SNAPSHOT | Corporate mafia: Suspend firms' govt contracts, MP says; Taki claims proof MIC applied to join PN

KINI SNAPSHOT | What’s going on in the news today, with updates at 11am, 2pm, and 6pm.

6pm

Corruption

• Tasek Gelugor MP Wan Saiful Wan Jan called for all government contracts involving companies embroiled in the “corporate mafia” scandal to be immediately suspended until the completion of a transparent investigation.

  Questioning Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s silence, the opposition lawmaker said Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli’s allegations regarding the identities of those involved should not be taken lightly.

  “In an issue of this magnitude, the failure to provide an immediate explanation is strange and difficult to understand,” he said in a statement today.

  Wan Saiful further asked why enforcement authorities have not brought businessperson Victor Chin back to Malaysia to assist in investigations.

Politics

• Perikatan Nasional secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan has reportedly presented evidence indicating that the MIC did apply to join the coalition last year. He said the application was submitted via a letter dated Nov 15, from MIC president SA Vigneswaran to then PN chairperson Muhyiddin Yassin.

  On March 17, MIC deputy president M Saravanan said his party had not made any official application to join PN. Saravanan told Malaysiakini that MIC merely made enquiries about joining PN when Muhyiddin Yassin was the chairperson.

  

  The New Straits Times reported Takiyuddin saying today that PN deliberated on the request before agreeing in principle to accept MIC as a member party in December. He also reportedly said that the application was formally confirmed during a PN meeting on March 14, where MIC’s entry into the coalition was approved.

  Following this, PN issued an official letter to MIC to confirm its acceptance. However, Takiyuddin noted that MIC subsequently reversed its position, with its recent announcement that it would remain within BN.

  Takiyuddin stressed that MIC’s decision would not significantly affect PN, noting that the party holds only one parliamentary seat.

2pm

Activism

• Malaysian activist Fadiah Nadwa Fikri slammed a statement by Singapore’s Home Ministry, which said she was blocked from entering the country as she encouraged “radical advocacy” among Singaporean youth in support of specific causes, as false, malicious, and defamatory.

  “The only plausible explanation for these acts of repression is that I, as a scholar of Southeast Asian Studies whose work examines the intellectual history of decolonisation and anti-imperialism in Malaya/Malaysia, Singapore, and the broader region, am being targeted for discharging my scholarly responsibility,” she said in a statement posted to X.

  

  She explained that part of the reason she had been travelling to Singapore on March 22, when she was stopped, was to deliver a guest lecture on her PhD thesis, which was on the 1947 People’s Constitutional Proposals for Malaya.

  She said the document was drafted by a left-wing group that had aimed to subvert a British racialising project that was implemented during the Malayan Emergency, which had been subjected to erasure and silence from both Malaysia and Singapore.

West Asia conflict

• Muda stated that while it acknowledges the need for difficult decisions amid rising living costs caused by the West Asia conflict, it finds the government’s measures insufficiently comprehensive and not adequately reassuring.

  To reduce reliance on fossil fuels, the party urged the government to accelerate the rollout of electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, which only stood at 33 percent complete as of 2025, and consider short-term import duty exemptions for fully built-up EVs to encourage adoption.

  

  Muda also recommend that the government consider road tax relief for vehicles above 2000cc, especially commercial vehicles, to help individuals and businesses cope with rising costs, as all vehicles receive the same subsidy quota regardless of engine capacity.

  It then urged Putrajaya to present a clear enforcement plan for the Price Control and Anti-Profiteering Act to ensure stability in food and essential goods prices, and questioned whether existing anti-profiteering mechanisms should be strengthened and if temporary price control measures are being considered.

  On food security issues, citing potential disruptions to fertiliser supply due to geopolitical tensions and export restrictions, Muda called for a comprehensive plan from the relevant ministry to ensure both sufficient supply and stable market conditions. 

11am

Entertainment

• Muar MP Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman and celebrity Dayang Nabellah Awang Astillah, popularly known as Bella Astillah, are getting engaged today.

  This morning on X, Syed Saddiq announced that Bella accepted his marriage proposal atop Mount Kinabalu.

  “This is not the end of our story; it is our beginning. Today marks our engagement ceremony. Please keep us in your prayers. What began as an ordinary working partnership, one that went on to secure more than RM6 million for the people, quietly brought two hearts together as well,” the former Muda president said.

  

  Quoting an unnamed source, Kosmo reported that the ceremony is to take place at 3pm.

  The engagement ceremony, or majlis pertunangan, is a distinct and formal step that precedes the actual Malay wedding ceremony, in which both families come together to officially acknowledge and formalise the couple’s intention to wed.

West Asia conflict

• Iran is reaching out to its “intimate friends”, Malaysia among them, in a bid to keep shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz open and secure.

  The New Straits Times reported that Tehran’s embassy in Kuala Lumpur made this known in an official statement, placing the outreach firmly in the context of what Iran characterises as “military aggression” by the US and Israel.

  The embassy highlighted that countries across Southeast Asia are already experiencing the knock-on effects of rising oil prices and supply chain disruptions, stemming from heightened tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz.

  

  It said that the prospect of prolonged instability in the region poses serious risks to economic security and energy reliability, particularly for nations heavily dependent on stable oil supplies transiting through the waterway.

  “In light of these developments, Iran is actively engaging with its intimate friends to address the situation and ensure the safe passage of vessels,” the embassy reportedly said. 

Animal welfare

• In response to a report carried by the New Straits Times, animal rights organisation Peka is challenging the Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) over its handling of 19 elephants.

  Whilst Perhilitan denied selling the animals, insisting instead that they were loaned for conservation purposes, Peka president and animal rights lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan argues that this distinction means little without full disclosure of where the elephants have been sent.

  

  Peka stressed that elephants are totally protected wildlife under Malaysian law and cannot be treated as commodities to be transferred in secrecy.

  The organisation contends that any such arrangement, regardless of how it is labelled, demands the highest standards of transparency, accountability, and public oversight.

  The statement took particular issue with Perhilitan not naming the receiving institutions the elephants were loaned to, disclosing the locations of the elephants, revealing what independent oversight mechanisms, or whether the animals are still in Malaysia.

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