Good morning, here's a quick rundown of what happened over the weekend.


Key Highlights

  • Muhyiddin's health

  • Moves against Zahid

  • Five states in Phase 2



Muhyiddin's health

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, as of yesterday, was in the hospital for the fifth day since he was first admitted with diarrhoea.

The prolonged stay led to speculations about his health but the Prime Minister’s Office issued an assurance that Muhyiddin’s old tumour has not relapsed.

It explained that Muhyiddin was undergoing antibiotic treatment for a digestive system infection and will be discharged soon.

Umno supreme council leader Mohd Razlan Rafii noted Muhyiddin’s health and suggested that he hands over power to Umno.

Umno’s Sembrong MP Hishammuddin Hussein was previously speculated as a possible successor but he had dismissed it as a rumour.

Meanwhile, Bersatu supreme council member Lajim Ukin maintained that there shouldn’t be a change of government amid the Covid-19 pandemic and suggested opponents wait until the current term expires in 2023.


HIGHLIGHTS

Ex-AG Thomas: Agong can call for a confidence vote
This is to solve the political impasse
Tasik Chini's Unesco status under review
Malaysia has until Sept 2022 to act.
Health exco courts brickbats after ivermectin tweet
Health Ministry cautions using the veterinary drug for humans.

 



Moves against Zahid

Umno MPs opposed to party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi were in a hushed meeting at a government mansion on Jalan Bellamy last Friday.

The meeting was believed to be an attempt to rally Umno MPs to block Zahid’s speculated plan to take Umno out of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government and join forces with Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The speculation was further backed by reports of an Umno MP admitting that he had signed a statutory declaration backing Anwar as prime minister.

Another Umno MP, Shahidan Kassim, made a public appeal for the Umno supreme council to stop Zahid from taking the party out of PN, which could collapse the coalition government.

The manoeuvrings came amid the reconvening of Parliament, which the prime minister finally agreed to convene before Aug 1 after repeated nudging from the rulers.

Bersatu information chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan demanded that Anwar gives an assurance that he won’t use the Parliament session to destabilise the PN government.

In a separate development, Sabah-based PBS took a dig at Bersatu supreme council member Azmin Ali by hailing his failure to strike out a suit by Gombak voters for party-hopping.

The move is intriguing as PBS, which is a partner in the PN government, had no interest in the case before this. PBS previously made overtures to Warisan, which is in the opposition, but later downplayed it.



HIGHLIGHTS

Mystery at Jalan Bellamy
An unusual gathering.
Umno's ultimatum gambit still in play
Zahid has majority control of the Umno leadership.
Cops probing Kedah MP over alleged SOP violation
Mahfuz Omar is prepared to cooperate.

 



Five states in Phase 2

Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis entered Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan beginning today.

The government decided to shift from the national target of bringing daily Covid-19 cases to under 4,000 as a condition to move into Phase 2. Instead, it has now broken down the threshold by states and according to population.

This comes amid national cases rising, particularly in the Klang Valley, which would cause the country to remain under Phase 1 for a prolonged period based on a national target.

Under Phase 2, the easing is mostly on allowing more businesses to operate. Other restrictions remain mostly unchanged.

Meanwhile, the enhanced movement control order (MCO) took effect on large swathes of the Klang Valley last Saturday.

The enhanced MCO required many factories to close, which did not sit well with International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali. Azmin’s ministry previously allowed various factories to operate, causing friction with other ministries.

The healthcare system is under severe pressure in the Klang Valley as Covid-19 cases rise again, with cases of patients having to be treated on the floor.

Quarantine centres like the Malaysian Agro Exposition Park Serdang (Maeps) were also strained with 20 medical personnel to handle some 3,400 patients and rubbish piling up due to a lack of cleaners.


HIGHLIGHTS

M'sia ranks last in The Economist's return to normalcy index
It measures how well countries are doing post-Covid-19.
S'gor occupies last place in race to fully vaccinate the population
This is despite having the highest number of Covid-19 deaths.
M’sia to receive 1mil Pfizer vaccine doses from US
Foreign minister thanks the US.

 


A daily glance at Covid-19

  • 6,045 new cases yesterday (July 4), the sixth consecutive day where cases are above 6,000.

  • Active cases climbed for the ninth consecutive day to 67,669, the highest since June 16.

  • The infectivity rate as of yesterday was at 1.06. It had been above 1.0 for six consecutive days. A sustained value of more than 1.0 leads to exponential growth in new cases.

  • For trends on daily cases, tests, hospital beds capacity, vaccination progress and more, follow our Covid-19 tracker.


What else is happening?

  • The Federal Court in a 3-2 decision, ordered Malaysiakini to pay RM550,000 in a defamation suit by a gold mine firm. The majority and minority judgments can be read here.

  • The government is considering easing restrictions for fully vaccinated people and the guidelines are expected to be available by August.

  • Cops raided the Freedom Film Network's office and a cartoonist's home for producing an animation depicting alleged police brutality.

  • Critics participated in a protest from their homes over the weekend by putting up black flags as a sign of their disapproval of the government's management of the Covid-19 pandemic.

  • The government chose Ericsson over Huawei to roll out the country's 5G infrastructure.


HIGHLIGHTS

Experts hope gaps will be addressed to deal with long Covid
People are facing long-lasting side effects, says Dr Jemilah Mahmood.
Did PN govt drop Temiar suit because of PAS ties, asks Muda
The case was against the K'tan government.
US warns of systemic racism in human trafficking report
Malaysia downgraded to its worst ranking.

 


What are people saying?

Murdered boys: Payment but no justice
By Martin Vengadesan
Malaysians rise up
By Bridget Welsh
Going after imagined demons while real criminals roam free
By Malaysiakini readers

 


CARTOON KINI