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​KUALA LUMPUR: Police have arrested 10 suspects in connection with the robbery-cum-murder of a former researcher with the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (Mardi) in Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar, here yesterday.

Brickfields police chief Anuar Omar said the arrests were made last night.

Wan Hassan Wan Embong, 71, was slashed with a parang when he tried to put up a fight against burglars who broke in through the kitchen window of his double-storey bungalow at about 3.30am.

His wife, Sarifah Yusof, 70, suffered slash wounds on the right hand.

JOHOR BAHRU: A man who used his car to transport a banana tree at Persiaran Utama in Skudai here on Saturday was slapped with a traffic summons by police.

A video recording of the car, with the tree protruding from both sides of the rear windows, went viral on social media.

Iskandar Puteri district police chief Dzulkhairi Mukhtar said police contacted the 30-year-old owner, who was in Singapore.

“The owner’s son came to the police station to provide a statement at 8.30pm, saying the vehicle was driven by his cousin and the banana tree was for a prayer ceremony in Mutiara Rini,” Dzulkhairi said in a statement.

​He said the driver finally turned up at the Iskandar Puteri traffic police station at 9.30am yesterday to give his statement.

Checks showed the driver had 18 traffic summonses, including four arrest warrants and 10 non-compoundable summonses.

“The driver was taken to the Johor Bahru Magistrate’s Court to settle six outstanding summonses amounting to RM1,200,” he said.

He also said the car, which had expired road tax, was confiscated.

​KUALA LUMPUR: A senior Sarawak Customs officer received a death threat when a letter containing two bullets was found at the parking lot of his house on Thursday.

Customs director-general Abdul Latif Abdul Kadir said it was believed to be connected to the officer’s involvement in conducting operations at the Rajang and Bintulu ports from Oct 21 to Nov 13.

He said the envelope had the word “death” on it and inside was a note saying, “Got two bullet one short one long which one you want.”

He said CCTV recordings showed a man getting out of a car in front of the officer’s house before throwing something into the parking lot at about 7.15pm on Wednesday.

​The officer lodged a police report over the incident.

Latiff said a similar note was previously found at a neighbour’s house and he did not rule out the possibility it might also have been meant for the officer.

“The Customs Department takes seriously any form of intimidation or threat against its officers,” he said.

The operations at the two ports led to the seizure of goods worth about RM2.64 million and recovery of tax and duties estimated at RM655,300.

PETALING JAYA: The High Court in Taiping, Perak, has urged lower court judges to refrain from taking the conventional approach of sending repeat offenders to longer jail terms.

Judicial Commissioner K Muniandy said there was no doubt that the imprisonment terms meted out did not have the deterrent effect, “especially when one continues to be habitually leading a life entwined with crime”.

“In the premise, there has to be a coordinated approach by the court to mete out an appropriate sentence,” Muniandy said, in affirming the conviction of Mohammad Syukri Ramli but reducing his jail term and strokes of the rotan.

Syukri, 44, was found guilty of committing armed robbery against two Bangladeshis in Kampung Jalong, Sungai Siput, on June 30, 2018.

A Sessions Court in Kuala Kangsar sentenced him last year to 10 years’ jail on each of the two charges, to run concurrently, and six strokes of the rotan.

Muniandy reduced the sentence to five years and four strokes of the rotan and set aside the lower court’s order for Syukri to pay RM2,000 in prosecution costs, or another four months’ jail in lieu.

Muniandy delivered his 26-page written judgment this week as the prosecution has appealed to the Court of Appeal on inadequacy of sentence while Syukri wants to set aside his conviction.

Kathan Marathumuthu represented the accused while deputy public prosecutor Azrul Faidz Abdul Razak prosecuted.

​Syukri has 10 previous convictions from 1997 to 2016 for theft and drugs, during which he was jailed and whipped.

Muniandy said that from the viewpoint of liberty, even a one-day sentence of imprisonment was enough to shackle him from his freedom.

He said it was only proper for the court not to adopt a mathematical approach in sentencing an accused but a more coordinated humane approach in accordance with the facts and circumstances of each case.

He said a slightly shorter jail term may do Syukri good as he would go through rehabilitative counselling, which may have the effect this time for him to ponder on and realise his follies as well as turn over a new leaf.

“Furthermore, he is progressing in age. To lock him up longer this time would definitely not do him any good,” he said, adding that a balanced approach on the aims of sentencing – deterrence and rehabilitation – was favoured.

He said he was of the opinion that Syukri did not deserve a long period of imprisonment just because of his past criminal record but because of settled judicial principles.

Muniandy also said he found the sentence meted out by the Sessions Court manifestly excessive even though a parang was used in the crime.

SHAH ALAM: Police have arrested a reality show celebrity over the alleged rape of a 23-year-old woman last year.

The man was arrested at the Shah Alam police headquarters yesterday, following a report by the alleged victim a day earlier.

According to district police chief Baharudin Mat Taib, the woman said she got to know the 25-year-old suspect through Instagram and they met on Sept 11, 2019 to discuss medical treatment for depression.

The suspect took her to an eatery at Batu 3 Shah Alam before they went to his condominium unit at Section 7, where the alleged incident took place, he said in a statement.

​The next day, the suspect allegedly warned her to keep quiet about the incident before she returned home, he said.

Baharudin said the woman was admitted to hospital on Sept 23, 2019 for emotional stress and was referred for psychiatric treatment.

PETALING JAYA: A company has allegedly left at least one of its factories in Selangor open despite a rise in Covid-19 cases linked to its workers.

At about 7pm yesterday, reporters spotted dozens of workers leaving one of the company’s factories before getting into several buses. This was shortly after another bus was seen dropping off workers outside the same factory’s gates.

The company is said to be suspending operations at the factories to allow its workers to undergo screenings and mandatory quarantine in a bid to stem the spread of the virus.

Reporters spoke to several of the workers mingling outside the factories, with two of them saying they worked at two separate factories.

When pressed, these workers said the factories were “not operational” but they did not want to disclose why they were entering and leaving the premises.

One worker, who was not among those at the factories, said his colleagues told the media the lines were closed but “inside (they are) all running”.

“What do you think they (workers) are there for? To watch the factory?” he asked.

Another source told reporters that though the company said its factories were closed, “they are running some lines in some factories”. He also alleged that four factories were running two shifts, going on to provide the factories’ names.

The source also told reporters that many of the workers were under quarantine at a hotel but had been told to return to work.

According to the source, Malaysian workers have replaced foreign workers who are being quarantined, with foreign workers who had tested negative told to return to work.

“They will need to redo the test 14 days later. So, if these workers who tested negative initially are found to be positive in a second test, they would have further spread (Covid-19) to other workers,” the source added.

Reporters has reached out to the company for comment.

​PETALING JAYA: The Selangor Lands and Mines Department has removed the daily quota of registering land transactions, currently restricted due to the conditional movement control order (CMCO).

A letter issued by department director Yusri Zakariah said it had agreed to conduct limitless transactions via its “Smartbox ” system from today.

In the letter, sighted by reporters, he said the department had received requests from many parties, especially legal firms, to raise the capacity to make payments.

Yusri said it is hoped the decision would enable all parties to carry out land transactions and other matters with the department and help the state revive its economy in the real estate sector.
Early this month, the Selangor Bar Committee had urged the department to increase the daily quota for land transactions, even though it had raised the limit from 200 to 300.

Its chairman, V Murali, had said the number was still grossly insufficient.

“We need a higher daily quota or no restriction at all in registering land transactions as the state is a vibrant economic hub,” he told reporters.

He was commenting on the “Smartbox” system, which allows 300 daily transactions to be conducted at the department’s headquarters in Shah Alam as only 30% of the staff were working in the office because of the CMCO.

​Under the system, legal firms would key in details of a specific land transaction online and the system would generate a payment bill the next day.

However, due to the limited transactions allowed each day, many were unable to make payments even though lawyers and clerks woke up as early as 5am to “queue”.

This is because there are some firms which conduct more than one transaction, especially entry of caveats, charges or transfers.

Malaysian Bar secretary AG Kalidas had said the department staff should be able to produce between 70% and 80% of work they performed while in office even though most of them were working from home.

He said it did not reflect well on the department when lawyers and clerks had to wake up early to make payments, and that a delay in registering transactions could also lead to agreements being terminated and deposit payments forfeited.

PETALING JAYA: The tourism, arts and culture ministry has clarified that its minister, Nancy Shukri, is not a close contact of an officer at Tourism Malaysia who was recently found to be Covid-19 positive.

In a statement, it confirmed the Covid-19 infection involving an officer at the agency under the ministry but said Nancy did not have direct contact with the individual.

“Nancy had taken the proactive initiative in going for a swab test at 5.15pm yesterday, with the swab test results coming back negative. As a precautionary measure, she will go for another swab test this morning,” it said.

The ministry said its building in Putrajaya had been sanitised yesterday evening and all staff had been instructed to work from home and self-quarantine from today.

​At the Dewan Rakyat today, speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said he had been informed that Nancy’s test at a private hospital this morning was also negative.

Opposition MPs had questioned if the minister should be allowed in the Dewan Rakyat.

Balik Pulau MP Muhammad Bakhtiar Wan Chik had cited the ministry’s statement that all staff members and officers at the ministry’s building in Putrajaya had been ordered to self-quarantine and work from home.

PETALING JAYA: Singapore’s transport ministry says Malaysia has proposed changes to the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High Speed Rail (HSR).

According to the Singapore Straits Times, a ministry spokesman said Singapore has been discussing these proposed changes in “good faith” with Malaysia, though no details were reported.

“Singapore continues to believe that the HSR project is beneficial for both countries, and remains fully committed to fulfilling our obligations under the HSR bilateral agreement. We will make our best efforts to conclude discussions with Malaysia by Dec 31, 2020,” said the spokesman.

The spokesman added that if Malaysia does not proceed with the project by Dec 31, the country will have to bear costs incurred by Singapore to fulfill its part of the agreement.

The Singapore transport ministry’s comments echo that of the Singapore High Commission and comes in the wake of an report in which sources said the project is expected to continue without Singapore’s participation.

The sources said the new plan was for the line to end in Johor Bahru instead of Singapore and that Putrajaya have informed its Singapore counterpart on the matter.

In May, Singapore agreed to a Malaysian request to postpone the start of the project to the end of this year to allow for discussions on changes that Putrajaya had in mind.

The sources reporters spoke to were critical of a move to exclude Singapore, raising questions over the project’s viability and the impact on Malaysia’s relations with the island republic.

Reporters has contacted the offices of the senior minister for economy, the economic affairs minister, the transport minister for their comments and is awaiting responses from them.

PETALING JAYA: The Dewan Rakyat proceedings have been extended by one hour today, according to reporters.
​
The lower house approved a motion by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law) Takiyuddin Hassan for the sitting to go on until 3pm, instead of 2pm.

Lembah Pantai MP Fahmi Fadzil said this should have been done earlier to give more MPs the chance to debate the Supply Bill 2021, which covers the budget.

“Parliament today passed a motion to allow proceedings to go on until 3pm. It turns out that it can be done. Before this, there were all kinds of excuses,” he said in a Twitter post.

​Yesterday, speaker Azhar Azizan Harun said he will look into requests for more time and more MPs to be present for the ministerial reply time, which started this week.

Each ministry is only given 20 minutes compared with almost one hour previously.

Previously, Azhar said only 80 of the 222 MPs will be allowed in the Dewan Rakyat at any one time and sittings will be held from 10am to 2pm.