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PETALING JAYA: Police have arrested two men suspected of attacking a Johor Bahru city council (MBJB) officer over a parking summons.

Johor Bahru Selatan district police chief Raub Selamat said the 23-year-old MBJB officer had issued the summons after one of the suspect’s parked car was found obstructing traffic.

Reporters reported that the dissatisfied suspects then “attacked” the officer, leading to a scuffle.

The officer sustained injuries to the head after the suspects hit him with their fists and pushed him down to the ground.

“The suspects tried to flee after they beat up the MBJB officer. However, quick action by a police patrol car unit led to the arrest of both suspects, who were hiding in their car about 500m from the scene of the incident,” he said.

Raub said one of the suspects had injuries on his face, believed to have been sustained during the scuffle with the MBJB officer.

“Preliminary investigations found that both suspects, who are friends, attacked the enforcement officer because they were unhappy with the MBJB summons that was issued over the traffic offence.”

He added that the suspects, aged 42 and 47, had been remanded for further investigations under Section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing a public servant in discharging their duties.

If convicted, they each face a two-year jail term, or a RM10,000 fine, or both.

PETALING JAYA: Residents in the 188 areas in Hulu Selangor affected by scheduled water cuts can expect their water supply to resume from this morning.

Air Selangor said this followed the completion of the upgrading and maintenance works at the Sungai Rasa water treatment plant at 5.30am.

It said water supply would be restored in stages from 8am once the distribution system had been stabilised.

“Air Selangor would like to apologise to consumers for any inconvenience caused and is working towards ensuring that the water supply recovery process in all the 188 affected areas runs smoothly,” it said in a statement.

The company previously said the upgrading and maintenance works were expected to be completed by 9pm today, with water supply to the affected areas fully restored by 1am tomorrow.

KUALA LUMPUR: A cool RM10 million within six months. That’s the loot of online scammers from about 600 gullible shoppers in just Kuala Lumpur alone.

Police say this jump in cases from the same period last year coincided with the unfettered freedom for the people to celebrate religious and other festivals soon after the lifting of all Covid-19 movement restrictions.

​The first six months of last year saw 494 such cases involving RM3.65 million in losses in the city, but this increased to 613 cases for the same period this year where RM10.64 million was stolen, according to Sentul police chief Beh Eng Lai.

“When there were festivities like Chinese New Year and Hari Raya, the cases spiked,” he told reporters.

Beh said many of the cases involved fake advertisements on social media which baited the buyers.

“They would ask you to install certain applications to overwrite your SMS function and direct you to certain phishing websites to enter your banking details.

“And your money in the bank is gone,” he said.

Recently, police have also traced a rising number of cases linked to the TikTok platform.

“The scammers provide a link in the postings which lead the gullible social media users to them,” he said.

While police did not disclose the number of scam cases involving each social media platform, they said most of the victims reported that they had attempted to buy gadgets, especially handphones.

Of the 613 cases in Kuala Lumpur this year, 386 were women victims. In the same period last year, 381 out of the 494 cases were men.

Beh explained that due to the movement restrictions last year, there were fewer instances of online purchases of festival-related items, and many of the victims were trying to buy motor vehicle accessories and handphones.

He advised the public to be wary when it comes to online shopping, especially when the prices are too good to be true.

“You should check the price of the same item elsewhere on the Internet. If the price is ridiculously low, you should be cautious.

“Get feedback from your friends and relatives,” he said.

Online shoppers could also check with the police by visiting the “semak mule” website for more information.

PETALING JAYA: A consumer group has urged the government to list the types of foreign products bought online that will incur sales tax under a proposed new rule next year.

An amendment to the Sales Tax Act passed on Thursday calls for a 10% sales tax to be imposed on imported low-value goods purchased online and delivered to Malaysia by vendors registered with the finance ministry.

However, the Malaysia Consumers Movement said there is some ambiguity on the goods or classes of goods to be taxed, which is based on the finance minister’s discretion.

“The big question that remains unclear is the type of products classified as low-value goods,” said MCM deputy president Beninder Singh. “The government must be very clear on this or else it will be subject to abuse.”

At present tax on online sales is limited to imported goods that cost more than RM500. With local manufacturers currently subjected to a 5% to 10% sales tax, finance minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz previously stated that the tax would “level the playing field” and generate RM200 million in revenue annually.

Sunway University professor of economics Yeah Kim Leng said that although the amendment would indeed “level the playing field”, it would need to be assessed from a cost and benefit perspective – especially the extent to which the tax might discourage online shopping.

He added that the government should provide more information on the expected tax revenue and weigh it against the administrative costs as well as the burden imposed on the country’s numerous online retailers.

Shankaran Nambiar of the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research said the extra tax revenue raised would not be a considerable amount.

However, the new tax would play a crucial role in addressing the discrepancy that local manufacturers face since they have to pay a sales tax whereas imported LVGs are exempted.

“It is time that e-commerce is subjected to tax,” he told reporters.

“Online shopping is on the rise, and to some extent, it’s replacing physical shopping. Therefore, it stands to reason that this tax should be imposed as it is in line with the rising trend of digitalisation.”

He said a similar tax is already imposed in other countries, among them Australia, New Zealand, Singapore.

PETALING JAYA: Barisan Nasional (BN) is ready to study a proposal to allow consumers to take up shares in Air Selangor.

The idea was first mooted by former Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim in 2008 as he felt it would give consumers a greater say in improving the company’s services.

After former prime minister Najib Razak revived the idea following Khalid’s death on July 31, Selangor Barisan Nasional communications chief Jamal Yunos said the matter would be considered by a professional committee.

He told reporters the committee will be headed by Selangor BN chairman Noh Omar, who is also responsible for drafting Selangor BN’s manifesto ahead of the next general election (GE15).

Jamal said BN should take the opportunity to make good on the promise originally made by the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government, which was made up of PKR, DAP and PAS, before the 2013 general election.

However, PAS left the coalition before the 2018 general election, while PKR and DAP formed Pakatan Harapan (PH) together with Amanah, with the coalition currently governing Selangor.

“They (PR) won the (2013) election because of that promise. This shows that the people of Selangor really believed that the government would fulfill all the promises listed in their manifesto,” said Jamal.

“Najib’s suggestion was initially made by Khalid, but it was cancelled after PH took over the Selangor government.

“It’s sad when the public cannot enjoy the state’s wealth.”

In a Facebook post on Thursday, Najib suggested that BN include Khalid’s suggestion as part of the coalition’s manifesto for GE15.

Khalid was unable to follow through on it as he was replaced as Selangor menteri besar in September 2014 by Azmin Ali.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s attempt to obtain an interim injunction against Muhyiddin Yassin pending the outcome of his defamation suit.

Zahid’s lawyer, Baharudeen Mohamed Ariff, said judge Rozana Ali Yusoff ruled that the issues raised by the parties were matters that could be decided and disposed of during the trial.

Rozana also awarded RM5,000 in costs to Muhyiddin, who was represented by lawyers DP Naban, Rosli Dahlan, Amiratu Al Amirat, Chetan Jethwani and Ivy Shu during an online proceeding.

“The court fixed case management on Oct 3 for the parties to prepare for the trial,” said Baharudeen, who appeared with Shahrul Fazli Kamarulzaman and Aina Dalila Daman Huri.

Rosli said the judge dismissed the application as Zahid could not show that the allegations made against him by Muhyiddin were patently false.

Zahid, who is Umno president and Bagan Datuk MP, had filed the suit on April 4 after Muhyiddin went public to claim that he had asked him to intervene in his ongoing court cases.

Muhyiddin, who is the sole defendant, is alleged to have made the claim during the Johor election campaign.

Muhyiddin was the prime minister between March 2020 and August last year.

In his statement of claim, Zahid said the alleged defamatory words uttered by Muhyiddin implied that he was not qualified to be the Umno president and Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman.

He claimed the words meant that he was resorting to shortcuts to resolve his criminal cases for personal interest.

​Zahid is standing trial on a total of 80 corruption charges here and in Shah Alam.

Last month, Rozana also refused Zahid’s bid to obtain a similar injunction against Dr Mahathir Mohamad pending the disposal of his lawsuit against the former prime minister.

Zahid had sued Mahathir in April for similarly claiming that he had sought the former prime minister’s help to get his corruption charges dropped.

KUANTAN: Three men were killed and four others injured in an accident involving three vehicles at Km126 Jalan Kuantan-Segamat in Rompin last night.

Rompin district police chief Azahari Mukhtar said the incident, which occurred at 8.50pm, involved a trailer and two cars.

He identified those killed as the trailer attendant, Abdul Raziz Mohdal, 40, from Segamat, Johor, the driver of one of the cars, Khairol Md Tahir, 36, and his rear seat passenger, Zairulzaimy Jambi, 18, both from Pekan.

“The accident was believed to have happened when Khairol, who was driving from Segamat, lost control of the wheel, causing his car to veer into the opposite lane. The car then collided with the trailer before crashing into another car,” he said in a statement today.

The bodies were taken to Hospital Muadzam Shah in Rompin for post mortem.

He said the lorry driver, two more men travelling with Khairol, and the driver of the second car suffered light injuries and were take to the same hospital for treatment.

​PUTRAJAYA: In a split decision, the Court of Appeal has ruled that children born overseas to Malaysian mothers can be denied citizenship by operation of the law.

Bench chairman Kamaludin Md Said and Azizah Nawawi were in the majority while S Nantha Balan dissented.

The majority said the word “father” in the Second Schedule of Part 11 of the Federal Constitution meant the biological father and cannot be extended to include the mother or parents.

Kamaludin and Azizah, who said they were following the legal principles in a Federal Court ruling made last year, added that it was up to Parliament, not the court, to rewrite the constitution.

Nantha Balan said the present legal status of the mother’s bloodline was made to look inferior to the father.

He said Article 14, which allowed children outside the federation to obtain citizenship, was discriminatory as it violated the equality provision.

He said the denial of citizenship also went against international law of which Malaysia was a party to.

This means that today’s ruling was made in favour of the government, the home minister and the director-general of the national registration department (JPN), who are appearing as appellants and respondents in two cases.

Last year, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that the government must grant citizenship to children born abroad to Malaysian mothers as the word “father” in the Second Schedule of the constitution must mean and include mothers.

In allowing several declaratory reliefs sought by an NGO and six mothers that certain provisions on citizenship in the constitution were discriminatory, judge Akhtar Tahir said they were entitled to be conferred citizenship by operation of law.

In the second case, Mahisha Sulaiha, born to her Malaysian mother and Indian national father in India, is appealing a 2020 High Court ruling that favoured the government over her bid to become a citizen.

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court here today postponed to Aug 22 the hearing of Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s corruption case relating to Yayasan Akalbudi funds as two of his lawyers are down with Covid-19.

Lead counsel Hisyam Teh Poh Teik and lawyer Hamidi Mohd Noh had tested positive for Covid-19, another lawyer representing the former deputy prime minister, Aiman Abdul Rahman, told judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah.

“We had informed the court through a letter on Aug 2 and 3 that lawyers Hisyam and Hamidi are infected with Covid-19.

“We request that the date of today’s hearing be changed to a mention and for the hearing to continue on Aug 22,” he said.

Deputy public prosecutor Abdul Malik Ayob did not object.

Early this year, the court ordered Zahid to enter his defence on 47 charges, with 12 of them involving criminal breach of trust, eight charges of corruption and 27 money laundering involving tens of millions of ringgit in funds belonging to Yayasan Akalbudi.

PETALING JAYA: A video showing a group of children crossing a river on a sampan to go to school has been going viral since yesterday.

The video shows the group made up of those with life jackets and those without. Those with lifejackets can be seen waiting for their turn to cross the river while a boatman struggles against the river current to get the sampan across to the other side.

​According to reports, a suspension bridge was washed away by floods last year, forcing about 30 children from Kampung Mangkabusu, Pitas, to use the small boat to cross the Sungai Bengkoka to go to school and return home.

This has been going on for more than half a year and has disrupted schooling at SK Mandurian, Pitas, because the children are often unable to attend school when the river becomes too dangerous to cross.
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Maratin Manjungkat, 40, said he had to go back and forth 12 times a day on the sampan to drop and pick up the school children.

“I take all the students across the river. The sampan can only accommodate four children at a time.

“I have to go back and forth six times every morning and another six times in the afternoon. The children have to wait for their turn because I am worried that the sampan will be overloaded and endanger them,” Sinar Harian quoted him as saying.

Asked about the viral video, Manjungkat said it was recorded last Monday by one of the villagers.

“It’s currently examination week. So that day, I had to take them across anyway because I was worried they would miss the examination.

“They were already late for school, so I tried my best to take them across the river quickly.

“After that, other villagers took turns escorting them to school, which is more than half an hour away,” he said.

Manjungkat said that if it had not been the examination period, all the schoolchildren,  including his son, who is in Year Five, would not be going to school every day.

“It is dangerous for them to cross, especially when the river water rises, and there have been drowning incidents in this river involving children.

“So, there are some days they will not be able to go to school.

“Fortunately, the teachers understand our situation. We also inform them immediately if the children are unable to go to be present,” he said.

Manjungkat hoped the situation will receive public attention.

“We have informed the assemblyman regarding the need for a floating suspension bridge. He said he will get it built but the weather conditions are not allowing it.

“Our main need right now, while waiting for the bridge to be rebuilt, are bigger boats and more life jackets,” he said.

He also said there were 34 houses and more than 100 villagers living in Kampung Mangkabusu who were “completely dependent” on the suspension bridge before it was swept away.

“After the bridge was swept away by floods, we had to rely on canoes to go back and forth, including going to the town to buy necessities.

“So, apart from boats and life jackets, we need the suspension bridge to be rebuilt to make it easier for the villagers,” he said.