Opposition lawmakers lodge police reports over govt’s alleged Covid-19 mismanagement

(MMO) – Opposition lawmakers lodged reports over the Perikatan Nasional government’s alleged mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic at the Pantai police station here today.

The group led by lawyer and human rights activist Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan said that Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and related ministries must be held accountable and face the legal consequences of the alleged mismanagement.

“We decided to lodge a report because we believe there must be accountability. Some of the issues that we highlighted include not enough early testing, the manner in which the government has failed to share (enough) information, mistreatment of migrant workers and not enough resources given to the hospitals.

“We are now asking the accountability of this government in the way that they have handled this crisis. They must know that there are legal consequences for negligence in Malaysia today.

“We are talking about the lives of Malaysians and we cannot but take this very seriously,” she said after the police reports were lodged.

She added that the reports were made under Section 269 and Section 304 (a) of the Penal Code.

Section 269 covers a negligent action in which a person knows or has reason to believe is likely to cause the spread of infectious diseases dangerous to life which is punishable by a maximum six-month imprisonment or fine or both.

Meanwhile, Section 304 (a) states 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 which may extend to two years or with fine or with both.

The Opposition lawmakers present during the press conference were Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh, Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil, Klang MP Charles Santiago, Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii, Petaling Jaya MP Maria Chin Abdullah and Sepanggar MP Datuk Azis Jamman.

Yesterday, Malaysia registered a second consecutive day of record-high Covid-19 numbers, surpassing Friday’s unprecedented 15,573 cases.

According to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the number of new Covid-19 infections detected over the last 24 hours was 15,902, giving Malaysia a cumulative total of 996,393 since the pandemic began.

The country also recorded 184 Covid-19 fatalities yesterday including 32 brought-in-dead (BID) cases, making the total cumulative death rate at 7,902 since the pandemic arrived.