Good morning. Here's what you should know today.
Key Highlights
PAS’ PM candidate
Another PN MP for Anwar
Govt pulls plug on smoking endgame
PAS’ PM candidate
Perikatan Nasional has a potential prime minister candidate from PAS, and it’s not party president Abdul Hadi Awang.
Rather, PN is touting Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar as its future premier material.
PN chief Muhyiddin Yassin, however, added the caveat that this was part of the coalition’s gambit to show that it has multiple capable leaders in its lineup.
Ahmad Samsuri is contesting for the Kemaman parliament seat, and is on track to win this Saturday.
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Another PN MP for Anwar
Bukit Gantang MP Syed Hussin Syed Abdul Fasal has officially declared support for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Previously, he had said that he would support the prime minister if given constituency funds.
This is not the first time Syed Hussin has changed allegiances.
In 2018, he was elected on a BN ticket but later quit, along with a wave of other Umno lawmakers, and sided with then-premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
He remained an independent MP until he joined Bersatu in 2020 during Muhyiddin Yassin’s time as prime minister.
In total, five Bersatu MPs have declared support for Anwar, giving the latter 152 seats in Parliament, in theory.
However, this figure has not yet been put to a test during bloc voting.
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Govt pulls plug on smoking endgame
Plans to ensure Malaysians born in 2007 and beyond never start smoking, are up in smoke.
The government has removed sections on the Generational End-Game (GEG) for smoking from the Control of Smoking Products for Public Health Bill.
The bill, however, does reintroduce a ban on selling smoking products to minors.
Ostensibly, the government nixed the GEG on the advice of the Attorney-General’s Chambers, which argued that a generational smoking ban would contravene constitutional protections against discrimination.
Lawyers, however, rubbished this and said Article 8 permits discrimination if it is in pursuit of a legitimate objective - such as public health.
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Views that matter
 | By P Gunasegaram |
 | By S Thayaparan |
 | By Lim Teck Ghee, Murray Hunter |
Other news that matter
The Dewan Rakyat passed Budget 2024 on Monday with a voice vote.
The government will be implementing long-promised targeted subsidies for RON95 in the second half of next year.
The MACC is ready to fight Aman Palestin in court should the organisation take legal action against the freezing of its bank accounts.
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