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


Key Highlights

  • The price of political defections

  • DAP's ideological tussle

  • Omicron in Malaysia



The price of political defections

The move by some Sarawak PKR leaders to defect and become PN-friendly, or even join Bersatu, is now becoming a problem for them in the Sarawak polls.

This is because neither PN nor BN wants to offend GPS and will officially sit out of the Sarawak polls. In defiance, PN member PAS plans to contest one seat.

The political cooperation offered by the Sarawak-based GPS to political parties in Peninsular Malaysia is usually contingent on the fact that they do not contest in Sarawak.

This was the same condition imposed when GPS was part of BN. Thus, Umno does not have any divisions in Sarawak. GPS, along with BN, PN and PBS, are part of the federal government.

For the PKR defectors who are now aligned to PN, it means that they no longer have a platform to contest in Sarawak.

Saratok MP Ali Biju, who defected from PKR to Bersatu and is the incumbent in the Krian state seat, is facing a dilemma as Bersatu has agreed not to contest in Sarawak. Puncak Borneo MP Willie Mongin is in a similar boat.

Julau MP Larry Sng, who initially considered contesting, decided to back GPS. He quit PKR in February to become PN-friendly.

While these politicians can make concessions in the state election, they will face a similar problem in the national election.

Failure to contest in both the state and national elections could mean the end of their political careers.

Some, however, have shown they are able to win as an independent. Sng, for example, won Julau as an independent before joining PKR.

The nomination of candidates for the Sarawak polls is today. Polling day is Dec 18.


HIGHLIGHTS

Anwar: S'wak PKR given leftovers, yet called greedy
He said PKR was only given unwinnable seats.
No PKR-DAP clash in Sarawak battleground
PKR slashed contested seats to focus on 27 'winnable' ones.
Kulai MP fumes over 'obnoxious threats' by PM
PM said projects may not happen if voters chose wrongly.




DAP's ideological tussle

The debate over DAP's direction - whether to embrace diversity or safeguard its predominantly Chinese base - was reignited after the party's Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh wore a headscarf when visiting a mosque.

Former Johor DAP chief Dr Boo Cheng Hau criticised her in an internal party WhatsApp group, sarcastically suggesting that all DAP women representatives wear the headscarf or even convert to Islam in order to gain electoral support.

Boo's party colleagues responded by pointing out that visitors also wear headscarves at Sikh temples and some European churches. Only Boo's name was visible in the leaked chat while his colleagues' names were redacted.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng reprimanded Boo, telling him to focus on people's issues instead of dictating what women should wear.

Boo fired back, accusing Lim of upsetting the Chinese community by being a yes-man to ex-prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and maintained that the party should not engage in "superficial political gimmicks".

Yeoh, who is a Christian, said she was unapologetic about wearing a headscarf in a mosque and stressed that doing so won't change her race or faith. She also emphasised the need for a moderate Malaysia.

Umno's Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said also came to Yeoh's defence, stating that she was only conducting her duty as the Segambut MP.

The ideological clash between progressive and conservative leaders in DAP is a decade-long tussle that is often debated internally, but this has, on a number of occasions, spilt into the public sphere.



HIGHLIGHTS

Rais rues use of 'disgusting' English names
He refers to the names of local places.
Umno No 2 says Hadi's statement 'misguided'
This is on the status of Muafakat Nasional.
Muhyiddin warns of rot in 'dominant party' system
The system saw corrupt practices, he says.

 



Omicron in Malaysia

Malaysia, like many countries in the world, faces the same challenge in detecting new Covid-19 variants as it can be weeks after a new variant has entered the country before it is discovered.

This is because new Covid variants require genomic sequencing and only a few countries can do it on a mass scale.

The Health Ministry revealed on Oct 3 that it had discovered an Omicron variant case in a South African student who took a bus from KLIA to Ipoh. The sample was taken on Nov 19.

It said all of the infected person's close contacts have been tested and they returned negative for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

The government continued to tighten safety measures, requiring all travellers arriving from countries deemed high-risk with the Omicron variant to wear a tracker during quarantine.

But Putrajaya's eagerness to promote its "Keluarga Malaysia" slogan prompted it to send a tone-deaf text message inviting people to turn up in large numbers (jom beramai-ramai) amid the pandemic to mark the 100 days since the slogan was unveiled, courting online brickbats.

Preliminary studies suggest the Omicron variant has incorporated genetic material from the common cold, which makes it significantly more transmissible but also possibly milder in symptoms.

Milder symptoms may not necessarily be good news because if the variant is highly infectious, it could still quickly overwhelm hospitals. It boils down to how infectious and how mild the symptoms are, which will only be known in the next weeks.

The government's strategy has been to control the pace of infection so hospitals are not overwhelmed. This is to be able to offer optimum treatment so that lives that can be saved are not unnecessarily lost.


HIGHLIGHTS

Over 20k cops and families infected with Covid-19
Deputy IGP says 39 deaths were recorded.
Ex-tourism minister  dies from Covid-19
Sabbaruddin Chik, 80, was previously hospitalised.
Maszlee distraught over 21k students dropped out
This is between March 2020 and July this year.

 


A daily glance at Covid-19

  • 4,298 new cases yesterday (Dec 5).

  • 40 new fatalities put the death toll at 30,614.


New cases by states

Selangor (1,160)
Kelantan (434)
Johor (346)
Kedah (324)
Sabah (294)
Pahang (278)
Penang (261)
Malacca (259)
Perak (254)
Terengganu (228)
Kuala Lumpur (221)
Negeri Sembilan (107)
Sarawak (71)
Putrajaya (33)
Perlis (17)
Labuan (11)



What else is happening?

  • Ex-Umno minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil's daughter was appointed as a director of the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC). Her family was previously embroiled in the National Feedlot Corporation (NFC) scandal.

  • The government will allow the temporary import of frozen whole chickens to cope with surging prices.

  • The Election Commission (EC) continued to impose stringent restrictions for the Sarawak state election due to Covid-19, allowing only five top leaders from each political party to enter the state.

  • Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng panned further restrictions on the sale of alcohol, which requires coffee shops to obtain a liquor licence to sell alcohol and limits them to four cartons a day.

  • The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers warned that an acute lack of foreign labour is impeding the country's economic recovery. Ameer Ali Mydin, who owns the Mydin hypermarket chain, echoed similar concerns.

HIGHLIGHTS

Orang Asli stranded by weather
They are worried the worse is yet to come.
From Segambut to New York: Grab celebrates listing
It debuted on New York's Nasdaq.
MMA wants govt to rectify overproduction of med grads
Group says glut of contract doctors the result of past policies.



What are people saying?

Govt must ensure that we can at least afford to eat
By Zan Azlee
The ‘kapitan' of the Indian community
By SR Sivachandralingam
The gulf between Muslims and non-Muslims, peasants and nobles
By Mariam Mokhtar


CARTOON KINI