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KUALA LUMPUR: Several opposition MPs today interrupted Dewan Rakyat’s proceedings to question whether Jeffrey Kitingan (STAR-Keningau) had undergone the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon arrival from Sabah to attend Parliament.
Fahmi Fadzil (PH-Lembah Pantai) stood up to ask Vice President Azalina Othman Said if Jeffrey, who is also Sabah’s Senior Deputy Minister, is supposed to be still in quarantine.
Mohd Azis Jamman (Warisan-Sepanggar) then said that Jeffrey had attended the Sabah state assembly on November 12, which would mean that he had not yet completed the mandatory quarantine order.
“Sabah deputies have always followed the rules. When we got to the peninsula, they quarantined us for 14 days. It has been almost two months since I saw my wife and children because I was unable to return to Sabah, ”said Azis.
Azalina said she could not give an answer and instructed Dewan Rakyat’s secretary to get confirmation on the matter, telling opposition MPs to wait a while.
Dr. Kelvin Yii (PH-Bandar Kuching) then asked Azalina to consider asking Jeffrey to leave the house momentarily while awaiting confirmation, saying this was just “to be safe”.
Azalina said she could not do that and asked MPs to wait for confirmation.
Teo Nie Ching (PH-Kulai) then asked the vice president why he couldn’t get Jeffrey to confirm whether he had completed the quarantine period since he was in the Dewan.
“If Keningau says he has already been quarantined, we will be satisfied,” he said.
Azalina then received confirmation from Dewan Rakyat’s secretary, who presented a note from Parliament’s doctor that Jeffrey had received a “release order” from the Ministry of Health “after ending the quarantine.”
This led one MP to question whether it was a case of double standards, to which Azis later said that other Sabah MPs had made sacrifices by staying on the peninsula for the past two months without returning home.
“My aunt passed away last week, but I was not allowed to return. We have sacrificed almost two months. If not, it would have been better for me to return to Sabah to mourn (the death of) my aunt. But what we see here is that Keningau is allowed to enter the Dewan. “
