SEVEN lawmakers and two civil activists filed a police report against the health minister and other ministers for negligence in handling the nation’s Covid-19 crisis, as the country is on the verge of one million cases.

The group lodged the report at the Pantai police station in Kuala Lumpur under Sections 269 and 304A of the Penal Code. 

Section 269 states that whoever unlawfully or negligently does any act which is, and which he knows or has reason to believe to be, likely to spread the infection of any disease dangerous to life, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to six months, fine or both.

Section 304A states that whoever causes the death of any person, by doing any rash or negligence act not amounting to culpable homicide, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to two years, fine or both.

Activist Ambiga Sreenevasan said the government had failed to carry out its duties and implement methods to control the spread of Covid-19 and prevent more Malaysians from becoming victims of the pandemic.

“We are now asking accountability from the government in the way they have handled the crisis.

“They must know that there are legal consequences for negligence in relation to this. We are talking about the lives of Malaysians and we cannot but take this very seriously,” said Ambiga via Facebook live.

Ambiga, who was Bersih 2.0 co-chair, told the media and public that the ministers should be aware that there are criminal consequences when they do not handle the pandemic responsibly. The other activist is Marina Mahathir, while the lawmakers are PKR’s Fahmi Fadzil (Lembah Pantai) and Maria Chin Abdullah (Petaling Jaya); DAP’s Hannah Yeoh (Segambut), Dr Kelvin Yii (Kuching), and Charles Santiago (Klang); as well as Warisan’s Mohd Azis Jamman (Sepanggar) and Isnaraissah Munirah Majilis (Kota Belud).

All were present at the station.

“Some of the issues we have lodged on include not enough early testing, how the government had failed to share the information (transparently) and of course, the (ill) treatment of migrant workers and not enough resources given to our hospital early enough,” Ambiga added.

Yeoh said the police report is made against the executive only and not towards the front-liners.

“We hope police will investigate this because this report is done by seven MPs and two civil activists.

“We hope the police will take this seriously and investigate properly, and with no exception if action needs to be taken against the health minister and related ministers.

“I hope the police will do their job fairly and impartially,” Yeoh said.

They also expressed their concerns that Malaysia will reach one million Covid-19 cases soon and are worried about the number of deaths crossing 100 daily.

Yesterday, the Health Ministry announced 15,902 new Covid-19 cases, the highest number of daily infections since the beginning of the pandemic. – July 25, 2021.