Malaysia’s Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah Cabinet said that ministers will only observe three-day quarantine after returning from official trips abroad if they fulfil certain conditions — including using private jets instead of commercial flights.
Dr Noor Hisham said this in a media conference on Tuesday (9 Feb), as he listed down the conditions needed to be met by ministers to be eligible for the three-day quarantine rule.
“They need to submit an application to the Cabinet prior to their departure and once that is approved, the official business listed in their schedule as well as standard operating procedure will be looked into and risk assessment would be conducted,” he noted.
Dr Noor Hisham also stated that ministers who take commercial flights would automatically be ineligible for the three-day quarantine rule.
This certain condition has triggered backlash from netizens on social media, many of whom commented on Facebook that the move made by the Government is such a waste of taxpayers’ money.
Several others also pointed out that the official meetings could be held virtually instead, as it is safer and less expensive. One user labelled this move by the Government as an “excuse” for its ministers to use private jets.
Meanwhile, former Education Minister Dr Maszlee Malik took to his Twitter to express his discontent.
In his tweet, he said that the ministers were given too much “privilege”, starting from the three-day quarantine rule to the use of private jets on the expense of funds from taxpayers.
Maaf.
It all started with the 3 days.
Today, private jets.
Tomorrow?
What a privilege… on the expense of the taxpayers… https://t.co/BWr9GdvVWl
— Maszlee Malik 🇲🇾 (@maszlee) February 10, 2021