Good morning, here's a quick rundown of what happened over the weekend.
Key Highlights
Parliament: Study or delay tactic?
Vaccination ramps up
Exploitation of workers
Parliament: Study or delay tactic?
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a committee to study the reconvening of Parliament and promised to involve the opposition.
Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak questioned the need to study a straightforward process, particularly when all MPs are already vaccinated against Covid-19.
Umno and Pakatan Harapan-led states have already set in motion plans to convene their state assemblies, with Malacca planning to do so next month, even before the emergency expires.
The moves followed the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s call for the legislatures to be convened as soon as possible despite a September-October timeline set by the government.
PAS ministers have been the staunchest defenders of the government timeline, insisting that it is consistent with the ruler’s “as soon as possible” advice.
Its party organ Harakahdaily went as far as publishing a list of 440 NGOs supporting an extension of the emergency, only to apologise for "unintentionally" including some of them who denied endorsing the statement.
This was opposed to the Conference of Rulers’ desire for the emergency to end in August.
In contrast, some in Umno have suggested the party quits the Perikatan Nasional government if it refuses to convene Parliament immediately.
The other PN parties have been less vocal on the issue, taking a wait-and-see approach.
HIGHLIGHTS
Cops probing Takiyuddin over comments on king's wish
Several police reports were lodged.
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Localised emergencies an option to delay elections This is as the national emergency will end in August.
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Harapan in power: Don't be fooled a second time - Hadi
He accused its leaders of being 'extreme' towards Islam.
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Vaccination ramps up
The government will begin vaccinating the general population in the Klang Valley under Phase 3 as the majority of the elderly population there have already received their first Covid-19 vaccine shot.
It will commence at the newly-set up Bukit Jalil vaccination centre which can dispense 10,000 doses a day.
The government is also ramping up other methods of vaccination, such as walk-in vaccination and mobile units in less accessible or tech-savvy areas.
SPM and STPM students are also set to be vaccinated from July.
The government was able to vaccinate up to 220,000 people a day last week, compared with a peak of 150,000 in the preceding week.
This will continue to increase as vaccine supply is expected to improve in the coming weeks, after months of complaints about the slow vaccination.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin said he believed the country is on track to achieve the government’s target of herd immunity within this year.
HIGHLIGHTS
Anwar: Poor vaccine supply is PN's biggest failure
The year-end target won't be met if the problem persists.
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Govt studying to shorten AstraZeneca dose interval A study was done to see if 12 weeks can be reduced to six.
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Why some countries are mixing-and-matching vaccine doses?
There are promising signs of an improved immune response.
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Exploitation of workers
Malaysia was in the news in the UK and India - but for the wrong reasons.
An Indian national was interviewed by Indian actress Lakshmy Ramakrishnan on Indian TV about his experience being exploited while in Malaysia.
Velayutham, who arrived in Malaysia to work as a carpenter, claimed he was tricked into ‘temporarily’ working at a banana leaf restaurant in Petaling Jaya where he endured abuse and exploitation.
Police said they raided the restaurant and arrested a local man and rescued two more Indian nationals.
Malaysia also made the news in the UK-based newspaper Sunday Mirror over alleged sub-standard living conditions of workers at an electronics factory in Johor.
HIGHLIGHTS
Coffee shop owner roasts ministries over RM10k fine
Concerns raised over a perceived 'miscommunication'.
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Govt aid for SMEs: Can see, but cannot touch
The reality on the ground differs from announcements.
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Profiteering on ivermectin continues This was despite a crackdown.
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A daily glance at Covid-19
- 5,293 new cases yesterday (June 20).
- The number of patients in the Intensive Care Units declined from 921 to 880 last week, the first weekly decline since the Covid-19 resurgence in mid-April. Active cases also fell from 71,625 to 63,815 last week.
- Whether the gains can be sustained remains to be seen as the improvements in infectivity rate began to stall last week. It stuck at 0.95 for most of last week and worsened to 0.97 yesterday. It must be kept under 1.0 to prevent exponential growth in new cases.
- For trends on daily cases, tests, hospital beds capacity, vaccination progress and more, follow our Covid-19 tracker.
What else is happening?
- The Damansara-Shah Alam Highway (Dash) is the latest to see an accident, injuring two. One of them died last night. It has the same project owner as the Sungai-Besi Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (Suke) which has also seen multiple fatal accidents.
- A foundation lecturer teaching at the Universiti Teknologi Mara campus in Selangor was accused of sexual grooming and harassment by his former students. The university lodged a police report and launched an internal probe.
- The government is exploring the implementation of a vaccine passport to allow individuals who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 to travel interstate.
- At least 13 politicians have been appointed to the boards of various public universities since Perikatan Nasional came to power last year.
- The Education Ministry will commence one-off recruitment of 18,000 teachers to address shortages, but the National Union of The Teaching Profession is concerned about the quality of the recruits.
HIGHLIGHTS
Period spot checks: Panel to look at complaints procedure It will recommend improvements. |
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Tasik Chini area yet to be made a forest reserve
This was despite two years after its announcement.
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Labuan Hospital ICU facing oxygen, manpower issues However, help is on the way.
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What are people saying?
An evolving legitimacy crisis?
By Bridget Welsh
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Muhyiddin, it’s time to cut and cut cleanly
By Francis Paul Siah
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Visualising pandemic's end pointless if no game plan
By Zan Azlee
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KINI LENS