SHAH ALAM, July 28 — Police will soon summon six media personnel accused of trespassing into the Covid-19 Integrated Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) on Monday to cover a story.
Selangor police chief Datuk Arjunaidi Mohamed said the MAEPS PKRC was a restricted place gazetted as a quarantine and infectious disease treatment area on December 6 last year, and following the incident the centre’s management lodged a police report at 4pm yesterday.
“According to the police report, the journalists went to the Yellow Zone which is next to the quarantine area for Covid-19 categories three and four patients. If I go to MAEPS, I have to ask for permission to enter the centre; no one is exempted including journalists,” he said.
Arjunaidi said the action of media personnel to enter the centre wearing face masks and face shields without any personal protective equipment not only endangered themselves but also others as they were likely to carry the virus out of the centre.
He said police had identified all six media personnel from various agencies involved and the case was being investigated under Section 448 of the Penal Code for trespassing.
He said an investigation would also be conducted to find out how the journalists entered the centre simultaneously.
“The police only control security outside the centre … we do not enter … that’s why we want to investigate who brought them in or how they entered,” he said.
Arjunaidi stressed that the action of the police to record the statements of 17 healthcare personnel at the centre was to assist in the investigation of the trespass case and not about the “Hartal Doktor Kontrak” peaceful protest on Monday.
“So why did we have to record their statements until 3am? This is because the doctors work from 8pm to 8am. So if we want to record their statements during the day, it will be after 8am, and of course, they will be tired.
“We also have a heart, so we take turns recording their statements with the approval of the MAEPS management,” he added.
— Bernama
