BARISAN Nasional will pay the Health Ministry’s compound for violating Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) by holding a political gathering, but wants a reduced summons, Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said.

He said they did not intend to violate the SOP when holding the launch of BN’s machinery for the upcoming Malacca elections at the Umno headquarters in the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur two nights ago.

“We did our best to follow the SOP but we cannot control what happens outside the event halls. We spread the event across two halls to comply with SOP. Inside the halls, members were following SOP and wearing masks, but we could not monitor what was happening outside.

“So we are willing to pay the compound but we appeal for it to be reduced,” Ahmad told a press conference last night.

BN was issued a compound for RM10,000 yesterday by the Kepong health office for violating phase 4 SOP.

This is in line with Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s warning on Monday that any political event related to the Malacca elections, as well as social gatherings, are prohibited and would not be spared from fines.

The RM10,000 compound issued to BN, however, has been criticised by several lawmakers and unhappy members of the public as insufficient and a show of double standards.

It was pointed out on social media that opposition parliamentarians were fined RM3,000 each for participating in a march to Dataran Merdeka in August, later reduced to RM1,000.

Youth-based party Muda was also fined RM4,000 despite holding a small, socially distanced press conference of only five people in an open-air setting.

Other social media users also brought up the case of a burger seller who was fined RM50,000 in April this year for operating beyond permitted hours. – October 29, 2021.