A single mother who spent eight days in jail for breaching the movement control order (MCO) has questioned why Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s daughter and son-in-law were sentenced to a mere RM800 fine each for the same offence.
B Lisa Christina, who was initially sentenced to 30 days in jail before having her sentence reduced to a RM1,000 fine, also pointed out that Datuk Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid and Datuk Saiful Nizam Mohd Yusoff’s fines were lower than hers.
“During the eight days in jail, I felt so shattered because I was unable to see my son and felt so embarrassed. I even had to borrow RM1,000 from my mother to settle the fine,” she posted on Facebook.
Lisa added that she read on Tuesday (May 5) that Nurulhidayah and Saiful Nizam were given a RM800 fine “for an even bigger offence”.
“Why are there these double standards? I need an explanation for this,” she said in her Facebook post on Tuesday.
The couple’s court proceedings were also inexplicably conducted behind closed doors.
Lisa, who lives in a fifth-floor apartment unit, was arrested by the police after she went to buy a packet drink and stopped to have a chat with three loitering Indonesians.
The Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures Within the Infected Local Areas) Regulations 2020 carries a maximum fine of RM1,000, six months’ imprisonment or both if convicted.
Coincidentally, yesterday, a university student was fined RM200 more than Nurulhidayah and her husband when he pleaded guilty to violating the same Regulation by going to a friend’s house to work on an assignment.
The same magistrate’s court in Selayang also fined two unemployed men RM1,000 each for leaving their homes to buy food at 9pm on April 9, beyond the 8pm curfew.