YAN (Bernama): The government, especially the enforcement agencies under the Home Ministry, should not be fully responsible for ensuring compliance with standard operating procedures (SOP), especially with the increasing relaxations given to the people.

       Home Minister Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin (pix) said all parties should play a role and make SOP compliance a normal practice, especially with the impending announcement that Covid-19 is endemic in the country.

       "The Home Ministry is responsible for ensuring SOP compliance, but our work should not be only this but to see a real balance between people's lives and their livelihoods," he said.

       "We have other strategies such as in safeguarding our border areas and entry points against illegal entry by individuals and those carrying drugs and so on. Let us focus on these," he said at a news conference, here, on Sunday (Sept 5).

       Earlier, he was briefed on the flood situation and water surge phenomenon in Gunung Jerai by Yan district officer Tunku Iskandar Shah Tunku Muzaffar Shah and viewed the affected areas in Titi Hayun, here.

       Hamzah said the government should not be blamed for those not playing their part in ensuring SOP compliance, including employers who should be responsible for their workers.

       "It should start with the employers. If they see to it (SOP compliance) but are unhappy with the implementation to a certain extent, they can report to us and we will send a team to the factory concerned," he added.

       Hamzah also said that so far, there had been no issue of Home Ministry officers and staff and its agencies refusing to receive the Covid-19 vaccine.

       "We have ensured that as frontliners, over 91% of the police force have received the vaccine, while almost 100% of Prisons Department employees have been vaccinated so far," he added.

       Meanwhile, he said the National Registration Department would be providing a mobile service for replacing or issuing new personal identification documents to flood victims whose documents had been lost or damaged in the flood here on Aug 18. – Bernama