Sin Chew Daily

The Emergency (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 went into effect on March 11, with a maximum of RM10,000 fine for violating the SOPs. So far quite a number of people have already been slapped with the RM10k fine, causing much public uproar.

While heavy penalties may serve to stop people from knowingly violating the SOPs, many things need to be taken into consideration and proper planning put in place before it is enforced in order to avert backlash from the public.

It is understandable that the measure has drawn tremendous criticisms from the people.

First and foremost the amount has been excessively high for such offense. Bear in mind that Malaysia is a developing country that has been stuck in the middle income trap for decades. As our average salaries are not too high, such a heavy fine is extremely taxing for those in the low and middle income brackets. During the past one year, in particular, the pandemic has taken its toll on the economy, drastically slashing the incomes of most Malaysians, with many in M40 now finding themselves in the B40 group, which has itself expanded. RM10k is too unbearable for many of them!

Secondly, it is not fair to fine all violators RM10k irrespective of the severity of their cases. Some of those slapped with the RM10k tickets are actually not wicked felons nor repeated violators. Some get their tickets just for failing to scan the QR code with MySejahtera app.

There are distinctions between not using MySejahtera app, breaching quarantine order intentionally and traveling across state border without a permit. The authorities must weigh the severity of individual cases instead of meting out a flat rate penalty.

Although the authorities have reiterated that only repeated offenders will be eventually fined RM10k, the thing is all offenders get the same RM10k tickets. Why can't they just fix the compound amounts for different levels of offenses?

Thirdly. the offenders will be given one month to appeal to district health officers, and if they are not happy with the fine amount, they can always appeal to the court. The thing is, the appeal procedures are still murky, and many who have visited the district health offices hoping to get their fines reduced have been disappointed because according to them, the officers had not received any written instructions to reduce the fine, only to extend the deadline of settlement. The authorities must give clear instructions on how to make an appeal!

Even then we still need to waste plenty of time going through the appeal procedures, even go to the court! This will only make life much more difficult for people who are already struggling to make ends meet in the face of the pandemic. They need to work harder to feed their families, so why add to their mental stress having to go through the whole ordeal?

The government needs to throw in some effective measures in order to defeat the virus, but such measures must at least be reasonable, not too lenient or too drastic.