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


Key Highlights

  • Anwar's Malacca gambit

  • Courtship of PAS

  • Budget 2022



Anwar's Malacca gambit

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim is not letting up on plans to rope in defectors responsible for bringing down the Malacca government to Pakatan Harapan's side ahead of the state polls on Nov 20.

The strategy appears to be an attempt to form a broad opposition alliance in Malacca but a number of Harapan leaders have expressed reservations about the ethics of such a move.

Anwar maintained that Umno's Idris Haron and Nor Azman Hassan and Bersatu's Noor Effandi Ahmad, who were sacked from their parties for bringing down the Umno-Bersatu state government, should not be sidelined as they had agreed to back a Harapan government.

Umno jumped on this, accusing Harapan of conspiring with the defectors to bring down the Malacca government that forced a fresh election during the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, Harapan won't take in a fourth defector - Norhizam Hassan Baktee, who was formerly from DAP but defected to support the Umno-Bersatu government that he later also turned against.

This came following vehement objections from DAP against Norhizam. DAP, however, has been coy about the three other defectors.

PKR largely agreed to a number of DAP demands - namely for Harapan to contest the state polls under the coalition's common logo and not to field Norhizam as a candidate.

In exchange, the DAP has refrained from attacking the other three defectors despite its reservations and also agreed for PKR and Amanah to divide Bersatu's seats among the two parties.

The election campaign will begin immediately after the nomination process on Nov 8. However, parties have already begun holding events despite the Health Ministry's ban on campaign gatherings due to Covid-19.

Politicians have tried to circumvent the ban by holding "personal meetings" that were still essentially political gatherings. The Health Ministry warned that action could still be taken.

Meanwhile, PKR tried to hold a mobile ceramah but was slapped with an RM10,000 fine.



HIGHLIGHTS

Make a report - EC says over PN's half-priced groceries
Bersih claims they violated election rules.
Malacca Gerakan's nameless 'woman' branding raises eyebrows
They featured suggestive comments.
Muhyiddin giving back change, not bribe - Bersatu veep
The amount was RM5.



Courtship of PAS

Umno's continued lobbying for PAS to side with the party over Bersatu in the Malacca polls has seen the Islamist party starting to sway.

Although PAS was formerly a PN component party, together with Bersatu, Umno had said it was willing to cooperate with PAS if it ditched the PN logo and used the Islamist party's own "moon" logo for the polls.

Buoyed by this, PAS suggested that all parties contest under its logo.

Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainuddin downplayed the suggestion as being said in jest.

However, it was enough to cause concern for Bersatu that its president Muhyiddin Yassin asked PAS to "think carefully" about its choice of allies.

Negotiations are expected to continue this week but newly-minted PAS Youth chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari boasted about how his party is being courted by all sides.

The person to watch, however, is PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang who was responsible for steering PAS in Bersatu's direction and has not publicly weighed in about the latest courtship from Umno.



HIGHLIGHTS

Contest for PAS VP race heats up
Controversial figures join the fray.
'If China can reach out to Taliban, why can’t Malaysia?'
This is according to the PAS Youth chief.
Tuan Ibrahim was questioned for skipping UN climate meet
'He focusses more on whisky issue.'

 



Budget 2022

The Budget 2022 continued to be expansionary as the government sought to steer the country out of the Covid-19 pandemic.

It was increasingly funded by borrowings due to lower revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Try our quiz for a personalised rundown of what budget items may affect you. Alternatively, you can find the major highlights here.

There was a slight controversy after Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz did not mention singles when he outlined the annual cash handout to households, now rebranded to Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia.

This gave the impression that the cash handouts for singles had been abolished but Zafrul clarified that that was not the case.

Zafrul said he had not mentioned it in his speech as there were too many items to go through.




HIGHLIGHTS

EPF to rebuild savings after Covid-19 dip 
Over 6mil members have less than RM10k left.
No more RPGT in 6th year; vehicle sales tax discount extended
Electric vehicles will be tax-exempt.
Cabinet to disallow products capable of causing 'public distress'
This is over the Timah controversy.

 


A daily glance at Covid-19

  • 4,979 new cases yesterday (Oct 31). This is the second time we recorded below 5,000 daily new cases in a week. Before that, the last time we recorded new cases of sub-5,000 cases was four months ago in June.

  • October ended with a total of 2,704 Covid-19 deaths. While still significant, it has come down from the 9,680 deaths in September, 7,642 deaths in August and 3,858 deaths in July. 

New cases by state:

Selangor (1,128)
Sarawak (616)
Sabah (447)
Kedah (371)
Kelantan (370)
Johor (363)
Terengganu (277)
Pahang (256)
Penang (255)
Malacca (225)
Perak (224)
Kuala Lumpur (215)
Negeri Sembilan (175)
Putrajaya (33)
Perlis (16)
Labuan (8)



What else is happening?

  • PKR's Tangga Batu MP Rusnah Aluai apologised for suggesting that drinking the whiskey brand by the name of "Timah" was akin to "drinking a Malay woman".

  • Lahad Datu MP Mohamaddin Ketapi quit Warisan to become a PN-friendly lawmaker.

  • Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister James Jemut Masing passed away from Covid-19.

  • An expatriate who was the subject of a number of viral videos where she refused to wear a face mask and tried to enter a mall and restaurant in the Klang Valley was fined RM3,000.

  • Those who have already received two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine will be offered a booster dose from the same brand - also from Pfizer. This is in contrast to Sinovac recipients who will receive mixed vaccination where their booster dose will be Pfizer.


HIGHLIGHTS

Lower ceiling price for self-test kits soon
Details to be announced this week.
11 company directors in Mitra funds probe released on bail
MACC fails to extend their remand to 7 days.
Actor Ali Alasri dreams of refuge for creative thinkers
'Women in my life have been very, very strong figures.'



What are people saying?

What's the fuss? 'Rilek lah, Timah'
By Zan Azlee
Dr M unable to stop probe into BMF scandal
By Kee Thuan Chye
These politicians give me the creeps
Francis Paul Siah