(Photo by Shahrin Yahya/The Edge)
KUALA LUMPUR (May 1): The government should not announce another movement control order (MCO) in the Klang Valley at the last minute and without confirming the standard operating procedures (SOPs), said opposition lawmaker Dr Ong Kian Ming.
“An MCO is very disruptive to the people, especially from an economic perspective. The people are already suffering from MCO 1.0 and MCO 2.0. If MCO 3.0 is announced without proper preparation, the people’s suffering will only increase,” said Ong.
In a statement today, Ong said there is much speculation that there will be another MCO in the Klang Valley next week, perhaps as early as Monday.
“This would be the third time that we are experiencing an MCO in the Klang Valley, where almost 10 million residents are located. The National Security Council (NSC) should already have a system in place to prepare residents with an advance warning before an MCO is announced,” he said.
Ong, who is DAP’s assistant political education director, said that if the MCO is hurriedly announced with the SOPs in place, many people may end up being fined RM10,000 for violating the SOPs which they don’t know about because the SOPs had not been confirmed.
“For example, how many people can sit in a car during MCO 3.0? One, two or three?
“I urge the ministers in charge to not announce another MCO in the Klang Valley at the last minute and without confirming the SOPs,” he said.
According to Ong, the need to have another MCO shows that the emergency has failed in its objective to control the pandemic and bring down Covid-19 infections.
“It is high time that Parliament is reconvened, so that policies regarding the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic can be discussed openly and the ministers in charge of various aspects of relevant policies can be questioned by the opposition as well as the backbenchers,” he added.
