news, news that brought benefit. He is a hero, like the hoopoe (hud hud) bird that was going to be punished, when it was actually a hero.”

Hashim said Khairuddin had been maligned and attacked by opposition MPs, when the fault lay with the Health Ministry and the Foreign Ministry for failing to ensure that the minister complied with the mandatory quarantine after returning from Turkey on July 7.

Hashim said the Health Ministry and the Foreign Ministry were both “negligent” and it is not Khairuddin’s fault.

Is this the position of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) cabinet, or is it only the view of PAS, unsupported by the rest of the PN government?

It is most strange and extraordinary that although two weeks have passed, Malaysians know very little about the Turkey trip that Khairuddin and his entourage took, their violation of Covid-19 quarantine SOP, the outcome of the police investigation, and the status of the many lies told when the subject became a public issue, e.g. that Turkey was a “green country (zone)” in the Covid-19 pandemic during Khairuddin's visit when it was actually a “hotspot” of the pandemic.

There is even talk that Khairuddin had visited another country apart from Turkey - is this true or not?

There should be the fullest disclosure, accountability, and transparency on this and other issues that are of public interest.

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.

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