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

Key Highlights

• More regulations on liquor sale
  
  

• Rosmah is sorry
  
  

• Bersatu MP goes rogue
  
  

More regulations on liquor sale

Putrajaya will begin charging coffee shops between RM840 and RM1,320 in order to serve liquor to their customers.

This will be imposed nationwide through a licensing regime under the Excise Regulations 1977, which was not previously enforced.

Some shops have indicated they plan to stop selling liquor as the licence cost was not worth the sale.

MCA, DAP and PKR leaders have spoken out against the policy, stating that the licensing cost at a time when businesses are already struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic will cause further hardship.

Previously, the government also banned the sale of liquor, other than beer, at grocery and convenience stores in Kuala Lumpur.

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Rosmah is sorry

Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, finally turned up in court for a hearing related to her graft case.

Her lawyers conveyed Rosmah's apology to the court for previously failing to turn up.

Her previous no-show had caused an uproar with the prosecution seeking her arrest and Bersatu calling for her extradition and passport cancellation.

The Court of Appeal had accepted her lawyer's explanation that she chose to return from Singapore later than the Nov 21 date set by the court in order to wait for the Malaysia-Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL), which was only launched on Nov 29.

In the hearing yesterday, the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed her bid to nullify her graft case involving a government contract related to power supply for rural schools in Sarawak.

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Bersatu MP goes rogue

Nomination day for the Sarawak polls concluded with a record 349 candidates contesting in 82 seats.

An interesting development is Bersatu's Ali Biju, who is both the Saratok MP and incumbent Krian assemblyperson, defending his state seat as an independent candidate.

The move was due to Bersatu deciding not to contest in the Sarawak polls to honour GPS' condition for cooperation, leaving Ali without a platform.

Ali previously won the seats as a PKR elected representative but later defected to Bersatu.

According to Article 10.2.4 of the Bersatu constitution, any of its members who contest as an independent would be automatically sacked.

Bersatu distanced itself from Ali's candidacy but stopped short of declaring him sacked and instead said the matter would be deliberated.

With only a four-vote majority in the Dewan Rakyat, Bersatu is cautious not to drive away any MP, which could destabilise the federal government comprising BN, PN, GPS and PBS. Bersatu is part of PN.

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A daily glance at Covid-19

• 4,262 new cases yesterday (Dec 6).
  
  
• 38 new fatalities put the death toll at 30,652.

New cases by states

Selangor (868)
Kelantan (562)
Johor (457)
Kedah (357)
Pahang (278)
Sabah (271)
Penang (243)
Kuala Lumpur (240)
Perak (231)
Malacca (222)
Terengganu (201)
Negeri Sembilan (189)
Sarawak (72)
Perlis (34)
Putrajaya (29)
Labuan (8)

What else is happening?

• Putrajaya donated more than 800,000 doses of AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines to Bangladesh and Laos as part of its advocacy for equal access.
  
  
• Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin announced that the police would set up a unit to investigate custodial deaths but it courted criticism from PSM, which panned the government for stalling genuine reforms.
  
  
• Tronoh assemblyperson Paul Yong Choo Kiong will know today if he will need to enter his defence for allegedly raping his domestic helper.
  
  
  

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	Relevant evidence already tendered in Najib’s trial - DPP This is on his RM42 million SRC case.

What are people saying?

	To continue MOU or not should not be the question By Ong Kian Ming
	Political will and spineless leaders By S Arutchelvan
	Discrimination laws on employment should be preventive By Ronald Benjamin

CARTOON KINI