KUALA LUMPUR, July 20 – Many netizens are questioning the manner in which Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor seemed to have got away easily with a fine of RM1,500 paid 44 days later after he was reported to have breached the standard operating procedure (SOP) during the Movement Control Order early last month.
At the beginning of the MCO last year, the then Senior Minister (Security) and currently Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had been firm about offenders having to pay their fine within two weeks of the compound being issued.
In the first month of the MCO last year alone, more than 10,000 Malaysians had paid their fines for various offences related to the SOPs from failure to wear masks, travelling beyond their given areas, making social visits and attending funerals without permit and so on.
“Many ordinary Malaysians were caught for breaching the SOPs, with many detained like common criminals and rounded up in vans, and taken to police stations and told to pay their fine or face being jailed on so on. It is just not fair to see leaders, who are supposed to be setting the examples, getting so much of leeway and time to pay their fine.
“Isn’t it an admission of guilt, when one pays the fine? So, why was the Kedah MB, who has now paid the fine, given that much of time to delay and come up with excuses for his rule-breaking ways?,” Daud (not real name) said, when asked for his response on the grouses in the social media.
“His is not the only case. Several people seemed to have gotten different treatment for offences that others had to pay without any lengthy period for explanation.”
On June 5, housewife Nini Siron, 36, posted on Facebook that she had seen the Menteri Besar and two assistants test drive a pickup in Juru Autocity in Penang.
The woman’s claim of the test drive was initially disputed and following that police conducted an investigation in accordance with Section 269 of the Penal Code and Regulation 17(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures in Local Areas of Infection) Regulations 2021.
The police is said to have handed over the compound notice to the Menteri Besar on Sunday, July 18. The compound was paid at the Kota Setar Health Office on the same day.
Meanwhile, support for Nini continues in the social media both for being brave and having withstood the subsequent unfriendly messages towards her and family following her move to point out the Menteri Besar’s SOP violation.