No room for Anwar in cabinet, and 8 news from yesterday

KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

1. Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad indicated that PKR president Anwar Ibrahim will not be part of his cabinet when he makes minor changes to members' portfolios soon.

"Since nobody has indicated they want to resign, we have no vacancy," he said.

2. Mahathir, in his capacity as Bersatu chairperson said that an unnamed Bersatu leader who called himself a chief strategist and had claimed that Harapan parties will lose the next election would be investigated and referred to the party's disciplinary board.

To this, Rais Hussin responded that he had been picked to head Bersatu's policy and strategy bureau since its inception and that Mahathir had attended the meeting at which the appointment was made. He added that he had never used the words 'chief strategist'.

3. A sum of RM100,000 from former minister Hasan Malek's bank account is now officially government property after he did not contest the forfeiture, which was initiated on the grounds that the money he received from former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak originated from 1MDB.

4. Umno and PAS are not looking out for the long-term good of Malaysia and the two parties are only teaming up for their own survival, said Deputy Prime Minister Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

5. Human rights group Suara Rakyat Malaysia (Suaram) said the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision to dismiss Sisters in Islam's challenge against a Selangor fatwa declaring it "deviant" would open floodgates for abuse and grant the religious authorities broad and arbitrary powers.

6. The Perak government denied giving deliberately false information on a tax exemption for the purchase of 16 Toyota Camry cars at a state assembly sitting last July.

Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu said the state government may have given out information that was inaccurate, but it was due to an error and not an attempt to deceive.

7. Bersatu supreme council member Wan Saiful Wan Jan pinned the blame for poor ethnic relations on politicians who are seeking power without considering the consequences of their actions.

8. Entrepreneur Development Minister Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof described an online campaign to boycott halal products made by non-Muslims as "not constructive", saying that such campaigns should not be seen in a multiracial country.

9. Thousands of people across the vast, resource-rich Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua have joined rallies protesting against perceived racial discrimination and the central government in Jakarta. Some protesters are demanding an independence vote.