Selangor sultan unhappy - Malaysiakini

Good morning, here’s what you need to know today.

Key Highlights

Selangor sultan unhappy

Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressed displeasure at the number of Covid-19 vaccines that the federal government has supplied to Selangor.

This came after the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) initially said Selangor received 2.9 million doses of vaccines but later admitted that the figure was actually around 615,000.

Despite the lower figure, a review of the data showed they represented around 12.7 percent of the adult population in Selangor, which is not far off from other states.

With the exception of small states and federal territories (Perlis, Labuan, Putrajaya), most states have received doses for between 9.3 percent and 14.5 percent of their population.

However, the fact that Selangor is the worst-hit state in the Covid-19 pandemic meant there are expectations that it should receive more.

In terms of doses administered, Selangor is the second slowest state after Sabah, at 7.47 percent as of June 7.

HIGHLIGHTS

Current situation under the emergency

There is increasing movement on the political front ahead of the expiry of the state of emergency in August.

On the government’s side, planning is in the works for a hybrid (semi-virtual) Parliament sitting.

The opposition, however, fears there is a plan to handicap their MPs to prevent any threat to the government’s fragile majority when Parliament reconvenes.

The concern is fuelled by the fact that the opposition is excluded from the hybrid Parliament special committee which is in charge of looking at the procedures to implement such a sitting.

Meanwhile, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong will begin meeting political leaders today.

Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and Pejuang pro-tem chairperson Dr Mahathir Mohamad have confirmed their invitation.

Analysts speculate that the meetings may be to explore the possibility of a unity government.

HIGHLIGHTS

Crackdown on migrants

The government’s renewed crackdown on undocumented migrant workers sparked wide criticism.

This was due to concerns that undocumented migrant workers will shun the vaccination efforts for fear of being arrested, therefore becoming a hurdle to herd immunity.

The opposition asked Immunisation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who previously said there won’t be a migrants crackdown to encourage vaccination, to sort out the conflicting policy with Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin.

To recap, operations against undocumented migrants in May last year led to Covid-19 outbreaks in several detention centres.

The ongoing Covid-19 wave, which has persisted for nine months, also started from detained migrants in Tawau, which spread to nearby towns and later nationwide, helped by the Sabah election in September last year.

This was largely due to the fact that prisons and detention centres in the country are cramped, allowing Covid-19 to spread easily.

The government had since set up satellite prisons and detention centres to mitigate such outbreaks.

HIGHLIGHTS

 

A daily glance at Covid-19

• 5,566 new cases yesterday (June 8).
• Another 76 people died from Covid-19, putting the death toll across the 3,500-mark. 740 of the deaths were recorded in this month alone.
• Active cases declined for the second consecutive day from 86,628 to 82,797. However, testing was also lower over the long weekend.
• For trends on daily cases, tests, hospital beds capacity, vaccination progress and more, follow our Covid-19 tracker.

What else is happening?

• Images of Penang’s iconic ferry sinking at a dockyard sparked a row between DAP and MCA. DAP accused MCA, which is in charge of the Penang Port Authority, of failing in its duty. Meanwhile, DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng was upset that MCA’s Transport Minister Wee Ka Siong made it appear that the previous Pakatan Harapan government was responsible when it happened under his watch.
• Women, Family and Community Development Minister Rina Harun urged the public to alert the Welfare Department about senior citizens living alone after an elderly Covid-19 patient and his chronically ill spouse were found dead at home.
• Environmental groups urged the Pahang government to halt a royalty-linked mining project near the environmentally sensitive Tasik Chini following Malaysiakini‘s special report.
• A report on last month’s LRT collision in Kuala Lumpur is expected to be presented to the cabinet today.
• Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah cautioned members of the public not to let their guard down even though new Covid-19 cases are stabilising, stating that the situation was still “very serious” due to the high number of patients in the intensive care units.

HIGHLIGHTS

What are people saying?

KINI LENS