Harapan and govt to ink deal today

Good morning, here's a quick rundown of what happened over the weekend.

Key Highlights

• Harapan and govt to ink deal today
  
  

• School term extended
  
  

• New Covid-19 reporting regime
  
  

Harapan and govt to ink deal today

Pakatan Harapan and Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's government are set to ink a confidence and supply deal today after last-minute negotiations yesterday evening.

Ismail Sabri had last Friday outlined some of the reforms he is offering the opposition, which included a term limit for the prime minister, Undi18 and equal treatment of opposition MPs.

The opposition was initially sceptical and said they expected more from Ismail Sabri.

It is unclear if the opposition managed to extract additional concessions. Details of the deal will be released when the agreement is signed in Parliament this evening.

The deal is unpopular among the opposition grassroots as they fear betrayal and their leaders are also approaching it cautiously.

Harapan can withhold support for Ismail Sabri's legislative agenda if the prime minister doesn't uphold his end of the bargain, although it wouldn't make any difference if the 114 MPs backing him remain loyal.

For now, Ismail Sabri's majority is slim but not disputed and the deal with Harapan is more of insurance.

PSM deputy chairperson S Autchelvan noted that the opposition managed to get the Internal Security Act repealed in 2012 when the prime minister at the time was in a weak position and it should do the same now.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Muhyiddin says PN to make comeback He will contest GE15.
	Najib rises from 1MDB ashes with PM adviser role? PM reportedly mulling to give him the position.
	Najib wants Muhyiddin to answer about court meddling Najib is taking legal action against Muhyiddin.

School term extended

Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin outlined the government's plan ahead of the reopening of schools on Oct 3. The arrangement, in a nutshell, is as follow:

Phase 1 states: Home-based learning
Phase 2 states: Exam-year students to return to school
Phase 3 and 4 states: School to resume with classes rotating weekly between home-based learning and school-based learning. Secondary schools for Phase 3. Phase 4 to include primary schools.

Here are the states by phases:

Phase 1: Kedah and Johor
Phase 2: Kelantan, Malacca, Pahang, Perak, Penang, Sabah, Selangor, Terengganu, Kuala Lumpur, and Putrajaya
Phase 3: Negeri Sembilan and Sarawak
Phase 4: Labuan

The school term for this year will also be extended until March 2022 to allow students affected by the Covid-19 pandemic to catch up.

Masks in school will be compulsory. Students can turn up without uniforms, as long as they are dressed decently. Co-curriculums remain suspended.

Teachers who refused to vaccinate against Covid-19 won't be allowed to teach and could face further action.

HIGHLIGHTS

	'Take a chance on the young, Dr M's generation won't change' They can't do any worse than current ones, says James Chin.
	Malaysian mum rejoices over equal citizenship ruling It took her a long time to obtain citizenship for her daughters.
	Ex-Limkokwing students demand RM5m This is over accreditation issues.

New Covid-19 reporting regime

Last Saturday was the first time Covid-19 death numbers was not announced by Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in the evening.

Instead, it was directly updated in the government's Github repository near midnight.

Coincidentally, it was also the day where fatalities hit a record high of 592, putting the death toll above 20,000. The previous record is 393.

The Health Ministry explained this was because it was clearing backlog ahead of the implementation of a new system.

At present, when the daily death tally is announced, they are not actually deaths from the same day but are counted on the day they are registered in the statistics after confirming the cause of death is Covid-19.

Going forward, the government will also provide death data by the exact day of death which could change when more deaths from that day are certified to be from Covid-19.

The Health Ministry said this is to help provide a more accurate trend line.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Father of four counts blessings after surviving horrific crash His yellow Myvi was crushed by a lorry.
	Half-Malay, half-Chinese Jamaliah sees bridging racial divide as key 'A lot of what's happening is due to racial sentiments.'
	Rosmah to inspect 11,991 seized items next month The inspection will be from Oct 25 to Nov 5.

 

A daily glance at Covid-19

• 19,198 new cases yesterday (Sept 12).
  
  
• Fresh infections in Sarawak climbed to a record 5,291. The previous record was 3,747 on Sept 5.
  
  
• Klang Valley, however, continues to improve. Kuala Lumpur recorded under 1,000 new Covid-19 cases for 12 consecutive days. Selangor reported in the 2,000-range in six out of the last seven days, down from a peak of 8,792 on Aug 6.
  
  

What else is happening?

• The Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker position is expected to be a direct contest between Umno's Ahmad Maslan and DAP's Nga Kor Ming after they became sole nominees of the government and opposition respectively. Both have released their manifestos.
  
  
• Bersatu's Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahaya, who was dropped as a deputy minister, was appointed as the new chairperson of Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia.
  
  
• The US revoked its ban on Top Glove's products from entering the country after the firm took various measures to address criticism of migrant workers exploitation.
  
  
• The government promised that the long-delayed Anti-Sexual Harassment Bill will be tabled this year. 
  
  
• The Health Ministry threw its support behind a push to decriminalise suicide. The issue gained attention as more people suffer from depression due to hardship during the Covid-19 pandemic. Present laws provide up to one year imprisonment or a fine to people who attempt suicide. Opponents argue such people should be given help instead of punishment.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Ahmad Maslan: I was a 'victim' of unregulated political funding Pontian MP backs political financing act.
	Malays lukewarm to institutional reforms - survey Ilham Centre says they are worried about the economy.
	Why recall elections could work better Anti-hopping law has its flaws.

What are people saying?

	The Machiavellian bomoh By Zaid Ibrahim
	Don't appeal equal citizenship ruling By Family Frontiers
	Govt should show clear timeline on promised reforms By Bersih et al

KINILENS