APS backs calls for action on Minister for flouting SOP

Kota Kinabalu: NGO Angkatan Perpaduan Sabah (APS) fully supports calls from various quarters for action to be taken against the Federal Territories Minister and those with him who were caught breaching the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) under the Movement Control Order (MCO).   

Its Vice President, Paul Kadau (pic), said this is vital so as to show that the Government is truly serious in wanting to curb the spread of Covid-19 infection through the implementation of SOP without fear or favour. 

He said no one should be exempted from the enforcement of the SOP, even those in power, because the Covid-19 virus does not differentiate and would infect anyone regardless of his or her status and position if they ignored the precautionary measures. 

“The Government will have to explain to the people if no action is taken against the Federal Territories Minister and those with him who were caught dining six per table as seen in the photo spread on social media, because others who do the same would surely be taken action on.

“Inaction on such a breach will only tarnish the image of the Government,” he said in a statement Monday, referring to a photo widely shared on social media showing Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa dining on the same table with six other persons at an event in Kuala Lumpur. 

The latest SOP released by the National Security Council (MKN) stipulates that a maximum of two people could eat together at the same table.

It was the second time Annuar was caught having flouted the SOP after Jan 29 where he was photographed walking with two other people around his neighbourhood without any face mask on.

The SOP states that a maximum of two people may jog or walk together outside their home.

When the photo went viral, with Malaysians calling for action to be taken against Annuar, he responded by saying that it was a coincidence that they bumped into each other for a while and that they went separate ways after that.