Sabah police commissioner Hazani Ghazali said the 34-second recording blamed Sabahans for bringing the virus to Johor after returning from the state election last month.

He said the man claimed the people had mingled with foreigners, including undocumented migrants, who had the disease.

Describing the individual as “silly” and talking nonsense, Hazani said: “There is no need for such remarks which are malicious and intended to insult the state, race and community.

“Although the number of cases has been rising, everyone had exercised their responsibility well during the recent election.”

Hazani said police were trying to trace the suspect with the help of the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) although no police reports had been lodged.

He said the case was being investigated under Section 504 of the Penal Code for deliberately shaming with the intent of disturbing the peace, and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act for misusing networking facilities.

He also told reporters that 1,869 people had been arrested for various offences involving non-compliance with SOPs since the movement control order (MCO) was implemented in Sabah in March.

Police also charged 1,210 people in court and imposed fines on 1,454 others for numerous violations during the period.

He said 248 teams, involving 1,800 personnel from the police, RELA, army, local authorities and health ministry will be monitoring the conditional MCO (CMCO) until Oct 26.

“There will be no compromise. We will fine anyone not wearing face masks and ignoring the 3Cs (crowded places, confined spaces and close conversations),” he said.

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