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Will PM heed ex-opposition chief?
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Key Highlights
Will PM heed ex-opposition chief?
Zahid strengthens position in Umno
Najib missed at Umno AGM
Will PM heed ex-opposition chief?
Ten months ago, the opposition leader at the time reluctantly backed calls to allow for another round of EPF withdrawals.
The opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, said this was because Putrajaya had failed to use government funds to help the people, necessitating the people to dig into their retirement funds.
Fast forward to today, there are calls now for another round of EPF withdrawals.
Among those supporting it is a former senior legal advisor who was retrenched in 2020.
She is three years away from retirement, but is currently facing impending bankruptcy.
They want the prime minister to allow for another round of withdrawals of up to RM30,000.
Will Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim heed his own laments from when he was opposition leader and dig into government coffers, or will he buckle to pressure, or even ignore the problem?
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Zahid strengthens position in Umno
Umno president Ahmad Zahidi Hamidi is on the verge of surviving yet another close call with the axe while strengthening his position in the party.
Delegates at the Umno AGM passed a divisive motion for the top two party posts to go uncontested in the forthcoming party elections.
However, incumbent Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob opined that the validity of the motion can be decided by the Registrar of Societies.
Zahid was first elected as Umno president in 2018 - the year of BN's first electoral loss.
In that year's party polls, Zahid won just 42.4 percent of votes - but Umno's electoral college system allowed him to cinch the win as his opponents Khairy Jamaluddin and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah split the rival vote.
Zahid was forced into garden leave later that year, after Umno suffered a wave of defections but made a strong comeback in 2019, riding on the Muafakat Nasional wave.
In last year's general election, he narrowly kept his Bagan Datuk seat, with 348 votes, despite receiving just 39.6 percent of the popular vote.
Zahid had been under heavy pressure in the aftermath of the election, but securing BN's spot in the Harapan-led government has buoyed him to safety yet again.
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Najib missed at Umno AGM
Umno appeared to sorely miss their former president Najib Abdul Razak at the party's AGM.
Najib could not attend the annual meeting as he is serving 12 years in prison after being convicted in the SRC International case.
His daughter Nooryana Najwa represented the family at the Puteri Umno meet where wing chief Zahida Zarik Khan likened the jailed ex-premier to Hang Tuah.
Meanwhile, Zahid claimed that Najib was a victim of ”political persecution” and called for the judiciary to deliver him "fair justice".
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Views that matter
 | By Ranjit Singh Malhi |
 | By Zan Azlee |
 | By Mariam Mokhtar |
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