KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak today questioned if politicians from ruling parties admit breaching standard operating procedures (SOPs) meant to curb Covid-19 infections, and to face the law over such non-compliance of Covid-19 SOPs.

Najib, who was formerly Umno’s president and is currently Pekan Umno division chief, said it has "become a trend to admit mistakes and step forward to be fined”.

"Najib has done it already. Tun Mahathir has done it already. Now it is the turn of a PAS elected representative.

"For the other leaders from ruling parties that repeatedly kantoi (were caught red-handed) clearly breaching SOPs, when?” he asked in a brief Facebook post, without naming these politicians.

In Najib’s Facebook post, he attached a photo of a news report where PAS’s Jabi state assemblyman and Terengganu exco member Azman Ibrahim had stepped forward to have his statement recorded by the police, following a neighbour’s visit to his house yesterday on the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

Azman said in a Facebook post that the police allowed him to compound his offence of breaching Movement Control Order (MCO) standard operating procedures by paying a fine instead of being hauled to court, and indicated that he would pay the fine as sson as possible.

In the same Facebook post, Azman said that "no one is above the law”, and indicated that elected lawmakers are also punished with the same amount of fine offered to ordinary citizens in order to compound the offence of breaching such SOPs.

PAS assemblyman Azman Ibrahim had stepped forward to have his statement recorded by the police. — Picture via Facebook/ybdrazmanibrahim

Two days ago on May 12, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said he was notified that he violated the Covid-19 SOPs by not having his temperature taken before entering the surau at one of the charity events in his Langkawi constituency on May 8.

Dr Mahathir, who is also chairman of Parti Pejuang Tanah Air, openly admitted that this was a mistake that should not have happened, apologising for not abiding by the Covid-19 SOPs and said he would face action according to the law.

Recently, a 150-second video of Dr Mahathir and his entourage entering Surau Tsunami Batu Arang in Kuala Teriang, Kuah went viral after he was seen entering the building, once he had taken off his shoes, without getting his temperature checked.

On May 11, Najib paid fines totalling RM3,000 over his failure to have his temperature recorded and to register himself through MySejahtera or manually when he entered Restoran Nasi Ayam Hainan Chee Meng in Bukit Bintang on March 19.

In a Facebook post on May 11, Najib said he admitted his mistake and accepted the penalty, saying there should be no "double standards” while snidely saying he does not know "about the others”.

In the incident that was caught on camera and later went viral, the former prime minister was seen being ushered to his seat immediately after he arrived at the popular chicken rice shop in Kuala Lumpur.

Najib on March 19 admitted he was at fault and asked authorities to fine him for his unintentional mistake.

On May 6 which was also when police announced that Najib would have to pay RM3,000 to compound the offences of the MCO breach, Najib had posted a Facebook post the same day to say he was prepared to pay the fine and suggested that commoners and he himself would be probed and fined for police, while also saying: "If government ministers were the one breaching SOPs, I don’t know lah.”