MALAYSIANS are furious and up in arms over the decision to let Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali off the hook for flouting the 14-day quarantine rule on the technical grounds that he was not issued the 14B form to undergo quarantine.

Attorney-General (AG) Idrus Harun, in his media release, said the AG’s Chambers found no home surveillance or observation order was issued by the authorised officer to the minister for him to observe the home surveillance as stipulated under subsection 15(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act (Act 342).

“Form 14B as prescribed in the guidelines by the Health Ministry, which contained an order for home surveillance and or observation order under subsection 15(1) of Act 342, was not issued to the minister when he was allowed to leave,” he said.

With due respect, guidelines are not the law. Section 15(1) of the Act is.

Let’s look at section 15(1). It states that an authorised officer may order any contact to undergo observation in such place and for such period as he may think fit, or to undergo surveillance until he may be discharged without danger to the public.

There is nothing in the section that requires the order to be in writing. As such, it is not required that an order under the section to be in Form 14B or in any written form. An oral order suffices.

But it requires the police to investigate whether an oral order was made by an authorised person. It would be double standards yet again if even an oral order was not communicated to the minister to observe home surveillance or observation for 14 days having returned from overseas.

The word “contact” in the section means any person who has been or is likely to have been exposed to the risk of contracting an infectious disease, including any person arriving from an infected area. Khairuddin, having returned from Turkey, fitted the bill.

So it is respectfully submitted that the AG is too constrained in reading section 15(1) of the Act as requiring an order therein to be in writing.

Perhaps the AG should order the police to ascertain that no oral order was ever communicated to the minister.

NFA may be “no further action”. But it is also “not final as” yet. – October 22, 2020.

* Hafiz Hassan reds The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.