Condo managements have no authority to compound residents violating SOP - Ismail Sabri

KUALA LUMPUR : The management of condominiums or residential areas do not have the authority to impose fines or compounds on residents who violate standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as the use of face masks.

This followed a viral posting on social media about a one-year-old child being fined RM100 by the management of a condominium in Ampang for not wearing a face mask while in the elevator.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said only the Health Ministry (MOH) had the power to issue the compound through the police subject to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).

“So far we have not given the authority to the management of condominiums and apartments or any office to take action. The management’s authority is only limited to maintaining and managing the property.

“Hence what the management did in the Ampang condominium is wrong and cannot be done. So I hope they withdraw the RM100 compound,” he told a press conference on the development of the Movement Control Order (MCO) here today.

Besides, Ismail Sabri said the government had never issued any instructions for the MCO 2.0 that occupants sharing a vehicle must be from the same household.

Instead, he said drivers and passengers could be from different addresses as long as the number of occupants depended on the vehicle’s capacity, and it was applicable to all areas under the MCO, Conditional MCO (CMCO) and Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO).

He said so far the government has not held any discussions on the issuance of vaccine passports (to individuals who will receive the shots) or on the opening of the country’s borders which would allow people to travel abroad again.

“There is no date set for that yet, the government is still seeking feedback from the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the vaccine passport.

“This is because the government does not know what vaccines are acceptable in foreign countries to allow the entry of people from this country into their country. So this matter is still too early to talk about,” he said.

He said the matter would be announced by the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry and the Health Ministry later.

In another development, he said the police arrested 460 individuals for defying the MCO yesterday.

As many as 388 individuals were issued compounds while 70 were remanded and two werestrong /stronggranted bail yesterday.

A total of 23 illegal immigrants and two emtekong/em were detained while 11 land vehicles were also seized under ‘emOps Benteng’/em, yesterday,” he said.

-- BERNAMA