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Key Highlights
Zahid lands in MACC’s crosshairs
Cracks in PKR over candidate?
‘Teacher snips off holy string’
Zahid lands in MACC’s crosshairs
The MACC is looking at the prospect of questioning Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is on trial for corruption, over the allegation that he received RM66 million in kickbacks from the littoral combat ships (LCS) contractor.
MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the graft watchdog would meet with UK-based controversial blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, who made the allegation.
Following this, Azam said, MACC would decide on whether there is a need to record a statement from Zahid.
According to Azam, MACC would be meeting Raja Petra at an undisclosed location abroad within a week to collect more information regarding the matter,
"Whether MACC will call Zahid depends on what we get (from Raja Petra). We will have to examine (the documents) first," he said.
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Cracks in PKR over candidate?
PKR number two Rafizi Ramli revealed that Anwar Ibrahim overruled the proposal to maintain incumbent R Sivarasa as the Pakatan Harapan candidate for the Sungai Buloh seat and replaced him with R Ramanan.
Rafizi said he and PKR’s candidate selection committee wanted Sivarasa to defend the seat.
After BN announced that it would be fielding health minister Khairy Jamaluddin in Sungai Buloh, there were calls for PKR to retain Sivarasa or replace Ramanan with another candidate.
However, Rafizi said Anwar insisted on maintaining Ramanan. The PKR president reportedly cited health reasons for dropping Sivarasa.
Ramanan was a former MIC treasurer-general, who stepped down in 2014 after the High Court in Kuala Lumpur instructed him to return RM5.5 million he obtained through fraud.
Ramanan had wanted to appeal the decision but ultimately entered a consent judgement with the plaintiff, where he agreed to pay the RM5.5 million.
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‘Teacher snips off holy string’
A 13-year-old student in Penang has filed a police report against a teacher over the alleged punishment meted out to her for wearing shoes with velcro straps to school.
The student alleged that she was made to kneel on the tarred road with her arms raised during the school assembly.
She claimed that the teacher had also snipped off the holy string on her wrist and ordered her to remove her “pottu” (black dot) and “vibuthi” (holy ash) on her forehead.
Tasek Gelugor police chief Radzi Ahmad confirmed that a report was lodged and an investigation has been launched into the matter.
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Views that matter
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 | By R Nadeswaran |
 | By Charles Santiago |
Other news that matter
After Umno pulled the plug on his political career, veteran politician Shahidan Kassim received a lifeline from Perikatan Nasional.
He will be representing the coalition in his bid to capture the Arau seat in Perlis for a fifth term.
In Selangor, the guillotine fell on another Umno veteran - Noh Omar.
The Selangor Umno chief and incumbent Tanjong Karang MP will have to step aside for Tanjong Karang Wanita Umno chief Habibah Mohd Yusor, who has been named as the new candidate for the seat.
A wet polls is on the cards. The Meteorological Department revealed that the monsoon season is expected to start next week, on Nov 7, two days into the campaigning period for the 15th general election.
Previously, the monsoon was expected to arrive in mid-November. Polling day is fixed for Nov 19.
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