PRIME Minister Muhyiddin Yassin should not blame the public if the government comes up with pea-brained policies and standard operating procedure (SOP), said Bangi MP Ong Kian Ming.

“Please don’t blame the public for being frustrated if the policies or SOP announced by certain ministers are seen as ‘stupid’”.

“For example, in the latest tightening of the movement-control order (MCO) 3.0, three policies do not make sense to me and probably to the larger public as well,” the former deputy international trade and industry minister said in a statement today.

Ong’s remarks come after Muhyiddin had said that he was fine for the public to call him a “stupid prime minister”.

Muhyiddin said the people can blame the government but the responsibility of bring the Covid-19 pandemic under control does not rest on the government alone.

On Saturday, the government announced a tightening of the SOP in view of the spike in Covid-19 cases.

Under the tighter SOP announced, 80% of the civil service is required to work from home, with arrangements made so that public counters can still continue.

Besides this, business hours, including those of supermarkets and restaurants, have been shortened to 12 hours from 8am to 8pm, while public transport capacity will be at most 50%.

Ong took a dig at these SOP, saying that it will unnecessarily create chaos at these places.

“Restriction on businesses, including eateries to operate only until 8pm at night will have the effect of making people crowd at the restaurants and mamak stores, which are doing take-away close to the closing time of 8pm.

“It will also endanger the food delivery riders on motorcycles, as they rush to fulfil final orders nearing 8pm.

“Why not extend the operating hours of restaurants for the take-out option until 10pm so that such a rush does not occur just before 8pm? Pardon my language, this is a really stupid policy or SOP,” he said.

He also said that reducing the capacity of public transportation by 50% would increase the crowding effect of those taking public transport.

“This will increase the probability of Covid-19 spread, especially if physical distancing is not possible in crowded public transportation options such as the LRT, MRT and buses especially in the Klang Valley.”

Ong said reducing the civil service capacity to just 20% will likely increase the queues and waiting lines for those who have no choice but to go to government offices to process documents, pay fees and other government related transactions, especially if they don’t have the capacity to do all of these things online.

Ong added the public would never dream of calling the prime minister or anyone in the administration as stupid, if they could work together to come up with SOP that are science based and make sense.

Muhyiddin, in a televised interview last night, said he did not mind taking verbal abuse from the public as long as they were willing to play their part to stop the spread of Covid-19.

“They can blame the government, they can scold the prime minister, I accept. Scold ‘stupid prime minister’, it’s okay. I can say it on television.

“I know how difficult it is to manage the situation but this is our joint responsibility. The entire society must come together. Only then can we flatten the Covid-19 curve,” he said. – May 24, 2021.