Malaysiakini compares key news and views in major newspapers. What is today's agenda for the English, Bahasa, Tamil and Chinese papers?

Front page

English Newspapers

Both the Star and New Straits Times led with the series of shocking revelations in G Jayanthi’s testimony, VK Lingam’s former secretary, before the royal commission of inquiry.

The Sun front-paged that more MCA leaders who are currently holding government positions will step down to give way to younger leaders.

Malay Newspapers

Both Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian frontpaged G Jayanthi testifying before the royal commission.

Both dailies also briefly headlined that the prime minister is rumoured to announce dissolution of the Parliament today.

Chinese Newspapers

Oriental Daily News reported that due to the instability of the Chinese voters, MCA was forced to retain veteran leaders in the coming general election. The party was also worried that replacing veterans with new faces would draw flak from the grassroots.

Sin Chew Daily led with Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s statement that the current situation was favoring Barisan Nasional because Chinese and Indian voters who initially were disgruntled with certain issues had accepted the explanation by the government.

Nanyang Siang Pau frontpaged the RM10 million allocation by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to Chinese schools. This was the second RM10 million given by Abdullah since last December.

Tamil newspapers

Makkal Osai led with MIC president S Samy Vellu’s remarks that he would close down the party’s investment arm Maika Holdings after paying off all shareholders.

Tamil Nesan led with Lembah Pantai MP and Women, Family and Community Development Minister Shahrizat Abdul Jalil’s warning against SMS rumour-mongers about the demolition of a temple in her constituency.

All Tamil dailies also carried comments by Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that he would not be announcing the dissolution of the Parliament today.

Editorial

New Straits Times said the launch of Score in resource-rich Sarawak was an endeavour to better integrate the economies of the East Coast states with the rest of the country.

The Sun urged the government to give attention to many impediments such as Universities and University Colleges Act (1971) and graduates’ unemployment rather than injecting money into public universities to boost its standards.

Utusan Malaysia said full commitment was needed from authorities and state governments of respective states under the five economic development corridors recently announced by the Prime Minister.

Berita Harian praised the Election Committee’s move to raise the margin of votes from two percent to four percent to enable vote-recounts in the elections to ensure fair and clean election.

Sin Chew Daily said that the East Timor government led by President Jose Ramos-Horta was at the brink of collapse.

Nanyang Siang Pau commended the launching of the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy.

Tamil Nesan commented on the political turmoil in East Timor.