Not arrested but...

Another day, another visit to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) office for Bersatu boss and ex-inglorious leader Muhyiddin Yassin.

There'd been lotsa speculation yesterday, see, that Muhyiddin/Mahiaddin/Abah/Moo had been arrested and was due to be hauled to court. However, sayeth the man at the centre of it all, the buzzin' of the grapevine was wildly inaccurate. 

He's not been nabbed, and neither was he golfing when the authorities swooped in, as some reports had claimed. Rather, he was MIA the whole of yesterday on account of attending Bersatu meetings in preparation for the party's AGM on Friday.

What's true, though, is that Moo's been invited to another powwow this morning with our graft busters. And it's possibly, probably in relation to the former gomen's Jana Wibawa scheme for Bumiputera entrepreneurs.

If you recall, PM8 was already questioned over this some weeks ago. He'd even declared himself a "witness", not a "suspect", upon which MACC head honcho Azam Baki had advised Señor Moo (in our words) to hold his horses. So, today'll mark visit numero dos, with many speculating that Moo'll be charged.

Bersatu and Muhyiddin, BT-Dubs, have been levelled with a string of accusations in recent months, including over the misappropriation of RM92.5bil in Covid-19 stimulus package cash and the handing of a mega-money Immigration Department contract to a company linked to Moo's SIL.

However, it's the Jana Wibawa scandal that's dominated headlines, with 3 relatively small fry — Bersatu's ex-info chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan, a small-time division deputy chief and a furniture company tauke no one's heard of — charged so far.

Muhyiddin being dragged to court, as such, were it to happen, would be yuuuge. And this is likely why the man's loyal supporters are reportedly mobilising and set to descend on Putrajaya today in a show of unwavering support. Thoughts and prayers.

Meaningful change

Yesterday was International Women's Day (IWD), and we salute women and girls everywhere, not just for your contributions to society but also for the 💩 you face on a daily basis! ❤️

Notwithstanding the gomen's pledge to channel RM6mil towards female empowerment initiatives, the fight for gender equality in Malaysia continues. 

The beginning of the end of child marriage?

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek's declared that child marriage is bad (ya think?) 'cos it stops young girls from continuing their education and reaching their full potential. 

She said, rather ambiguously, that her ministry'll come up with "better policies" to handle the issue of child marriage fairly. 

Meanwhile, Women (and Children)'s Minister Nancy Shukri has said the federal gomen can only urge and write to each state gomen to ban child marriage, but not impose the law on them.

Not-so-fun fact: 7 states in the country have outright refused to ban underage marriage.

It's comforting to know that this issue hasn't been forgotten, but these vaguely-worded promises are still a far cry from this 5-year National Strategy Plan to end child marriage introduced by the Pakatan Harapan gomen during rosier, pre-Sheraton Move days in 2020. So maybe it's time to review/revive this?

Justice for our children

Not-so-breaking-news: Malaysia isn't the best when it comes to protecting our kids from abuse. In fact, we did worse than our neighbouring countries in this aspect.

That being the case, Law Minister Azalina Othman has said it's time some changes were made (hear, hear!), starting with addressing the gaps in these 3 laws, revising and updating them for the 21st century, AND improving children's access to the justice system. The laws are:

• The Sexual Offences Against Children Act 2017
• Evidence Of Child Witness Act 2007
• The Evidence Act 1950

According to Law Tsarina Aza — who led the task force to tackle child sexual crimes in 2016 — the proposed amendments will be done in 2 phases, with some happening during this parliament sesh and others after more stakeholder engagement/discussions.

Better laws = less stress = better mental health 

On an unrelated but somewhat related note, KL has the highest number of depressed and anxious people in Malaysia. Most affected groups were/are B40 and the urban poor, with relationships and finance being the main causes. 

FYI, BTL put out this must-read piece back in 2021 at the height of the pandemic, in which we looked at the alarming suicide rate of Malaysian women and the reasons behind their mental state (not to mention the burdens they face here).

So, while it's great to honour women and girls this one day a year, let's strive for meaningful, lasting, not just once-a-year changes.

Reform nation

Dewan Rakyat proceedings can often seem circus-like and yesterday was no exception, with a whole load of cacophony and 1 loudmouth "clown" (not our words!) getting ejected and being handed a 2-day time out to think about what he's done.

But Wed in the august House was perhaps most important for a bunch of reforms that got talked about:

At long last?

It's been a long time coming. From a now-jailed PM's time in office, in fact! But Malaysia could finally be taking steps to enact legislation for regulating political financing.

1 teenie weenie problem, though, is that while Law Boss Azalina's said that the Political Funding Bill — presumably the same the former gomen was set to table before Parli was dissolved last year — is being referred to a parliamentary select committee, no other deets were provided.

Who's gonna sit on said select committee? What will they discuss? What's the timeline for the law to be tabled? 

With 6 state elections coming up, the hope is that this time, we actually get a law that'll spell out clearly how politicos can raise and use funds f̶o̶r̶ ̶c̶h̶a̶r̶i̶t̶y̶. 

Splitting the difference

1 reform that might take a wee bit longer to see through is separating the roles of the attorney-general and public prosecutor.

Both PH and Barisan Nasional had pledged in their respective 15th general election manifestos (see here and here) to remove the AG's prosecutorial function and place it in the hands of a wholly removed PP. However, Aza's indicated that the gomen'll 1st need to engage with various stakeholders before that can come to pass.

A better way

Treatment instead of jail time. That's the primary aim of a to-be-introduced law targetting those caught with illegal drugs.

But Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail's said that the Abuse of Drugs and Substances (Treatment and Rehabilitation) Act (say that 10x fast!) would also serve another purpose when it sees the light of day — solving the problem of prison overcrowding. 

A total of 74,459 inmates are currently housed in 39 facilities built to hold only 65,000. Hence why the new law can't come quickly enough.

FYI, off-days from jail for low-risk prisoners were also recently mooted by the Prisons Department in light of the crowding sitch.

Health is wealth

While that Health Ministry white paper on our vaccine procurements is still set to be tabled in this Parli sesh, Health Tsarina Dr Zaliha's indicated that the other white paper — i.e. the 1 that's supposedly, purportedly on "future-proofing" our healthcare system — is set for introduction in June.

To be clear, it's not yet ready. But 1 thing the paper will be recommending, it seems, is the implementation of a national social health insurance scheme. The objective of the scheme is to diversify funding sources and make healthcare financing more sustainable and affordable. Huzzah!

Opening the lid and other stuff

Yesterday’s Covid-19 sitch —

New cases: 235  (Total: 5,044,439)

New actual deaths: 2 (Total: 36,967)

Active cases: 9,253 (ICU: 7)

Double vaxed: 84.3% (Population) 98.3% (Adults) 94.6% (60++) 91.9% (12-17) 43.5% (5-11) (State breakdown here)

Boosted: 50.0% (Population) 69.1% (Adults) 71.9% (60++) 1.9% (12-17) 0.1% (5-11)

Double boosted: 2.5% (Population) 3.4% (Adults) 6.1% (60++) — (12-17) — (5-11)

*Numbers could change as gomen updates data

The truth behind the Double 6 Tragedy — that mystery-shrouded June 6, 1976 plane crash that killed then-Sabah chief minister Fuad Stephens and other influential local leaders — might finally see the light of day. 

That's 'cos the Kota Kinabalu High Court's issued an order, in a suit by another ex-CM Harris Mohd Salleh, directing the gomen to declassify the investigation report within 3 months. Not another 47 years, Putrajaya. Got it?

There'd been calls aplenty previously for the report to be declassified, including by members of yet another ex-CM Shafie Apdal's administration. But everyone had generally left it to the discretion of "relevant authorities" to decide. So, finally, a decision's been made. 

FYI, this piece details the tragic event and some of the questions surrounding it pretty well, many of which had given rise to suspicions of foul play.

Mysterious crashes aside, here's a bit more from the news yesterday:

• After years of stalling, the Melaka Gateway project seems to have been rejuvenated. New backers include Putrajaya and the Sultan of Johor, who has acquired 30% of Gateway's developer KAJ Development Sdn Bhd, making him the 2nd largest shareholder.
   
• The gomen's identified 18 "sick" projects under the 1Malaysia Housing Programme (PR1MA). A special team's apparently reviewing these projects with the aim of resolving 10 of the issues within a year. 
   
• For many B40 income earners, fast food is a treat. But McDonald's Malaysia has now joined the Menu Rahmah initiative with its own RM5 meals which are available at over 300 branches nationwide. When will Kepci (i.e. KFC) and Burger King get in on the action?
   
• Continuing education is great. But it must be a real headache for poor widdle convict ex-PM Najib Razak, who's signed up for a PhD in economics, but can't access any gadgets while in prison. Still, we guess, points for wanting to improve himself.
   
• Amanah's youth wing has called for PAS prez Abdul Hadi Awang's "Tan Sri" title, awarded 2 years ago, to be revoked as Hadi's recent remarks about wanting to topple PMX Anwar Ibrahim's unity gomen go against the Agong's call for political stability.
   
• Hubbies can now show how much they "sayang" (love) their wives, with the new i-Sayang financial transfer facility by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). The facility allows husbands to voluntarily transfer 2% of their monthly EPF contributions to their wives' accounts and is part of the body's efforts to expand social protection for around 2.4 mil housewives.