KUALA LUMPUR – Bureaucracy, with a poor application system for travellers returning from overseas during this pandemic, has reared its ugly head yet again, as a local woman’s minor mistake cost her RM2,400.
The woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, had travelled to the United States for a work trip.
Prior to her return home on November 5, she had applied to carry out her compulsory quarantine period in the comfort of her own home.
However, while filling up the necessary forms, a small mistake caused the woman to spend RM2,400 for a stay at a hotel within walking distance from her empty home.
She contends the mistake could have been easily rectified by the authorities.
On September 20, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had announced that fully vaccinated travellers from overseas wishing to undergo compulsory home quarantine can apply to do so through the Home Quarantine Application portal on the Health Ministry’s website.
As the 30-year-old lives in a condominium by herself, her application should have been a straightforward affair.
However, she claimed that glitches on the Health Ministry’s website, coupled with forms that were “difficult to fill in”, complicated matters.
“I applied for home quarantine on October 27, and on October 29, I received a notification informing me that my application was rejected,” she detailed, adding that she had to reload the submission page several times before her application went through.
She further attributed the rejection to an oversight on her part, saying: “I had accidentally stated in the form that there was one other person living in my apartment.
“When I tried to reach out to the authorities to rectify my mistake, the line was always engaged. I even had my relatives in Malaysia call the landline number provided, but they never managed to get through,” she lamented to The Vibes.
Based on the advice of her family members and contacts within the system who told her that she had “no choice” but to appeal her submission upon arrival in Malaysia, the woman attempted to have her pleas heard by Health Ministry officers at the airport.
Her endeavours, however would prove to be to no avail as the officers were “adamant” for her to go through with her quarantine in the hotel.
“They (officers) said that they would help me if they could, but the matter is out of their jurisdiction.
“I understand that I made a mistake and that they (authorities) might be overwhelmed at the moment, but they had no reason to be so difficult to deal with.
“They could have been more considerate,” she said, adding that had she been given a chance to review her application before submission, the ordeal could have been avoided in its entirety.
She further questioned the double standards at play, saying: “Our government has made so many mistakes and they continue to get away with it.
“Why can’t they take into account what we regular citizens go through?”
In addition, the woman also recounted how she was affected by the MySejahtera hiccup recently.
On November 7, random users were affected by the glitch wrongly assigning them a home surveillance order (HSO) or person under surveillance statuses.
The woman, on the other hand, worryingly experienced the opposite.
While she was undergoing quarantine, her MySejahtera status was disturbingly switched to state that she was not a risk and that her home surveillance order (HSO) had been removed.
“I know others who experienced the same reversal of status. Is this not a bigger mistake?
People who were supposed to be under HSO could have just walked out and checked in at premises outside.
“I don’t want to appear ungrateful, but I was just very frustrated and disappointed with how everything was managed,” she added. – The Vibes, November 15, 2021
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