Cabinet’s 1986 policy on ‘Allah’, and other news you may have missed

KINI ROUNDUP | Key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

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1. The Kuala Lumpur High Court found that the cabinet had allowed Christians in Malaysia to conditionally use the word “Allah” in May 1986, but officials at the Home Ministry issued a total ban on the word in Bahasa Malaysia editions of Christian religious publications just seven months later.

2. The prosecution in the corruption and money laundering trial against Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has concluded its case, the court will hear oral submissions in June and July. A witness said the 47 corruption charges against Zahid may be the highest number faced by a politician since 2018.

3. Former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak said authorities should issue a fine against him for not signing in during lunch at a restaurant today, as he does not believe in double standards.

4. Meanwhile in court, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) denied it is trying to prevent Najib from accessing 1MDB-linked documents and testimonies.

5. DAP said it is willing to negotiate with its rival Umno if it excludes ‘corrupt’ leaders. Meanwhile, PAS doesn’t appear to mind Umno working with PKR so long as “they don’t work with the communist party”, ostensibly referring to DAP.

6. The Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall urged the government to strictly regulate how fines for Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) violations can be imposed and reviewed, to avoid arbitrary decisions and corruption.

7. The European Medicines Agency has cleared AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine after scrutinising 30 cases of a rare blood clotting condition thought to be linked to the vaccine. Meanwhile in Malaysia, the Health Ministry urged the media to be more careful in reporting its vaccination campaign after several media outlets bungled their headlines.

8. Skudai assemblyperson Tan Hong Pin said the Foreign Ministry should fill an 11-month-old vacancy for a high commissioner to Singapore to help address complaints of persistent long queues outside the consulate. The Immigration Department blamed the problem on system disruptions.

9. In the Malaysian government’s strongest statement yet on the Myanmar coup, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin urged the military junta to release Myanmar’s democratically-elected leaders unconditionally and seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

10. North Korea has severed ties with Malaysia over the extradition of one of its citizens to the US to face money laundering charges. North Korean diplomats in Malaysia have 48 hours to leave.