Agong touches on graft plan, Covid-19 in speech and 9 news from yesterday

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

1. In his royal address to Parliament yesterday, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah (above) urged the government to continue implementing the previous government’s National Anti-Corruption Plan and find ways to help companies and businesses affected by Covid-19.

2. His Majesty also said he had tried to convince former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad not to resign, but to no avail, and found that Pagoh MP Muhyiddin Yassin commanded the confidence of the majority of the Dewan Rakyat. He went on to warn the lawmakers not to drag the country into another round of political uncertainty or touch on issues of race and religion.

3. Despite the ruling government’s role in drafting the royal address, Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said parts of the speech could have only come from the palace, while Umno supreme council member Razlan Rafii said it should lay to rest any accusations that Perikatan Nasional is a “backdoor government”.

4. Mahathir, who is with the opposition bench in the Dewan Rakyat despite being Bersatu chairperson, said the opposition will continue to keep the government in check and it is not against the king’s royal address to do so.

5. The seating arrangement in the Dewan Rakyat shows Muhyiddin has a slim majority of two seats in the House, which Mahathir said could easily be toppled if the government is exposed of wrongdoings.

6. PKR lawmakers, including party president Anwar Ibrahim, were conspicuously absent at a Pakatan Harapan joint press conference after the parliamentary session. “Coordination issues” was among the factors blamed.

7. Five people deported from immigration detention centres in Malaysia to Myanmar have subsequently tested positive for Covid-19.

8. Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia needs to hit a high compliance rate with the conditional movement control order as well as consistent double-digit figures on daily new Covid-19 cases, before an exit strategy can be discussed.

9. A National Security Council survey has found that 74 percent of 215,712 respondents will not be welcoming any guests for Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations despite being given leeway to do so.

10. Former attorney-general Tommy Thomas has reiterated that he never sanctioned film producer Riza Aziz’s plea bargain on Riza’s money laundering charge. Mahathir quipped that such a deal would have thieves making a beeline to courts to return half their loot.