KUALA LUMPUR: The second and third reading of the contentious Bill to raise the fines against those who break Covid-19 rules has been deferred to the next Dewan Rakyat meeting.

       This is to allow bipartisan consensus with all parties to be achieved on the Bill’s details, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

       He said the matter on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Amendment) Bill 2021 was discussed with the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader, and the decision to defer it was later reached during a special select committee on health, science and innovation chaired by its chairman Dr Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching) yesterday.

       “This is in line with the spirit of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and efforts on parliamentary reform.

       “With regards to the amendments of Act 342, it is crucial that we get public support and compliance because this involves public health measures not only to deal with Covid-19 but any infectious diseases,” he said.

       “I have discussed with the select committee on the details to the amendments and guidelines. We have also listened to experts... and the select committee has unanimously agreed to postpone the (reading of the) amendments, not because they are not supportive of it. It’s just that we need more time to address several key issues,” Khairy said.

       The Bill was initially scheduled to be tabled and debated yesterday.

       “Upon the spirit of bipartisanship, I would like to request for the second and third reading of (this Bill) to be postponed to the next sitting,” he told the House.

       Yii seconded Khairy’s proposal, saying that the members had listened to presentations from Khairy, the Health director-general, Health Ministry officers, officers from the Attorney General’s Chambers as well as a panel of independent experts in the two-hour meeting yesterday.

       Yii said the guidelines for the enforcement of the proposed amendments for Act 342 should also be made public so that they can be scrutinised by the public before the Bill is re-tabled in the next sitting.

       The committee, he added, agreed that the Bill should be further strengthened to improve public perception on the law.

       Later at a press conference, Khairy said there will be a thorough consultation with stakeholders before it is brought back to Parliament.

       “These include the guidelines, offences, scale of offences and other details we had discussed earlier,” he added.

       The decision to extend the Dewan Rakyat meeting by an additional day to debate the Bill yesterday comes after a discussion between Opposition MPs and Health Ministry officials last week (Dec 16) following concerns over the excessive penalties proposed in the amendments.

       The Bill was tabled for the first reading on Dec 14 but Opposition MPs raised their concerns over the proposed excessive fines and prison terms against companies and individuals who flout Covid-19 standard operating procedures.

       On Dec 15, the Health Ministry proposed lowering the penalties by half in the wake of outcry over the initial fines proposed in the Bill.

       The Bill initially proposed a RM100,000 fine or seven years’ jail under Section 24(a) for those who flout Covid-19 regulations.

       Also deemed excessive was the proposed RM1mil for a corporate body under Section 25(b).

       Under the present Act 342, the health authorities are only empowered to impose a maximum fine of RM1,000 against companies and individuals who flout Covid-19 SOP.

       Khairy said the amendments were needed to manage the pandemic as there is a possibility of the nation facing another wave of infections in the coming months.