Would the 66th PAS National Delegates Assembly have ignored Khairuddin’s violation of Covid 19 quarantine SOP if he had not donated RM50,000 to his party?
Would the 66th PAS National Delegates Assembly have ignored PAS Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister, Khairuddin Aman Razali’s violation of Covid 19 quarantine SOP when he returned from Turkey on July 7, if he had not donated RM50,000 to his party?
This is a question many are asking.
Khairuddin’s donation was announced by the PAS Assembly permanent chairperson Husin Ismail after the PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang’s speech.
Political analysts had expected the PAS Assembly to touch on the Khairuddin episode and the issue of the performance of the PAS ministers in the Perikatan Nasional administration thus far, as currently, people do not have confidence in the abilities of PAS Ministers in the Cabinet, as UMNO Ministers and Deputy Ministers were seen as performing better.
But there was no questioning of the Khairuddin affair at all.
Another question is why the authorities are taking such an inordinately long time to complete their investigations on Khairuddin’s violation of Covid-19 quarantine SOP?
Two weeks ago, the police declared that they were expecting to wrap up its probe into Khairuddin’s case, with the Bukit Aman Criminal Investigation Department deputy director Mior Faridalathrash Wahid, saying that the police will be submitting their findings to the Attorney-General's Chambers soon.
Khairuddin’s violation of the quarantine SOP was more than two months ago on July 7 when he returned with his family from Turkey. The MP for Seputeh, Teresa Kok exposed the matter in Parliament on August 18.
How long more before the authorities decide on the action to be taken against Khairuddin?
There have been a lot of glaring loopholes in the Khairuddin affair, which has become the classic case of the double standards of the Muhyiddin Cabinet and Government.
The Health Ministry had on Aug 19 stated that they were investigating the claim that Khairuddin had breached his quarantine order.
However, three days later on Aug 22, the ministry issued a statement saying that Khairuddin had been issued a RM1,000 compound on Aug 7.
Up to now, there have been no answers whether the compound was backdated, and when the RM1,000 was paid.
Although Khairuddin had since apologised and promised to donate his ministerial salaries from March to August to the country's Covid-19 fund, the genuineness of his apology became an issue as he maintained that he did not do anything wrong regarding his job.
He said: "I did not do anything wrong concerning my job; it only involved an error over the issue of the standard operating procedures.”
Such remarks exposed the fitness of Khairuddin to be a Minister of a Government fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had been worried about the failure of leadership in countries fighting the Covid-19 pandemic, which was why he had said:
“We call on country leaders to mobilize their plans, coordinating every part of government, not just the health ministry – security, diplomacy, finance, commerce, transport, trade, information and more – the whole government should be involved.”
He also said:“We’re concerned that in some countries the level of political commitment and the actions that demonstrate that commitment don’t match the level of the threat we all face. This is NOT a drill NOT the time to give up NOT a time for excuses This is a time for pulling out all the stops!”
Does the PAS Minister understand the concerns of Dr. Tedros?
Khairuddin reminds me of Europe in the Middle Ages, when a person can buy his way of out of sin and even out of hell with payments of money in the form of “indulgences”.
Are we back to the Middle Ages in Europe?
Khairuddin should be referred to the Committee of Privileges of the Dewan Rakyat as he attended several Parliamentary meetings when in breach of the Covid-19 quarantine SOP.