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PUTRAJAYA: The Prime Minister’s Office has denied allegations that the three-day observation period for ministers returning from abroad was published because Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin did not want to be quarantined after his return from Indonesia.
His office noted that the Prime Minister received a home observation and surveillance order and was fitted with a pink bracelet upon his return from Jakarta on February 5.
“The prime minister is currently quarantined at home. Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi’s indictment is malicious and is intended to tarnish the prime minister’s good name.”
“Legal action will be taken if he (Puad) does not make a public apology,” the PMO said in a statement on Tuesday (February 9).
Puad, a member of the Umno high council, in a post shared on Johor Umno’s Facebook page, claimed that the prime minister and his entourage did not want to be quarantined for 10 days after returning from Jakarta.
He stated that because of this, the Minister of Health issued a new order stating that ministers returning from abroad should only undergo a reduced three-day quarantine period.
Muhyiddin made his first official trip abroad with a visit to Indonesia on February 4, but the visit lasted less than 24 hours due to the current Covid-19 situation.
On Monday (February 8), the government issued a new ministerial order in which ministers returning from abroad would be subjected to three days of observation or would be under domestic surveillance until they were discharged without danger to the public.
The order goes into effect from February 9 to August 1.
The new order was published in the government bulletin under the Infectious Diseases Prevention and Control Act (Law 342) and was signed by the Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr. Adham Baba.
Under the order, cabinet ministers returning from any official visit abroad are now exempt from Section 15 of the law.
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