Fact Check : 52 New MCO SOP Rules For Next 6 Months?

Will there be 52 new and much stricter MCO SOP rules for the next 6 months, starting 4 February 2021?

Take a look at the viral post, and find out what the FACTS really are!

Updated @ 2021-01-31 : Added KKM’s official announcement on these 52 MCO rules.

Originally posted @ 2021-01-25

 

Claim : 52 New MCO SOP Rules For Next Six Months!

This claim of 52 new and much stricter MCO SOP rules that will kick off on 4 February 2021 has gone viral on social media.

Latest news: The government hopes that everyone will tide over the economic difficulties together in the next 6 months.

Tighten SOP M-20 from February 4

1) A car can only have one person
2) Cannot go beyond 10KM
3) Morning market 5.am-11am
4) Night markets banned
5) Cannot eat in
6) Barbershops banned
7) Only 50 people allowed in a supermarket at any one time
8) Supermarket operating hours: 8.am-8.30pm
9) Cannot cross districts or states
10) Cannot go out after 8pm

 

52 New MCO SOP Rules For Next 6 Months : Utter Nonsense!

This viral message about 52 new MCO SOP rules that will kick off on 4 February 2021 is nonsense.

That’s because some of them are already part of the latest SOP! And while some of them could possibly be implemented in the future, the rest are unlikely to be come true.

This hoax is probably trying to leverage the fear of a complete economic shutdown that was sparked by the leaked Eurocham circular.

KKM Confirmed That They Are FALSE

On 31 January 2021, the Malaysia Ministry of Health finally announced that the viral message was FALSE.

But when we posted this a week earlier, we pointed out the many discrepancies in the viral message below :

These Rules Are Already Part Of The MCO SOP

These 13 rules are already part of the latest SOP, for the MCO 2.0 lockdown that kicked off on 13 January 2021.

2) Cannot go beyond 10KM
4) Night markets banned
5) Cannot eat in
6) Barbershops banned
9) Cannot cross districts or states
11) Not wearing mask: Rm1000 fine
19) Beauty salons banned
20) Massage parlors banned
21) Nightclubs and bars banned
25) Hospital: 24 hours
29) Police station: 24 hours
35) Online classes nationwide
51) Non-important sectors also prohibited from operating

These Rules Could Possibly Be Implemented Later

These stricter rules could possibly be implemented as part of a very strict MCO lockdown :

1) A car can only have one person
3) Morning market 5.am-11am
8) Supermarket operating hours: 8.am-8.30pm
12) Shop not following SOP: Rm10k fine
23) Petrol station: 6am-8pm
24) Convenience store 7am-8pm
38) Postpone school exams to end of June
39) Post office, express delivery: 24 hours
41) Public transport: 7am-10pm
42) Public transport can cross districts & states
43) Extend personal income tax to the end of June
48) 55 years old and above can get Rm30x3 months
49) Construction sector prohibited
52) Government Department: 7am-2pm

These Rules Are Unlikely To Happen

These MCO rules are unlikely to happen, because…

10) Cannot go out after 8pm
47) Under 18 years old cannot go out after 6pm

– Under current MCO SOP, no one is supposed to leave the house, except to purchase food, necessities and for cycling and jogging, so these rules are nonsensical.

7) Only 50 people allowed in a supermarket at any one time
– It is very hard for supermarkets to manage the number of people going in and out

13) Only 5 persons allowed to enter store at a time
– It is impossible to implement a limit like that, because stores vary in size

14) Isolation time: 14-28 days
– quarantine time has been reduced to 10 days, and there is no logic to increasing it to 28 days

15) Ambulance-Isolation Center: Rm80
16) Hospitalization fee: Rm110 per day
18) Electronic Isolation Bracelet charge: Rm50
– as COVID-19 is a public health emergency, the government is unlikely to charge anyone

17) Disinfection Fee: Rm550 per shop
– the government is not in the business of sanitising shops
– sanitisation of shops have been undertaken by private companies

22) Chinese New Year banned
– you cannot ban a public holiday, but the government will likely ban public gatherings, and perhaps even family gatherings (except those from the same household).

26) Transport company: 6am-12pm
– the delivery of essential goods has never been restricted even during the first MCO, and that won’t change because people need these supplies
– limiting working hours will also not help cut down on infection rates

27) All 3-star hotels to become quarantine centers
– the government may offer 3-star hotels the opportunity to serve as quarantine centres, but it won’t be mandatory
– the cost will also be significantly higher than the MAEPS quarantine centre.

28) 24 Highways to be closed
– as flow of essential goods is necessary, it would not be logical to close any highway
existing travel restrictions are good enough to prevent interstate travel

30) Electricity bill discount: 10-15%
31) Water bill discount: 10-25%
45) West Malaysia electricity bill discount 10%
46) 13% discount on electricity for West Malaysia

– It is very unlikely that the government can afford to pay for such high discounts
– the conflicting electricity bill discount for West Malaysia shows that this list is just made up

32) Hawker subsidy: Rm300
– This is unlikely to happen because there’s no registry of hawkers, which makes it impossible for the government to implement such a scheme

33) 15% discount on national land tax
44) Peninsula house tax discount 10%
37) Extension of land tax for 1 year

– These are unlikely to happen because it won’t help the rakyat much, only the wealthy who own many houses

34) Can withdraw RM15K Pension at one time
– The government already allowed the withdrawal of RM10K from EPF in 2021
– It is very unlikely that they will allow another withdrawal of RM15K in the same year

36) Extend personal loan for 6 months
– The banks are already restructuring personal loans into fixed rate loans, so another loan moratorium is unlikely

40) 25% discount on rent for SMEs
– How do you force private owners to give SMEs a 25% discount on their rents?

50) Important sectors prohibited from commencement
– Critical sectors involved in the production of food and essential supplies was allowed during the first MCO, and will not be prohibited, because well, they are essential!

 

Recommended Reading

Go Back To > Business | Fact ChecksHome

 

Support Tech ARP!

If you like our work, you can help support us by visiting our sponsors, participating in the Tech ARP Forums, or even donating to our fund. Any help you can render is greatly appreciated!

Leave a ReplyCancel reply