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


Key Highlights

  • Interstate travel resumes

  • PM's brother launches new party

  • Special task forces



Interstate travel resumes

The ban on interstate travel is officially lifted today, with 90 percent of the country's adult population fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Realising that the previous government's mountain of standard operating procedures (SOPs) had caused confusion, the current government sought to standardise its policies - that also means lifting the interstate travel ban in one go instead of state by state.

To this end, the government delayed the lifting of the travel ban by moving the adult vaccination target to 90 percent from 80 percent to give states with a slow vaccination rate time to catch up.

The two biggest laggards are Kelantan and Sabah, where only 79 percent and 73.4 percent of the adult population are fully vaccinated.

This has prompted Sabah to postpone the resumption of interstate travel. It will only make a decision on Wednesday.

The overall national vaccination rate, including for those aged 18 and below, is at 65.2 percent.

While the country has made significant progress in the vaccination drive, it should be noted that the vaccination rate is inflated.

This is because this is based on the 2010 census, which puts the Malaysian population at 28.3 million. The current population is estimated at 32.7 million. Undocumented migrants, estimated at between two to four million, are also unaccounted for.



HIGHLIGHTS

Perlis hits record high due to illegal interstate travel
It saw a surge in Covid-19 cases.
Burnt out Sarikei frontliners wish they get Covid-19
They are overworked and desperately need rest.
Zahid wants govt to explain procurement of molnupiravir
US procured the drug at estimated RM2,925 per course.




PM's brother launches new party

Kamarazaman Yaakob, the brother of Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, officially unveiled his new party yesterday - Parti Kuasa Rakyat.

Kamarazaman, who has a leftist history as a student leader and former Internal Security Act detainee, said the multiracial party aims to champion the poor.

He maintained that his brother, the prime minister, had no hand in the setting up of his new party.

However, Kamarazaman said his party will be BN-friendly because a cordial relationship with the government of the day was necessary in order to influence policies for the poor.


HIGHLIGHTS

Malays only need Umno, says Mahdzir Khalid
'Too many parties will only create disunity.'
Norlela lashes out at Guan Eng and Co for being 'bullies'
She says they belittled her efforts to fight Covid-19.
Audio surfaces suggesting PAS leader disgruntled at Hadi
It refers to Hadi's alleged affinity for PN.

 



Special task forces

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri unveiled three specially set up entities to look into issues that his party Umno has long lobbied for.

The first is a special committee into the unsolved death of firefighter Muhammad Adib Mohd Kassim who died in 2018 while on duty during the Seafield Temple riot.

The other two task forces appear to target Pakatan Harapan's tenure as the government - one on former attorney-general Tommy Thomas and the other will look into, among others, negligence for not appealing the Pulau Batu Puteh dispute with Singapore.

Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin declared that Harapan should face the music if it had been negligent in the case.

Perceiving the task forces as politically motivated, the opposition hit back with issues that have been politically sensitive for BN, calling for task forces into the deaths of Teoh Beng Hock and Altantuya Shaariibuu as well as attorney-general Idrus Harun's conduct.



HIGHLIGHTS

Anwar on never becoming PM: Que será será
Anwar says he will hold the government accountable.
'I am human too' - Kisona bursts into tears
She is determined to put the racial slur incident behind her.
New ECRL route will cost S’gor 11ha in forest reserves
Environmentalists want impact mitigated.



A daily glance at Covid-19

  • 7,343 new cases yesterday (Oct 10), the lowest since July 7.

  • The Health Ministry stopped releasing the breakdown of new cases by states in its afternoon update. Instead, they are now released on CovidNow after midnight. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the people should not be obsessed with daily cases as other indicators must also be considered.

  • The reported deaths yesterday continued to decline to 64, the lowest in 98 days. Kelantan topped the chart with 14 deaths or 21.9 percent.

  • Active Covid-19 cases have more than halved in just a month, falling from 242,165 to 116,596.


What else is happening?

  • Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa contradicted Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong, admitting that the cabotage policy had caused Google and Facebook to bypass Malaysia for the Apricot internet subsea cable project.

  • Government-back trust Yayasan Dakwa Islamiah Malaysia defended its planned investment in streaming service Nurflix, which is going up against multi-billion dollar firms such as Netflix and Disney Hotstar.

  • De facto Law Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar briefed MPs on several planned constitutional amendments, including a redefinition of the Federation.

  • Inspector-general of police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said the police were "just testing" after BMW and Volkswagen cars with police liveries were spotted.

  • The 26-year-old aide to Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said denied he was appointed to the Universiti Malaya's board due to his political connection. Azalina's office also maintained that she was not involved in the appointment.


HIGHLIGHTS

Lamborghini driver jailed for reckless driving
The 28-year-old was jailed for two weeks.
Magistrate frees woman accused of killing 8 teens on 'basikal lajak'
The High Court had earlier ordered her to enter her defence.
The Malaysian dentist who just umpired an Olympic final
Ex-table tennis player chooses a different role on court.

 


What are people saying?

How 'powerful' will Parti Kuasa Rakyat be?
By Zaid Ibrahim
Can Malaysians escape our very own 'Squid Game'?
Lim Yi Wei
The tears that they shed
By Malaysiakini readers