End in sight for state-wide MCOs 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. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin floated the possibility of localised Covid-19 restrictions instead of state-wide movement control orders in view of the ongoing vaccination campaign. He also announced an RM20 billion stimulus package, including RM11 billion in direct fiscal injection.

2. For those who run afoul of the MCO standard operating procedures, there will soon be a three-tier system of fines. However, those who pay up early are eligible for a 50 percent discount.

3. The New Zealand government told its Parliament that Malaysia’s Deputy Federal Territories Minister Edmund Santhara did not seek emergency allocation in its limited quarantine slots. Back home, PKR Youth wants Santhara to be extradited if he is found to have violated New Zealand laws.

4. As PKR president Anwar Ibrahim reaches out to Umno, five opposition parties urged him to unite the opposition and reject any cooperation with “kleptocrats”.

5. Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is cracking down on party supreme council members who have allegedly been leaking contents of their meetings.

6. Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said there are some unknowns that prevent the use of a single Covid-19 vaccine dose for the nation’s Covid-19 immunisation plan, instead of delaying the second dose to address a shortage in vaccine supplies. As of March 16, 346,508 people (1.1 percent of Malaysia’s population) have received their first dose.

7. A 40-year-old insurance agent is seeking to reverse her unilateral conversion to Islam by her father when she was 10 years old, but the National Registration Department and two others are objecting to her lawsuit.

8. Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said Penang may have to use muddy water for its supplies unless it pays raw water charges to Kedah.

9. BN has set up several task forces to keep tabs on the government, including one for the implementation of automatic voting eligibility for those above 18 years old.

10. Berjaya Corporation Bhd’s shares jumped 17 percent after it appointed the ousted former president of Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Abdul Jalil Abdul Rasheed, as its new group CEO.