Good morning, here's what you need to know today.

Key Highlights

• Embezzlement of Mitra funds
  
  

• Zahid's clout
  
  

• Youth and sports controversy
  
  

Embezzlement of Mitra funds

The MACC swooped in on 16 company directors over the alleged embezzling of funds from the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit (Mitra).

Mitra is a government unit that disburses grants to help the Indian community but its effectiveness have been questioned since Najib Abdul Razak's era when it was called the Socioeconomic Development of the Indian Community Unit (Sedic).

Mitra operates by giving grants to firms and NGOs to organise training programmes for the Indian community.

However, at best, the programme has faced criticism of being a tool for patronage, with the grants channelled to the connected and at worst, grants were given but no programmes were organised.

PSM described Mitra as "an event funding organisation for politically linked people".

Similar criticisms were also made during the Pakatan Harapan era, although all beneficiaries were at least published in the public domain.

The latest incident involves firms linked to a component party in the ruling coalition, some of which do not have the qualification to organise the training programmes or did not complete them.

HIGHLIGHTS

	Lynas PDF: EIA addresses flood risk, water pollution It claims the Gebeng facility will not pose risks.
	Mat Sabu, Harakah settle defamation suit This is over an article by the PAS organ.
	Muda, others discussed teaming up with Warisan But it's not yet formalised.

Zahid's clout

Tomorrow will see the Umno supreme council deliberate on the party's direction in the Malacca state election, which will also signal the extent of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's clout.

The supreme council will convene to determine if Umno will cooperate with Bersatu and PAS in the polls.

While Zahid is strongly opposed to cooperating with them, some Umno leaders have expressed a different view, setting the table for a possible showdown.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been publicly silent on the matter but he is known as a strong proponent for cooperation with Bersatu at the federal level. However, at the party level, Ismail is a vice-president and subordinate to Zahid.

Those aligned to Zahid believe that if Umno can wipe out PAS and Bersatu in the Malacca state assembly election, it will force PAS to reconsider its friendly ties with Bersatu and side with Umno in the general election.

Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki has indicated this, stating that cooperation will depend on PAS.

HIGHLIGHTS

	MCA Youth: Opposition politicising polls rally ban It says the ban is to prevent Covid-19.
	Minister: Stick with Malacca polls SOPs 'We don't practise double standards.'
	Bersatu, PAS and Gerakan to contest under PN This is for the Malacca polls.

Youth and sports controversy

Youth and Sports Minister Ahmad Faizal Azumu became embroiled in controversy for questioning why national athlete Pandelela Rinong raised "old stories" about sexual harassment involving an ex-coach from the national diving team.

Several MPs roasted Ahmad Faizal for allegedly not taking the claims seriously.

"Instead of questioning ‘why now’, he should really be asking ‘who else may be experiencing sexual harassment but may have decided against speaking up because of fear," said Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil.

Pandelela said that she shared her story in order to help other victims.

This was amid controversy involving a film director who said on national television that he preferred filming rape scenes.

Ahmad Faizal later said that his statement was "taken out of context" and that he only wanted to seek clarity. 

HIGHLIGHTS

	Report: China harasses Malaysian oil and gas vessels 'It's happening on a daily basis.'
	Defence pact still relevant to face threat - Hishammuddin It involves M'sia, S'pore, UK, Australia and NZ.
	Dewan Rakyat approves harsher penalties to protect wildlife The first time the Wildlife Conservation Act is amended.

 

A daily glance at Covid-19

• 5,726 new cases yesterday (Oct 26).
  
  
• Another 84 fatalities put the death toll at 28,576.
  
  

New cases by state:

Selangor (929)
Sarawak (713)
Kelantan (685)
Sabah (565)
Johor (488)
Penang (378)
Kedah (346)
Kuala Lumpur (339)
Terengganu (292)
Perak (257)
Malacca (253)
Pahang (219)
Negeri Sembilan (199)
Putrajaya (37)
Perlis (23)
Labuan (3)

What else is happening?

• Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak is now formally cleared to travel to Singapore after all the judges involved in his graft cases agreed to temporarily return his passport. Najib also refuted claims he was getting special treatment.
  
  
• In a separate development, Najib is suing former attorney-general Tommy Thomas and the government for "wrongful prosecution" of the various graft charges brought against him.
  
  
• PKR's Students' Wing revolted against the party's youth chief Akmal Nasir for supposedly appointing former student leaders to the party's student bureau without consulting the wing.
  
  
  

HIGHLIGHTS

	Umno supreme council member is sworn in as senator Arman Azha is the youngest senator at 46.
	Senator Guan Dee dies The 67-year-old died at HKL.
	Shafee seeks to expunge the majority elements in witness' testimony He claims prejudicial elements in his money laundering case.

What are people saying?

	The fate of liberal democracy in turbulent times By Nazir Razak
	The case against live debates By James Chai
	Faizal, why speak at all? By Nathaniel Tan