Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak yesterday announced bonuses for the 40,000 employees of national oil firm Petronas, signaling a long wait for a general election is nearly over as he seeks last-minute support from the middle class.
In recent days, Najib has expanded a slew of handouts to include thousands of workers at state-linked firms, underlining the government’s ability to try to win support through its close control of Malaysia’s biggest companies.
Najib, whose ruling National Front coalition could face the closest election battle in its 56-year rule, must call the polls by the end of this month or parliament will automatically dissolve for the first time in the nation’s history.
At a town hall-style meeting with Petronas staff in Kuala Lumpur, Najib said they would each get 1,000 ringgit (US$320) bonuses for “contributing to nation-building.”
Media predicted he would dissolve parliament today. The New Straits Times reported that ministers had been ordered to wear a suit and tie for today’s regular Cabinet meeting for an official photograph. Today marks exactly four years since Najib took power after the coalition’s worst-ever election result.
Najib appeared to be getting ready for battle as he told the Petronas staff, who make up a part of Malaysia’s urban middle class that has swung to the opposition in recent elections, to keep the government in power, company officials said.
“He told us that we had to vote wisely or Petronas, which has always been independent under the current government, will lose its independence if the opposition came into power,” a Petronas employee who attended the meeting said.
The board of Petronas answers only to Najib, who approved the one-off bonuses amounting to 40 million ringgit.
If Najib dissolves parliament today, it would signal an election by at the end of the month or early next month, raising doubt over his participation in an ASEAN summit in Brunei on April 24 and 25.
FOREST SITE: A rescue helicopter spotted the burning fuselage of the plane in a forested area, with rescue personnel saying they saw no evidence of survivors A passenger plane carrying nearly 50 people crashed yesterday in a remote spot in Russia’s far eastern region of Amur, with no immediate signs of survivors, authorities said. The aircraft, a twin-propeller Antonov-24 operated by Angara Airlines, was headed to the town of Tynda from the city of Blagoveshchensk when it disappeared from radar at about 1pm. A rescue helicopter later spotted the burning fuselage of the plane on a forested mountain slope about 16km from Tynda. Videos published by Russian investigators showed what appeared to be columns of smoke billowing from the wreckage of the plane in a dense, forested area. Rescuers in
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr is to meet US President Donald Trump this week, hoping Manila’s status as a key Asian ally would secure a more favorable trade deal before the deadline on Friday next week. Marcos would be the first Southeast Asian leader to meet Trump in his second term. Trump has already struck trade deals with two of Manila’s regional partners, Vietnam and Indonesia, driving tough bargains in trade talks even with close allies that Washington needs to keep onside in its strategic rivalry with China. “I expect our discussions to focus on security and defense, of course, but also
POINTING FINGERS: The two countries have accused each other of firing first, with Bangkok accusing Phnom Penh of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital Thai acting Prime Minister Phumtham Wechayachai yesterday warned that cross-border clashes with Cambodia that have uprooted more than 130,000 people “could develop into war,” as the countries traded deadly strikes for a second day. A long-running border dispute erupted into intense fighting with jets, artillery, tanks and ground troops on Thursday, and the UN Security Council was set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis yesterday. A steady thump of artillery strikes could be heard from the Cambodian side of the border, where the province of Oddar Meanchey reported that one civilian — a 70-year-old man — had been killed and
‘OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE’: Antonio Costa and Ursula von der Leyen are to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss EU-China relations and geopolitical challenges Top leaders from China and the EU are to hold a summit in Beijing this week, as the major economic powers seek to smooth over disputes ranging from trade to the Ukraine conflict. Beijing and Brussels have been gearing up to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, but a suite of squabbles over state subsidies, market access and wartime sanctions have dampened the festivities. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen would visit on Thursday. The statement came after the EU
RSS