KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. Human Resources Minister M Saravanan said housing for Top Glove workers are in “terrible condition” after its hostels became the epicentre of the largest Covid-19 outbreak in the country and he vowed a crackdown on all errant employers. However, Top Glove expressed puzzlement over the minister’s remarks and highlighted improvements it had made over the years.
2. Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi met with Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz over BN’s two demands regarding the 2021 Budget proposal yesterday, a day before today’s highly anticipated vote on the proposal.
3. Opposition MPs face significant disadvantages in serving their constituents, compared to their government counterparts. Try out Kini News Lab’s new game and 'Spend Like an MP' to see if you can please your voters and secure your re-election.
4. Malaysiakini is joining other leading news organisations in the region in a multi-year initiative to report on energy, environment and resource issues.
5. Companies have used brokers, including senior politicians, to lobby for special approvals to bring in migrant workers over the years, resulting in a haphazard influx of workers that the Labour Department could not keep track of.
6. Members of the General Operations Force have come under gunfire on the Malaysia-Thailand border yet again, resulting in one suffering light injuries. The two corporals involved in Tuesday’s shootout, meanwhile, have been promoted to the rank of sergeant, including one posthumously.
7. Communications and Multimedia Minister Saifuddin Abdullah assured the people that the hotly contested RM85.5 million allocation to revive the Special Affairs Department will spend less than what it was allocated, but he did not reveal how much.
8. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said only adults will be given the Covid-19 vaccine because most vaccines have not yet been tested on children below 12 years old.
9. A new formula is now being used to distribute school infrastructure allocations, resulting in a big boost for government schools and Chinese vernacular schools.
10. NGOs have criticised alleged police inaction over death and rape threats against members of the University of Malaya Association of New Youth (Umany).
