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


Key Highlights

  • Bersatu moves against 'court cluster'

  • Bipartisan push on Home Ministry

  • Reckoning for 1MDB auditors



Bersatu moves against 'court cluster'

Bersatu may have made way to Umno to take over the premiership but that doesn't mean the latter is getting a free pass.

It appears that Bersatu played a role in the postponement of a vote for the new Dewan Rakyat deputy speaker, which was supposed to be a contest between Umno's Ahmad Maslan and DAP's Teluk Intan MP Nga Kor Ming.

Publicly, the government said the postponement was to allow time for the creation of a third deputy speaker position for the opposition.

Privately, Bersatu had conveyed to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob that they won't back Ahmad and will abstain.

This move was initially revealed by Umno supreme council Mohd Puad Zarkashi and has now been reportedly confirmed by Bersatu MPs.

Without Bersatu and the four independent MPs aligned to them, there would only be 79 parliamentarians backing Ahmad as the new deputy speaker. The opposition has 105 MPs, including 88 from Harapan.

Bersatu took issue with the fact that Ahmad is facing trial for money laundering.



HIGHLIGHTS

'DAP must lead public opinion on political ceasefire'
Kit Siang says this is not time for political plots.
Azalina expected a more 'concrete' govt-Harapan deal
'Why is there no fixed structure?'
Wan Junaidi seeks low-hanging fruits for reforms
Some measures can be implemented quickly.

 



Bipartisan push on Home Ministry

MPs from both sides of the divide came together to press Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to rein in the Home Ministry.

This was over the Home MInistry's move, through the Attorney-General's Chambers, to appeal a court ruling which struck out discriminatory treatment of Malaysian mothers with overseas-born children.

The appeal was unpopular in the government and ministers have indicated that it was never brought to the cabinet, although the decision falls within the jurisdiction of the Home Ministry.

Wanita MCA had also questioned why the government was trying to retain gender discrimination.

The controversy will be a test of how hands-on Ismail Sabri is prepared to be in steering his government in line with his "Malaysian Family" concept.

Ismail Sabri is the Umno vice-president while Home Minister Hamzah Zainudin is the Bersatu secretary-general.



HIGHLIGHTS

25 teenagers held under preventive law since 2020
This is according to a written reply to Alor Setar MP.
Wan Azizah wants suicide law repealed in next Parliament sitting
She urges govt to submit its proposal as soon as possible.
Sabah groups appeal to PM to stop anti-propagation law
They say the proposed law is against freedom of religion.




Reckoning for 1MDB auditors

KPMG is the latest audit firm to strike a settlement with Putrajaya over its role in the 1MDB scandal.

KPMG, which was responsible for 1MDB's books between 2010 and 2012, agreed to pay RM333 million to settle a slew of civil suits.

In March, Deloitte also agreed to pay RM324 million to settle the 1MDB case with Putrajaya.

Other major firms that have had to pay up over the 1MDB controversy include RM2.83 billion by Ambank and US$2.5 billion (RM10.4 billion) by Goldman Sachs.

Despite the recovery process, the sum is still far short of the more than RM40 billion in debt Malaysian taxpayers have to foot over the alleged fraud in 1MDB.


HIGHLIGHTS

Minister told to clarify stand on Defence White Paper
'PM was supportive when he was opposition leader.'
Anwar addresses claim MOU lacks punch against corruption
He says good governance is emphasised.
Anwar: Harapan to discuss which logo to use for GE15
He prefers it to be discussed internally.

 


A daily glance at Covid-19

  • 18,815 new cases yesterday (Sept 16).

  • Another 346 people died from Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 22,355. 30.35 percent of the new fatalities were people who died before they got hospital treatment.

  • The deaths were in: Selangor (94), Kedah (82), Johor (59), Sabah (47), Penang (30), Sarawak (14), Malacca (4), Terengganu (4), Kelantan (3), Perak (3), Perlis (3) and Kuala Lumpur (3).

  • The infectivity rate remained under 1.0 for 16 consecutive days, suggesting that the improvement in recent weeks is being sustained. The infectivity rate must be under 1.0 for cases to go down while above 1.0 will lead to exponential growth.


What else is happening?

  • Gyms will reopen for fully vaccinated people in all states except in Kedah and Johor, effective today.

  • PKR recruited several youth activists, including notable names such as Adam Adli and Asheeq Ali Sethi Alivi.

  • Two top e-sports players were finally allowed to leave the country for a major tournament after intervention from deputy minister Ti Lian Ker.

  • A survey found younger people are more likely to have experienced discrimination while in school.


HIGHLIGHTS

Online memorial to commemorate Covid-19 deaths
The 19th of every month is remembrance day.
People enjoy taste of travel after lockdown in tourism restart
First batch of travellers from KL arrives in Langkawi.
30k civil servants yet to register for Covid-19 vaccination
Cuepacs urges members to show a good example.

 


What are people saying?

The right to call Malaysia home
By Cellini Basri
MOU relegates Pejuang, Warisan to the sidelines
By Malaysiakini readers
Between Covid-19 'actual death' and backlog
By Malaysiakini readers

 


CARTOON KINI