THE government has to come up with better guidelines on Covid-19 SOP enforcement before it tables amendments for the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988, said Parliament’s special select committee.

“The guidelines should also be made public before they are tabled again,” Dr Kelvin Yii (Bandar Kuching-PH) said in the Dewan Rakyat today.

Yii, who chairs the special select committee on health, science and technology, was responding to Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s statement to Parliament today. 

The Rembau MP had informed MPs that the government has decided to postpone the second and third readings for the controversial amendment bill after meeting the committee before the session.

Khairy said the government wants to obtain bipartisan support for the bill to ensure better public compliance. 

According to Yii, the committee has listened to opinions from the minister, health director-general, Attorney-General’s Chambers and various medical experts.

“After listening to all parties, we unanimously agreed to suggest to the government to delay this amendment bill for more comprehensive consultations with all stakeholders.

“While we support this amendment bill, the committee feels that it should not be rushed so that there is greater public confidence in the new laws,” Yii said.

Among the controversial amendments to the bill include raising the maximum fine for individuals to RM50,000 and a prison term of three years. The amendment bill was also seeking to raise corporate fines to RM500,000.

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.