Julian Tan
KUCHING (May 20): Former Stampin MP Julian Tan suggested the Kuching South City Council (MBKS) allow other enforcement agencies to enforce the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in its own building.
He said due to possible conflict of interest, it is only proper for MBKS to allow other enforcement agencies such as the police to issue the compounds for anyone not adhering to the SOP in its building.
Alluding to a birthday lunch for Kuching South mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng hosted by his friends at the MBKS building on Tuesday, Tan said in a statement yesterday the council had overlooked and allowed the event which did not comply with the SOP to proceed.
Concerned that the lunch could be construed as a birthday party in contravention of the SOPs, the mayor apologised on his Facebook and instructed his enforcement officers to issue him a compound.
Tan said if such an event were to take place at a restaurant, both the business owner and customers would have been fined.
The business owners could have been slapped with up to a maximum penalty of RM50,000.
“Just a slight oversight by the public or business owners would result in them being issued with the compound instead of just being given a warning.
“MBKS on the other hand, as one of the enforcement agencies, knowing full well the SOP compliance, did not receive the same ‘full treatment’ as any other business owners,” said Tan.
He added that the law enforcers should exercise some flexibility as they did against MBKS especially when the offence was committed not as an act of defiance but through sheer carelessness or forgetfulness.
“Many were just honest or unintentional mistakes; they should be let off with a reprimand,” he said.
Tan felt that the RM10,000 penalty for individuals and RM50,000 penalty for the business owner are too heavy and that there should be no double standard when it comes to the implementation of the SOPs.