Malaysia

PETALING JAYA: Unemployment rates among low-income urban households in Malaysia doubled in the Klang Valley during the conditional lockdown implemented last year, says a report by Unicef, the United Nations children’s fund. A survey of 500 households in Kuala Lumpur’s low-cost flats showed that unemployment had risen from 7% in September to 15% in December, with one in three unemployed …

PETALING JAYA: The Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) is asking the government to put tourism and hospitality staff second in line for the national immunization plan with the industry struggling after domestic and foreign tourism came to a standstill. The first to be immunized would be frontliners and high-risk groups, beginning later this month. Perbincangan ini turut disertai wakil persatuan …

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia — After fleeing a refugee camp in neighboring Indonesia, dozens of Rohingya, mostly women, and children, were captured as they arrived by boat in Malaysia last month, police said Friday. Last year, after risky journeys, nearly 400 members of the persecuted Muslim community from Myanmar arrived in Indonesia by sea, and just over 100 now remain in a camp …

PETALING JAYA: An MP says the “highest ever” trade surplus recorded last year by the country is nothing to be proud of as it is a product of a very poor domestic economy. MP Ong Kian Ming from Bangi also said that this year the domestic economy is likely to remain lacklustre. Earlier, Senior Economy Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali reported …

KUALA LUMPUR – To ensure compliance with its coronavirus lockout, Malaysia is taking a tougher approach, even as it introduces stringent Chinese New Year measures that will limit reunion dinners to only family members staying in the same home. At his regular Covid-19 briefing on Thursday, Senior Security Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob revealed the most stringent protocols for the festive …

PUTRAJAYA – From Thursday (Feb 4) to Feb 17, Malaysian authorities placed four areas in the state of Terengganu and Perak under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (MCO) after reporting an increase in Covid-19 incidents. Under the enhanced MCO, residents of Felda Tersat and the construction site of the TNB quarters in Kuala Berang, Terengganu and Felda Lasah and Kampung …

KUALA LUMPUR – There are currently more than 600 Malaysians registered with the Malaysian Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, most of whom are businessmen and professionals employed with different companies, and a few of whom are with their families, the Malaysian Embassy in Myanmar said. The Embassy advised all Malaysians in Myanmar to remain calm, alert and to continue to comply …

Malaysia: In principle, Singapore and Malaysia reached an agreement to create travel protocols between the two countries in circumstances such as family bereavements. “The exact details are still being worked out,” the republic’s foreign affairs minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan told the Singapore parliament today. He replied to MP Sylvia Lim’s query as to whether the government of Singapore is working …

KUALA LUMPUR — According to Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz, the important and vital sectors are still contributing significantly to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) even during the current movement control order (MCO 2.0) era. He said main sectors such as commodities, mining and agriculture, as they are capital intensive and require less physical worker contact, …

KUALA LUMPUR – On Tuesday (Feb 2), the National Security Council will hold a special meeting to discuss a potential extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO). “The meeting will be chaired by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and we will hear the report from the Health Ministry before any decision is made,” Senior Security Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob told reporters …