Amendments to penalties in Act 342 still burdensome, says MCA

WHILE the MCA takes note that the Health Ministry (MOH) has halved most of the penalties in the amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) initially proposed, the new penalties are still too harsh.

They may not achieve the desired deterrence and even worse, may lead to counterproductive effects.

In the revised Bill, the maximum compound of offences of RM10,000 for individuals has been maintained, but the maximum compound for companies has been halved from RM1mil to RM500,000.

Meanwhile, the maximum penalties upon conviction for individuals has been lessened from seven years’ imprisonment or RM100,000 fine or both, to three years behind bars or RM50,000 fine or both.

The proposed maximum penalty of a RM2mil fine for companies has not changed.

The main purpose for any penalty as established by laws and regulations is to deter would-be offenders.

However, a hefty fine will only punish the poor further. At this time of Covid-19, the economy has not fully recovered. A fine of RM10,000 is a huge amount for the poor and middle-classes.

Such figures are almost impossible to bear. Sentencing them to jail time is to separate them from their family, and prevent them from earning an income to support their family.

Law enforcement officers may issue summonses at their own discretion based on the violations of the offending individual or company.

As such, stiff fines are almost impossible to shoulder, these might lead to corruption, power abuse and bribery, as people would resort to improper methods to evade punishments, such as bribing law enforcement officers.

This will be a golden opportunity for enforcement officers to threaten offenders with heavy penalties to procure private “incentives” for themselves.

Moreover, jailing an individual for merely forgetting to wear a face mask is just overkill.

When MOH formulates any new amendments under Act 342, it is necessary for MOH to announce and explain them to the public. Have sufficient publicity to educate the public.

The current scenario as such is that when MOH formulates new laws or amends old ones, the public may not be aware of the changes in rules, and have to browse through the website of the Attorney General’s Chambers on their own to learn of the changes in the law.

Such challenges lead people to feel that innocent people are being punished. Most importantly, once these changes are put into effect, there cannot be any double standards in the application of enforcement.

CHAN QUIN ER

MCA spokesperson