The uncaring and unjust PAS government

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Burger & Rojak Sellers Slapped With RM50000 Fine – That’s What You Get For Voting PAS And Supporting A Backdoor Government

In the 2018 General Election, UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) won only 8 state seats while PAS grabbed a whopping 37 seats in Kelantan. Opposition Pakatan Harapan was totally wiped out. After learning that PAS had won big, Mohd Hafeez, a 42-year-old diehard Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS) supporter kissed the ground and said – “God is great, the people have spoken.”

Ahmad Saifuddin, a voter from Kelantan’s capital Kota Bharu, revealed that he voted for PAS because it was his responsibility to do so as a Muslim. The undergraduate from Kuala Lumpur said – “My family has been PAS supporters for generations. We were brought up with PAS Muslim values. I was never tempted by BN’s promises of so called economic development.”

Meanwhile, Nur Fatimah, a rice farmer in Kelantan, complained about rising cost of living, the factor that made her to change her mind. She said – “Milk powder for my children has doubled in the countryside. I have to work doubly hard so that we can pay our rent. I’m just sick of it”. Indeed, the state of Kelantan has been governed by the Islamist party for decades.



Even though PAS failed to form the federal government in the May 2018 General Election, the party eventually joined forces with bitter enemy UMNO to form a national cooperation in Sept 2019, which was glorified as “Muafakat Nasional” under the pretext of Malay-unity. Subsequently, in March 2020, both parties conspired with traitors Muhyiddin Yassin and Azmin Ali to launch a coup.

The legitimately and democratically elected multiracial Pakatan Harapan coalition was toppled as a result of the coup. Since March 2020, a Malay-Muslim government called Perikatan Nasional has been ruling not only at the federal level, but also at the state level in Kelantan through the UMNO-PAS-Bersatu alliance, all of which are Malay-based political parties.

So when a burger seller was slapped with a RM50,000 fine on Sunday (April 25) for violating the movement control order (MCO), it raises an interesting question. Have PAS hardcore supporters like Mohd Hafeez, Ahmad Saifuddin and Nur Fatimah been taken for a ride after fellow Kelantanese were being victimised by the same party that they had voted for?



The burger seller, 38-year-old Wan Mohd Faisal Wan Kadir, had nowhere to express his frustration, but the social media, where he complained how the authorities slapped him with the maximum penalty of RM50,000 for operating his burger stall which he set up in front of his house at around 11pm. But he said there were no customers at the stall when several policemen approached him.

Wan Mohd Faisal, who had been slapped with a RM1,000 compound previously for the same offence, argued – “I have folded the tables, but haven’t closed the stall as I was preparing orders for factory workers. Many of my customers buy my burgers after 9pm. I hope the authorities can reduce the amount because I cannot afford to pay as I only sell burgers”.

However, Kota Baru district police chief ACP Abdul Rahim Daud said besides operating beyond 10pm restriction, the burger seller also violated the standard operating procedure (SOP) by setting up tables for customers and failing to provide a body temperature scanner. The police chief said – “Due to the offences, we issued the maximum compound of RM50,000. However, he can appeal”.



In what appeared to be yet another flip-flop and confusion, de-facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan stunningly said on Tuesday (April 27) that the maximum fine for business operators exceeding their permissible operating hours was RM10,000. He said – “Offenders are given a 50% discount if they pay off the compound notice within 7 days and 25% if paid within a period of 14 days”.

Obviously someone has lied, either due to incompetence or a desperate political damage control. Was Minister Takiyuddin trying to say the police was not only incompetent, but also had wrongly and illegally issued the RM50,000 compound to the burger seller? But from where did the district police chief gets his SOP guidance and penalty rates, if not from the backdoor government itself?

Known as one of the most corrupt institutions, it’s hard to believe that the Royal Malaysia Police is insensitive to numbers and can’t differentiate between RM10,000 and RM50,000. If indeed the Kelantan police had misinterpreted the law, the police officers involved should at least be demoted, if not fired. Otherwise, Takiyuddin should be held responsible for creating a bad image for the police force.



Make no mistake. Mr Takiyuddin, the Secretary-General of PAS Islamist party since 2015, is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kota Bharu since May 2013. Therefore, it’s not a coincidence that he was forced to come forward to fix the fiasco because the burger seller happens to be from Kampung Rambutan Rendang, a village located in Kota Bharu.

Hilariously, the burger seller was not the only one being victimized by the clueless and incompetent Malay-centric government. Now, a rojak seller in Kota Bharu has stepped forward to complain that he too had received a similar fine. In total, there were at least three stall operators in Kelantan who had hit the RM50,000 compound jackpots.

The rojak seller, 42-year-old Mohd Azizi Mohd Nor, said – “I was shocked when I saw the amount. To even get RM100 every night selling rojak is hard because I am only operating in a kampung (village) area. When the police came, my shop was already closed at 10pm, with most of the lights turned off. Only the kitchen was still open because my wife and I were still cleaning up”.



Mohd Azizi complained that it would still be too expensive, even if the compound is reduced to RM10,000. The Kelantanese said he would rather go to prison if push comes to shove – “This is the first time I’ve been issued a compound, but it was already RM50,000. I work as a mechanic besides helping my wife sells noodles on regular days”.

However, another minister, Defense Minister cum Senior Minister “Turtle Egg” Ismail Sabri said the RM50,000 fine was supposed to be for companies – suggesting there are double standards for business owners. His statement means RM10,000 compounds are for small business owners like the burger or rojak seller, while RM50,000 penalty is for large corporations.

It’s true that both burger and rojak sellers might have violated the SOP and must be punished. But the authorities should be smart enough to know that there’s no way the stall owners could afford to pay the massive fines. Assuming the rojak seller could make RM100 profit a day, he would need to work for free for the next 500 days to pay the RM50,000 compound. Why can’t a warning be issued first?



It also appears that the authorities have two sets of rules when comes to fairness and compassion. Exactly why the police were so firm and strict with the burger and rojak seller when some ministers were not punished at all despite repetitively breaching and violating the MCO lockdown rules? For example, Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa had violated the SOPs multiple times but was never fined, let alone arrested.

Dozens of ministers, including Annuar Musa, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Higher Education Minister Noraini Ahmad and Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin had breached the MCO rules by travelling interstate to attend the wedding reception of the daughter of Jelebu MP Jalaluddin Alias in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, on March 14.

Isn’t this a classic example of how a Malay government screws fellow Malay burger and rojak sellers, but closed an eye when Malay ministers themselves had violated the rules? And exactly where is the PAS’ fake holy man – President Abdul Hadi Awang – when Kelantan Malay-Muslims were being targeted by unfair and uncompassionate Malay authorities?



Arguably, Hadi Awang and his extremist PAS minions are worse than suicide bombers for causing unnecessary hardship and more damage to fellow Muslims’ struggle to make ends meet during the holy month of Ramadan. All the PAS lawmakers, along with UMNO and Bersatu ministers for that matter, cannot point fingers at Chinese DAP now because it’s a Malay-Muslim government who runs the show.

In the same breath, where is the “Malay first” Prime Minister Mahiaddin Yassin when Malay stall owners need him the most for justice? PAS gullible supporters had been scammed for rejecting the corrupt and evil UMNO in favour of PAS when leaders from both parties eventually hugged and kissed each other in 2019. Ignorant supporters had also been tricked with the so-called PAS Muslim values.

PAS Muslim values have always been to firstly reward its top leaders with fat salaries and big cars, especially Mercedes Benz. Blind PAS supporters, to their horror, also finds chicken prices have skyrocketed under the Perikatan Nasional government, a similar economic mishandling during the previous Barisan Nasional government where milk powder hit the roof. You deserve the government you voted for.