KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 ― After being chided by Opposition MPs, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today clarified that his statement yesterday endorsing the management bodies of strata properties to compel tenants to prove they are Covid-19 free before being allowed entry was not a policy announcement.

The senior minister, through a Twitter thread, stressed that regulations to compel local and non-Malaysian tenants to undergo Covid-19 swab tests or be barred from entering was not an official regulation issued by the National Security Council (NSC).

But he said that the management bodies of these properties have the right to enforce such requirements on their tenants, asserting that private properties can implement their own set of rules on its residents.

“In fact, they can even make rules to restrict entry to visitors, like, for example, in Sarawak, where outsiders are not allowed to visit the longhouses.

“Hence, to ensure the safety of their residents, if the management does come up with the rule that foreign tenants need to be screened, then that is their right,” he tweeted.

This after MPs such as Segambut’s Hannah Yeoh and Lembah Pantai’s Fahmi Fadzil took to Twitter yesterday condemning Ismail Sabri for the announcement, saying such rules would be discriminatory to the less affluent, who would also be subjected to the costs of getting tested.

Fahmi had called for such a policy to be reviewed, and said the inclusion of such regulations would require that they are inserted into the house rules as a by-law, which would require a 21-day notice and an extraordinary general meeting, something that is not allowed for under the current movement control order (MCO).

Yeoh had pointed out that Covid-19 does not discriminate, and then urged the government to employ scientific methods when making Covid-19 related policies.

Today, as part of his thread, Ismail Sabri replied to both Fahmi and Yeoh by accusing them of being more concerned about the plight of non-Malaysians living here instead of actual citizens.

“For them, the cost borne by non-Malaysians for the Covid-19 screening tests is worth more than the life of Malaysians.

“Maybe they are the foreigners’ representatives, and not Malaysians,” he said.

But just an hour later, both Yeoh and Fahmi tweeted replies to Ismail Sabri’s thread, where the Lembah Pantai MP said Ismail Sabri labelling them champions of foreigners was in poor taste.

“Look at my tweet, the issue of foreigners was not raised at all. What I raised was the burden of screening costs for the B40 residents, which was not answered,” Fahmi tweeted.

Yeoh then tweeted that she felt sorry for the Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for having to tolerate such an incompetent Cabinet.

“Ismail Sabri, believe me this statement will become international headlines.

“I pity Muhyiddin Yassin for having a weak Cabinet and Senior Ministers,” Yeoh wrote.

“When he gets condemned by the people, he (Ismail) accuses me and Fahmi of fighting for the foreigners.

“Low class. No class,” Yeoh wrote.