Malaysiakini compares the key news and views in major newspapers. What is today's agenda for the newspapers?

Front Page

English newspapers

The New Straits Times

front-paged a report on Chief Justice Zaki Azmi announcing a plea bargain system for accused persons in criminal cases where they can have their penalty halved if they plead guilty.

Star led with a report on a Malaysia-Brunei 40-year deal for a joint oil and gas exploration pact signed by both heads of state yesterday.

Malay newspapers

Utusan Malaysia also led with the plea bargain report. In their second item, they also reported reactions by other politicians challenging PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim to sue after the WikiLeaks cables allegedly implicated him over the current sodomy trial.

Berita Harian reported an announcement by Deputy Human Resources Minister Maznah Mazlan compelling underaged children wanting to work as entertainers to get approval from the Labour Department first.

Sinar Harian front-paged a crime report of a “newly-wed couple” spiriting away 28 luxury cars from a rental company and selling them off to used-car traders.

Chinese Newspapers

China Press reported that a 25-year old thief was beaten to death in Pasir Mas at around 2pm yesterday for stealing a villager’s motorcycle.

Sin Chew Daily front-paged Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s appeal to the people to ignore a neighbouring country’s unflattering comments and focus on achieving national goals.

Nanyang Siang Pau reported that with the aid of the dominance of three investment themes, there is now a likelihood that the Malaysian stock market will return to the 1993 super bull market.

Oriental Daily News stated that in order to focus on the next general election, the MCA announced its decision yesterday to postpone next year’s party election.

Editorial

New Straits Times defended the Federal Land Development Authority (Felda), calling the detractors who claimed Felda was bankrupt as “political mukrakers”.

Berita Harian lauded Education Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement of a new task force to study teachers’ workload, saying that the move will improve the students’ performance.

China Press said instead of plea bargains, courts should improve their efficiency to reduce the backlog of criminal cases.

Sin Chew Daily

said the WikiLeads incident has been a lesson to national governments that without the right reasons, governments shouldn’t refuse to make public their archived data.

Nanyang Siang Pau said people in oil palm industry should not just settle for short term profits but actively respond to the government’s plan of multiple planting, otherwise Malaysia’s booming oil palm industry will become a thing of the past.