With Parliament suspended under Emergency Proclamation there is no more accountability, and the government can no longer be questioned as to the reason why Ministers need to be quarantined a mere 3 days, instead of 10 days on return from official overseas trips. Clearly the suspension of Parliament has nothing to do with reducing the number of COVID-19 infections, but a dishonest pretext by the PN government to pass laws and regulations by fiat at their personal whim and fancy.
Health Minister Dr Adham Baba had issued such an order effective from 9 February until 1 August, the day the Emergency ends. By allowing Ministers special privileges not granted to the rakyat, the PN government has proven that it is not interested in complying with the SOPs to combat COVID-19. Such double-standards and lackadaisical attitude could have contributed partly to the recent surge in COVID-19 infections to 245,552 cases as at 8 February 2021, of which 51,977 are active and 896 deaths, making Malaysia the worst in ASEAN in per capita terms.
If Ministers need only to be quarantined for 3 days as compared to the ordinary rakyat’s 10 days, does that mean that they need to be also quarantined for 3 days if they come into close contact with COVID-19 positive patients? With such special privileges, no wonder the present government leaders are clinging on to their posts by hook or by crook, despite the loss of their parliamentary majority.
The government has practiced double-standards previously. Ministers have not worn masks and enjoyed dinner in public, organise 500 person public gathering recently to distribute Chinese New Year gifts, all in open defiance of SOPs without getting punished, whilst the rakyat was fined. Such unfair treatment discriminating the ordinary rakyat extends even to the once in a year Chinese New Year Reunion Dinner, where the Chinese community had to beg to be treated on the same footing as the weekly pasar malams.
Why has the Health Minister Dr Adham bypassed the Health Director-General Tan Sri Noor Hisham Abdullah, who would definitely not approve such irresponsible and selective application of COVID-19 SOPs? The latest order by Dr Adham reminds us of Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali who was compounded with only RM1,000 without being charged court, after failing to observe quarantine rules upon returning to Malaysia from Turkey in August last year. In contrast a 72-year old Malay lady was charged in court, fined RM8,000 and a day’s jail for a similar offence.
Such double-standard is prevalent not just in the enforcement of COVID-19 SOPs. When a Minister suffered minor injuries after hitting a pothole whilst cycling, the Works Department(JKR) immediately apologised and repaired the pothole in less than 24 hours. When the rakyat dies after hitting a pothole, there is no apology and it takes ages for the pothole to be repaired. Perikatan Nasional is finally certified as a disgraceful government of double-standards, with Ministers showing the worst example.