Good morning. Here's what you should know today.
Key Highlights
Loke rails after LRT goes off track
‘Defence federal matter, not state royalty’s’
Target on Wong Chen’s back?
Loke rails after LRT goes off track
The LRT has once again frustrated commuters, but this time it wasn’t due to a train just stopping in its tracks.
The latest incident saw an LRT train derail while passing through the track switch area near Chan Sow Lin station, causing disruptions along the Ampang-Sri Petaling line. In response, Transport Minister Anthony Loke has come down hard on Prasarana, ordering the maximum punishment on the service operator.
He stressed that the company could no longer maintain a “business-as-usual” attitude following the incident, which luckily caused no injuries and all 25 passengers were safely evacuated.
“Serious action, including dismissals, must be taken by the Prasarana board against anyone who is negligent in their duty to restore public confidence in the reliability of rail services under Prasarana,” Loke said.
HIGHLIGHTS
 | |
 | |
 |
‘Defence federal matter, not state royalty’s’
Pahang Crown Prince Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah’s decree requiring the armed forces to obtain royal consent before conducting military exercises in the state has sparked a constitutional debate.
Lawyers and constitutional experts argued that the decree has no legal basis because defence falls under federal jurisdiction and the Federal Constitution does not grant state rulers discretionary powers over military operations.
The issue gained further attention after Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim appeared to criticise the move, stressing that the military should not face unnecessary obstacles in carrying out exercises essential to national defence.
Despite concerns over constitutional limits, some experts noted that ignoring the decree could strain relations between federal agencies and the palace.
The armed forces have since pledged compliance and affirmed their commitment to ensuring all exercises are executed professionally and responsibly.
HIGHLIGHTS
 | |
 | |
 |
Target on Wong Chen’s back?
First, the Subang MP’s office lost access to a government portal managing constituency development allocations, and now Wong Chen has found himself suddenly removed as the non-executive chairperson of Malaysia Debt Ventures (MDV).
The PKR lawmaker said he was only informed about the end of his stint when he was about to chair MDV's board meeting on the morning of May 26.
He said MDV's management received a letter from the Finance Ministry dated May 25 with instructions to end his role effective May 31, however, the ministry did not contact him directly nor provide a reason for the decision.
"(The) abrupt end of my tenure will probably go down in corporate history as a curious anomaly. For helping turn around a government financial institution, I got the boot from the ministry with just five days’ notice,” he added.
On May 20, Wong, who was among the PKR MPs present at Parti Bersama Malaysia’s launch several days earlier, discovered that his office had been blocked from accessing MyKhas and raised the matter with the Prime Minister’s Department. The problem remained as of May 26.
Projek Sama yesterday urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to immediately restore the portal’s access to Wong’s office.
“A civil servant orally informed his (Wong) office that the block came on explicit instructions from Putrajaya - even as other PKR MPs in Selangor retained completely unaffected access,” the civil society organisation claimed.
HIGHLIGHTS
 | |
 | |
 |
Views that matter
 | By Mahathir Mohd Rais |
 | By G Vinod |
 | By Tian Chua |
In case you missed it
 | |
 | |
 |
