Many want MCO tightened rather than relaxed towards raya - Ismail Sabri

Many Malaysians have asked for the Movement Control Order (MCO) to be tightened rather than relaxed especially during the festive season, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said this was obtained through a study by the National Security Council (MKN) in addition to the current public response.

"To give more flexibility, now that I've seen the research done by MKN, many actually want us to tighten, not loosen it up.

"I also received a lot of WhatsApp messages asking why are we relaxing certain matters and so on," he said at a press conference here on Sunday.

Ismail Sabri cited examples of visiting issues during the first day of raya which was limited to 20 people and also continued to be debated by the public who wanted it tightened.

"Although one day (first day of raya) is a maximum of 20 people, it is also based on the size of the house and so on. But when we give it a little bit of relaxation, many say we should not allow any relief.

"So, if we want more (reliefs), we are going to have problems because our goal is to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among our families in the village.

"So, we are trying to block (those who are trying to go back to the village) not to come back. This is going to be a COVID-19 spreader," he added.