THE government has decided to postpone the debate on the controversial amendment to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) to next year, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.

“I was informed by Parliament’s special select committee (health, science and technology) chairman Dr Kelvin Yii (Bandar Kuching-PH) that he has asked the government to postpone the amendment bill,” he told the Dewan Rakyat today.

“This is not because the amendment bill is rejected but there are details that require further consultation,” the Rembau MP said.

Among the amendments to the bill are increasing the maximum compounds for individuals and companies to RM20,000 and RM500,000 respectively, which have drawn an angry response from the public, complaining that the fines are excessive and not applied fairly.

Khairy said the postponement was necessary because it is important to get bipartisan support for the bill.

“This is so that there is public compliance. If we vote today and there is no bipartisan support, it will divide people.

“After discussing with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob (Bera-BN) and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim (Port Dickson-PH) just now, we agreed that the flooding is more important and should focus on that.

“As such, the bill will be postponed to the next sitting in accordance with Standing Order No 62,” Khairy said.

Anwar said that the postponement was timely as many lawmakers were also absent today due to the flooding.

“The government did not consider public opinions when it decided on the amendments. Raising compounds from RM1,000 to RM10,000 is too much,” said the Pakatan Harapan chairman. 

“The government nevertheless is being consultative and has referred it to the select committee.

“We hope that some of the difficult amendments and guidelines can be ironed out,” Anwar said.

He added that, while the opposition supported laws to help control Covid-19, they should not be a burden to the public.

On Thursday, the government had decided to postpone the debate for the amendments to today after the opposition said it would oppose the bill.

The postponement was also to let the government discuss the amendments with the select committee. – December 20, 2021.