Steep fines for SOP violations haven't curbed Covid-19 spread: DAP man
Steep compounds for Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) violations have not curbed the spread of the pandemic, said DAP's Syahredzan Johan.
The lawyer said when the ordinance to raise compounds to RM10,000 for individuals and RM50,000 for corporations was enacted on March 11 - the number of new Covid-19 cases that day was 1,647 with 319,364 cases in total.
While cases were on the decline for a while, the number of daily infections has been on the uptrend since early April.
Yesterday, 3,332 new Covid-19 cases were reported, and the cumulative total is now at 404,925.
The number of active cases (28,093) is also significantly higher than the 17,544 on March 11.
"Previously, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said increasing the compounds was to 'protect the rakyat' and not to oppress them.
"However, it is clear from that data...
Steep compounds for Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) violations have not curbed the spread of the pandemic, said DAP's Syahredzan Johan.
The lawyer said when the ordinance to raise compounds to RM10,000 for individuals and RM50,000 for corporations was enacted on March 11 - the number of new Covid-19 cases that day was 1,647 with 319,364 cases in total.
While cases were on the decline for a while, the number of daily infections has been on the uptrend since early April.
Yesterday, 3,332 new Covid-19 cases were reported, and the cumulative total is now at 404,925.
The number of active cases (28,093) is also significantly higher than the 17,544 on March 11.
"Previously, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said increasing the compounds was to 'protect the rakyat' and not to oppress them.
"However, it is clear from that data and the numbers from the past 49 days that increasing the compounds had no effect on curbing the spread of the virus, and only oppresses the people," Syahredzan said in a statement today.
The political secretary to DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang said the government should hence withdraw the steep compounds.
Instead, he said the government should focus on increasing awareness while also ensuring there are no double standards in how the law is implemented.
Recently there were three cases of traders in Kelantan being fined RM50,000 for alleged SOP violations, which even Ismail Sabri said was too harsh.
One of those fined, colek seller Mohd Azizi Mohd Nor had closed his home front stall and was frying crackers for his children when he was compounded for allegedly operating beyond hours.
Sundry shop owner Mansah Marjurin was contemplating selling his shop after being slapped with the RM50,000 fine while cleaning up after closing for the day.
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