YOURSAY | ‘They act as if they are paragons of virtue and can do no wrong.’

PAS spiritual leader defends Khairuddin, lays blame on health, foreign ministries

BusinessFirst: I wonder with so many religious schools that PAS runs, what kind of morality is being taught there.

The flexible nature of rights and wrongs such as "syariah-compliant lying", the ends justify the means, where a subjective value is placed over another, and the shifting of the blame to others, are in my view troubling.

So based on this latest account, I suppose it is no longer the DAP's fault, it is the ministers in the health and foreign ministries who are at fault.

So Plantation Industries and Commodities Minister Khairuddin Aman Razali just did not know that he had to quarantine and/or wear a wrist band.

Can we all try this "I do not know" defence? I did not know the money entered my account. I did not know that I spent that money. I did not know stealing Ahmad's money was wrong, I only thought stealing from Yusof was wrong. I did not know I could not drink and drive.

Western jurisprudence which has been accepted across the world, including China, Japan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, etc, have a principle - "Ignorance of the law is no excuse". If we allowed this defence, there would be chaos.

Next, Khairuddin is a hero “who saved Malaysia and he is getting maligned...”.

Please let us know what he has done to “save Malaysia”? Just saying that 1,000 times does not make it true. What exactly was his reason for travelling to Turkey? What did he actually achieve there?

I have not heard any announcements from Malaysia or Turkey of RM82,000,000,000 of investments (please count the zeros). In fact, I have not even heard any announcement of RM82,000 investments coming in.

In any case, how does his so-called "good deeds" absolve him from wrongdoing? If this is the case, the next time a doctor runs the red light and kills someone, we should call him a hero because as a doctor he had saved many lives so killing one or two is still "more good" than "bad". What kind of reasoning and morality is this?

I also do not agree with Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) associate professor Rozaimi Ramle. While I agree with him that “there is no need” for the minister to be equated to the hoopoe in the bid to defend him, I disagree with his simplistic reasoning. In my view, the academic is in error.

He seems to think that there is no need to defend Khairuddin anymore since he had already been punished by paying the fine and giving up four months of his salary. I disagree. For his supporters, there is still a need to defend him because the punishment is not consistent with others who have done far less. The issue is double standards.

Hence, while there is a need for his supporters to defend him, the problem is that at the moment, the "defences" are spurious and unjustifiable. I think the problem is perhaps that his conduct is not defensible.

Would you Khairuddin, PAS leaders, and all who claim to be moral leaders, just apologise like what Dr Mahathir Mohamad's granddaughter did. It’s strange that a young woman has more moral fibre than all these grown men.

PAS seems to like to spit in the face of public opinion by doubling down on dubious principles. Can you imagine if they win power? They act as if they are paragons of virtue and can do no wrong. This is very dangerous for a nation. Be warned.

Malaysia Bharu: PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin's contention that Khairuddin must not be faulted for the failure of the health and foreign ministries is tantamount to saying that criminals and wrongdoers roaming free must not be faulted if the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) failed to enforce the laws.

By extension, Hashim's contention infers that Khairuddin should be indemnified by the RM1,000 fine imposed on him. Hashim further contends that Khairuddin is to be honoured as a hero that saved the people of Malaysia.

It is very clear that PAS is diverting attention to keep the lid on disturbing questions over Khairuddin's trip to Turkey and back. Khairuddin's Turkey jaunt with his family and friends and their subsequent alleged quarantine breach are growing more intriguing by the day.

With the authorities looking the other way and the ludicrous spin by PAS leaders to distract from the truth, the people are depending on the police probe to establish the truth.

Why has PAS hailed him as a hero who saved Malaysia and alluded to some religious texts in the Quran? Is it true he brought in RM82 billion in investments as allegedly claimed by Baling MP Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim in Parliament?

What was the reason for his 'semi-official' tour in the midst of the pandemic when international borders were shut down? Who are those that accompanied him and who paid their expenses? Did they also breach the standard operation procedure (SOP) on their return?

If so, what action was taken against them? The answers to these questions will determine the complicity of the main players in the Khairuddin quarantine caper.

Anonymous_47029368: "...Khairuddin, Hashim said, could not be blamed for not being made to wear the pink wristband, signalling those who are to undergo the two-week mandatory home quarantine, upon his return from Turkey last month…

“It’s not his fault…The Health Ministry was negligent, so was the Foreign Affairs Ministry, causing him to be attacked..."

Can the government now please clarify whether the Health Ministry or Foreign Affairs Ministry is indeed negligent in not requiring Khairuddin to wear the pink wrist band and did not serve him the home quarantine order?

Doc: I guess the foreign and health ministries were at fault because they assumed that Khairuddin had brains and intellect to understand the importance of quarantine procedures in battling the global pandemic and would have submitted himself and his family to self-quarantine in accordance to Malaysian law.

CEC: In other countries (Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand), ministers and government advisors have immediately resigned after being caught for breaking Covid-19 lockdown rules.

While back home in Malaysia, this minister tries at first to maintain his innocence, and then changed tack by seeking forgiveness and offering to give up a few months of his salary (which was the rakyat's money in the first place). All so that he can desperately cling on to his post.

Bobby0: It just boggles our mind at the stupidity of all the excuses given by PAS to protect their own counterpart who had openly broken the law.

Senior leaders and politicians in the various nations have more principles than these so-called religious leaders. They resigned the moment they admit to the mistake they had made.

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