Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (NNN-BERNAMA) – Malaysia reported 2,450 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight, bringing the national total to 4,965,666, according to the health ministry.

There are no new imported cases, with all 2,450 cases being local transmissions, data released on the ministry’s website showed.

Another five new deaths have been reported, pushing the death toll to 36,593.

The ministry reported 3,000 new recoveries, bringing the total number of cured and discharged to 4,901,917.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s next government appeared to be leaning to the religious right after a coalition of Malay nationalists won support of an influential bloc on Sunday after tightly fought general elections failed to produce a clear winner. The nation’s king still has to approve any deal.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Malaysia's veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad suffered his first election defeat in 53 years on Saturday in a blow that could mark the end of a seven-decade political career.

Mahathir, 97, who served as Malaysia's prime minister for more than two decades in two stints, failed to retain his parliamentary seat in the Langkawi island constituency, coming in fourth in a five-cornered fight.

The seat was won by Mohd Suhaimi Abdullah, a candidate from the Perikatan alliance, which is led by another former prime minister, Muhyiddin Yassin.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 (Reuters) - Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim took a narrow lead in Saturday's general election, though he and his main contenders were far short of a simple majority needed to form the government, early results from the Election Commission showed.

Former premier Muhyiddin Yassin took an early close second, while Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob's ruling coalition put up the weakest showing among the three main contenders, losing ground in traditional strongholds, the results showed.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 14 (NNN-Bernama) — The central banks of Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to strengthen cooperation on regional payment connectivity (RPC).

In a joint statement, the central banks said the cooperation, which was sealed on the sidelines of the ongoing G20 Leaders’ Summit in Bali, Indonesia, aimed to support faster, cheaper, more transparent, and more inclusive cross-border payments.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 15 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia does not support the elections to be held in Myanmar next year as promised by the country’s military junta, said Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said this was because the military junta amended some election rules that were seen as biased and not approved by other stakeholders.

Malaysia is committed to ensuring that Myanmar returns as a democratic country, to be more stable in the future.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 11 (NNN-Bernama) — One of the oldest Quran manuscripts in the world — the Quran of Kattalangar — will be on display in an exhibition dedicated to Uzbekistan that will open in Paris later this month.

Two pages of the centuries-old manuscript will be shown in the exhibition, “Treasures of the Oases of Uzbekistan. At the Crossroads of Caravan Routes”, which will be held at the Louvre from November 23 to March 6, 2023.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 (NNN-Bernama) — More Malaysians in and outside the country can now vote in elections, thanks to the constitutional amendment lowering the voting age and automatically registering eligible Malaysians as voters, but institutional barriers remain that prevent many from voting.

The changes took effect in December last year and some 6.2 million new voters have been added to the electoral rolls, increasing the size of the electorate to over 21 million for the 15th general election (GE15).

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 (NNN-Bernama) — Malaysia needs a stable political ecosystem to face the coming economic challenges, say economic analysts.

Chief Economist at the Future Labour Market Studies (EU-ERA), Associate Professor Dr Mohd Yusof Saari said Malaysia’s experience has shown that political stability is crucial to efficient economic governance.

“In a few months, we will enter the year 2023 and this means that we are close to facing the global economic crisis phase, therefore, political stability is needed to face the situation.

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 7 (NNN-Bernama) — Azerbaijan supports the power of diplomacy and peaceful settlement of its issues with Armenia, said Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Malaysia Irfan Davudov.

In this context, he said in March 2022, Azerbaijan declared a proposal on the basic principles for the establishment of relations between Baku and Yerevan.

Davudov explained that the first principle of this proposal calls on both sides to respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, inviolability of internationally recognised borders and political independence of each other.