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Key Highlights

• Tajuddin removed from Prasarana
  
  

• Vaccine registration hiccup
  
  
• No 8pm-8am curfew
  
  

Tajuddin removed from Prasarana

Umno’s Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman was removed as the Prasarana Malaysia Bhd chairperson.

This was after his off-colour press conference about Monday’s LRT collision that left hundreds injured and six in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Tajuddin had described the crash as “normal” and “two cars kissing” while appearing to laugh.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin previously tolerated several controversies involving Tajuddin, including his clash with the then Prasarana CEO and complaints he interfered with rail contracts.

The prime minister had relied on appointments in government-linked companies (GLCs) to rein in shaky allies.

But the public backlash in the latest controversy was immense. Social media was rife with calls for Tajuddin’s removal and an online petition against him garnered more than 100,000 signatories.

Tajuddin’s removal could have political implications as it is one less restrain on him from attacking the fragile Perikatan Nasional government.

Tajuddin, known for his sometimes crass style, is aligned to Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, both of who have threatened to pull out of Muhyiddin’s government.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Police probe Tajuddin for not wearing face mask He had only worn a face shield.
	Najib: Tajuddin sorry for being insensitive Ex-PM had spoken to the Umno MP.
	PKR Youth offers legal aid to LRT accident victims It will provide legal advice.

Vaccine registration hiccup

The second round of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 voluntary vaccination programme opened to the general public yesterday but was plagued by technical problems.

Many users struggled to register online and were finally told that registration had closed. The appointments for close to a million doses were snapped up in slightly more than an hour.

The government’s Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force apologised for the technical difficulties and promised to act against relevant parties.

Critics questioned whether taxpayers were getting their money’s worth with the RM70 million IT infrastructure allocation for the Covid-19 immunisation programme.

Technology experts quickly weighed in with free advice, including tech portal lowyat.net which pointed out that US-based web infrastructure firm Cloudflare was already offering a free service to governments, specifically for vaccine registration websites that prevented them from crashing under heavy load.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Vaccination nears 100k doses per day However, many are still missing appointments.
	Pharmaniaga waiting  to test Sinovac on children The GLC is in talks to conduct clinical trials.
	No vaccine wasted despite nearly 10k missed appointment They are allocated to other candidates.

No 8pm-8am curfew

The revised third movement control order (MCO 3.0) came into force on Tuesday (May 25), with the operational hours for most businesses limited to between 8am and 8pm.

But confusion arose on whether the public’s movement is also limited to the same time period, after a video went viral showing a police officer telling a driver he shouldn’t be out before 8am.

The National Security Council (NSC) later clarified that there is no curfew outside the business hours (8pm-8am).

The new 8am-8pm rule for eateries also led to renewed complaints, including from medical frontliners, who have to go hungry after getting off work late.

Under the new hours, food delivery services stop taking orders by 7.30pm.

In January, similar complaints of people unable to get food after finishing work prompted the government to revise the closing time for eateries from 8pm to 10pm. However, the 8pm closure was reinstated under MCO 3.0.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Farmers struggle with 8am-8pm rule They say supply chain disrupted.
	'Govt appreciates criticisms on pandemic handling' Minister Mustapa Mohamed said individuals must also play their role.
	Anwar criticises govt for not sharing granular data He wants big data to be made available.

 

A daily glance at Covid-19

• 7,478 new cases yesterday (May 26), the second consecutive day of a new record high.
  
  
• Daily fatalities hit another record high of 63. The death toll is now at 2,432.
  
  
• Malaysia was among the top 10 countries in the world with the highest increase of new Covid-19 cases for the last two days.
  
  
• For trends on daily cases, tests, hospital beds capacity, vaccination progress and more, follow our Covid-19 tracker.
  
  

What else is happening?

• The Transport Ministry gave its assurance that investigations will also look at other factors in last Monday's LRT crash and will not only focus on human error.
  
  
• The Kelana Jaya LRT line is back to normal operations ahead of schedule. It was previously operating at a lower frequency due to repair works after the LRT crash.
  
  
• The Health Ministry said 12 new Covid-19 clusters were linked to the Hari Raya celebrations, despite a ban on house visits.
  
  
• Penang state executive councillor Soon Lip Chee is under police investigation after a photo of him at a food stall went viral. Dine-in is banned under MCO 3.0.
  
  
• The government said a humanitarian aid mission led by preacher Ebit Lew to Egypt in order to aid Palestinians there was approved by the government and it complied with the standard operating procedures.
  
  

HIGHLIGHTS

	Reezal livid over swimmers' ordeal He promises no cover-up.
	'Where's the draft sexual harassment bill?' This amid sexual harassment claim among athletes.
	Zafrul denies Emergency used to spend over debt limit He stresses that spending is still within the limit.

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What are people saying?

	Covid-19: Malaysians' lives matter By Toh Sin Wah
	I believe Muhyiddin, but we can’t have a ‘paloi’ PM now By Francis Paul Siah
	Covid-19: Now not the time for self-defeatism By Liew Chin Tong

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