Asking for royal pardon doesn't mean innocence, says Anwar

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim says the pardon application submitted by jailed former Umno chief Najib Razak does not mean innocence of the charges of which he was convicted.
"When you seek a pardon, it does not mean you consider yourself innocent," Anwar, who himself was freed after securing a royal pardon in 2018 for his conviction and sentence for sodomy, said in an interview with Al Jazeera's 101 East programme.
Anwar said he believed the court which convicted Najib was independent.
"I support the decision of the courts. And I believe the courts are independent," he said.
Najib, who was convicted in 2020 of criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power over SRC International funds, began serving a 12-year jail term in August last year.
In March, the Federal Court dismissed his application for a review of his conviction and sentence, renewing a campaign by his supporters in Umno for a royal pardon.
In April, Anwar acknowledged that he would be part of the Pardons Board tasked with deciding on a pardon for Najib.
Anwar said there was no conflict of interest in him being involved in the pardons process for a leader from a party which forms part of his coalition government.
"There's a process, and I respect the process. Anyone, any prisoner, any convict, has the right to appeal to the king and seek pardon. Why deny Najib's right? Let the process go," he said.
Earlier this month, delegates attending the Umno general assembly where Anwar was an invited guest stood up in support of a call to seek "justice" for Najib.
Delegates carried banners urging for his release, while Zahid told Najib's family to be patient.
Analysts see the call for Najib's pardon as a political reward being demanded by Umno in exchange for the party's support for Anwar as prime minister.
They also warn that Anwar could lose everything if the royal pardon does not come through.
Anwar's allies DAP and Amanah have so far distanced themselves from Umno's campaign to free Najib, saying it is not a government stand.
Key leaders in both parties have also publicly condemned any move to pardon Najib, whom they targeted at the last two general elections over the 1MDB scandal.


12 MPs appointed to PAC

Twelve MPs were today appointed as members of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).They are Bersatu MPs Mohd Fasiah Mohd Fakeh (Sabak Bernam) and Yamani Hafez Musa (Sipitang); and Umno MPs Ahmad Maslan (Pontian); Noh Omar (Tanjung Karang) and Jalaluddin Alias (Jelebu).Also appointed were Lukanisman Awang Sauni (GPS-Sibuti), Ahmad Fadhli Shaari (Pasir Mas) and Ahmad Tarmizi Sulaiman (Sik) from PAS, as well as Nurul Izzah Anwar (PKR-Permatang Pauh).The others are Mohd Hatta Md Ramli (Amanah-Lumut), Wong Shu Qi (DAP-Kluang) and Ahmad Hassan (Warisan-Papar).Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun said their appointments were according to Standing Order 76(2) of the House of Representatives.Wong Kah Woh (DAP-Ipoh Timor) and Azizah Mohd Dun (Bersatu-Beaufort) were appointed as PAC chairman and vice-chairman on Aug 27.


Govt considering lifting travel restrictions for fully vaccinated long-distance couples

Long-distance couples and parents who have received both doses of Covid-19 vaccine may be allowed to travel interstate to meet their families once a relaxation of restrictions is announced in due course.Deputy Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the flexibility for long-distance families to meet was among matters being considered for those who have been fully vaccinated.He said he felt concerned and had taken note of laments over the interstate travel restriction which had taken a toll on the relationships of couples and parents who have been separated from their children.“I have often brought up this issue at National Security Council meetings. The government is studying the proposal to allow couples and long-distance families to be reunited, more so if the parents have already received two doses of vaccine.“As a father, I am aware of how important the family institution is and how it affects our lives in society. Even if it is a safety measure, parents should not be separated from their children for too long,” he said in an update on his Facebook page today.Earlier, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the easing of restrictions for individuals who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 would soon be decided at the National Recovery Council meeting.


Two Thai protesters arrested for ‘violence against queen’

Thai police arrested two activists Friday under a rarely-used law banning violence against the queen, after thousands of pro-democracy protesters defied an emergency decree to rally on the streets of Bangkok.The kingdom’s political elite has been jolted by a youth-led movement demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and issuing a once-taboo call for reforms of Thailand’s powerful monarchy.Ekachai Hongkangwan and Bunkueanun Paothong were among activists who crowded around a royal motorcade carrying Queen Suthida on Wednesday during a large demonstration near the capital’s government house.Bunkueanun said during a Friday morning Facebook broadcast that he was surrendering himself to police.“I am accused of trying to harm the queen,” he said. “I am innocent. That was not my intention.”Ekachai told AFP by phone he had also been charged and police later confirmed he was in their custody.Both men could face life prison under a law that has not been used for decades and punishes any “act of violence against the queen or her liberty”.It is the first time such a serious charge has been levelled against pro-democracy activists, many of whom have already been hit with lesser charges including sedition and breaking coronavirus rules on gatherings.Their movement’s demands include the abolition of a strict royal defamation law – which shields the monarchy from criticism – and for the royal family to stay out of politics.Many have vowed to return to the streets on Friday evening, a day after 10,000 people rallied late into the night in central Bangkok.‘Free our friends!’The protesters had defied a Thursday emergency decree banning gatherings of more than four people to demand the release of around two dozen arrested activists.Confronting police, they chanted “Free our friends!” and “Prayut get out!”, displaying a three-fingered salute adopted from the “Hunger Games” movies as a symbol of the burgeoning movement.Among the top activists arrested on Thursday was Panusaya “Rung” Sithijirawattanakul, whose detention was live-streamed on Facebook.Anon Numpa, another leading activist, said he was forcibly taken by helicopter to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand.His lawyer Krisadang Nutcharut told AFP that Anon had been refused bail and was being held in Chiang Mai prison.“Keep on fighting! My freedom is a very small issue compared to the entire struggle for democracy,” Anon posted on Facebook late Thursday.Thailand’s modern political history is dotted with periods of violent civil unrest and more than a dozen military coups, the most recent of which brought current premier Prayut to power in 2014.Bangkok-based analyst Thitinan Pongsudhirak said the protest movement could heighten the chances of Thailand facing yet another military takeover.“This endgame for Thailand’s future has been building up for years, and it is finally here and now,” he said.“A brutal dispersal of the protest may take place.”


Israel admits failings over attacks on Palestinians

The Israeli army acknowledged Friday it "failed" to prevent an attack by Jewish settlers on a Palestinian village in the occupied West Bank, during which one villager was killed.
Revenge attacks on Turmus Ayya and other villages followed the killing of four Israelis by Palestinian gunmen on Tuesday, which militant group Hamas said was in response to an Israeli army raid on Jenin refugee camp which killed six Palestinians the previous day.
Army spokesman Daniel Hagari said troops had tried to prevent Israelis from attacking Turmus Ayya but they were stretched too thin.
"We didn't have, in the first wave, enough forces in the area they chose," he told journalists on Friday.
"We failed this time," Hagari added.
Turmus Ayya residents told AFP they saw between 200 and 300 Israelis rampaging through their village on Wednesday, attacking residents and damaging dozens of houses and cars.
A delegation from more than 20 diplomatic missions, including those of the European Union and the US, visited the village on Friday to inspect the damage.
The EU's top representative to the Palestinians, Sven Kuehn von Burgsdorff, blasted Israel for failing to meet its obligations to protect Palestinians.
"There was no attempt or effort to stop the settlers," he said.
Israeli police said on Friday they had arrested three people in connection with the violence, without giving details.
Turmus Ayya is home to a significant number of Palestinian-Americans and residents voiced their anger at the lack of action from Washington.
"We are helpless," Yaser al-Kam, 33, told AFP.
"I'm speaking on behalf of this peaceful town where 80% to 90% of residents are US citizens. We hold passports, does this passport matter?" Al-Kam asked.
The 25-year-old Palestinian killed Wednesday, Omar Jabara, was a US green card holder, a US official told AFP.
The United Nations human rights chief, Volker Turk, warned "the violence, along with the inflammatory rhetoric, serve only to drive Israelis and Palestinians deeper into an abyss."
Israel's extreme-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, insisted what was needed in the West Bank was a large-scale "military operation".
"Terrorists eliminated, not one or two, but tens and hundreds, and if necessary even thousands," said Ben-Gvir, himself a settler.


FBI found more than 11,000 govt records at Trump's Florida home

The FBI recovered more than 11,000 government documents and photographs during its Aug 8 search at former president Donald Trump's Florida estate, as well as 48 empty folders labelled as "classified," according to court records that were unsealed on Friday.
The unsealing by US district judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach came one day after she heard oral arguments by Trump's attorneys and the Justice Department's top two counterintelligence prosecutors over whether she should appoint a special master to conduct a privilege review of the seized materials at Trump's request.
Cannon deferred ruling immediately on whether to appoint a special master but said she would agree to unseal two records filed by the Justice Department.
Former US attorney-general William Barr, who was appointed by Trump, questioned the usefulness of such an appointment.
"I think at this stage, since they've (FBI) already gone through the documents I think it's a waste of time" to have a special master, Barr said in an interview on Fox News.
Barr, who left the post in late December 2020, defied Trump by not backing his claims that the presidential election that year had been stolen from him.
In the interview, Barr added that he saw no "legitimate reason" for Trump having documents at his Florida estate if they were classified.
He added, "I frankly am sceptical of this claim (by Trump) that 'I declassified everything.' Because frankly I think it's highly improbable and second, if he sort of stood over scores of boxes not really knowing what was in them and said 'I hereby declassify everything in here,' that would be such an abuse, show such recklessness that it's almost worse than taking the documents."
One of the records, released on Friday, provides a little more detail about the 33 boxes and other items the FBI found inside Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, as part of its ongoing criminal investigation into whether he illegally retained national defence information and tried to obstruct the probe.
It shows that documents with classification markings were at times co-mingled with other items such as books, magazines and newspaper clippings.
Also found were unspecified gifts and clothing items.
Of the more than 11,000 government records and photos, 18 were labelled as "top secret," 54 were labelled "secret" and 31 were labelled "confidential," according to a Reuters tally of the government's inventory.
"Top secret" is the highest classification level, reserved for the country's most closely held secrets.
There were also 90 empty folders, 48 of which were marked "classified," while others indicated that they should be returned to staff secretary/military aide.
It is not clear why the folders were empty, or whether any records could be missing.
The other record that was unsealed is a three-page filing by the Justice Department updating the court about the status of its investigative team's review of the documents seized.
That filing, dated Aug 30, said investigators had completed a preliminary review of the materials seized and will investigate further and interview more witnesses.
The Justice Department's criminal investigation could be potentially put on pause if Cannon agrees to appoint a special master to come in and conduct an independent third-party review of the seized records.
However, Cannon signalled at Thursday's hearing she might be willing to permit US intelligence officials to continue reviewing the materials as part of their national security damage assessment, even if a special master is appointed.
The Justice Department has previously said in court filings it has evidence that classified documents were deliberately concealed from the FBI when it tried to retrieve them from Trump's home in June.
The Justice Department also opposes the appointment of a special master, saying the records in question do not belong to Trump and that he cannot claim they are covered by executive privilege, a legal doctrine that can be used to shield some presidential communications.


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Ex-immigration department staff suspected of helping forgery syndicate, says MACC

A former immigration department staff member is among those suspected of having created a pathway for the temporary employment visit pass (PLKS) forgery syndicate to hack the department’s database system, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said today.MACC chief commissioner Azam Baki said the suspect’s services had been terminated several years ago.“It is believed that the staff had access to the immigration database system and allowed the syndicate to steal the passwords used by immigration officers.“They used various equipment such as a router to hack into the system to the extent of being able to duplicate the software and print the PLKS outside the immigration office,” he said at a press conference at the MACC headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.Azam said five suspects, including one with a “Datuk” title, have been remanded for six days to facilitate further investigation into the case.Azam said of 9pm yesterday, MACC had frozen 147 accounts worth RM9.9 million involving 30 individuals and 11 companies allegedly linked to the syndicate.Meanwhile, immigration department director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said acting on a tip-off, the department had set up a special team in the middle of last year to gather more information.He said it was learnt that the hack of the immigration database was done on a large scale and that the department required MACC’s assistance to probe into it.“The special team did the intelligence work and gathered as much information as possible which led to the discovery of the syndicate. In fact, the home ministry had also taken note of the issue.“To address this problem, the government has approved a new system called the National Integrated Immigration System (NIISe) to replace the Malaysian Immigration System (MyIMMs) which was found to have been manipulated and misused to approve foreign workers quota,” he said.Khairul said the new system would be launched later this month and would take a year to be fully operational.


Near-total abortion ban ignites huge protests across Poland

Ordinary Poles were outraged this week as the nation’s top court backed a controversial near-total ban on abortion.Since the ruling, noisy demonstrations have been filling city streets in defiance of a ban on gatherings of more than five people due to the coronavirus pandemic.From Thursday, abortion is now allowed only in cases of rape or incest or when the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.Thousands of people gathered outside the constitutional court building in the capital Warsaw, defying lockdown restrictions, to protest against the decision.Angry demonstrators marched through the city centre to the ruling party’s headquarters with “Women’s Strike” signs and pro-LGBT rainbow flags.Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski said more than 100,000 people were on the capital’s streets, while protest organisers put the figure at 150,000.Across the country, nearly half a million people rallied at more than 400 demonstrations against the ban, according to local media.Online supporters are using the tag #ThisIsWar to show solidarity with those organising ongoing street protests.Only around 2,000 legal terminations are performed in staunchly Catholic Poland each year but an estimated 200,000 women have abortions illegally or travel abroad for the procedure.It is the chief reason for the terminations that the law and the nation’s conscience is grappling with.In 2019, 98% of abortions carried out in Poland were due to foetal congenital defects.However, on Wednesday the constitutional court issued a justification of a ruling in October that said aborting foetuses with congenital defects violated the constitution.The court said terminations must only take place in cases where there is a risk to the woman’s life or where a crime has taken place, such as rape or incest.The October decision prompted almost two weeks of huge protest rallies, some of which led to clashes with police, and now the court’s ruling is having a similar effect.Poland’s governing party has strong ties to the country’s powerful Catholic Church, which supports the ruling, but opposition parties have strongly criticised the new law, calling it “a provocation”.“The government is trying to cover up its incompetence in dealing with the pandemic and is doing that in a cynical way,” an opposition party leader Borys Budka tweeted.Another opposition leader, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, tweeted to urge the government to “save the economy, don’t set Poland ablaze”.On Friday, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki urged protesters not to go out on the streets as he announced further steps to try to limit the spread of Covid-19.He said, “I understand your anger, but I urge you to stay at home, especially for the sake of seniors.”


New infections continue below 3,200 as another 2 deaths logged

Another 3,189 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 4,896,922.
There were 2,464 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,832,220.
There are now 31,365 active cases, of which 29,855 or 95.2% are undergoing home quarantine.
Meanwhile, 0 (0.0%) are at quarantine centres while 1,444 (4.6%) have been hospitalised.
A total of 66 are in ICU with 39 in need of respiratory assistance.
Two more deaths were reported, taking total deaths to 36,466.


Govt mulls allowing interstate, overseas travel for the fully vaccinated

Those who complete two doses of the Covid-19 vaccine may be allowed to travel interstate or even abroad, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin says.He said a decision will be made on the matter at the National Security Council (NSC) meeting.He said the government had also started negotiations and discussions with several countries for Malaysians who have been vaccinated to travel there.“I will bring this up in the NSC meeting and we will discuss the possibility of allowing interstate travel for those who have completed their two vaccine doses or anywhere else without restrictions by the authorities.:This is something (that we think can) encourage people (to be vaccinated). Not only for domestic travel, but we have started discussions with several countries to allow our citizens who have completed the two doses to travel there with certificates issued,” he said at a town hall session at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching yesterday.Muhyiddin is in Sarawak for a two-day working visit.As of Wednesday, a total of 215,395 individuals in the first phase of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme had completed their two vaccine doses.


Study names world’s best and worst response to Covid-19

Brazil’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been ranked the world’s worst, while New Zealand topped the class, according to research published by a leading Australian think tank on Thursday.Sydney’s Lowy Institute assessed almost 100 countries on six criteria, including confirmed cases, deaths and testing metrics.“Collectively, these indicators point to how well or poorly countries have managed the pandemic,” according to the report by the independent body.Aside from New Zealand – which has largely kept the virus at bay with border closures and “go early, go hard” lockdowns and testing regimes – Vietnam, Taiwan, Thailand, Cyprus, Rwanda, Iceland, Australia, Latvia and Sri Lanka made the top 10 for their responses.In bottom place at number 98 was Brazil, closely followed by Mexico, Colombia, Iran and the US.Brazil has recorded more than 218,000 coronavirus deaths – a toll second only to that of the US.For much of the last year, the two most populous nations in the Americas have been led by nationalist leaders who have actively downplayed the threat of Covid-19, ridiculed mask-wearing, opposed lockdowns and contracted the virus themselves.China – where the virus first emerged – was not included in the rankings because of what the think tank described as a lack of publicly available data on testing.Beijing has aggressively tried to manage public perceptions about its handling of the disease as it tries to show its authoritarian system is preferable to democracies, many of which have faltered badly in the crisis.The Lowy Institute said that there was no clear winner when it came to which political system best handled the pandemic.Instead, almost across the board, the response has been lacklustre.“Some countries have managed the pandemic better than others – but most countries outcompeted each other only by degrees of underperformance,” the report said.Smaller nations – with populations of fewer than 10 million people – did appear to have some advantages.“In general, countries with smaller populations, cohesive societies, and capable institutions have a comparative advantage in dealing with a global crisis such as a pandemic,” the report said.Overall, cases have now topped 100 million worldwide and some 2.2 million people have died from the virus since the outbreak began in December 2019.


Najib to testify in Rosmah’s graft trial

Najib Razak will testify as a defence witness in the corruption trial of his wife, Rosmah Mansor, relating to a RM1.25 billion solar hybrid project for 369 rural schools in Sarawak.Rosmah’s lawyer Jagjit Singh said the former prime minister is among the witnesses to be called to testify in the nine-day proceeding which will being on June 9.He added that the defence currently has five or six witnesses, with another 10 or so offered by the prosecution.“We need to look into the list (of prosecution witnesses) and we also need to interview them,” he told reporters after today’s court proceeding.Earlier, High Court judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan ordered Rosmah to enter her defence on all three corruption charges after finding that the prosecution had proven a prima facie case against her.Najib was seen in court sitting beside his wife and comforting her after the verdict was delivered.


Elon Musk spars with Bernie Sanders, offers to sell more Tesla stock

Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk got into a spat with Bernie Sanders on Sunday after the US senator demanded the wealthy pay their “fair share” of taxes.“We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period,” Sanders wrote on Twitter. Taking a jibe at the 80-year-old senator, Musk responded by saying “I keep forgetting that you’re still alive.”The billionaire CEO who had already offloaded a combined US$6.9 billion worth of shares in the electric car company as of Nov 12, further wrote, “Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word.”Sanders’ tweet comes amid the backdrop of Washington’s efforts to hike taxes for the super-wealthy.US Senate Democrats have unveiled a proposal to tax billionaires’ stocks and other tradeable assets to help finance President Joe Biden’s social spending agenda and close a loophole that has allowed them to defer capital gains taxes indefinitely.A week ago, Musk tweeted that he would sell 10% of his shares if users of the social media platform endorsed the move. About 57.9% of people voted for the stock sale.


Politicians bringing the country down into the abyss?

Malaysia seems to have taken a “cursed” path in that whenever everything generally looks all right, the politicking of politicians always has a way of dragging the country down into the abyss, and the pattern is repeated every now and then.In February last year, at the peak of the victory against the war on Covid-19 when there were nil daily infections for 12 consecutive days, the politicians at the same time went on a rampage by creating a political crisis that resulted in a change in government, along with the emergence of the second wave of Covid-19 a few days later. It took three months for it to be manageable with the introduction of the recovery movement control order (RMCO) in June.Again, while things seemed to be rosy in early September when daily infections were brought down to a one- and two-digit level (the threshold getting higher from 0 infections), a power play among politicians resulted in a snap state election in Sabah – the cause of the emergence of the third wave of infections which still bedevils the country today with a four-digit daily infection figure and cumulative infections breaching the 100,000 mark at the end of December.And as the New Year was ushered in with things in general looking good, apart from a record-high 2,525 daily infections of Covid-19 and the compensation Malaysia has to pay Singapore for the cancellation of the High-Speed Rail (HSR) project – both on New Year’s Eve – the politicians are at it again, which may just unravel the good things to come in 2021.In the first place, there was already the positive carryover effect on the economy with the passage of Budget 2021 in December and the announcement on the availability of Covid-19 vaccine in February.On Jan 4, there was a troika-load of more good news. First, the ringgit opened on a firm note on the first trading day of 2021, trading higher against other major currencies and leading the regional charge against the US dollar on vaccine optimism by breaching RM4 against the greenback for the first time since June 2018.It was quoted at RM3.995 against the US dollar compared with last Thursday’s close at 4.0200/0250. It was as if the ringgit also gave its blessing for the cancellation of the HSR project, despite the compensation that needs to be paid.According to Axi chief global market strategist Stephen Innes, the market continued to build in boatloads of optimism about a global growth recovery in 2021 and an accompanying downward trajectory for the US dollar as the primary consensus view.That optimism hinges on the projected impact of the widespread Covid-19 vaccine distribution which will provide the ultimate economic kick-start, offering a massive booster shot to corporate profits.Then came the news on improved indicators showing recovery in Malaysia’s manufacturing sector despite difficult conditions when the headline IHS Markit’s Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for December rose to a four-month high, pointing to stability.IHS Markit chief business economist Chris Williamson said: “Encouragingly, job losses have eased and manufacturers remain optimistic on balance that output will continue to recover in 2021, led by the rollout of vaccines helping to restore trading to more normal conditions.”The IHS Markit survey also found that Malaysian producers signalled a broad stabilisation in employment levels, in preparation for the requirement of additional capacity in relation to future orders which pushed the survey’s employment index to the highest in nine months in December.Consequently, the requirements of additional staff reflected pressure building on operating capacity, as backlogs of work fell to the lowest extent since June.Finally, the third troika of good news was when Bernama reported that investment bank Credit Suisse projected Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at 6% this year, ranking second-highest in Asean after the Philippines.Its Asean securities research co-head and Malaysia research head Danny Goh attributed this optimistic projection to private consumption, which accounts for 58% of GDP and is the single-biggest contributor.“We believe that as long as the government implements the 2021 Budget measures, such as cash handouts and initiatives to reduce the unemployment rate, private consumption should rebound, barring further lockdowns,” he added.However, the key risks that could derail the pace of an expected V-shaped recovery in 2021 are political instability, execution of the proposed budget for 2021, and failure to contain Covid-19 outbreaks.There you go, political instability emerges again as the number one risk. Just over the New Year weekend, there was a war of words between Umno and Bersatu, started by Umno Youth chief Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki who accused Bersatu of “stealing and buying” off its members based on the many complaints and concerns about it from among Umno members and grassroots leaders nationwide.This led to a rejoinder from Bersatu information chief, Wan Saiful Wan Jan, who denied the accusation and asserted that the latter’s allegations were not backed by evidence.What’s interesting about these two characters is that their war of words was done through Facebook when matters such as this are best brought to and resolved through the mechanism of Perikatan Nasional’s presidential council.A recent event in politics where allegations were made without being backed up with evidence was the recent US election where President Donald Trump’s allegation of massive fraud without any solid evidence almost paralysed democracy there.From such a trivial and childish war of words, it escalated into an existential issue when the Umno leadership saw Bersatu for all intents and purposes as out to destroy Umno.And yet, both parties are members of the Perikatan Nasional government.This culminated in a clarion call by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for all Umno MPs to leave the PN coalition, which could lead to a snap election, although Umno later denied its president making such a statement.The present political drama is reminiscent of last February’s political crisis. Back then it was politicking within Pakatan Harapan that led to its downfall. Now, it is the politicking within PN whose ending has yet to be ascertained.Back then, as the drama unfolded, the opposition politicians including those from Umno stood quietly and opportunistically on the sidelines until the demise of the PH government was confirmed, whereby they joined the winning party for a feast; now it seems the opposition PH is also standing quietly on the sidelines – but whether they’ll join the winning party in a feast is yet to be determined.Unlike back then, when a dark horse was triumphant, this time around many will surely think it is opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim who will be the victorious white horse. But is this so? Only time will tell.In the meantime, it is the people who will suffer just like they suffered back then during the second wave of the Covid attack, and then the third wave of infections which were all the outcome of the politicians’ Game of Thrones.Will the third wave of Covid-19 morph into a more deadly fourth wave because a snap election is going to be held amid a four-digit daily infection pandemic? Will the economy collapse because this never-ending politicking affects the fundamentals of the economy and may result in investors voting with their feet and moving out of the country to cut their losses?Or will sanity prevail among the politicians, seeing that floods and the pandemic are all over the country, and will they finally agree to let the present government continue in peace to focus on the fight against Covid-19 and the recovery of the economy, and then pick up their battle again once all these challenges are overcome? Again, only time will tell.Jamari Mohtar is director of media and communications at independent think tank Emir Research.The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.


Umno could implement 2009 ruling to force ‘court cluster’ to take leave

An upcoming Umno Supreme Council meeting could see the party leadership urging those facing charges in court to take leave from their positions, a move that could affect their president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and several others facing multiple corruption charges, Utusan Malaysia reports.The news outlet quoted lawyer Adnan Seman as saying that the move was reminiscent of a decision taken by the party on May 29, 2009, two months after Najib Razak took over as president.The Supreme Council had then stated that any party leader or member who was on trial would be automatically suspended from all positions in the party.“The Supreme Council’s decision in 2009 stated that leaders who are facing charges can be suspended until their cases are dismissed,” Adnan told Utusan Malaysia.He added that the decision has yet to be enforced.In 2009, the Umno Supreme Council dismissed Labuan division chief Suhaili Abdul Rahman from his position following a charge of making a false statement.Adnan told Utusan Malaysia that Suhaili’s dismissal was made in accordance with Article 10.10 of the Umno constitution.Zahid is currently facing 47 charges of criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit in funds from Yayasan Akalbudi.Zahid who was elected to the post in 2018, had taken “garden leave” following pressure from the party, only to return to the top post after six months.Meanwhile, Najib has been convicted and sentenced to 12 years’ jail and a RM210 million fine for seven charges linked to RM42 million of SRC International funds, with dozens of other corruption charges linked to the 1MDB scandal pending.Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan is also on trial for allegedly failing to declare RM2 million that he received from Najib.Putrajaya Umno chief Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor meanwhile face a 12-year jail sentence and RM2 million fine for a charge of accepting a RM2 million bribe from a businessman.


Advancing Russian forces reach key highway from Donbas cities

Advancing Russian forces came closer to surrounding Ukrainian troops in the east, briefly seizing positions on the last highway out of a crucial pair of Ukrainian-held cities before being beaten back, a Ukrainian official said on Thursday.Three months into its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has abandoned its assault on the capital Kyiv and is trying to consolidate control of the industrial eastern Donbas region, where it has backed a separatist revolt since 2014.It has poured thousands of troops into its assault, attacking from three sides in an attempt to encircle Ukrainian forces in Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk. The fall of the two cities, which straddle the Siverskiy Donets river, would bring nearly the whole of Luhansk province under Russian control, a key Kremlin war aim.“Russia has the advantage, but we are doing everything we can” in the battle in the area, said General Oleksiy Gromov, deputy chief of the main operations department of Ukraine’s general staff.Serhiy Gaidai, governor of Luhansk province, said around 50 Russian soldiers had reached the highway and “managed to gain a foothold for some time. They even set up some kind of checkpoint there”.“The checkpoint was broken, they were thrown back. That is to say, the Russian army does not control the route now, but they are shelling it,” he said in an interview posted on social media. He hinted at further Ukrainian withdrawals, saying it was possible troops would leave “one settlement, maybe two. We need to win the war, not the battle”.“It is clear that our boys are slowly retreating to more fortified positions – we need to hold back this horde,” he said.Western military analysts see the battle for the two cities as a potential turning point in the war, now that Russia has defined its principal objective as capturing the east.‘Sobering’Reuters journalists operating in Russian-held territory further south saw proof of Moscow’s advance in the town of Svitlodarsk, where Ukrainian forces withdrew earlier this week.The town is now under firm control of pro-Russian fighters, who have occupied the local government building and hung a red flag bearing the Soviet hammer and sickle at the door.Drone footage filmed by Reuters of the nearby abandoned battlefield showed scores of craters pockmarking a green field surrounded by wrecked buildings. Pro-Russian fighters were milling about in trenches.Russia’s recent gains in the Donbas follow the surrender of Ukraine’s garrison in Mariupol last week, and suggest a shift in momentum on the battlefield after weeks in which Ukrainian forces had advanced near Kharkiv in the northeast.“Recent Russian gains offer a sobering check on expectations for the near term,” tweeted defence analyst Michael Kofman, director of Russian studies at the US-based CNA think-tank.Russian troops have broken through Ukrainian lines at Popasna, south of Sievierodonetsk, and are threatening to encircle Ukrainian forces, he wrote.“The extent to which this breakthrough at Popasna threatens Ukraine’s overall position depends on whether or not Russian forces gain momentum.”Ukrainian interior ministry adviser Vadym Denisenko told a briefing 25 Russian battalions were attempting to surround the Ukrainian forces.Homes destroyedA few weeks ago, it was Ukrainian forces that were advancing, pushing Russian troops back from the outskirts of Kharkiv towards the Russian border. But Moscow appears to have halted its retreat there, retaining a strip of territory along the frontier and preventing Ukrainian troops from cutting Russian supply lines that run east of the city to the Donbas.Multiple blasts could be heard in central Kharkiv on Thursday as Russian forces dug in and maintained control of positions in villages to the north. Governor Oleh Synehubov said shelling had killed four people.“It’s loud here but it’s home at least,” said Maryna Karabierova, 38, as another blast could be heard nearby. She had returned to Kharkiv after fleeing to Poland and Germany earlier in the war. “It can happen at any time, at night, during the day: this is what life is here.”The Donbas advance has been backed by massive artillery bombardment. Ukraine’s armed forces said more than 40 towns in the region had been shelled in the past 24 hours, destroying or damaging 47 civilian sites, including 38 homes and a school.In a speech by videolink to leaders of other ex-Soviet states, President Vladimir Putin played down the impact of sanctions imposed by Western countries and the suspension of operations in Russia by many international companies.“Representatives of our businesses face problems, of course, especially in the field of supply chains and transport. But nevertheless, everything can be adjusted, everything can be built in a new way,” Putin said.Russian bailiffs have seized more than 7.7 billion roubles (US$123.2 million) from Google that the US tech giant had been ordered to pay in a fine, Interfax news agency reported. Google’s Russian unit said last week it planned to file for bankruptcy after authorities seized its bank account.Global attention this week has focused on Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which has halted exports from one of the world’s biggest suppliers of grain and cooking oil.Western countries say Moscow is blackmailing poor countries by causing a global food crisis. Russia says it will open the ports if sanctions are lifted.Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow expects Ukraine to accept its demands at any future peace talks. It wants Kyiv to recognise Russian sovereignty over the Crimea peninsula Moscow seized in 2014, and the independence of separatist-claimed territory.In a speech to dignitaries in Davos, Switzerland, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Putin must not be permitted to impose peace terms.“There will be no dictated peace,” Scholz said. “Ukraine will not accept this, and neither will we.”


Rebel mobilisation in southern Sudan raises fears of conflict spreading

Residents of Sudan's South Kordofan State reported mobilisation by a large rebel force on Thursday, raising fear that internal conflict could spread in the country's southern regions.
The rebel force, the SPLM-N, is led by Abdelaziz al-Hilu, and is estimated to contain tens of thousands of men as well as heavy weaponry.
It is unclear what position Hilu might take in the conflict that erupted in the capital Khartoum on April 15 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), but its mobilisation raised fears of clashes, residents said.
SPLM-N forces had moved into several army camps around Kadugli, the capital of South Kordofan, prompting the army to reinforce its positions, they said, adding that the RSF had closed the road between Kadugli and El Obeid to the north, depriving the city of supplies.
In past months there had been skirmishes between the SPLM-N and the RSF.
In the capital Khartoum, where fighting has been concentrated, residents reported sporadic battles and air strikes on Thursday.
Those included clashes in the south of Khartoum around a military complex containing weapons factories where the army has been trying to regain control from its paramilitary rivals.
Reuters was not able to independently confirm the accounts.
The war has triggered a major humanitarian crisis that threatens to destabilise the region. More than 1.4 million people have been displaced within Sudan and a further 476,800 have fled into neighbouring countries.
Lawyer killed
Beyond the capital, unrest has flared in the western region of Darfur, already struggling with the impact of two decades of conflict and displacement.
In El Geneina in West Darfur, the city worst hit by recent violence, a lawyer who had worked on the cases of displaced people and eight members of his family were killed in an attack on their house earlier this week according to the Darfur Bar Association, a group that monitors the conflict.
A medical union reported that a new wave of attacks had begun on Wednesday in the city, which has been cut off from communications for several weeks.
Fighting in Khartoum and the adjoining cities of Bahri and Omdurman has intensified since a 12-day ceasefire between the army and RSF formally expired on June 3.
The recent ceasefire, brokered by Saudi Arabia and the US at talks in Jeddah, had been repeatedly violated, but had allowed for the delivery of limited amounts of humanitarian aid.
Mediators told Reuters that a proposal had been put forward at indirect consultations in Jeddah for a 24-hour truce that would be more closely monitored than previous truces.
A US State Department spokesman said on Wednesday said there had been no formal resumption of talks in Jeddah but Washington remained "deeply engaged" with the two sides.
The conflict in Sudan derailed the launch of a transition towards civilian rule four years after a popular uprising ousted strongman President Omar al-Bashir.
The army and RSF, which together staged a coup in 2021, fell out over the chain of command and military restructuring plans under the transition.


‘Court cluster’ term for Umno leaders is propaganda, says PKR’s Fahmi

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil has rejected the “court cluster” phrase used on Umno leaders facing multiple corruption charges, in a continuing move by loyalists of PKR president Anwar Ibrahim to push for a political alliance with the Malay party.“This is propaganda. To me, court cluster is an invention of J-KOM and I won’t promote (the term),” he said in an online talk show recently, referring to the Department of Community Communications, a unit under the communications and multimedia ministry which was rebranded from Jasa, a propaganda unit under the Prime Minister’s Department during the Barisan Nasional era.Fahmi had featured in the talk show alongside Kamal Amir, an Umno veteran close to party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.His remarks follow improved ties between PKR and Umno on the back of talks between their leaders to explore a political alliance against the Perikatan Nasional (PN) bloc.“Court cluster” is a pandemic-laced term used for Zahid, former Umno president Najib Razak and a group of Umno leaders who are together facing hundreds of charges linked to corruption, bribery and money laundering.Both Zahid and Najib had last year written to the palace expressing support for Anwar’s bid to topple Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.The duo, who between them face more than 80 corruption charges, have emerged as the biggest critics of the PN government.Fahmi said he was aware of those who criticise PKR’s move to cooperate with Umno, with many reminding him of the party’s cooperation with Dr Mahathir Mohamad prior to the 2018 election.“I was impressed with what Zahid said in Parliament, that honesty and sincerity must form the basis,” he said, adding that PKR and Umno have both fallen victim to those who want to cling to power.He said PKR and Umno have also suffered a common fate in the form of the defection of MPs, as well as their parties being sidelined while in power.“What happened to PKR is the same as what happened to Umno before. After GE14, there was a movement that tried to split Umno, just like what happened to PKR,” he said, referring to Umno MPs who joined Bersatu after the 2018 polls.“The fate of Umno and PKR in that respect is the same,” he added.Fahmi further claimed that during the Pakatan Harapan administration, Mahathir had ignored PKR’s recommendations for ministerial posts.“The list of ministers from PKR in Mahathir’s administration was not the party list,” he said.


Mine is a Malay-Muslim government, Anwar tells PKR reps

PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim today told MPs and assemblymen from the party that his plan to topple the government through defections in the Dewan Rakyat is on track, ahead of a royal audience he secured to meet the Agong next week.Several party leaders who attended the meeting told MalaysiaNow Anwar had categorically stated that he was envisaging a “Malay-Muslim government”.“He said this would allay the long-held fears that Anwar depends much on support from DAP,” the MP said on condition of anonimity.MalaysiaNow reported earlier that DAP, the predominantly Chinese component of Pakatan Harapan which has 42 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, had chosen to stay out of Anwar’s plan.It is understood that DAP leaders had “made it very clear” to Anwar that the party would not join any bloc made up of Umno MPs, “in particular those smeared by corruption”.Among those seen as backing Anwar is a group of MPs led by Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, who is facing 47 charges of corruption, criminal breach of trust and money laundering.Several Umno MPs have however strongly denied that they would back Anwar, after speculation that their names were on a list of MPs supporting the plan to topple Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.Jerantut MP Ahmad Nazlan Idris, Padang Terap MP Mahdzir Khalid and Jempol MP Salim Shariff all denied backing Anwar.The same source told MalaysiaNow that at today’s meeting, Anwar claimed that Zahid, his staunch loyalist when the duo were in Umno in the 1990s, was not on the “list to be given to the Agong”.“He even denied that DAP would not support his plan for a parliamentary coup,” the source said, adding that the PKR chief had “exuded confidence throughout the online meeting”.“According to Anwar, DAP will back Anwar’s Malay government but will not be part of the Cabinet.”“According to Anwar, DAP will back Anwar’s Malay government but will not be part of the Cabinet.”But a statement released by PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail made no mention of the composition of Anwar’s bloc.“Anwar expressed the need to form a strong and stable government in order to focus its efforts on the rakyat’s agenda,” the statement said.Yesterday, Anwar said Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah had consented to a royal audience on Oct 13, at which he would furnish details of his claim to having a “formidable and convincing” majority support from MPs to form the government.Three weeks earlier, Anwar declared that Muhyiddin’s government had fallen, and that he was on the verge of forming a strong new administration.


India’s daily Covid death toll hits new record as shortages bite

India’s daily coronavirus death toll passed a new record Saturday as the government battled to get oxygen supplies to hospitals overwhelmed by the hundreds of thousands of new daily cases.Queues of Covid-19 patients and their fearful relatives are building up outside hospitals in major cities across India, the new world pandemic hotspot which has now reported nearly one million new cases in three days.Another 2,624 deaths, a new daily record, were reported in 24 hours, taking the official toll to nearly 190,000 since the pandemic started.More than 340,000 new cases were also reported, taking India’s total to 16.5 million, second only to the US.But many experts are predicting the current wave will not peak for at least three weeks and that the real death and case numbers are much higher.Stung by criticism of its lack of preparation ahead of the wave of infections, the central government has organised special trains to get oxygen supplies to the worst-hit cities.It has also pressed industrialists to increase production of oxygen and other life-saving drugs in short supply.One “oxygen express” carrying 30,000 litres for hospitals arrived in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh state at dawn on Saturday, where armed guards were waiting to escort trucks to hospitals.Lucknow has been one of the worst hit cities, with hospitals and crematoriums inundated with patients and bodies, and officials said the liquid oxygen would only be enough for half a day’s needs.The Indian air force is also being used to transport oxygen tankers and other supplies around the country.In New Delhi, the city’s government said it would begin setting up buffer stocks of oxygen to speed supplies to hospitals when they are within hours of running out.Many patients are dying outside hospitals in the capital because of the lack of beds and oxygen.One charity has set up an overflow crematorium in a car park, with makeshift funeral pyres built to deal with the mounting deaths.


No noise, no crowds as pandemic measures continue for Johor polls

Elections in Malaysia are normally a noisy and colourful affair, with parties and coalitions striving to outdo each other in so-called “flag wars”, and talks or ceramahs packed with people on a nightly basis.Seven days into the campaign period for the Johor election, though, the atmosphere remains subdued, with even party flags few and far in between.Where candidates would once blast their promises through loudspeakers on stages or from the back of campaign vehicles, there is now only quiet as measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19 keep mass gatherings in check.Checks by MalaysiaNow in Segamat found the mood sombre and hushed, with a small scattering of flags interspersed along the roads.Near the town itself, a four-wheel drive bearing Pakatan Harapan (PH) banners was making the rounds carrying only the driver and a single passenger.On the Labis-Lenga route, a few more flags and posters had been set up, mostly from Perikatan Nasional and Barisan Nasional.Members of the media and personnel from the operations room attend a Pakatan Harapan ceramah on Tuesday night.While the Election Commission has given the green light for ceramahs at official party premises subject to a limit of 100 people, even these talks, once a focus point of every coalition’s campaign, do not appear to be attracting much interest.On Tuesday night, a talk by PH’s candidate for the Kota Iskandar seat in Taman Mutiara Rini was attended only by members of the media and personnel from the coalition’s operations room.Originally scheduled to run for two hours, the talk was eventually cut short after less than 40 minutes.Preventive measures such as physical distancing in the arrangement of seats have all been taken, yet response from voters remains low.In Kampung Tonjos in Jabi, some 5km from Segamat town, Shafiie Halim said he did not hope to meet any of the candidates running in the election.He is more interested in finding a buyer for the car that has been parked outside his house for more than two months.“If people come, I won’t chase them away,” he said. “But I’m not about to attend a ceramah or visit an operations centre.“I’m just waiting for people to come and look at my car. If I can get some money, then I can buy food.”Shafiie’s neighbour, a single mother who introduced herself as Lin, said she too is not keen on welcoming campaigners as she is worried about the spread of Covid-19.“They can come to campaign, but not house to house like they used to,” she said.She isn’t boycotting the campaigns, she added – she only wants to ensure her safety and that of her family.“I’m scared,” she said simply.But as wary as they are about the possibility of catching Covid-19, both Lin and Shafiie say they will be turning out to vote come election day on March 12.The Johor election will be the fourth state election held since the start of the pandemic.The three elections before this, in Sabah, Melaka and Sarawak, were held under tight SOPs as part of efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19.


MPs plan the ‘storming’ of Parliament?

A group of opposition MPs are planning to gather at the Parliament building in a bid to push for a Dewan Rakyat sitting during the emergency period, MalaysiaNow has learnt.At least three MPs from Pakatan Harapan (PH) have said that they were informed of the plan, with efforts underway to contact other opposition blocs.MalaysiaNow has also been informed that several options are being considered to thwart any move to stop them from gathering at the Parliament building.This includes insisting that Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin hold a briefing for MPs at the Parliament on the government’s Covid-19 vaccination drive.Khairy had earlier written to PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim, asking him to set a date and venue for a briefing for key leaders of the coalition about the national immunisation programme.PH leaders however are insisting that the briefing be delivered to all MPs, including those outside the coalition.“This was something we conveyed to Dewan Rakyat Speaker Azhar Harun during a meeting last week,” said a senior MP.“They are at the moment gearing up efforts to contact all MPs, saying they have more than a hundred on their side,” the MP added.Meanwhile, it is believed that PH officials have been told to inform local and foreign media outlets when the gathering takes place.“It is important for the event to get maximum coverage. The sight of MPs being locked out of Parliament will be a godsent news,” an MP from a northern state told MalaysiaNow.PH leaders have been stepping up a demand for the Dewan Rakyat to convene during the emergency, ever since Istana Negara released a statement last month clarifying its powers under the emergency ordinance.The palace had said that the Agong could allow Parliament to convene at a suitable date during the state of emergency if recommended by the prime minister.Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Takiyuddin Hassan recently said there is no plan to call for a parliamentary sitting at the moment as the government is focused on fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.The remarks drew strong criticism from Anwar, in a statement almost identical to another issued by Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.BN has since revoked the statement.


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Another Covid self-test kit receives conditional approval

Another Covid-19 self-test kit has received conditional approval from the health ministry through the Medical Devices Authority (MDA) for sale to the public.Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a Facebook post said the latest kit was the Beright Covid-19 Antigen Rapid Test Device (Oral Fluid) made by Hangzhou Alltest Biotech Co Ltd.The test kit can be supplied by registered pharmacists or private healthcare facilities.“The use of Covid-19 self-test kits should be limited for screening purposes only, and all test results need further confirmation using RT-PCR,” MDA said.Two kits – the Salixium Covid-19 Rapid Antigen Rapid Test (Saliva/Nasal Swab Samples) made by Reszon Diagnostic International Sdn Bhd and Gmate Covid-19 Ag Saliva For Home Use by Philosys Co Ltd, Korea – have already been given conditional approval for local distribution.The list, which will be updated from time to time, can be checked through the MDA portal.


Kuching court dismisses bid by youths to stop Sarawak polls

The Kuching High Court today dismissed a bid by three Sarawakian youths to stop the state election on Dec 18 and to update the electoral roll so that they can vote under Undi 18.Judicial commissioner Alexander Siew dismissed the legal action brought by the youths for a judicial review, saying the automatic right to vote does not mean instantaneous.“Under the election regulations there are processes to be followed,” he said.“The registrar still needs to check if a person is qualified to vote. Under the amendment to the Federal Constitution, there is no need to apply, and it is automatic in that sense.”He also said that under the new system, the electoral roll would be updated every month compared to the old system which was updated every three months.Avril Clarice Chin Ning, 18, and Ivan Alexander Ong and Addam Johanson Jeremy Shayne, both 19, filed the application against the Registrar of Electors for Sarawak and the Election Commission (EC) last Wednesday.They were represented by their lawyers Clement Wong, George Lo and Simon Siah.The suit followed the Dec 15 gazetting of Undi 18 or the lowering of the minimum age of voting from 21 to 18.The Sarawak election meanwhile will use the electoral roll last updated on Nov 2.Law minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar had said in the Dewan Rakyat that Undi 18 and automatic voter registration would be implemented before Dec 31.This was in line with an order by the Kuching High Court on Sept 3.The proposed amendments were approved in Parliament in July 2019. The gazette meanwhile stated that the king had appointed Dec 15 as the date on which the Undi 18 amendments would take effect.The constitutional amendment was gazetted on Nov 25. The Sarawak state legislative assembly was however dissolved on Nov 3, before the amendment.


Daily cases still under 20,000 as Sarawak surges past 5,000

Another 19,198 Covid-19 cases were recorded today, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 1,979,698.Sarawak recorded 5,291 cases, Selangor 2,347, Johor 2,110, Sabah 1,717, Kelantan 1,435, Penang 1,309, Kedah 1,256 and Perak 1,118.Terengganu recorded 930 cases, Pahang 584, Kuala Lumpur 376, Melaka 340, Negeri Sembilan 283.Perlis recorded 67 cases, Putrajaya 32 and Labuan three.


Pfizer confirms fake vaccine shots on sale in Mexico, Poland

US drugmaker Pfizer on Wednesday confirmed that suspect doses of its coronavirus vaccine that were seized in Mexico and Poland were indeed fake, with doses going for as much as US$1,000 a shot, according to US media.At a clinic in Mexico some 80 people received bogus doses of the drug, which appeared to have been physically harmless, though offering no protection against the potentially deadly disease ravaging the country, a report in the Wall Street Journal said.The vials were found in beer coolers and were initially identified by fabricated lot numbers and expiration dates, Mexican officials said.The liquid in the confiscated vials in Poland was a cosmetic substance, thought to be anti-wrinkle cream, the company said.“We are cognisant that in this type of environment – fuelled by the ease and convenience of e-commerce and anonymity afforded by the internet – there will be an increase in the prevalence of fraud, counterfeit and other illicit activity as it relates to vaccines and treatments for Covid-19,” a Pfizer spokesman told ABC News.In February, health authorities in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon warned about “clandestine” sales of “alleged Covid vaccines” and urged people not to take them.In March, the World Health Organization also warned of “falsified” Pfizer vaccines found in Mexico and warned that the shots “may still be in circulation in the region”.Pfizer tested the bogus vials and found they did not contain the two-shot vaccine it developed with BioNTech.Lev Kubiak, Pfizer’s head of global security, said the desperate need and the shortfall in vaccines had led to the scams.“We have a very limited supply, a supply that will increase as we ramp up and other companies enter the vaccine space. In the interim, there is a perfect opportunity for criminals,” he told the Wall Street Journal.Mexico is also examining a shipment of 6,000 doses of what is claimed to be the Russian vaccine Sputnik that were seized on a private plane headed for Honduras last month, the newspaper said.


The end of race-based business cartels?

How many times have you noticed a money changer who is not of Indian origin, or a pharmacy run by other than ethnic Chinese?One theory is that the money changers today inherited the trade from their ancestors who literally cashed in on the early Indian economic migrants to British Malaya in the early 20th century.As for pharmacies, or for that matter car accessories shops, it is said that they operate in close communal networks, passed on to the younger generations along with all the trade secrets.In essence, they are cartels, which over a long period have built a wall around their businesses that even governments will find difficult to penetrate.Many experiments by the previous Barisan Nasional government to break business monopolies met with failure.The most recent was the technology gadget business.In 2015, then-rural development minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob mooted the Mara Digital Mall, a plan to get the Bumiputera community involved in the lucrative business and, ultimately, to break what was seen as a one-race monopoly of the trade, symbolised by the Low Yat Plaza in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.A touchy problemThe plan soon collapsed despite the many incentives, with complaints from traders that the same monopoly was replicated, only this time with their own people behind it.The topic of so-called cartels or independent businesses which work together resulting in near-complete control over the market can be a touchy one.For decades, some business sectors in the country have operated on a communal basis with activities dominated by those in a particular community.Mara Digital Mall in Kuala Lumpur, the government’s ambitious attempt to break what was seen as a one-race monopoly of the technology gadget trade.But where the government has failed, technology may succeed, says an academic.Changes are in fact already taking place, said Prof Izlin Ismail, who heads Universiti Malaya’s Centre for Business Excellence.“Look at how the money changing business has gone online,” she told MalaysiaNow, referring to the sector normally associated with those of Indian Muslim heritage.She said car repair shops, once dominated by Chinese, would also be a dying industry.“New cars are also going electronic and electric.”With technological advancements, more and more people can now acquire the knowledge and skills needed to succeed in any given sector.Government’s true roleStill, it is not the death knell for cartels, Izlin said, as they thrive due to control over the supply chain.“Since that community controls the supply chain, it’s difficult for others outside that group to penetrate the market,” she said.“The government has tried to open up some of these businesses to the Bumiputera community but has never really succeeded. That’s because somewhere along the supply chain, there is a communal relationship that will give preference to those within the group.”Even so, she added, economists are generally cautious about government intervention as markets are better at allocating resources.“Government intervention is required when there is market failure.“The role of the government is to make markets more efficient, not to take over their role.”Market failure usually occurs when the supply of goods and services does not meet demand.In any case, Izlin said, there is a lack of data on the influence of cartels which makes it difficult to assess whether they are bad for the economy.Nevertheless, economists believe that fewer barriers to doing business is good for the economy.


Indonesia's Mount Semeru erupts, forcing thousands to flee

Indonesia's Mount Semeru erupted Sunday spewing hot ash clouds a mile high and rivers of lava down its side while sparking the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people exactly one year after its last major eruption killed dozens.
The burst from the highest mountain on Indonesia's main island of Java, around 800km southeast of the capital Jakarta, prompted authorities to raise the alert status for the volcano to the highest level.
Villages around Semeru were being battered by a mix of volcanic ash and monsoon rains. Videos shared with AFP by a local rescue group showed a huge black cloud rising from the volcano, engulfing the sky and blocking the sun.
One resident described the panic when the ash clouds descended on their village.
"It was dark, I could not see anything. It was raining water and ash," the person, who did not want to be named, told AFP.
"I didn't know where to take shelter. I had to flee."
"Hot avalanches" triggered by piles of lava at the top flooded down the 3,676m (12,060 feet) mountain, said Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB).
A spokesman for Indonesia's Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Centre (PVMBG) told broadcaster Kompas TV that the higher alert level meant local villages were in danger.
However, no casualties or injuries were reported on Sunday after the PVMBG warned nearby residents not to travel within 8km of the crater.
The geological agency said that by evening Semeru was "still in the eruption phase" though the size of the ash clouds was decreasing.
"Overall the activity is still very high," it said in a statement.
The internet in the area was down and phone signals were patchy after the eruption, according to an AFP journalist.
Rain and ash
The BNPB said 1,979 people had been taken to 11 shelters, with at least six villages affected by the eruption.
Local administration official Indah Amperawati Masdar said residents would only be allowed to return home when the hot clouds had dissipated.
Residents were also told to avoid a southeastern area 13km along a river in the direction the ash was travelling.
The majority of residents in the two villages most at risk had been evacuated, said Patria Dwi Hastiadi, a spokesman for the Lumajang Disaster Mitigation Agency.
Locals fled on motorbikes, some three at a time with their belongings, while others helped the elderly evacuate safely. One resident was covered in mud that had rained down on him as a mix of rain and ash.
Japan's weather agency had earlier warned that a tsunami could be triggered by the eruption affecting southern islands in the country's Okinawa prefecture, Kyodo news agency reported. But Japan's meteorological agency later said no significant tidal changes were observed.
Semeru last erupted exactly one year ago, killing at least 51 people and damaging more than 5,000 homes.
That disaster left entire streets filled with mud and ash that swallowed houses and vehicles, forcing nearly 10,000 people to seek refuge.
Semeru's alert status had remained at its second-highest level since a previous major eruption in December 2020.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes substantial volcanic and seismic activity.
The Southeast Asian archipelago nation has nearly 130 active volcanoes.


Sri Lanka and IMF reach preliminary agreement for US$2.9 billion loan

Sri Lanka has reached a preliminary agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a loan of about US$2.9 billion, the global lender said on Thursday, as the country seeks a way out its worst economic crisis in decades.
The agreement, which Reuters first reported on Wednesday, is subject to approval by IMF management and its executive board, and is contingent on Sri Lankan authorities following through with previously agreed measures. Read full story
"The staff level agreement is only the beginning of a long road for Sri Lanka," senior IMF official Peter Breuer told reporters in the commercial capital Colombo.
"Authorities have already begun the reform process and it must continue with determination."
The IMF requires receiving financing assurances from Sri Lanka's official creditors, besides ensuring efforts are made to reach a collaborative agreement with private creditors.
"Debt relief from Sri Lanka's creditors and additional financing from multilateral partners will be required to help ensure debt sustainability and close financing gaps," the IMF said in a statement.
The IMF programme, spread over 48 months, will aim to raise government revenue to support fiscal consolidation, introduce new pricing for fuel and electricity, hike social spending, bolster central bank autonomy and rebuild depleted foreign reserves.
"Starting from one of the lowest revenue levels in the world, the programme will implement major tax reforms. These reforms include making personal income tax more progressive and broadening the tax base for corporate income tax and VAT," the statement said.
"The programme aims to reach a primary surplus of 2.3% of GDP by 2024," it added.
Creditor collaboration
President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who also serves as the country's finance minister, on Tuesday presented an interim budget aimed at clinching the deal with the IMF.
The budget revised Sri Lanka's deficit projection for 2022 to 9.8% of the gross domestic product from 8.8% earlier, while outlining fiscal reforms, including a hike in value-added taxes.
Sri Lanka needs to restructure nearly US$30 billion of debt, and Japan has offered to lead talks with the other main creditors, including regional rivals India and China.
"If creditors are not willing to provide assurances, it would deepen Sri Lanka's crisis and undermine repayment capacity," Breuer said, adding that it was in the interest of all creditors to collaborate.
Sri Lanka will also need to strike a deal with international banks and asset managers that hold the majority of its US$19 billion worth of sovereign bonds, which are now classified as in default.
The debt-laden country has been seeking up to US$3 billion from the IMF in a bid to escape its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
Sri Lankans have faced acute shortages of fuel and other basic goods for months, leaving it in political turmoil and hit by runaway inflation, which is now at almost 65% year-on-year.


Ex-cop Chauvin guilty of all charges for George Floyd’s murder

Derek Chauvin, a white former Minneapolis police officer, was convicted Tuesday of murdering African-American George Floyd after a racially charged trial that was seen as a pivotal test of police accountability in the US.A jury deliberated less than 11 hours before finding the 45-year-old Chauvin guilty of all three charges against him – second-degree murder, third-degree murder and manslaughter.A crowd gathered outside the heavily guarded downtown Minneapolis courtroom erupted in cheers when the verdicts were announced after a three-week trial that had an entire nation on edge.Chauvin, who had been free on bail, was put in handcuffs after Hennepin county judge Peter Cahill read out the unanimous verdicts reached by the racially diverse seven-woman, five-man jury.Wearing a facemask and displaying no visible emotion, Chauvin was escorted out of the courtroom by a deputy as one of George Floyd’s brothers, Philonise Floyd, embraced prosecutors.Chauvin faces up to 40 years in prison on the most serious charge – second-degree murder. Sentencing will be at a later date.Chauvin, a 19-year veteran of the Minneapolis police force, was seen on video kneeling on the neck of Floyd for more than nine minutes as he lay facedown and handcuffed on the ground saying repeatedly “I can’t breathe.”The 46-year-old Floyd’s death during his May 25, 2020 arrest for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill sparked protests against racial injustice and police brutality around the world.Ahead of the verdict, cities across the US had been braced for potential unrest and National Guard troops have been deployed in Minneapolis.President Joe Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris called members of the Floyd family after the verdicts.“Nothing is going to make it all better but at least God now there’s some justice,” Biden said. “We’re all so relieved – not just the one verdict but all three, guilty on all three counts.”“This is a day of justice in America,” said Harris, America’s first black vice-president. “History will look back at this moment.”The White House said Biden also planned to make formal remarks to the nation later Tuesday.‘Justice’Floyd family lawyer Ben Crump hailed the verdict as a landmark victory for civil rights and a springboard to legislation to reform police forces in their dealings with minorities.“This verdict is a turning point in history and sends a clear message on the need for accountability of law enforcement,” Crump tweeted. “Justice for black America is justice for all of America!”Barack Obama, America’s first black president, said “a jury did the right thing” but “true justice requires much more”.Three other former police officers involved in Floyd’s arrest are to go on trial later this year.Minneapolis has been tense awaiting the verdict in the Chauvin trial and the city has seen nightly protests since Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, was shot dead in a suburb of the Minnesota city on April 11 by a white policewoman.In Washington, the National Guard said some 250 troops were being deployed “to support local law enforcement” in response to potential demonstrations.Prosecutors, in closing arguments on Monday, showed excerpts from the harrowing bystander video of Floyd’s death that was seen by millions around the world.“This case is exactly what you thought when you saw it first, when you saw that video,” prosecutor Steve Schleicher told the jury.“You can believe your eyes,” Schleicher said. “It’s exactly what you knew, it’s what you felt in your gut, it’s what you now know in your heart.”“This wasn’t policing, this was murder,” Schleicher added. “Nine minutes and 29 seconds of shocking abuse of authority.”Much of the evidence phase of the trial involved testimony from medical experts about Floyd’s cause of death.A retired forensic pathologist called by the defense said Floyd died of cardiac arrest brought on by heart disease and the illegal drugs fentanyl and methamphetamine.Medical experts for the prosecution said Floyd died from a lack of oxygen from Chauvin’s knee on his neck and that drugs were not a factor.Among the 38 witnesses who testified for the prosecution were some of the bystanders who watched Floyd’s arrest and pleaded with Chauvin to get off him.Darnella Frazier, the teenager who took the video that went viral, said Floyd was “scared” and “begging for his life.”“It wasn’t right. He was suffering,” Frazier said.


Construction industry lost RM42 billion due to MCOs

The construction industry is estimated to have suffered a loss of RM42 billion throughout the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) periods from March 18 last year until now, the Dewan Rakyat was told today.Works Minister Fadillah Yusof said of the total, RM18 billion was the estimated loss during the MCO 3.0 period from June to September this year.“Meanwhile the remaining RM24 billion was lost during the implementation of MCO 1.0 in 2020 which affected the implementation of construction work from March to July 2020,” he said during the ministers’ question time.He was replying to Ahmad Nazlan Idris (BN-Jerantut) about the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on the construction sector as well as the challenges faced and the works ministry’s initiatives to assist.Fadillah said the effects of the pandemic and the implementation of the MCO saw the growth rate of the construction sector declining by 19.4% in 2020. It continued to decline by 10.4% in the first quarter of 2021.“However, the growth rate has increased by 40.3% in the second quarter of 2021,” he added.He said the challenges faced by the construction sector included the rising cost of building materials, the cost of labour, the cost of the Labour Recalibration Programme as well as the cost of compliance with MCO SOPs which were fully borne by contractors.Fadillah said the ministry took note of the rising cost of building materials and had submitted a proposal to re-establish the provision for the calculation variation of price (VOP) clause to the finance ministry.“The government has also agreed to relax the recalibration conditions specifically for construction workers and has implemented an automatic extension of time for 60 days for all Public Work Department projects due to the implementation of MCO,” he said.


Police spell out lock-up rules after rights group calls for changes

The Centre for Human Rights Research and Advocacy (Centhra) today urged the police to grant detainees at lock-ups access to religious teachers or counsellors as well as regular visits to houses of worship.
Centhra chairman Azril Mohd Amin said this would assist in the upkeep of detainees as well as detention facilities.
"This will provide detainees with personal hygiene supplies and other necessities," he said in a statement today.
This followed a visit by representatives of NGOs to the Shah Alam police lock-up, facilitated by the police last week.
When contacted by MalaysiaNow, Shah Alam OCPD Mohd Iqbal Ibrahim confirmed that detainees were only allowed visits by family members and lawyers.
He said there had been no proposals for access by counsellors or religious teachers due to the short detention period as well as a lack of suitable area for such visits.
Police statistics show that 19 deaths in custody had been reported since January, nine of which occurred in lock-ups. Another eight involved deaths at hospitals while two died while being taken to hospital.
While conditions at the Shah Alam lock-up were "better than expected", Azril said there was still room for improvement with regards to hygiene.
He said many of the pipes were ruptured and it was unclear whether the detainees' drinking water came from the same tap as the water for toilets and showering.
He also said that the overall level of cleanliness in the inmates' section did not comply with the necessary standards for either Muslim prayers or non-Muslim worship.
"These conditions dehumanise detainees and reflect a disregard for their basic human dignity," he said.
He added that unclean conditions could affect the way in which detainees are viewed and treated by the police.
"If conditions are inhumane or otherwise substandard, it is not unexpected that inhumane or substandard treatment will follow," he said.
"While each case of custodial death must still be investigated to determine cause and culpability, we can conclude that conditions, even in a lock-up like Shah Alam where they are relatively good, possess this element of dehumanising negligence towards the well-being of detainees.
"Our detention facilities must reflect justice and the guiding morality of our society. No one in Malaysia should be mistreated or humiliated, even if they are behind bars."
Iqbal however said that the hygiene of the area was the responsibility of the detainees themselves while the cleanliness of areas beyond their cells was monitored by the personnel on duty.
He said the detainees would declare any illnesses they had as well as the required medication while those who experienced health problems in the lock-up would be taken to the clinic.
He added that Muslim detainees were expected to pray in their cells, with no special space allocated for this purpose.
"The food and drinks are supplied through a contract approved by the home ministry," he added.


Increase in school-related clusters, says health ministry

The health ministry has recorded an increase in clusters in the education sector, with 20 recorded from March 20 to April 4.Health Minister Dr Adham Baba said the biggest cluster was the Paloh Rambai cluster in Kelantan which involves teachers from various schools in Ketereh and Kok Lanas as well as the Kota Bharu UiTM.In Petaling Jaya, he said, the education cluster involves two Tamil vernacular schools in Shah Alam.“The education cluster is mostly caused by infections from colleagues and social contacts,” he said at a press conference today.“When a positive case is reported to the district education office, a health team will be deployed for investigation, contact tracing and supervising the school in disinfection.”He said the district health office would also conduct thorough health and risk assessments to ensure that the clusters can be managed.“Depending on the assessments, school administrations will be advised by the district health office to close schools or classes which record positive cases as preventive measures.“The said schools or classes can resume if the preventive measures have been taken,” he said.


Khairy to meet with home minister on Covid-19 jabs for undocumented migrants

Putrajaya will hold discussions with the home ministry, NGOs as well as international agencies to ensure that the Covid-19 vaccination programme can reach undocumented foreigners.Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin was asked at a press conference today whether the various government agencies would heed Putrajaya’s assurances that undocumented migrants would not be arrested if they turn up to get the promised jabs.“The position of the government is we will be providing vaccination free for all in Malaysia, including undocumented migrants and asylum seekers with the assurance that they will not be detained or reported.“We will likely be working with NGOs in order to facilitate vaccinations,” he said, citing groups such as Mercy Malaysia and Medicine San Frontiers.“I have already discussed with the UN and and other NGOs to ensure that asylum seekers and refugees come forward in a safe environment to get vaccinated.”Putrajaya said last month that its free Covid-19 vaccination would also be extended to all non-citizens in the country.It said this was part of the government’s humanitarian responsibility and would also help in achieving the country’s goal of reaching herd immunity.It said its decision to extend free vaccination to non-Malaysians residing in the country was also inspired by the move by other countries to include Malaysian nationals in their inoculation programmes.


MACC lodges police report after accused of threatening suspect in Macau scam probe

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has lodged a police report on an individual who claims he was threatened by an official from the anti-graft agency during an investigation into a Macau scam.In a statement, it said the accusation was aimed at tarnishing the agency’s image.It also urged the police to investigate the claim which has been making the rounds on WhatsApp.“MACC will not protect any party if the accusation is found to be true, but if it is not, the individual in question must be brought to justice,” it added.A copy of what is said to be a police report by the individual on the MACC official has been making the rounds.In it, the individual claimed he was threatened by the official when told to hand over three of his vehicles and RM20 million in cash.“The complainant was taken to the Putrajaya MACC office for investigation regarding a Macau scam, and he communicated with an individual named Addy Kanna.“During the interrogation, the MACC official threatened to arrest and remand the complainant’s mother if the complainant did not admit to being involved in the scam. That individual was Addy Kanna,” the police report read.


Daily caseload crosses 2,100 as 3 more deaths reported

Another 2,124 Covid-19 cases were recorded yesterday, taking total confirmed infections in the country to 4,485,419.There were 2,303 recoveries, taking total recoveries to 4,419,997.There are now 29,789 active cases, of which 28,569 or 95.9% are undergoing home quarantine.Meanwhile, 20 (0.1%) are at quarantine centres while 1,165 (3.9%) have been hospitalised.A total of 35 are in ICU with 22 in need of respiratory assistance. ICU utilisation throughout the country stands at 56.8%, with Covid ICU utilisation at 6.0%.Another three deaths were reported, including two who were brought in dead. Total deaths now stand at 35,633.


As vaccination begins, theories against jabs surface in the form of ‘medical research’

With the massive Covid-19 inoculation programme off to a start in Malaysia, social media messages including on the popular WhatsApp mobile platform have again seen an increase in claims questioning vaccines.This time, they are laden with medical jargon and academic citations, in an effort to convince the educated layman reader that they are not one of the many fake “conspiracy theories” against vaccination.One post has been making the rounds in the form of a “research article” published in a journal bearing a medical name.It warns of a risk of prion disease, a brain-related neurodegenerative disease, in Pfizer’s vaccine, administration of which began after the official jab given to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday.A copy of the article, titled “Covid-19 RNA-based vaccines and the risk of prion disease”, written by J Bart Classen, has been making the rounds on social media.Among others, Classen said he would not rule out the theory that Covid-19 was part of a bio-attack plan hatched within the US government.“Such a theory is not far fetched given that the 2001 anthrax attack in the US originated at Fort Detrick, a US army bioweapon facility. Because the FBI’s anthrax investigation was closed against the advice of the lead FBI agent in the case, there are likely conspiratorsstill working in the US government.“In such a scenario the primary focus of stopping a bioweapons attack must be to apprehend the conspirators or the attacks will never cease. Approving a vaccine, utilising novel RNA technology without extensive testing, is extremely dangerous. The vaccine could be a bioweapon and even more dangerous than the original infection,” he wrote.Checks by MalaysiaNow revealed that the author is an anti-vaccinationist.When contacted, a spokesman for the health ministry (MOH) also questioned the journal in which the research was published, “Microbiology & Infectious Diseases”, saying it is not a reputable medical publication.“There are so many journals out there but usually reputable ones are from Lancet, BMJ and NEJM, among others,” he told MalaysiaNow.Classen said there were risks of Pfizer’s Ribonucleic acid or RNA-based vaccine inducing prion disease in humans, such as the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), a fatal brain disorder in humans similar to the Mad Cow Disease in animals.He claimed the RNA sequence in the vaccine contains sequences believed to induce TDP-43 and FUS – binding proteins – leading to the development of common neurodegenerative diseases.But the MOH expert said there were no known cases of the said occurrences, adding that the risks highlighted in the article were only theoretical.“We have been vaccinating over 30 million and there hasn’t been any case of CJD or prion-related illness,” he told MalaysiaNow.He said the public can rest assured that Covid-19 vaccines are safe, and have undergone strict testing and quality control prior to approval by pharmaceutical bodies worldwide.


South Korea’s daily Covid infections dip to near 4-month low under 10,000

South Korea’s daily new Covid-19 infections dropped to below 10,000 for the first time in nearly four months on Monday, as the highly contagious Omicron variant recedes despite eased pandemic restrictions.The figure of 9,975 is the lowest since South Korea reported 8,570 cases in late January, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.South Korea ditched most of its pandemic-related restrictions, including an outdoor mask mandate, earlier this month as cases slowed after peaking at more than 600,000 in mid-March.The decline in infections comes as its neighbour, North Korea, is battling the country’s first confirmed outbreak of Covid while refusing most outside help and keeping its border shut.North Korea reported 167,650 new patients suffering from fever on Monday, raising the total caseload tallied since late April to 2.81 million, state news agency KCNA said. The official death toll stood at 68.Apparently deprived of testing supplies, North Korea has not confirmed the total number of people testing positive for the coronavirus.


Health ministry to procure new Covid vaccine for seniors, children with chronic diseases

The health ministry will procure a new variant of Covid-19 vaccine especially for children with chronic diseases and the elderly, minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.
He added that the vaccine will be administered free of charge, but not to all groups as the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia is under control.
"A decision on this procurement will be announced later, along with the vaccines for children under five," he told a press conference after an event in Putrajaya today.
According to Khairy, the vaccines will be administered at both government and private health facilities.
To kickstart the vaccination process, the ministry has asked the Public Health and Paediatric Departments to provide data on patients with comorbidities and high-risk children in the country, he said.
"This data will be collected in the health ministry's database. It will help the ministry to procure enough vaccines," he said.
The highest number of vaccinations ever recorded in the country was achieved on July 28 last year, with 581,566 doses administered in one day.
To date, 72 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine have been administered to Malaysians, including the elderly, adolescents and children.


Israel's Supreme Court, no friend of the Palestinian people

As hundreds of thousands throughout Israel joined anti-government protests, questions began to arise regarding how this movement would affect, or possibly merge, into the wider struggle against the Israeli military occupation and apartheid in Palestine.  Pro-Palestine media outlets shared, with obvious excitement, news about statements made by Hollywood celebrities, the likes of Mark Ruffalo, about the need to “sanction the new hard right-wing government of (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu”. Netanyahu, who sits at the heart of the current controversy and mass protests, struggled to find a single pilot for the flight carrying him to Rome on March 9 for a three-day visit with the Italian government.
The reception for the Israeli leader in Italy was equally cold. Italian translator, Olga Dalia Padoa, reportedly refused to interpret Netanyahu’s speech, scheduled for March 9 at a Rome synagogue.   One can appreciate the need to strategically use the upheaval against Netanyahu’s far-right government to expose Israel’s fraudulent claim to true democracy, supposedly "the only democracy in the Middle East". However, one has to be equally careful not to validate Israel’s inherently racist institutions that have been in existence for decades before Netanyahu arrived in power.   The Israeli prime minister has been embroiled in corruption cases for years. Though he remained popular, Netanyahu lost his position at the helm of Israeli politics in June 2021, following three bitterly-contested elections.
Yet, he returned on Dec 29, 2022, this time with even more corrupt – even by Israel’s own definition – characters such as Aryeh Deri, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the latter two currently serving as the ministers of finance and national security, respectively. Each one of these characters had a different reason for joining the coalition. Smotrich and Ben Gvir’s agenda ranged from the annexation of illegal West Bank settlements to the deportation of Arab politicians considered "disloyal" to the state. Netanyahu, though a rightwing ideologue, is more concerned with personal ambitions: maintaining power as long as possible, while shielding himself and his family from legal problems. He simply wants to stay out of prison. To do so, he also needs to satisfy the dangerous demands of his allies, who have been given free rein to unleash army and settler violence against Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank, as has been the case in Huwwara, Nablus, Jenin and elsewhere.  But Netanyahu’s government, the most stable in years, has bigger goals than just “wiping out” Palestinian towns off the map. They want to alter the very judicial system that would allow them to transform Israeli society itself. The reform would grant the government control over judicial appointments by limiting the Israeli Supreme Court’s power to exercise judicial review. The protests in Israel have very little to do with the Israeli occupation and apartheid, and are hardly concerned with Palestinian rights. They are led by many former Israeli leaders, the likes of former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, former minister Tzipi Livni and former prime minister and leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid.
During the Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid stint in power, between June 2021 and December 2022, hundreds of Palestinians were killed in the West Bank. 2022 was described by UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, as the “deadliest” in the West  Bank since 2005. During that time, illegal Jewish settlements expanded rapidly, while Gaza was routinely bombed. Yet, the Bennett-Lapid government faced little backlash from Israeli society for its bloody and illegal actions in Palestine. The Israeli Supreme Court, which has approved most of the government actions in occupied Palestine, also faced little or no protests for certifying apartheid and validating the supposed legality of the Jewish colonies, all illegal under international law.
The stamp of approval by the Supreme Court was also granted when Israel passed the Nation-State Law, identifying itself exclusively as a Jewish state, thus casting off the entirety of the Arab Muslim and Christian population which shares the same mass of land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.  Rarely did the Israeli judicial system take the side of Palestinians, and when little "victories" were recorded now and then, they hardly altered the overall reality. Though one can understand the desperation of those trying to fight against Israeli injustices using the country’s own "justice system", such language has contributed to the confusion regarding what Israel’s ongoing protests mean for Palestinians.  In fact, this is not the first time that Israelis have gone out on the streets in large numbers. In August 2011, Israel experienced what some referred to as Israel’s own "Arab Spring". But that, too, was a class struggle within clearly defined ideological boundaries and political interests that rarely overlapped with a parallel struggle for equality, justice and human rights.  Dual socio-economic struggles exist in many societies around the world, and conflating between them is not unprecedented. In the case of Israel, however, such confusion can be dangerous because the outcome of Israel’s protests, be it a success or failure, could spur unfounded optimism or demoralise those fighting for Palestinian freedom.  Though stark violations of international law, the arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial executions and the everyday violence meted out against Palestinians, mostly take place within Israel’s legal framework. All of these acts are fully sanctioned by Israeli courts, including the country’s Supreme Court.
This means that, even if Netanyahu fails to hegemonise the judicial system, Palestinian civilians will continue to be tried in military courts, which will carry out the routine of approving home demolition, illegal land seizure and the construction of settlements.  A proper engagement with the ongoing protests is to further expose how Tel Aviv utilises the judicial system to maintain the illusion that Israel is a country of law and order, and that all the actions and violence in Palestine, however bloody and destructive, are fully justifiable according to the country’s legal framework.  Yes, Israel should be sanctioned, not because of Netanyahu’s attempt at co-opting the judiciary, but because the system of apartheid and regime of military occupation constitute complete disregard and utter violation of international law. Whether Israelis like it or not, international law is the only law that matters to an occupied and oppressed nation.
Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of MalaysiaNow.