Malaysia

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 24 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Dr Mahathir Mohamad Monday resigned as the prime minister and chairman of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).

The Prime Minister’s Office announced in a statement that Dr Mahathir submitted his letter of resignation as the prime minister to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

“Dr Mahathir bin Mohamad submitted his letter of resignation as the Prime Minister of Malaysia today. The letter was sent to the Malaysian King Yang di-Pertuan Agong at 1 pm,” the statement said.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s alliance government under 94-year-old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is threatening to unravel less than two years after a historic election victory ousting the coalition that had ruled the country since independence.

Startling political maneuvers have sparked expectation that Mahathir will pull his Bersatu party out of the four-member ruling alliance and team with his former foes to form a new government in a major political upheaval that could further polarize the multiracial nation.

PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia, Feb 23 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Senior officials from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) economies, concluded the First Senior Officials Meeting (SOM1) here on Saturday, after deliberating on several key topics for the agenda this year.

Hairil Yahri Yaacob, an official from Malaysia’s International Trade and Industry Ministry, who chaired the meeting, said, delegates held robust discussions in key areas of trade, economic inclusivity and sustainability.

PETALING JAYA, Feb 21 (NNN) — Charges against 12 Malaysians on their alleged links to Sri Lanka’s defunct Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will be dropped immediately, says Attorney General Tan Sri Tommy Thomas.

In a 11-page statement today, Thomas said there were no realistic prospect of conviction for any of the 12 accused on any of the 34 charges against them.

He said the common factor among the 12 was that all had the pictures of the slain leaders of the former terrorist group in their phones or Facebook accounts.

KUALA LUMPUR, 20 Feb (NNN-BERNAMA) —  An estimated savings of RM2.865 billion could be possible for the Pan Borneo Highway (PBH) Sarawak project based on the overall difference in the development cost between that of the Project Delivery Partner (PDP)’s model and a conventional method.

However, the final amount of savings can only be realised after a full evaluation is carried out in the future, Works Minister Baru Bian said.

The estimated savings took into account the development cost of RM21.857 billion including construction costs based on the PDP model.

KOTA KINABALU, Feb 17 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Sabah Infrastructure Development Minister Datuk Peter Anthony will take legal action against a local portal over allegations that several Sabah Public Works Department (JKR) contracts had been awarded without any tenders.

He said his ministry has lodged a police report and is calling on the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to take action against the portal as well.

The state government is always open to criticisms by any parties but these should be constructive and not just wild accusations, he said.

CYBERJAYA, Feb 17 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Malaysia’s upcoming economic stimulus package, which would be announced next week, would serve to mitigate the financial impact of Covid-19 and help industries rebound when the outbreak is contained.

Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Malaysia is among the earliest to launch the package even though the impact of the outbreak has yet to be ascertained.

“The announcement which would be made by Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad showed that the government places emphasis and priorities on the challenges posed by the outbreak.

PUTRAJAYA, Feb 11 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The recovery rate for patients infected by the 2029 novel coronavirus is high, said Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

He said the Geographical Information System of the Ministry of Health Malaysia found that 3,496 out of 40,555 or 8.6 per cent of the cases tested positive for the virus had recovered, while only 910 deaths were recorded as of yesterday (Feb 10).

With the mortality rate standing at 2.2 per cent, the recovery rate was four times higher, he said. 

CYBERJAYA, Feb 10 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said Malaysia will not build nuclear power plants until there is a safe way to dispose off the radioactive waste generated.

He pointed out that Malaysia did not have adequate knowledge in that field.

“If you have a nuclear power plant, you will accumulate nuclear waste which is radioactive and until now they do not know how to reverse the process. That is why we cannot use nuclear material because it stays on for millions of years. 

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The journey from Negeri Sembilan to Queensland, Australia can take a day if you travel by plane, but for Maha Sinnathamby, it has taken a lifetime.

The billionaire was born in the village of Rantau 80 years ago and never dreamed he would one day become one of Australia’s richest men, let alone the founder of one of the most successful master-planned cities in the world.