THE Dewan Rakyat is extending its current meeting to Monday so that the government can review the controversial amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act (Act 342).

The announcement was made by Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Azizan Harun during this afternoon’s sitting after Parliament approved amendments to the Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of Coronavirus Disease Act.

The extension is to allow the government to discuss the proposed amendments with the opposition after Pakatan Harapan (PH) announced that it will not support the government’s bid to amend Act 342 to raise compounds.

The Dewan Rakyat meeting was initially scheduled to end today.

“The prime minister has agreed to extend the Dewan Rakyat (meeting) by one day in line with standing order 11(2) to allow for the debate on Act 342,” said Azhar.

“An official notice will be given to all MPs after this.”

This drew protests from some outstation MPs such as Mahfuz Omar (Pokok Sena-PH), Ma’mun Sulaiman (Kalabakan-Warisan) and R.S.N. Rayer (Jelutong-PH), who said the late notice is unfair to them.

“Some of us have already planned other programmes for next week. Why can’t the government defer this bill to next year?” asked Mahfuz.

Ma’mun said this will also affect Sabah and Sarawak MPs who have already booked their flights back to their states.

But Azhar did not accept their arguments and said the extension is in line with the prime minister’s prerogative.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim said the decision was reached after a meeting with Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah and opposition leaders.

He said this is to allow for more discussions between the government and opposition lawmakers.

“A select committee can also meet to suggest other amendments,” said the Port Dickson MP.

He said the amendments should be clearer. “Particularly, the parts that involve huge compounds. As such, we have agreed to let the select committee meet at 8am (on Monday) before Dewan Rakyat starts at 10am. 

“I want to clear the air that the extension was not decided by one party alone.”

Earlier today, the government decided to postpone the debate on several new and amendment bills to allow it to pass amendments to Act 342.

Among the amendments to the bill are increasing the maximum compounds for individuals and companies to RM20,000 and RM500,000 respectively. 

The proposed amendments, however, have raised public anger with many complaining that the fines are too high as doubts continue to linger over the government’s ability to be fair to all.

Public confidence over SOP enforcement in the country remains low after government politicians were imposed lower fines compared to others. – December 16, 2021.