Johor polls: Adhere to Covid-19 SOP or face fines, cops tell parties

JOHOR BARU: Police have reminded political parties contesting in the Johor polls to abide by the standard operating procedures (SOP) to help curb the spread of Covid-19.

State police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat urged them to wait for the guidelines to be announced for the state elections before starting their campaign.

“We know that some parties have started doing events and if they are found to break the SOP, police will issue them a compound notice on the spot.

“The SOP has yet to be made known but please do not be a carrier for the Covid-19 as there are already more than 2,000 cases in Johor,” he said in a press conference held at the state police headquarters here on Thursday (Feb 10).

On police preparations for the elections, Comm Kamarul Zaman said that the state police are looking at adding more manpower to beef up its operation throughout the period.

He added the state police was looking at adding almost 5,000 more police officers and personnel members making the total number to be at around 11,000 policemen for the Johor state election.

“The figure might change as there are more than 4,700 voting channels throughout the state where we need to place our men at each location to ensure a smooth election.

“We already discussed the matter with Bukit Aman and I give my assurance to the public not to worry as the police will make sure that it would be a peaceful time,” he added.

Comm Kamarul Zaman also said that Bukit Aman would also be deploying a special team during the polling day to make sure no quarters would dare to make any threats or disturbances to voters.

On Wednesday, the Election Commission (EC) has set the nomination day for the Johor state election on Feb 26 while early voting and polling day on March 8 and March 12 respectively.