Malaysiakini logo
This article is 4 years old

More PKR MPs defect and other news you may have missed

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

Editor's Note: Malaysiakini's weekday newsletter will be replacing the Kini Roundup. Don’t miss out on the new Kini Morning Brief newsletter. Sign up here.

1. PKR's Tebrau MP Steven Choong and Julau MP Larry Sng quit the party to support Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and his Perikatan Nasional government. The duo cited the need to serve their constituencies in justifying their decision to defect.

2. Their defection allowed Muhyiddin to regain a simple majority in the Dewan Rakyat although it remains fragile due to a group of rebellious Umno MPs.

3. Responding to the defections, PKR said it will take legal action and asked Muhyiddin not to try and prop up his "weak" government.

4. However, PKR too came under fire from Amanah for having recruited five of its assemblypersons since last year in a series of intra-coalition defections.

5. Kelantan Umno chief Ahmad Jazlan Yaakub pushed his party to investigate a propaganda book aimed at trying to dislodge party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

6. Bilut assemblyperson Lee Chin Chen was summoned by police after he criticised police and army personnel for carrying firearms while enforcing the standard operating procedures (SOPs) against Covid-19 at a temple.

7. Former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching said Sarawak's decision not to comply with the federal government's decision to reopen schools today was a "slap in the face" for Putrajaya.

8. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin called for whistleblowers to come forward amid more complaints of alleged attempts to jump the queue for the Covid-19 vaccine.

9. The country recorded 2,437 new Covid-19 cases yesterday, bringing the cumulative infections above 300,000.

10. De facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan said there shouldn't be any more challenges against syariah laws as this does not bode well for the country's harmony and national unity.