PETALING JAYA: PAS President Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang might have a "stuck mindset" when it comes to English, says Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim. The Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE) chairman said that it is short-sighted to label Malaysians preferring to speak English over the national language as having a colonial mindset. "Perhaps Abdul Hadi is the one with a 'stuck mindset'. On Sunday (July 3), Abdul Hadi said in a statement published on Harakah Daily that Malaysians who prefer English over BM are still trapped in a colonial mindset. Abdul Hadi also claimed that there are Malaysians who prioritize the usage of English in official events and English.

SIBU: A retired teacher in Bintulu was cheated of RM199,000 in a Macau scam. The suspect told her that the parcel which purportedly contained her identity card, ATM and credit cards had been detained by Sabah police. The victim was told to open a new bank account and to transfer all her money to it for investigation purposes. Alternatively, they can call the CCID Scam Response Centre at 03-2610 1559 and 03-2610 1599 for advice concerning online scams. The term "Macau scam" was coined as it is believed it originated from Macau or that the first victims came from there.

SEPANG: Police have seized a Nissan Skyline and arrested its owner for installing police livery and decals on the vehicle. The supercar was one of the vehicles on display at an autoshow at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) during the weekend. Sepang OCPD Asst Comm Wan Kamarul Azran Wan Yusof said police from Sepang CID arrested the vehicle owner at around 10.30pm on Saturday (July 2). "We have seized the Nissan Skyline R32 car which had the police emblems and livery on it," added ACP Wan Kamarul in a statement on Sunday (July 3). Investigations are ongoing," he said, adding that the vehicle owner was released on bail after his statement was recorded by police.

IF following political news in Malaysia seems like a depressing prospect, it must be worse reading about political figures and their corruption cases, which run into millions of ringgit, or billions in the case of the 1MDB debacle. Piles of money arrive easily in envelopes, bags or via their accounts, and even include colossal sums, with nary an eyebrow raised at the bank, in one case.

Deadline: July 15> Malaysian medical practitioners, government health officials and senior medical school students can now apply for the “New Southbound Policy Short-term Study Programme”. > Co-organised by the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Taipei Medical University (TMU), the programme aims to promote exchanges of medical and health professionals and officials from countries in the region. > The sponsorship offers students a monthly stipend of NTD8,000 (approximately RM1,183), credit fees for major subjects and Chinese language courses, accommodation and other subsidies during their study in Taiwan, as well as expenses for cultural visits and exchange activities related to the programme. > One direct round-trip economy-class air ticket between Malaysia and Taiwan will also be provided. > Students are required to complete six to 15 credits of professional courses and six hours of Chinese language courses weekly (offered by the National Taipei University of Technology).

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia will continue to work with Swedish authorities to enhance road safety in the country, says Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong. He said that the collaboration with Sweden is being undertaken by the Transport Ministry through the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (Miros). "In fact, we are studying the nine recommendations put forward by the Academic Expert Group in their high-level report related to building safer vehicles through advanced technologies in vehicle construction and infrastructure design," said Dr Wee in a statement on his Facebook page on Saturday (July 2). This follows a discussion held with Swedish Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth. Dr Wee said the Infrastructure Ministry had funded the Academic Expert Group whose recommendations formed the 2020 Stockholm Declaration on road safety, which was then endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly resolutions in August 2020.

BENGALURU (July 2): Elon Musk on Friday night broke his nine-day silence on Twitter, the social media platform he is trying to buy for US$44 billion, posting a picture of him meeting Pope Francis on Thursday. The world's richest person tweeted a picture where he can be seen standing next to the pope, captioning it: "Honored to meet @pontifex yesterday." Musk has a total of eight children. The purpose and location of Musk's meeting with the pope were not immediately clear. Last month, Musk said there were "still a few unresolved matters" on the deal to buy Twitter, including the number of spam users on the system and the coming together of the debt portion of the deal.

They said that donations in cash are limited these days as they could no longer buy the same amount of food for their recipients with the money. “We can no longer depend on donations in cash as the prices of goods have skyrocketed. However, due to a drop of about 50% in cash donations since April, we have no choice but to also cut down the amount we give out. “We cut off the cash aid on a case-to-case basis depending on the situation of the family. Insane Kasih (I-Kasih) head Zuraini Tahir said that donations in kind would help NGOs assist their target groups.

Rubbish has been piling up along the corridors and lift areas of Desa Tun Razak People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur, ever since its lifts have been breaking down intermittently over the last few years. Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) cleaning crew have been unable to pick up the rubbish left by residents on the upper floors. Housewife Masyati Sulaiman, who lives on the 17th floor, complained about having to face bags of rubbish left by irresponsible tenants living in units above hers. A check by StarMetro at several other PPR flats in Kuala Lumpur revealed that the residents there also faced a situation that was similar to Desa Tun Razak. “There are owners who have turned their flats into a big pile of rubbish,” said PPR Taman Mulia Residents Association (RA) chairman Mohd Feisal Abdul Manaf.

ROADSIDE traders in Kuala Lumpur operating on temporary licences issued under the Wilayah Bebas Berniaga (Free Trade Zone) have been given an extension to operate until the end of the year. Those with licences which expired on Thursday (June 30) can continue to operate until Dec 31. ALSO READ : Roadside traders still breaking rulesCentral to that DBKL said that under no circumstances were traders allowed to leave behind any permanent structures, canopy and belongings at the trading site. Traders are allowed to operate either from 7am - 7pm, 7am - 6pm or 7am - midnight depending on the location. They can only trade on an 8 by 8 feet space, and no live cooking is allowed at the site.

Nevertheless, some local market experts are of the view that the Malaysian market will stage a rebound, following the recent selldown. Noting that the FBM100 index has fallen by 8.42% this year, Loh said the local market has largely priced in the possibility of a slowdown in the global economy. Inflation, he said, should ease in the second half as global trade normalises with China resuming supplying to the world. We anticipate the FBM KLCI to possibly touch 1,670 by year-end premised on a very reasonable 13.5 times CY2022 PER (price earnings ratio),” he said. Choo named the oversold technology and tourism-related sectors and undervalued banks as his top pick stocks.

Other industrial metals also fell, with zinc dropping over 6% this week and aluminium heading for its sixth straight weekly fall, down 2.4%. "Copper, the economic bellwether, fell further amid concerns over an economic slowdown. Markets: Stocks fell and the dollar rose as investors shifted from worrying about inflation to fearing a global recession. Output: Copper output in Chile, the world's largest producer of the metal, fell 2.7% year-on-year to 480,275 tonnes in May. Shanghai aluminium fell 1.6%, zinc slipped about 5%, nickel shed 7.3%, lead dipped 1.3% and tin lost 6.5%.

KUALA LUMPUR (July 1): MY EG Services Bhd (MYEG), via its Zetrix blockchain, and Xinghuo Blockchain Infrastructure and Facility (Xinghuo BIF) have jointly announced the introduction of Blockchain-based Identifiers (BIDs)/Verifiable Credentials (VCs) and Blockchain-based E-signing services to international markets. In a statement, the group said Xinghuo BIF is a China initiated international blockchain infrastructure supported by all levels of the Chinese government while Zetrix blockchain runs the International Supernode of Xinghuo BIF to connect entities outside China to the Xinghuo BIF. “The BID, an official DID method listed in the DID Specification Registry of World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), is a new approach to realise decentralised identity based on Xinghuo BIF. “Zetrix will connect Chinese parties signing on the domestic Xinghuo BIF network with their international counterparts signing on the Zetrix network,” it said. “No other blockchain platform currently provides these services at a scale that matches Xinghuo — Zetrix and we are excited to be the global industry leaders in this real world use case,” he added.

KUALA LUMPUR (June 30): Bursa Malaysia erased gains made earlier on Thursday (June 30) to end at its intraday low following heavy selling in the last 10 minutes of trading, an analyst said. Total turnover narrowed to 2.26 billion units worth RM1.97 billion from 2.37 billion units valued at RM1.77 billion on Wednesday. Main Market volume decreased to 1.41 billion shares valued at RM1.74 billion from 1.52 billion shares worth RM1.55 billion on Wednesday. Warrants turnover widened to 473.03 million units worth RM104.77 million against 463.47 million units valued at RM93.38 million on Wednesday. ACE Market volume fell to 378.5 million shares valued at RM118.99 million versus 385.71 million shares valued at RM96.16 million previously.

PETALING JAYA: The government should continue controlling the price of petrol, energy and electricity and food to curb inflation, say economists. While price changes are cyclical and economists expect inflation to ease for the year end, they have called for the retention of subsidies and more assistance for the low-income groups. Malaysia University of Science and Technology economist Prof Dr Geoffrey Williams and HELP University economist Prof Dr Paolo Casadio said the government should also bring down the electric tariffs. Although it would not be an easy feat, independent economic analyst Emeritus Prof Datuk Dr Zakariah Abdul Rashid said the government needed to help the people wade through inflation. According to analyses, Williams and Casadio think that “the peak of inflation is happening right now in the international economy” with the “decreasing inflation” phase expected next.