PETALING JAYA: Umno veteran Noh Omar has denied news reports claiming that he and fellow party leader Nazri Aziz attacked former prime minister Najib Razak over a suggestion to work with Anwar Ibrahim.

In a Facebook post, the Tanjong Karang MP said he was “shocked” over the reports making such claims.

“What was written is not true. Yes, I attended the (Umno MPs) meeting but I did not attack Najib. I only gave my views and Nazri did not attend.”

This, he said, showed the reports were “not true at all”.


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PETALING JAYA: Police are investigating four social media posts for sedition against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, including one on DAP leader Ronnie Liu’s Facebook page.

In a statement, Bukit Aman CID chief Huzir Mohamed gave a breakdown and details of the four postings.

On the posting on Liu’s Facebook page, Huzir said this was in relation to a photo posted recently of demonstrations in Thailand with the caption, “Now in Bangkok. They are saying no to the King.”

Huzir said investigations into the owner of the Facebook account was being carried out under Section 4 (1) of the Sedition Act for inciting hate against a ruler or a government.


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• No deaths associated with influenza vaccination have been reported in Singapore but use of SKYCellflu Quadrivalent and VaxigripTetra suspended as a precaution
  
• South Korea will continue vaccination programme after finding no direct link to casualties, warning that coronavirus outbreak heightens risk of ‘twindemic’
  

(CNN)A stunning White House claim that the US cannot control the fast-worsening pandemic is overshadowing President Donald Trump's frantic last-ditch bid to turn around his reelection race with Democrat Joe Biden with eight days to go.

The comments by White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on CNN on Sunday alarmed medical experts who argue that letting the coronavirus rage unchecked is akin to a policy of herd immunity that will cost many thousands of lives. But with daily new infections hitting record levels, Trump spent the weekend in a campaign blitz in which he openly flouted steps like masking and social distancing that could slow the spread of the disease and moaned that all the media talks about is "Covid, Covid, Covid."

"We are not going to control the pandemic," Meadows told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" Sunday, arguing that "proper mitigation factors" like therapies and vaccines should be the priority. 


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SINGAPORE: Singapore will be embarking on a two-year trial for electricity imports from Peninsular Malaysia, according to the Energy Market Authority (EMA).

“To meet our climate change commitments, there is a need to change the way Singapore produces and uses energy.

“Tapping on regional power grids for cleaner energy resources is one strategy to further diversify Singapore’s energy supply,” said EMA on its website.

It said the trial aims to assess and refine the technical and regulatory frameworks for importing electricity into Singapore.


“This would help facilitate larger-scale imports from the region in future.”


EMA said it planned to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) by March for 100 megawatts (MW) of electricity imports, making up about 1.5% of Singapore’s peak electricity demand.

Under the RFP, electricity imports could begin as early as end-2021, through the existing electricity interconnector between Singapore and Malaysia.

EMA said one importer will be selected through an open and competitive selection process.

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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 26 — The Cabinet is expected to meet this morning amid speculation about the political future of the PM and his government, just a day after the King decreed there was no need for the Emergency rule Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had sought to combat the Covid-19 pandemic for which critics had denounce as an excuse to hold on to power.

Muhyiddin held a late night meeting yesterday at his Damansara Heights home here with some of his ministers and closest aides after the King’s decision was announced in the evening, even as the country was roiled by rumours that he was contemplating resignation.

Ministers and aides did not stop to offer comments to waiting journalists after the meeting, but they are expected to convene a meeting this morning in Putrajaya.

The prime minister issued a statement just before midnight yesterday which did not offer any suggestions he would be quitting. In the statement, Muhyiddin thanked the King for having trust in his government.


Some observers and analysts have pointed out that while he failed in his bid to call for a state of emergency, he nevertheless got the nod to table the national Budget next month from the King yesterday.

But all this means is that once the country manages to bring the number of Covid-19 cases down, the political manoeuvring for power will continue, several analysts told Malay Mail.

“The present political situation is indeed very delicate. By advising the King to proclaim emergency but not obtaining it, what’s left of Muhyiddin’s democratic credentials has taken a big hit and his opponents would certainly take advantage of the popular discontent to try to push him over the edge,” said Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs Oh Ei Sun.

“But the King’s call for the Budget to be passed would also have to be heeded by them, as feudalistic fealty remains a mainstay of Malaysian politics,” he added.

Rumours were rife from Friday that Muhyiddin would seek to invoke “emergency powers” to prop up his administration that has come under challenge from Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

This is ostensibly to prevent a general election called during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Muhyiddin rushed to meet the King in Pahang on Friday which then led to a meeting of the Malay Rulers yesterday.

The Opposition had planned to table a no confidence motion against Muhyiddin at the next session of Parliament which is also when the Budget will be tabled.


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PETALING JAYA: A Syrian refugee who spent seven months stranded at the klia2 terminal in 2018 has spoken out about the need for reforms in Malaysia’s immigration detention centres.

Hassan al-Kontar said Malaysia’s refugee policy lags far behind that of most developed countries, and many Malaysians were “very misinformed” about what goes on at detention centres.

“The immigration officers and police in the detention centre should be civilised. They should care about human rights,” he told FMT.


“They jailed a 12-year old Rohingya boy with me in the detention centre. A kid,” he said. “There were women with babies three or four months old in the women’s cells. That’s not acceptable, by any standard.”

Hassan said Malaysia had a long way to go in handling refugees and asylum seekers.

However, despite his nine-month ordeal in Malaysia, he insists he still harbours some fondness for the country.

For nearly seven months in 2018, Hassan lived at klia2’s arrival hall. He survived off donated airline meals, showered in bathrooms for the disabled, and slept beneath stairwells.

He was stuck at the airport in limbo, unable to return to his war-torn homeland of Syria, and without the papers to enter Malaysia.


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PETALING JAYA: A PKR MP has called for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to either resign or sack two of his senior ministers, to officially close the “state of emergency crisis chapter”.

In a Facebook post today, Subang MP Wong Chen said there was persistent talk that Muhyiddin was being influenced by two particular senior ministers.

He claimed that in the history of Malaysian politics, this was the first time that the rulers had rejected a prime minister’s proposal.

“Either the prime minister resigns or he sacks the said two senior ministers for this audacious attempt to subvert democracy in Malaysia.


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