 | | | | ||||
|  [
Index
] | ||||||
 | |||||||
| | | | | |||
Improve Enforcement and Eradicate Corrupt Personnel To Fight Aedes Mosquitoes Statement by Dr Tan Seng Giaw, DAP National Vice-Chairman and MP for Kepong on the amendments of the laws to eradicate disease-carrying insects. 9 October 1999 | |||||||
| On 7 October 1999, the Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng said that the press had misled by misinterpreting the proposed amendments to the laws against disease-carrying insects. For example, there would be a fine of RM10,000 for having one mosquito in and around the premises. He stressed that a court sentence would not be based on the number of mosquitoes. These amendments were not for encouraging corruption. According to the minister, in 1986, there were 1,408 dengue cases with 8 deaths. In 1998, there were 27,373 cases with 58 deaths, an increase of 1840%. All Malaysians must be aware of disease vectors. We must try our best to get rid of them. The increase in dengue cases shows that our preventive measures have to be improved. One is to amend the existing laws such as the laws against disease-carrying insects. We do not know the deatials of the proposed amendments. The initial explanations of the minister are not enough to dispel the fear of the public. While the people understand the need for tighter measures to fight diseases and to educate the public. They suspect that tighter laws may mean more | |
corruption. Datuk Chua Jui Meng will do well to investigate the number of public complaints on law-enforcement and the cases of suspected corruption which have come to light. For instance, we have received complaints about corrupt health personnel. A hawker has been fined twice, RM100 each, for having mosquito larvae in her water tank. She has bought Abate which kills these larvae. Health inspectors then demanded payment for having found larvae in pandan leaves which she had just purchased. She refused to pay, ending in court a year later. She had to stop work to go to court. It would have been much cheaper and much more convenient to pay on the spot. (There is no such thing as paying on the spot.) If there were to be up to RM10,000 to RM20,000 fines and two-year jail sentence, you can imagine what corrupt personnel will be up to and how some people will respond. The Government will have to be serious about tackling this aspect of enforcement. As more stringent laws will be introduced, we hope that the Government will ensure that effective measures are taken to eradicate corruption. Dr Tan Seng Giaw | |||||
| | | | | ||||
 | | |||||||
| [ Home | Political | Medical | Personal ] | Article #102 | |||||||
| [ Recent | Archives | Forum | Feedback ] | [
Index
]
| | | | |
| | ||
