Dismissed Army Sergeant Takes Government And Superiors To Court Over Vaccine Refusal

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According to Malaysiakini, he made the leave application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday, 27 September.

Wan Ramli had named five respondents in his legal action, namely the Armed Forces of Malaysia, its chief General Tan Sri Zamrose Mohd Zain, the Malaysian government, as well as two of his former commanding officers.

After being asked to take the COVID-19 vaccine by the company clerk on 3 July, Wan Ramli alleges that he was charged with a slew of insubordination offences before finally being terminated on 26 August, reported Free Malaysia Today.

On top of asking the court to quash the decision to discharge him from the army, the 39-year-old also seeks a declaration that his letter of early termination dated 4 August is null and void.

In a post on Facebook, Wan Ramli made the false claim that the vaccines given to the public are still in the experimental research stage, and thus mandating its intake "violates the 1947 Nuremberg Code".

However, the video of Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham he attached with the post was from last year and refers to the Stage 3 clinical trials of a China-made vaccine, which only involves 3,000 volunteers, reported CGTN.

In fact, COVID-19 vaccines administered under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) have all passed clinical trials and have been approved by the national pharmaceutical regulator for use.

Wan Ramli's third reason was an alleged statement by Khairy Jamaluddin dated 26 February that says vaccines will not be made mandatory, even for frontliners such as army servicemen like himself.

95% of frontliners received their first shot of the vaccine within two months of PICK, reported The Star.

The fringe group – called Gerakan Post Mortem COVID-19 (GPMC) – is reportedly a coalition of non-governmental organisations which includes the Muslim Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM), reported Free Malaysia Today.

The larger group, including Wan Ramli, had marched towards the national palace on 6 September.

According to GPMC spokesman Noorazman Mohd Samsuddin, an official from Istana Negara received their memorandum.

Speaking after the event, Wan Ramli told reporters that his decision not to be vaccinated was an exercise of his constitutional rights and is final.