A friend was whining and up in arms over the government trying to cash in on Covid-19 breaches with fines and penalties. I have a view on this and it goes both ways.
Damned if you do and damned if you don’t, as they say.
Human beings are creatures of habit and many of us have this attitude that laws are meant to be broken. What do we do with such people?
We also have organisations, corporates or otherwise whose only concern is the bottom line, even at the expense of staff safety and welfare. Would it be an exaggeration to assume that most corporates are in this category?
Given this scenario, wouldn’t the government’s imposition of drastic and heavy monetary penalties for covid breaches be justified?
There seems to be a hue and cry from the business groups and organisations who claimed that the penalty sum of RM1 million may be a tad too much.
When there is breach, the burden is passed on to the government for testing and quarantine and a whole string of other expenses that go with it.
Covid-related medical bills are also absorbed by the government and it is the tax payers’ money that goes down the drain due to misdemeanours by certain organisations.
Hence, as a taxpayer, it becomes my concern too and fines might as well work.
The world over, nations have adopted very strict Covid standard operating procedures (SOP) and penalties for breachers according to the severity of impact.
During the global pandemic, with entire cities locked down, travels heavily restricted and isolation fatigue setting in, thousands of people have been caught, fined or jailed for breaching Covid restrictions that have made once normal activities taboo.
In recent months, in Italy, a man left the house after an argument with his wife and walked a few meters to cool off, breaching Italy’s national curfew and burnt a huge hole in the pocket.
Another man wandered outside his quarantine room in Taiwan for eight seconds and caught the attention of the authorities.
Still, another drove a few kilometres for butter chicken curry during a strict lockdown and was apprehended by the Australian police.
All those actions ended up costing them thousands of dollars in penalties.
Some have intentionally broken the rules to make a political statement and our lawmakers have also been caught breaking the law and were not spared.
Others have simply blundered into breaches because they apparently didn’t understand the rules or were acting in a moment of desperation.
“Everyone is operating in a crazy world where our normal rational decision making goes out the window,” said Robert Hoffmann, a professor of economics at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. “A pandemic is a perfect storm.”
Our neighbour down South has been making unpopular decisions with regard to Covid compliance, one of them when seven companies and 47 people in the maritime sector were punished with fines and the suspension of boat licences over breaches in August this year.
In another case, SG$300 fines were imposed on residents who used condo facilities during the circuit breaker (CB) while the condo management was fined SG$1000.
Compared with other countries where the people’s voices are drowned, the Malaysian government paid heed to the public outcry and declared that the relevant Bill will be amended to lower the initially proposed maximum RM100,000 fine or seven years jail under Section 24(a) to “RM50,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years” in the case of an individual.
Also tweaked were the proposed punishments under Section 25(b), which will be reduced from a fine not exceeding RM1 million for a corporate body to RM500,000.
The question is, will these conciliations be deemed as the government compromising on the SOP? Obviously then, imposing fines to inculcate compliance is a double-edged sword.
Alternatively, education and awareness may be better options for people to be and feel responsible. Malaysia has a long way to go before we are headed in that direction.
As for Singapore, their submission to rules and regulations is palpable which happens only when they are in their country.
Comments: letters@thesundaily.com
