Some Non-Essential Services Resuming Operations Without Approval - Senior Minister

PUTRAJAYA, April 16 (Bernama) -- Many vehicles have been seen on the roads since yesterday because some non-essential services are taking advantage to resume operations without first getting government approval, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob. He said all industries need to get approval from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) before they could resume operations under the Movement Control Order (MCO). "MCO has not been lifted yet; (we are) into the third phase of MCO (April 15 to 28) and anyone who violates it will be dealt with under the legal provisions of MCO. "So the presence of so many vehicles on the roads gives the impression that the people have forgotten that MCO is still in force and they are subject to the laws under it,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting of the Special Ministerial Committee on MCO here Thursday. Ismail Sabri, who is also Defence Minister, said the police were serious about checking vehicles at road blocks although this might cause congestion. "We have been told by the police that they will continue with strict checks and asking (drivers) questions although it will slow down vehicles. They (police) are serious (about doing their job),” he added. Ismail Sabri said the police, with the assistance of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF), checked 558,548 vehicles at 813 roadblocks throughout the country Wednesday. Apart from this, 56,052 inspections were conducted during spot checks, including on 6,364 premises, he added. "Police arrested 1,315 individuals for flouting the MCO, comprising 1,226 individuals on remand and 89 on police bail. A total of 312 people have been charged in court with violating the MCO,” he said. Ismail Sabri said that a total of 11,017 individuals had been arrested for breaching the MCO since it was implemented on March 18. Asked on the possibility of a rush to go back to the kampung in conjunction with the start of Ramadan, which is expected to fall on April 24, he stressed that MCO legal provisions under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act remain in force until April 28, including barring interstate travel. "Even for the month of Ramadan, the laws I mentioned earlier still apply, and for phase three of the MCO, the laws enforced under MCO phases one and two remain in force. So, an exodus back to the kampung is also not allowed,” he said. Ismail Sabri said, however, the government would discuss the procedures to be used after the end of MCO phase three. Meanwhile, he said the government took a serious view of the spread of fake news two days ago alleging that phase three of the MCO was not gazetted. "It is clear that MCO phase three was gazetted. There were claims that since it was not gazetted, the police had no power to make arrests. This is fake news,” he said, adding that action would be taken against the one who spread the false news. Ismail Sabri said that so far the police together with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had opened 220 investigation papers on COVID-19 fake news, and of this number, 152 cases are still under investigation, 24 have been charged in court and 13 have pleaded guilty. -- BERNAMA PUTRAJAYA, April 16 (Bernama) -- Many vehicles have been seen on the roads since yesterday because some non-essential services are taking advantage to resume operations without first getting government approval, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob. He said all industries need to get approval from the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) before they could resume operations under the Movement Control Order (MCO). "MCO has not been lifted yet; (we are) into the third phase of MCO (April 15 to 28) and anyone who violates it will be dealt with under the legal provisions of MCO. "So the presence of so many vehicles on the roads gives the impression that the people have forgotten that MCO is still in force and they are subject to the laws under it,” he told reporters after chairing a meeting of the Special Ministerial Committee on MCO here Thursday. Ismail Sabri, who is also Defence Minister, said the police were serious about checking vehicles at road blocks although this might cause congestion. "We have been told by the police that they will continue with strict checks and asking (drivers) questions although it will slow down vehicles. They (police) are serious (about doing their job),” he added. Ismail Sabri said the police, with the assistance of the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF), checked 558,548 vehicles at 813 roadblocks throughout the country Wednesday. Apart from this, 56,052 inspections were conducted during spot checks, including on 6,364 premises, he added. "Police arrested 1,315 individuals for flouting the MCO, comprising 1,226 individuals on remand and 89 on police bail. A total of 312 people have been charged in court with violating the MCO,” he said. Ismail Sabri said that a total of 11,017 individuals had been arrested for breaching the MCO since it was implemented on March 18. Asked on the possibility of a rush to go back to the kampung in conjunction with the start of Ramadan, which is expected to fall on April 24, he stressed that MCO legal provisions under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act remain in force until April 28, including barring interstate travel. "Even for the month of Ramadan, the laws I mentioned earlier still apply, and for phase three of the MCO, the laws enforced under MCO phases one and two remain in force. So, an exodus back to the kampung is also not allowed,” he said. Ismail Sabri said, however, the government would discuss the procedures to be used after the end of MCO phase three. Meanwhile, he said the government took a serious view of the spread of fake news two days ago alleging that phase three of the MCO was not gazetted. "It is clear that MCO phase three was gazetted. There were claims that since it was not gazetted, the police had no power to make arrests. This is fake news,” he said, adding that action would be taken against the one who spread the false news. Ismail Sabri said that so far the police together with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) had opened 220 investigation papers on COVID-19 fake news, and of this number, 152 cases are still under investigation, 24 have been charged in court and 13 have pleaded guilty. -- BERNAMA