M'sians bite back at Perak top cop's assessment of 'tahfiz meal' incident

PETALING JAYA: Malaysians have taken to social media to express their disagreement with Perak police chief Comm Datuk Razarudin Husain's statement regarding the "tahfiz meal" incident involving a deputy minister and a Perak state executive council member.

In a post that has since been deleted, Deputy Health Minister I Datuk Seri Dr Noor Azmi and Perak exco member Razman Zakaria could be seen enjoying a meal with about 30 others, including students, at a Maahad Tahfiz school in Lenggong during the movement control order (MCO).

Comm Razarudin had said that initial investigations showed that the deputy minister had gone to the ground to check on ministry staff handling Covid-19 cases in Lenggong.

Comm Razarudin also said that, from the photos, the participants were seated far apart from one another.

Responding to the above statement, netizens said that although the participants were seated far apart from one another, they still violated the MCO by gathering in a large group.

"MCO does not allow group gathering for any occasion, irrespective whether they seated apart," said Gan Ching Nyin.

Sharing a similar sentiment, Chris Lee said the gathering had occurred in a public area, which violated the MCO.

"The issue is not whether they practice social distancing or not but rather they are violating MCO by having gathering," Lee said.

Another said that it was unacceptable for leaders to be flouting the MCO.

"Totally unacceptable. Leaders are supposed to be examples & here they are found flouting orders," said Sheila Ramanathan.

Another netizen said he did not see social distancing being observed in the photos.

"From the picture I can see no social distancing. First and foremost the gathering should not be done," said Nizam Iskandar.

Similarly, Husin Che Ismail also said that "the issue is how he did not observe PKP (MCO), not social distancing issue."

Harish Chandar also compared this incident to the incident of a New Zealand minister who flouted local MCO rules.

"Action should be taken. The deputy minister in New Zealand was demoted for not practising social distancing," said Harish Chandar.