Harapan ready to go solo for Malacca polls; govt to boost cash crop smallholders' income

 

Politics

• Pakatan Harapan is prepared to go solo in the Malacca state election, said its election director Amirudin Shari.
  
  The Selangor menteri besar reportedly told the media earlier today that Harapan has yet to enter formal negotiations with Malacca BN chief and Chief Minister Ab Rauf Yusoh on potential cooperation for the polls.
  
  According to the Gombak MP, BN has expressed readiness to discuss the idea but has not set a time and date for their meeting.
  
  "As of today, there is nothing official yet. If there is cooperation, we proceed with it. If not, we will see whether we face each other or not," Amirudin said, as quoted by the New Straits Times.

• Agri-commodities

• The government is looking at ways to further boost the incomes of cash crop smallholders such as oil palm and rubber planters, said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
  
  This includes current programmes such as the Agro-Commodity Sector Disaster and Disease Control Fund (RM28.57 million), the Smallholder Farm Road Programme (RM100 million), and the Second Smallholder Oil Palm Replanting Financing Incentive Scheme (RM280.03 million).
  
  These are in addition to the RM17.05 million initiative to empower downstream agri-commodity entrepreneurs.
  
  Bernama reported that Anwar, who is also the finance minister, said the government has also increased the allocation for maintaining plantation roads nationwide to RM50 million in 2026, up from RM8 million in 2022.
  
  He added that as of September 2026, some 270,000 smallholders, including small palm oil, rubber, cocoa, pepper, and kenaf farmers, received a monthly cash assistance of RM400 under the Budi Agri-Commodities programme.

Higher education

• The future of education for the Malay and bumiputera communities must move beyond quotas towards greater self-reliance and resilience, said Higher Education Minister Zambry Abd Kadir.
  
  “The measure is not only the number of students entering university, but how many can think critically, master STEM, build global companies and lead world-class institutions,” Bernama reported him as saying at the Malay Education Convention 2026 in Kuala Lumpur today.

  

  He added that affirmative policies remained relevant as long as structural imbalances persisted, but their ultimate objective must be to empower the bumiputera community to achieve excellence and become independent.
  
  “Malay and bumiputera education cannot forever be built on the narrative that ‘we need to be helped because we are weak’. The narrative of the future must be: ‘We are given the opportunity to become strong, stand on our own, lead and help others’,” he said. - Mkini