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PETALING JAYA: The health ministry reported 63 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, according to its GitHub database.

Of the total, 13 were classified as brought-in-dead (BID). The death toll now stands at 30,063

Most of the fatalities were recorded in Selangor with 14 deaths, followed by Johor (11), Sabah (9), Perak (7), Terengganu (7), Kedah (4), Kuala Lumpur (4), Sarawak (2), Kelantan (2), Negeri Sembilan (1), Pahang (1) and Melaka (1).

There were no deaths reported in Penang, Perlis, Labuan and Putrajaya.

As of midnight, there were 67,986 active cases including 549 in intensive care units (ICU), 274 of whom require respiratory assistance.

There were also 5,628 recoveries reported.

As of yesterday, the total number of Covid-19 cases recorded in Malaysia stands at 2,591,486.

KOTA KINABALU: For decades, villagers at Bundu Tuhan have been keeping watch on a tract of forested highlands near Mount Kinabalu.

They have maintained the pristine jungle covering some 700ha. – about the size of Petaling Jaya – in a community conservation initiative to preserve their source of water and the “open supermarket” where they could harvest everything from kodop mushrooms to wild fruits like durians.

“Our forefathers realised that the forest is like a tataba – a magical wand – which is the source of our water supply and bountiful produce and thus something we must look after,” said village elder Johnny Ghani.

Although they began preserving the area decades ago, it was only in 2003 the villagers formalised the conservation initiative in what is known in their Kadazandusun language as bombon or tagal.

They have installed signboards at the fringes of their forest warning outsiders against any illegal activities such as trespassing with offenders liable to penalties under the community’s adat or customary laws. These include sogit or compensation involving a buffalo or a head of cattle.

Though many other kampungs in Sabah had initiated similar tagal, these usually covered only rivers to preserve waterways and the fish and other marine life in them.

“I don’t know of any other kampung or village in Sabah where they have done a bombon for a jungle. I believe we are the pioneers in this,” said Johnny, who heads the Bundu Tuhan Committee of Trustees which oversees the management of the forest.

The Bundu Tuhan bombon or tagal of that pristine tract of forest has paid off – there’s a steady flow of crystal clear water through a gravity fed pipe system for the 3,000 village folk.

And wildlife abounds around the village.

“The squirrels now come and share with my grandchildren the fruits of our dwarf mata kucing (longan) tree. We occasionally get to hear the calls of the kijang (mousedeer),” said Bundu Tuhan native Sualim Gopog.

But the villagers worry whether they are on the verge of facing an end to having a say in the conservation of that forest.

Early last year, they learnt that the Sabah Forestry Department had begun steps to change the status of that tract of jungle from a community reserve to that of a forest reserve.

Village folk like Johnny are bewildered and worry about the long term future of the forest they had been conserving for generations.

Once it is gazetted as a forest reserve, there is nothing to stop state authorities from further altering the status of that forest. “Will this be a protected area, a Class 1 forest reserve in perpetuity? Once it is out of our hands, anything can happen and we can lose this precious resource,” added Johnny.

Forestry officers had told the villagers “they don’t believe that we can continue with the conservation of this forest in the long run”, Johnny said. “That does not make sense, this is the source of our water,” he added.

The villagers have raised their concerns with the state government’s Office of Natural Resources. “Our hope is that common sense will prevail,” said Johnny in noting that Kundasang state assemblyman Dr Joachim Gunsalam, a deputy chief minister, has voiced his agreement and so has the Ranau District Office.

For Bundu Tuhan villagers like Johnny and Sualim, it is out of the question to let the magic wand that is their protected forest be wrested from their hands.

There is too much at stake for them.

PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Harapan (PH) should make unanimity a rule for decision-making by its presidential council instead of component parties deciding crucial matters on their own, said DAP stalwart Lim Kit Siang.

He said matters that involved national policies and political decisions vital for the integrity of the coalition must be unanimous before being implemented.

Citing the move by PKR and Amanah to accept party-hoppers to stand as candidates for the coalition in Melaka, Lim said such a rule would have prevented this “blunder”, as shown by the total rejection of the two candidates by the voters.

DAP was openly against PKR’s decision to accept Umno’s former Melaka chief minister Idris Haron as a candidate for the Asahan seat and Amanah’s move to field Nor Azman Hassan in Pantai Kundor. Both lost their seats by big margins.

“PH should never lose the moral high ground of integrity, public service before self and being Malaysian first in a multiracial, multi-lingual, multi-religious and multicultural nation,” he said in a statement today.

Lim said besides this, there were many lessons to be drawn from the Melaka results. However, he felt it was counter-productive to put all the blame on PH head Anwar Ibrahim.

First, he said, there was a need for a change in the mindset by all political leaders.

“Although the PH government should have been the first to explore a new coalition politics mindset in Malaysia, it failed to do so and was mired in the hegemonic mould of the Barisan Nasional (BN).

“The prime minister of a coalition of equals like PH should operate differently from one from BN which is based on Umno’s political hegemony. But this mindset continued in the 22 months when PH was in power,” he said.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said in the BN scenario, the prime minister would decide on everything, subject to the acceptance level of the other component parties.

However, in a coalition of equals, the prime minister would have to consult and secure the agreement of the other component parties before any decision was taken, Lim added.

PETALING JAYA: The health ministry reported 24 Covid-19 deaths yesterday.

Of the total, six were classified as brought-in-dead (BID). The death toll now stands at 30,002, according to its GitHub database.

Most of the fatalities were recorded in Kelantan with five deaths, followed by Johor (4), Kedah (3), Perak (3), Sabah (2), Sarawak (2), Terengganu (2), Negeri Sembilan (1), Pahang (1) and Penang (1).

No deaths were reported in Selangor, Perlis, Melaka, Kuala Lumpur, Labuan and Putrajaya.

​As of midnight, there were 68,790 active cases including 541 in intensive care units (ICU), 267 of whom require respiratory assistance.

A total of 5,525 recoveries were also reported.

The total number of Covid-19 cases recorded in Malaysia stands at 2,586,601.

PETALING JAYA: Kedah menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said today the state should get RM100 million a year for keeping it’s forests intact, following Putrajaya’s announcement that it was agreeable to compensating states for retaining forest reserves.

Sanusi, while welcoming Putrajaya’s proposal, insisted that the compensation should be in the form of funds for the state and not in lieu of costs for tree replanting projects and so on.

“The RM100 million per annum compensation rate is a reasonable one if we factor in the loss of income from forest products, and costs for maintaining the forests,” he said.

Sanusi added that the state government was making a “huge sacrifice” to preserve the Ulu Muda forest reserve as the Muda river that originated from the forest provided raw water for the irrigation of paddy fields in Kedah, Perlis, and Penang.

“Kedah contributes 43% to the country’s total rice production, which helps the federal government to save on costs of importing rice from overseas.

​“In addition, the Ulu Muda forest reserve also provides water to Penang that abstracts 1,100 million litres per day, compared to 800 million litres per day by Kedah. 80% of water consumed by Penang daily originates from the Muda river,” added Sanusi.

Sanusi claimed not only did the Penang state government not pay a cent for water abstracted from the Muda river, it never replied to letters sent by his state government to discuss the matter.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said yesterday Putrajaya would compensate state governments that maintained forest reserves as water catchment areas and protected them against illegal logging activities. He also said the amount of compensation would be studied by the relevant ministries.

“It may be something that can be discussed between the government and the menteris besar. We can sit down to agree on the compensation,” he had said at the launch of a digitalisation programme for small businesses.

KOTA KINABALU: Former badminton world No 1 Lee Chong Wei says he is not taking his new role as the Sabah tourism ambassador lightly, vowing that he will do his best to help the industry recover from the pandemic.

Lee said he agreed to take on the role as he saw it as a new challenge, adding it is completely different from his past ambassadorial duties to promote certain companies or products.

While going on holidays in Sabah will be part of his job scope, the triple Olympic silver medalist is fully aware of the hard work he needs to put in to market the state to the world more effectively.

​He said he had only been to Sabah four times previously, mostly for sporting reasons, but now that he is retired, he is keen to explore more about the state.

“This is a responsibility and not as easy as some people might say,” he said, during an online chat show called “Sabah Way Forward: Introducing Sabah Tourism Ambassador” last night.

“This is because I must work hard to learn about tourism and the places in Sabah as well as do my own research instead of just saying ‘yes’ (to the role) and doing nothing.

“As the tourism ambassador, I want to know more places in Sabah and I want to visit them, otherwise people will say ‘this ambassador is fake, he hasn’t gone anywhere in Sabah’ – that’s very important.”

The Sabah Tourism Board’s (STB) decision to appoint Penangite Lee last month drew criticism from many social media users, who argued that the state’s tourism ambassador should be a Sabahan.

Lee said he understood the mixed reactions over his appointment, adding people had even questioned him on his social media on why he agreed to take up the position.

But the Penangite said: “I know I’m not a local Sabahan but I hope the people will not be angry with me.

“I hope everyone understands that I am a Malaysian and Sabah is also part of Malaysia, we are all Malaysians. So, I’m very happy and proud to have the opportunity to become the ambassador.

“My plan is to do the best for the state and I hope I can help tourism recover in Sabah, especially after Covid-19,” he said.

STB chief executive officer Noredah Othman had previously defended the decision to appoint Lee to the role, saying the board had always appreciated local talent.

Noredah said the STB had before this engaged Sabahans, such as professional golfer Ben Leong as its golfing ambassador and artiste Gary Chaw as its tourism ambassador.

Speaking at the show last night, Noredah said the STB appreciated the feedback from the people, whether good or bad.

“But we got everyone interested (and) we’re happy people have taken note. Sabahans are always passionate about the state.

“We hope our collaboration with Lee will only bring about a positive result for us in Sabah, for our tourism industry and for Malaysia in general.

“He is a hero to Malaysia and why shouldn’t we work with him? He’s not riding on our popularity but we are riding on his and we are so blessed he said yes to us,” she said.

PETALING JAYA: The health ministry reported 55 Covid-19 deaths yesterday, according to its GitHub database.

Of the total, nine were classified as brought-in-dead (BID). The death toll now stands at 29,892.

Most of the fatalities were recorded in Sarawak with 10 deaths, followed by Terengganu (8), Kedah (7), Kelantan (6), Selangor (6), Johor (5), Perak (4), Kuala Lumpur (2), Melaka (2), Negeri Sembilan (2), Sabah (1), Pahang (1) and Perlis (1).

There were no deaths reported in Penang, Labuan and Putrajaya.

​As of midnight, there were 67,358 active cases including 541 in intensive care units (ICU), 263 of whom require respiratory assistance.

There were also 5,760 recoveries reported.

The total number of Covid-19 cases recorded in Malaysia stands at 2,569,533.

KUALA LUMPUR: Rosmah Mansor has not presented any facts to support her argument that a High Court judge who would be presiding over her RM7 million money laundering trial will be biased, the prosecution said today.

Deputy public prosecutor Poh Yin Tinn said the wife of former prime minister Najib Razak had never raised any complaint about the impartiality or the propriety of judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan over the money laundering trial.

Poh said Rosmah’s lawyers had accepted Zaini as the trial judge for the money laundering case when they attended case management which was held after she was ordered to enter her defence on the corruption case.

“Any findings made by the judge pertaining to the credibility of the applicant (Rosmah) as witness in the Solar (corruption) case or the money laundering case or on any evidentiary matters would be governed by principles of evidentiary evaluation,” said Poh who affirmed an affidavit to rebut the application by Rosmah to recuse Zaini.

In the affidavit sighted by reporters, Poh said Rosmah’s application did not disclose any circumstances showing the existence of a real danger of bias on the part of the judge.

“The application by the accused does not disclose an adequate and arguable basis for recusal.

“Further submissions on the law will be undertaken at the hearing of the application,” Poh said in urging the court to dismiss the application so that the money laundering trial could proceed.

The recusal application will be heard on Dec 14.

Rosmah, 69, who made the application on Nov 2, wants the case to be heard before another High Court judge.

On Feb 18, Zaini had ruled that the prosecution had made out a prima facie case against Rosmah and ordered her to enter her defence in the corruption case, which will resume on Dec 8.

She claimed that statements and exhibits tendered before the court in the corruption case could directly or indirectly influence Zaini if he also presided over the money laundering case.

Rosmah is facing 12 money laundering charges involving RM7,097,750 and five counts of failure to declare her income to the Inland Revenue Board (LHDN).

The offences were allegedly committed at Affin Bank Berhad, Bangunan Getah Asli branch, Jalan Ampang here, between Dec 4, 2013 and June 8, 2017, and at LHDN at Kompleks Bangunan Kerajaan, Jalan Tuanku Abdul Halim here, between May 1, 2014 and May 1, 2018.

The charges of money laundering were framed under Section 4(1) (a) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, and is punishable under Section 4(1) of the same law, which provides for imprisonment of up to 15 years and a fine of not less than five times the sum or value of the proceeds of unlawful activity, or RM5 million, whichever is higher, upon conviction.

The charges for tax evasion, made under Section 77(1) of the Income Tax Act 1967, said that Rosmah had failed to furnish returns of her income for the assessment years 2013 to 2017 to the LHDN director-general on or before April 30, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 without reasonable excuse, contrary to Section 112 of the law.

PETALING JAYA: Police are investigating a claim that a foreigner walked around the KLCC park without wearing a mask barely a month after another foreigner was fined for a similar offence.

Dang Wangi police chief Noor Dellhan Yahaya said police was acting on a tweet by a social media user who asked if only Karens were excused from wearing face masks.

He said the matter would be referred to the deputy public prosecutor for further action.

“Karen” is a name often used to refer to women who think they are privileged because they are white.

In the tweet, the user said she was angry because she was obeying SOPs while others could “simply walk without masks”.

​She added that KLCC was a “nest” for Karens who did not like to wear masks.

“Where’s the law?” she said and tagged health minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

On Oct 31, a news report said police fined a maskless woman after she was caught on video raising a ruckus after being denied entry into the Dior store at KLCC.

In the clip, the woman is heard saying she was threatened by a worker at the store when she tried to walk in without her mask. She alleges that the man put his hands on her to push her back.

ALOR SETAR: Kedah today shed some light on its plans to restrict alcohol sales in the state, revealing that there will be a cap on outlets selling alcohol in Malay majority areas.

Previously, menteri besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor said it would limit alcohol sales at “low demand” areas while Langkawi would be made an exception.

At today’s state assembly, local government committee chairman Mohd Hayati Othman (PAS-Tokai) said local councils would impose alcohol sale restrictions in districts with a high Malay population.

“In these districts, only a limited number of outlets will be allowed to sell alcohol. Any other outlet found selling alcohol will have their business licence revoked,” he said.

Hayati added the state had also announced that local councils will no longer renew business licences for 4D outlets. However, he did not state when this new policy would come into effect.

​He was replying to a written question by Asmirul Anuar Aris (PH-Kubang Rotan), who had asked when the state was going to ban gaming shops and alcohol sales.

In a supplementary question, Asmirul asked what measures are being taken to handle online gambling, saying that some of the “kampung folk” in his constituency spend RM1,200 a month punting.

He said these punters also act in impunity and can afford to bail themselves out after being charged in court.

Simon Ooi (PH-Bakar Arang) then asked about the fate of clubhouses, such as the Kedah Royal Club, which had gaming machines but did not need a local council licence to operate.

Hayati evaded the second question but responded to Asmirul’s query saying that the state trusts the police in its fight against the online gambling menace.