KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.
1. Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, who took to the stand in the High Court yesterday to make his defence against his criminal charges, went on to blame fugitive financier Jho Low and four others for the 1MDB saga. His defence team also argued that Najib has not been given enough time to mount an effective defence.
2. A constitutional amendment has been tabled in Parliament proposing to limit the prime minister’s tenure to two terms. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad wouldn’t say if the law would apply to him retroactively if it is implemented.
3. The government has postponed the second and third readings of the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission 2019 Bill until the next parliamentary session, although it was slated for yesterday.
4. Umno is expected to amend its constitution to elevate the status of its Wanita chief to the same stature as its deputy president in its coming general assembly.
5. PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail dismissed talk of a parallel PKR congress being organised by party deputy president Azmin Ali’s supporters, while five PKR Youth exco members jointly urged delegates to show loyalty by attending the official event in Malacca.
6. An argument broke out in Parliament after Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman likened the Hindu holy ash on Jelutong MP RSN Rayer’s forehead to the cremains of communist leader Chin Peng. Lawmakers Khoo Poay Teong ((Harapan-Kota Melaka) and Tajuddin were suspended for refusing to follow orders from Dewan Rakyat Speaker Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof on the matter.
7. The brouhaha over Chin Peng’s remains had been deliberately politicised, according to Hat Yai Peace Coalition chairperson Indrajaya Abdullah.
8. A research group found that fires in Indonesia had covered 1.6 million hectares this year, of which 76 percent were former forests that had been reduced to degraded scrubland by repeated cycles of fires.
9. Felcra Bhd said work is still ongoing on its two biogas plants in Perak, following a Malaysiakini report that they were not operational.
10. Amid polemics over the introduction of khat in vernacular schools, DAP’s Kuala Kubu Bharu assemblyperson Lee Kee Hiong held a Jawi and Chinese calligraphy competition that drew some 100 participants.
