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

Key Highlights

• Cracks in booster shield against Omicron
  
  
• Chasing reforms for Sarawak polls
  
  
• PKR-Amanah explore merger
  
  

Cracks in booster shield against Omicron

Scientists are still trying to determine how effective current vaccines are against the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

In the meantime, Malaysia is ramping up its booster vaccine programme, with the possibility that immunocompromised individuals may get their third shot interval shortened.

While booster uptake has gone up with the number of those missing appointments "extremely low", Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said there were still holdouts who were reluctant to get a third shot.

This is especially among senior citizens who received the Sinovac vaccine.

Sinovac has been shown to have a dramatic decrease in effectiveness after three months, which is why the government has been pushing hard for recipients to get a booster dose.

Cracks in vaccine protection in society could have a negative impact and contribute to the spread of Covid-19.

HIGHLIGHTS

	MOH to update travel ban list daily This is due to the Omicron variant.
	KJ: No need to disrupt Parliament over Covid-19 Focus on frequent testing instead.
	Race is on to track Omicron Data shows it was in Europe before South Africa.

Chasing reforms for Sarawak polls

The Sarawak state election is just five days away from kickoff, but this has not stopped efforts to implement reforms that would make voting easier and more accessible.

Bandar Kuching MP Kelvin Yii moved an emergency motion to push the government to enact either e-voting or broaden the postal voting base for the state election.

However, his proposals were shot down, with de facto Deputy Law Minister Mas Ermieyati Samsudin citing time and logistics issues as barriers.

Meanwhile, the government has announced that lowering the voting age to 18 will come into effect on Dec 15 - three days before polling in Sarawak.

However, 18-year-olds will most likely not be able to vote during the Sarawak election as the Election Commission will normally use an electoral list prepared before nomination day.

HIGHLIGHTS

	KiniGuide: Sarawak poll 2021  Make sense of the state election.
	GPS a shoe-in to win S'wak - analysts Fractured opposition not a threat.
	Adenan Satem's son to contest in S'wak He will contest in his late father's seat.

PKR-Amanah explore merger

PKR and Amanah are exploring the possibility of merging their two parties.

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, however, declined to divulge more details.

The idea of a merger picked up traction after the Malacca state election which saw PKR wiped out and Amanah whittled down to just one seat.

Political analyst Wong Chin Huat said a merger would make the unified party the biggest bloc in Pakatan Harapan, thus negating claims that DAP dominated the coalition, while at the same time synergising their support base.

A PKR leader has also said that a merger would help fill the vacuum in PKR after its former deputy president Azmin Ali led several leaders to defect to Bersatu.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Bersatu denies plot to oust Ismail Sabri Wan Saiful claims it's a diversion.
	MIC man slams Bersatu This is over calls to abolish vernacular schools
	'Use RM3b from windfall tax for subsidies' 'Country facing inflation crisis.'

A daily glance at Covid-19

• 5,439 new cases yesterday (Dec 1).
  
  
• The national R-naught is 0.95, but Perlis, Kuala Lumpur and Penang have R-naught above 1.00.
  
  

What else is happening?

• The Public Accounts Committee found that the government paid a premium price for some of its supply of Sinovac’s Covid-19 vaccines due to delays by Pharmaniaga in delivering the shots.
  
  
• Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will present plans to revive the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail project to the cabinet on Friday (tomorrow). 
  
  
• The Selangor government has yet to re-gazette the Kuala Langat (North) forest as a permanent reserve three months after saying it would. The Menteri Besar's Office indicated that the state is holding out for a realignment of the East Coast Rail Link.
  
  
• The Federal Court ruled that a Muslim can't be made a party in a non-Muslim marital court dispute.
  
  
• Form 5 student Ain Husniza Saiful Nizam and her father will file a counterclaim against a teacher suing them over a TikTok video alleging lewd banter during a class session.
  
  
• Federal Territories Minister Shahidan Kassim sulked at not being invited to celebrate Kuala Lumpur City FC's Malaysia Cup victory on Monday. Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa, meanwhile, courted flak after "snatching" the trophy to have his five seconds in the limelight.
  
  

HIGHLIGHTS

	Govt told to take over MySejahtera PAC says the app is now a key healthcare system.
	SOP violation: Neelofa, husband given DNAA They'll be issued larger compounds.
	Friday public holiday for FT This is to celebrate KL City FC's win.

What are people saying?

	Deja vu - another attempt at national unity By Thor Kah Hoong
	Legal action against Ain and her father is MOE’s failure By Teo Nie Ching
	The Palestine that’s on our doorstep By Martin Vengadesan

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