Pahang police said no police report has been made against Rahman.
Deputy Rural Development Minister Abdul Rahman Mohamad said a surprise birthday party for him by a group was unplanned and was not intended to violate the movement-control order (MCO).
“It was all unplanned and I didn’t want to chase them away,” he was quoted as telling The Star online.
The Lipis MP said the gathering on April 13 was brief and he had cut a cake presented to him by the group of volunteers, who had earlier helped him distribute necessities to his constituents.
“I was leaving around 9am when I saw them arriving with a cake. They told me that they wanted to wish me well on my journey to Putrajaya, and they wanted to give me the cake as it was coincidentally my birthday that day.
“It would have been rude to turn them away,” he told The Star.
Pictures of Rahman’s birthday surprise were uploaded on Facebook on the same day and have been widely shared on social media.
The Umno lawmaker’s followers had also wished him “Happy Birthday” in the comments.
None in the pictures was wearing face masks or practised social distancing.
Senior minister (security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob had recently said those in government are not exempted from the law after two Perikatan Nasional leaders allegedly breached MCO rules.
“Nobody is above the law. I understand that there have been police reports and we will leave it to police to carry out investigations,” he said in Putrajaya yesterday.
Ismail Sabri was commenting on a luncheon that Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali and Perak exco Razman Zakaria attended along with more than a dozen people in a Perak tahfiz school.
Berita Harian reported that police will summon the deputy minister over the incident. Perak police chief Razarudin Husain, however, said it appears that all the attendees had observed social distancing rules. – TMI