KINI ROUNDUP | Here are the key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

MP says Dr M now less dreaded

Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil told a forum that Dr Mahathir Mohamad is now “ less dreaded” by his Pakatan Harapan colleagues than he was by Umno in his first tenure as prime minister.

Fahmi also said that Malay politics could become more radical and exclusivist by the 15th general election.

A report in the South China Morning Post said that Mahathir is being deliberately vague about his intent to cancel the East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) and two gas pipeline projects to help Beijing save “face.”

The Centre for a Better Tomorrow (Cenbet) thinktank said there is an " unsettling pattern" in the way policy pronouncements are made by the Harapan administration.

GE15 may see revamped EC

The 15th general election could see the traditional first-past-the-post (FPTP) system being replaced to ensure proportionate representation, said Electoral Reform Committee (ERC) chair Abdul Rashid Ab Rahman.

Rashid, who once chaired the Election Commission (EC), said he did ask to be appointed to head the committee.

He also stated that that a reformed EC could take over the Registrar of Societies’ job of registering political parties.

The Seremban High Court dismissed the preliminary objections of BN Rantau MP Mohamad Hasan to an election petition filed by his GE14 challenger S Streram, and ordered the matter to go to trial.

Other Kinibites

Former premier Najib Abdul Razak will have his statement recorded by the police's anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing prevention unit (Amla unit) for the second time this week.

Former spy chief Hasanah Abdul Hamid was remanded for five days to facilitate a MACC investigation into the disappearance of millions of ringgit in election funds.

Kelantan DAP’s Mohd Fauzi Mohd Azmi equated the state government's treatment of the local Orang Asli community to the Zionist oppression of Palestinians.

The 83-year-old mother of late minister Jamaluddin Jarjis laid claim to share of her son's RM2.1 billion estate, which includes properties in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

Looking ahead

The Finance Ministry will conduct a briefing on SST, which is set to be rolled out on Sept 1.

Iman Research will release its survey findings on how Kuala Lumpur youths see the ‘new Malaysia'.

Mahathir will officiate the International Da'wah Institute-Perkim Kuala Lumpur (IDIPKL) event in Sentul.