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News Wrap-Up: "Don't Sabotage SST", Government Wants Better Stats on Child Marriages

Aug 01, 2018

Opposition Urged Not To Block SST

"Don't sabotage the SST" - that's the message the Finance Minister has sent the Opposition bloc, with just a month to go before SST 2.0 is implemented. 

The bill is expected to pass smoothly through the Dewan Rakyat, but it could be an uphill battle in Dewan Negara, where the Opposition has the majority.

Image Source: The Coverage

Lim Guan Eng warned the country would face financial issues if the SST is not implemented as scheduled on September 1st. 

Meanwhile, the Customs Department will start automatically migrating companies that have registered under GST to the SST system today, and alert them via email. 

Customs Director General Datuk Seri Subromaniam Tholasy said about 80,000 manufacturers will be affected by the move.

Government Wants Better Stats on Child Marriages

The Deputy Prime Minister wants all relevant agencies to provide accurate and up-to-date statistics on child marriages to the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry. 

Currently, the statistics are compiled by various agencies, and the DPM hopes they can be consolidated into a single data network. 

Meanwhile, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council has asked the government to amend the state's Islamic Family Law, to raise the legal marrying age for girls from 16 to 18. 

It also wants several mandatory criteria to be met before child marriages are allowed, including investigating the financial standing of the future husband. 

Ministry Alerted About Possible Graft and Harrasment

The Education Ministry has allegedly received a tipoff about corruption and sexual harassment involving some of its top officers. 

According to MalaysiaKini, the allegations were made via an anonymous letter to the ministry and the news portal. 

This comes just a day after the Health Ministry set up a panel to investigate alleged sexual abuse at hospitals.

Spy Agency Worried About Leak

There are over 1,000 members in our local spy agency - the Malaysia External Intelligence Organisation, or MEIO.

The lawyer for the MEIO's former chief issued a statement saying the recent leak of a letter from the organisation to the CIA is being viewed as a serious breach, and MEIO is now concerned for the safety of its officers. 

The organisation, which is formally known as the Research Division in the PM's Department, reportedly wrote a letter to America's CIA asking for support for former PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak should he win GE14.