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.
PASTA PUNCHLINE: Billy McLean’s spoof poking fun at misinformation on the coronavirus was meant for friends, but is being eaten up by frazzled Britons It started off as an ad-libbed joke for some friends in a soccer banter group and ended up being heard by vast numbers of Britons within hours. However, the man responsible for a joke WhatsApp audio clip that claimed the UK Ministry of Defence was about to requisition Wembley Stadium to cook the world’s biggest lasagna has said his viral success also shows the risks of believing everything that gets sent to you on the messaging service. Billy McLean, a 29-year-old Londoner who works in software sales, came forward to the Guardian to identify himself as the creator of the much-shared clip
‘AN HONORABLE TASK’: The brigade to Italy is the sixth contingent of doctors the nation has sent abroad to aid governments contending with the COVID-19 pandemic Cuba has dispatched doctors and nurses to Italy for the first time this weekend to help fight COVID-19 at the request of the worst-affected region Lombardy, it said. The Caribbean nation has sent its “armies of white robes” to disaster sites around the world largely in poor countries since its 1959 revolution, with doctors on the front lines in the fight against cholera in Haiti and against ebola in West Africa in the 2010s. Yet with the 52-strong brigade, this is the first time Cuba has sent an emergency contingent to Italy, one of the world’s richest countries, demonstrating the reach of
There are growing concerns for the health of Rokia Traore, a Malian singer who has been on hunger strike at the Fleury-Merogis Prison near Paris since she was arrested on March 10 on allegations of kidnapping her daughter in a child custody dispute. “I am very worried,” said Kenneth Feliho, her lawyer. “She is only drinking. She has not been eating for over a week and her immune system is weak.” Among those calling for the musician’ release are African stars including Salif Keita, Youssou N’Dour and Angelique Kidjo. Damon Albarn, who performed with her in the group Africa Express, wrote: “We demand,
FATAL IDEA: The nation’s drugs regulator is curbing use of hydroxychloroquine, which Donald Trump has promoted for its alleged potential to treat COVID-19 Australia’s drug regulator has been forced to restrict powers to prescribe a drug undergoing clinical trials to treat COVID-19, because doctors have been inappropriately prescribing it to themselves and their family members, despite potentially deadly side effects. The anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine and the similar compound chloroquine are currently used mostly for patients with autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, but stocks in Australia have been diminished thanks to global publicity — including from US President Donald Trump — about the potential of the drug to treat COVID-19. Hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine have potentially severe and even deadly side effects if used inappropriately, including
RSS