KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. Several opposition MPs and even some government backbenchers have voiced objections over the RM85.5 million budget to revive the Special Affairs Department (Jasa), while its former director-general Mohd Puad Zarkashi (photo, above) said the government need not be shy about the propaganda unit’s political nature.
2. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said the Budget 2021 proposal may not receive full support from the opposition in its present form, while four independent MPs led by former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad accused the government of taking advantage of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s call on MPs to back the budget proposal.
3. The expansion of the conditional movement control order to cover most of Peninsular Malaysia yesterday has thrown wedding plans into disarray. Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the National Security Council will issue standard operating procedures for wedding registrations and childcare centres soon.
4. Ismail Sabri has defended the extension of the conditional MCO as a preventive measure, while Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said it is to preserve Covid-19 ‘green zones’.
5. DAP’s Ketari assemblyperson Young Syefura Othman has apologised for allegedly breaking the conditional movement control order restrictions in Selangor, but some netizens are still pressing for her resignation.
6. The Malaysian Council for Tobacco Control said the government’s plan to generate revenue by imposing excise duties on electronic cigarettes and their liquid won't work if unlicensed sellers are allowed to continue thriving.
7. Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall (KLSCAH) president Ong Seng Khek is among four people accused of releasing waste into Sungai Kundang, Rawang, without a permit, just as the Selangor State Assembly raised penalties for such offences.
8. The Finance Ministry's National Budget Office director Johan Mahmood Merican said Bantuan Prihatin Rakyat will be open for new registrations by the end of January next year, while Employees Provident Fund said it is fine-tuning rules for its upcoming Account 1 withdrawal facility announced in the 2021 Budget proposal.
9. Police have summoned seven more people for questioning yesterday over University of Malaya Association of New Youth’s alleged sedition in its article regarding the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s powers.
10. Scientists and other experts have cautiously welcomed Pfizer’s and BioNTech’s announcement that its vaccine candidate has proven to be more than 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19. It is the first to show successful data from a large-scale clinical trial.
