Good morning, here's what you need to know today.

Key Highlights

• Friction in BN
  
  
• Another rail tussle
  
  
• Phone numbers leaked
  
  

Friction in BN

The friction within BN is becoming more apparent with its supreme council meeting abruptly cancelled as Umno’s allies decided not to attend.

This was amid MCA and MIC's reservations about Umno’s plans to cut ties with Bersatu and PN.

Meanwhile, a DAP lawmaker speculated that Umno’s BN partners may join PN and BN would be deregistered, leaving Umno without the scale logo it has used since the 1974 general election.

Hours before the scrapped BN supreme council meeting, Umno and MIC were quarrelling openly.

The Umno veterans club called MIC a “biawak hidup” (burden) while a MIC veteran accused Umno of engaging in divide and rule.

HIGHLIGHTS

	'Saifuddin has a Master's degree in party-hopping' Umno man says he can get a PhD if he hops again.
	Perak MB likens exco to football players on transfer He refers to the impending Umno-PN divorce.
	'Why Umno-PAS silent on Hisham's 'big brother China'  MP says they would kick up a fuss if it was the opposition.

Another rail tussle

Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong held an elaborate press conference explaining at length why the revised East Coast Rail Link (ECRL) should proceed.

The aim was to convince Selangor to provide the necessary land approvals which it has held back.

A Selangor exco called Putrajaya a "bully" and insisted the state won’t accept Wee’s reversion to the BN era alignment.

Proponents of Harapan’s southern alignment said it will benefit more states and commuters, but Putrajaya argues the BN-era northern alignment will provide better cargo connectivity.

The project links Kuantan Port to Port Klang, serving as a land bridge between the east and west coasts of Peninsular Malaysia.

Last month, Malaysia terminated the planned High-Speed Rail project with Singapore and paid RM320.07 million in compensation to the city-state.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Guan Eng: Why FB and Google chose Indonesia? He disputes the transport minister's reasoning.
	Lawyer argues against action against Jho Low's mum  This is over the forfeiture suit on the mother's bungalow.
	DAP, MCA sec-gens rubbish Dr M's 'extreme' label Both say they are moderate parties.

Phone numbers leaked

More than 11 million Malaysian phone numbers which are linked to Facebook accounts have been leaked.

Facebook said the leak took place in 2019 and was fixed but the stash of phone numbers are now on the internet.

The leak provides scammers and telemarketers with an updated pool of phone numbers to spam, compared to the 2014 leaked database that was becoming dated.

In 2014, the phone numbers of every Malaysian, including current and former prime ministers, were leaked through a project commissioned by the MCMC, the very agency that was supposed to protect your phone privacy.

Any tech-savvy person will have little trouble finding the database that was also uploaded online. No one was ever punished with criminal action.

HIGHLIGHTS

	After 2 weeks, Suke fatal accident still under probe DOSH says it will not hesitate to take action.
	Environmentalists plead for Kedah-Penang water talks The feud could be environmentally damaging.
	'Wrong to push graduates into low skill, low salary jobs' Ex-minister warns of loss of productivity.

 

A daily glance at Covid-19

• 1,070 new cases and seven deaths yesterday (April 5).
  
  
• The infectivity rate remained above 1.0 for the third consecutive day, indicating that the country is struggling to make further progress against Covid-19. Yesterday's infectivity rate was at 1.02.
  
  
• The number of active cases has stagnated, remaining in the 14,000 range for 19 consecutive days. This was compared to the previous 19 days that saw a rapid reduction from 27,028 active cases.
  
  
• For trends on daily cases, tests, hospital beds capacity, vaccination progress and more, follow our Covid-19 tracker.
  
  

What else is happening?

• The rape trial against Tronoh assemblyperson Paul Yong Choo Kiong, who defected from DAP to Bersatu, has begun.
  
  
• Putrajaya will reconsider its Covid-19 vaccine registration policy if the uptake remains low when more vaccines arrive in July.
  
  
• Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said 20 schools have been hit by Covid-19 outbreaks since they reopened last month.
  
  
• Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak failed in his bid to postpone the appeal hearing against his conviction in the SRC International Sdn Bhd case.
  
  
• The MACC busted a syndicate that set up more than 150 companies to rig government tenders by bidding for them with insider help, allowing it to monopolise some 354 tenders from several ministries.
  
  
  

HIGHLIGHTS

	Russian teacher cites 'misunderstanding' over Jakoa action  Jakoa terminated her permit to teach Orang Asli kids.
	Muhyiddin holds discussion with Brunei Sultan PM is on an official visit to the country.
	Enhanced MCO on Pulau Tioman extended There are still new Covid-19 cases.

What are people saying?

	Put an end to the misuse of police reports By R Nadeswaran
	PN a government in search of a country By S Thayaparan
	Biodiversity loss a cause for alarm Wong Ee Lynn

CARTOON KINI