Govt seeks royal assent for 'emergency' and other news you may have missed

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

1. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his entourage have met the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah in Kuantan yesterday, supposedly to seek royal assent to declare an “emergency”.

2. The prospect of an emergency been declared has been heavily criticised by opposition politicians, who point out that existing laws are adequate for tackling the Covid-19 pandemic and accused Muhyiddin of using the crisis as avoid facing a no-confidence vote.

3. A state of emergency had been declared many times in Malaysia’s past in times of crisis, ranging from foreign incursions, domestic insurrections and political violence, and even the haze.

4. Intensive care resources in Sabah come under strain and the testing backlog grows, but state minister Masidi Manjun denied there are plans to ration ICU care or place elderly patients at a lower priority.

5. Segambut MP Hannah Yeoh has urged the government to reinstate a RM30 million allocation to set up childcare centres for frontliners. 

6. The Centre for Independent Journalism argued that people have a right to know when Covid-19 cases have been detected in public places, and this can be balanced with the need for privacy and data protection.

7. Malaysia has reported 10 Covid-19 deaths yesterday – the highest in a single day. Meanwhile, a woman who fell to her death at Queen Elizabeth I Hospital in Kota Kinabalu initially reported as a suspected Covid-19 patient turned out to have tested negative for the disease three times and was due to be discharged.

8. The investment bank Goldman Sachs is made to pay for its 1MDB transgressions has regulators in Singapore, the US, and the UK impose fines and other penalties. In addition, the company is clawing back executive pay and reducing their pay for 2020.

9. Sarawak Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg said that he is weighing between public health and the needs to get a new mandate before calling for the state election after his deputy said a day earlier that the pandemic would not stop the election.

10. DAP is unhappy with PKR giving the appearance that the latter is willing to work with Umno and said it won’t follow suit if PKR president Anwar Ibrahim steps outside of the Pakatan Harapan framework.