The enforcement of an RM10,000 fine for those who flout the movement control order’s (MCO) SOPs has officially begun on March 11. However, many are taking authorities to task for what they believe is an unjustifiable abuse of power.
One of them, Zachary Yeoh, took to Facebook to voice his deep dissatisfaction with authorities enforcing the fine while he was dining at a restaurant with his girlfriend.
He claimed that both of them had their masks on while waiting for their orders to arrive and subsequently took them off before digging into their meal.
Suddenly, ten officers entered the restaurant and requested Zachary and his girlfriend to produce their identity cards before issuing both of them an RM10,000 compound. He also claimed that he was never given a chance to defend himself from the charge.
The introductory two-liner of his post aptly summarised the entire debacle.
“I was fined RM10,000 for eating. Samantha Loh [his girlfriend] was fined RM10,000 for drinking.”
The post quickly gained traction and has since garnered 2,000 reactions and 1,300 shares.
However, many netizens pointed out that Zachary did not show any details of the summons issued to him and said that he was trying to make the police look bad. Some even jokingly asked whether he was hoping Mark Zuckerberg would pay his fine.
Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman shared a screenshot of the post on his Facebook page, saying that first-time offenders should not be subjected to such exorbitant fines and called upon authorities to “correct it before it is too late”.
You can read Zachary’s post here:
Sources: (Facebook/ Zachary Yeoh)
Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
