Janet in Other News On March 16, 2021, 3:22 pm

Govt To List Out Offences For RM10K Fines, Not Wearing Face Mask Will Not Be Included

Govt to clarify list of offences for RM10K fines

News have been cropping up of individuals being slapped with hefty fines of RM10,000 – which goes to show us all that authorities are taking MCO-related offences seriously to fight the pandemic. But many have raised concerned for the reasons for the fines, such as not wearing a face mask, which one might consider a minor offence.

In a timely manner, the government has decided to clarify violations that will lead to a RM10,000 fine to clear up confusion over the new maximum fine. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law), Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, also noted that minor ones – including not wearing a face mask and failure to check in with MySejahtera – will not be included in the list.

Minor offences won’t warrant RM10K fines

Discussion on MCO-related offences that’ll result in RM10K fines will be held today during COVID-19 Emergency Management Technical Committee Meeting, as reported by The Star. While the maximum fine of RM10K fine will be here to stay under the Emergency Ordinance, those who commit minor offences will get to skirt the whopping sum.

According to New Straits Times, Takiyuddin said that “common offences” such as not scanning QR code with the MySejahtera app or failure to wear a face mask in public won’t warrant a RM10K fine. The maximum fine will be reserved for “major offences”. Amounts of fines will be issued on a case-by-case basis, and MCO-offenders will have the option to pay the fine or appeal the fine in court.

Image (for illustration purposes only) credit: Sungei Wang 金河广场

This follows after 600 individuals were issued RM10K fines for various offences in the span of 2 days, including not using the MySejahtera app for contact tracing, not wearing a face mask and attempts to travel between states.

As such, the government is said to clarify offences with RM10K fines at stake so the new maximum fine will be carried out and issued accordingly by authorities. Likewise, Takiyuddin reiterated that the fines are set in place to inform Malaysians of necessary measures to take so the country can help curb the spread of the virus.

COVID-19 cases expected to fall below 500 a day by May

Image credit: Noor Hisham Abdullah

With hefty fines and strict SOPs in place, KKM expects daily COVID-19 cases to fall to 500 a day come May, as reported by Bernama. This prediction is made based on the current infectivity rate in Malaysia, but will be reliant on SOP compliance among Malaysians.

Another small win for the country yesterday on the COVID-19 front is that we once again reported the lowest number of daily COVID-19 cases in 2021 yesterday, 15th March – 1,208 new confirmed cases. This also marks 10 consecutive days of daily case numbers falling below the 2,000 mark.

Image credit: KKM

RM10K fines will not apply to minor MCO-related offences

News of the government issuing a list of offences that will garner a RM10K fine comes as a relief to all concerned about the hefty fines that has been said to have been issued for minor MCO-related offences. Nonetheless, we should not be taking SOPs lightly while we’re out, as COVID-19 cases are still high in Malaysia. So we are advised to register for our vaccinations, and continue to follow SOPs whenever we’re out so daily COVID-19 cases stay low in the long run.