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News Wrap-up: Tun M hints at new taxes to help settle Malaysia's debt

Oct 09, 2018

New tax?

The Prime Minister says the government may introduce new taxes to help gain additional funding.

Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad says this is one of several measures being considered to help reduce the country's debts.

He promised that the measures will be different from the SST, and will be less of a burden to the people.

Meanwhile, the Finance Minister says there will be some additional tax measures under Budget 2019.

However, Putrajaya will be careful not to introduce an austerity budget, which typically contains massive spending cuts and tax increases.

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Anwar can run for Parliament

Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is elegible to run in the Port Dickson by-election. 

The Election Commission Chairman says as far as the EC is concerned, Anwar can compete as he was pardoned by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. 

Other than that, it's up to the courts to decide. 

This, after a PD voter went to court, to seek a declaration that Anwar's pardon did not strike out his disqualification to contest a parliamentary seat.

Meanwhile, PAS also claimed that claim that Anwar shouldn't run because he was only granted a full pardon and not a free pardon.

However, other legal experts dispute this, saying they are one and the same.

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The MACC doesn't call or e-mail you for your personal info

Beware of scammers who are using the MACC's name to steal your personal data. 

The anti-graft commission says it has received many complaints from people who claim they've been tricked into giving their information due to fake phone calls and messages. 

The MACC stressed it never contacts anyone by phone, e-mail or social media, to get personal and confidential information for its probes. 

Anyone who receives such calls should seek confirmation from any MACC office.

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KL Monorail to be reviewed, following major drop in ridership

The Transport Minister is reviewing the operations of the KL Monorail, due to a steep decline in its ridership.

Average ridership fell by about 33 per cent since 2015.

He says, one of the reasons for this, is a lack of operational trains. 

Currently, only five trains are operatational, while another five have been grounded since January due to several factors.

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MOE proposes only short school breaks to be held on different weeks

The Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry has clarified that a recent proposal to stagger school holidays, is only meant for shorter breaks in March, June and September, and not year-end holidays.

The Ministry is proposing that schools be divided into three regions, with each region taking their mid-year school breaks on different weeks.

It is to prevent over-crowding at popular local tourism hotspots.