PETALING JAYA: Senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been blasted by former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye for his defence of pictures showing him with several other leaders at a restaurant in Melaka.
Earlier today, Ismail sought to clarify the pictures that went viral, saying they were taken at an angle to intentionally show everyone sitting close to each other.
Responding to comments that even the picture he had uploaded showed him seated less than a metre from the rest, Ismail said having a chair between diners was enough distancing.
Lee, however, said Ismail’s remarks were confusing when SOPs should be simple to understand and to measure.
“If he says just having a chair between diners is enough, then can I have a big chair or a small chair?
“The SOP has to be simple and quantifiable. If you say the distance between one diner to another is one metre, it has to be one metre. Whether there’s an empty chair between them is irrelevant.
“It’s up to him to explain, but the people can judge for themselves,” Lee told FMT.
He said Ismail should go back to the drawing board to keep the SOPs clear, and emphasised that government officials should be consistent, and that there should not be any double standards.
The pictures which went viral on social media showed Ismail with Melaka Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali and state assembly speaker Ab Rauf Yusoh without masks and sitting less than a metre apart around a dining table.