Milton Foo
KUCHING: Higher fines and jail time for repeat offenders of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to curb the spread of Covid-19 has received support from Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth secretary-general Milton Foo.
He suggested lawmakers such as elected representatives and cabinet members should face a penalty 10 times harsher than the punishment faced by everyone else.
“If lawmakers like elected representatives, senators, and ministers repeatedly break the law, they should pay 10 times more.
“If government officers and community leaders such as kapitans are found to be repeat offenders, their positions should be suspended,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Foo, who is a board member of the Kuching Port Authority (KPA), suggested he be suspended from the position or resign if he were to repeatedly violate the SOPs.
He opined that repeat offenders, whether poor or rich, should face higher fines for flouting the SOPs, which served to flatten the infection curve of the pandemic.
He proposed the first offence should be fined RM1,000 and subsequent offences should be RM2,000 and RM3,000.
“The maximum fine should be RM3,000 along with mandatory imprisonment for three months, if an offender is caught repeatedly flouting the SOP for more than three times,” he suggested.
“If you don’t break the law, why do you worry? Like the drug trafficking mandatory death (sentence), we never worry as long as we don’t break the law.”
He stressed the country is now dealing with deadly disaster and it is therefore timely and necessary for the government to increase the fines and impose jail time on repeat violators of the SOP.
In his national address on Thursday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the government would impose higher fines on repeat offenders and even jail time for those found flouting the SOP.
He added that disciplinary action could be taken against civil servants found breaching the SOPs, including the work from home policy.
According to him, the emergency management technical committee has studied the provisions under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) that need to be amended to enforce tougher action.
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