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

Key Highlights

• Riot police and MPs
  
  

• State of the numbers
  
  

• Umno factionalism
  
  

Riot police and MPs

Defiant opposition MPs who tried to turn up in Parliament yesterday despite the government suspending the Dewan Rakyat sitting were thwarted by the police.

Police, including the Federal Reserve Unit, formed phalanxes to block the entrances into Parliament.

This show of force was a surprise as the police have, in recent years, adopted a shifted strategy where they would question or arrest key leaders at their homes after a gathering or protest.

The police action was also legally complicated as their target was not ordinary protesters. There is a slew of laws that make it a crime to obstruct MPs from entering Parliament.

Azmi Abu Kassim, who was appointed as the Kuala Lumpur police chief in April, later claimed that the police had no problem with MPs going to Parliament but wanted to stop an illegal "solidarity with Anwar Ibrahim" gathering at the premises.

Opposition MPs have, since last Saturday, said they planned to turn up at Parliament although there had been no indication of a "solidarity rally" for Anwar, who is the opposition leader.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Opposition rally may spark Covid-19 cluster - Govt MP Umno man said they should have thought of the pandemic.
	PAC chair condemns threat to arrest him He accused the police of breaking the law.
	'Govt eroding trust by using public health for politics' Former deputy health minister fumes at Parliament's suspension.

State of the numbers

Knowing that there won't be a parliamentary sitting, the gathering was largely for the opposition to make a statement.

Outside Parliament, Anwar, the Port Dickson MP, stood with his bitter rival Dr Mahathir Mohamad, the Langkawi MP. Anwar declared the opposition had 107 MPs.

Umno MPs opposed to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin did not join the gathering but at least four MPs (Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Najib Abdul Razak, Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah) have publicly renounced Muhyiddin.

With a handful of Umno MPs in revolt, Muhyiddin may not command a majority.

Anwar declared the PN government had fallen as Muhyiddin had lost majority support.

However, Muhyiddin still has time to engineer defections until the next Parliament sitting. His lack of a majority does not equate to a majority for Anwar.

The Umno faction against Muhyiddin has its own agenda to retain the Perikatan Nasional government while taking over the premiership with their own candidate.

HIGHLIGHTS

	'Will Parliament meet after two-week suspension?' KIt Siang wonders if suspension was really due to Covid-19.
	Dr M: Thousands dying, but Muhyiddin wants to stay as PM He calls on the people to reject the PM.
	MP criticises DG for 'selective concern' 'Did he take an interest in gatherings at PM's home?'

Umno factionalism

While one Umno faction is working to oust Muhyiddin, another led by Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been working hard to ensure that he survives.

Ismail is in a unique position, being the most powerful Umno leader in government, even though he is only ranked third in party seniority, behind Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan.

But some in Zahid's faction are growing wary of Ismail's manoeuvring, with Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi reminding Ismail that he is neither the party president nor deputy president.

Ismail has been able to control a majority of Umno MPs while Zahid controls a majority of the Umno supreme council members.

Amid the PN government's conflict with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Zahid will convene a supreme council meeting today to try and chart the party's course while trying to convince a majority of his rebellious MPs to renounce Muhyiddin.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Pahang MB rebuts complaint that king and govt are airing dirty linen Wan Rosdy slams 'manipulative' commentaries.
	Gerakan nudges MCA, MIC to quit BN and join PN Gerakan claims BN components are mistreated.
	PSM calls for Dewan Rakyat speaker to be replaced This comes amid the constitutional crisis.

 

A daily glance at Covid-19

• 15,764 new cases yesterday (Aug 2).
  
  
• Daily deaths climbed to another record high of 219. The previous record was 207 deaths.
  
  
• The positivity rate climbed to a record of 14.9 percent. That means for every 1,000 tests, 149 people turned up positive with Covid-19. This was partly driven by a lower number of testing and widespread community transmission. The 105,785 tests were the lowest since July 21.
  
  
• For trends on daily cases, tests, hospital beds capacity, vaccination progress and more, follow our Covid-19 tracker.
  
  

What else is happening?

• Walk-in vaccination for senior citizens (aged 60 and above) will be extended nationwide starting next week. Previously, it was only available for the Klang Valley.
  
  
• A relatively new e-commerce platform being promoted by the MySejahtera application as the go-to portal for purchasing Covid-19 self-test kits suspended sales after a complaint by the Malaysian Pharmacists Society.
  
  
• Police started to question the first batch of protest leaders from last Saturday's #Lawan protest in Kuala Lumpur that demanded Prime Minister Muhyiddin's resignation. A total of 11 people were questioned.
  
  
• Sarawak, Perlis and Labuan will move into Phase 3 of the National Recovery Plan, even though Sarawak and Labuan do not qualify for Phase 3 under the initial criteria set by the government in early July.
  
  
• De facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan, who has been at the centre of a dispute between the government and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, is in hospital following a heart procedure.
  
  
  

HIGHLIGHTS

	'Men in politics have to speak up on gender equality' Kota Belud says it's primarily taken up by women now.
	Over 21mil doses of vaccine administered as at Aug 1 14.25 million were for the first dose.
	Johor exco tests positive for Covid-19 It is unclear if his exco colleagues were exposed

What are people saying?

	Time to make peace with Covid-19, virus not leaving us By Fariq Sazuki, Abel Benjamin Lim & Abdul Razak Ahmad
	Tawfik remembers his father, Dr Ismail By S Thayaparan
	Political pandemic pandemonium By Thor Kah Hoong

CARTOON KINI