10GB free data for National Day and Malaysia Day

 The initiative is open to all Malaysian citizens who use prepaid and postpaid services.

Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said 5GB will be provided on National Day on Aug 31 while the remaining 5GB will be provided on Malaysia Day on Sept 16. (Bernama pic)

PUTRAJAYA:

Malaysians are set to receive 10GB of free data under an initiative jointly launched by the government and five telecommunications companies to mark the National Day and Malaysia Day celebrations.

Communications minister Fahmi Fadzil said 5GB will be provided on National Day on Aug 31, and the remaining 5GB on Malaysia Day on Sept 16.

Fahmi said the initiative involves a collaboration between the government and CelcomDigi, Maxis, TM, U Mobile, and YES, which will provide more information about the initiative.

“All Malaysian citizens who use prepaid and postpaid services will receive 10GB of free data,” he said at a HKHM (National Day-Malaysia Day) 2026 sponsorship ceremony at his ministry here today.

Fahmi also said the total value of sponsorships for HKHM 2026 stood at RM48.63 million to date.

Of this amount, RM2.7 million comprises cash contributions, while the remaining RM45.93 million is in the form of goods and services.

“This represents an encouraging increase of more than 118% compared with last year’s RM22.3 million.

“Based on the total sponsorship value, 50% is in the form of promotional support, 30% comprises goods to be distributed to visitors, while the remaining 20% is sponsorship for committees involved in organising HKHM 2026, he said. - FMT

Baseless to say Wawasan controls PN’s decisions, says Wan Fayhsal

 The Wawasan information chief calls the accusation by Bersatu vice-president Ahmad Faizal Azumu the ‘ravings’ of ‘someone who has clearly lost support in PN’.

Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal said relations between PN’s component parties were good, except with Bersatu as it had frequently gone against decisions made by the coalition’s leaders.

PETALING JAYA:

A Wawasan leader has described as “baseless” Bersatu vice-president Ahmad Faizal Azumu’s accusation that Wawasan “controls” or influences all decisions made by the Perikatan Nasional leadership.

Pointing out that his party was much smaller than PAS, Wawasan information chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal called the accusation the “ravings” of “someone who has clearly lost support in PN”.

“I do not understand how he could have made such a claim,” he told FMT.

Wan Fayhsal said PN’s component parties have good relations, except with Bersatu, which had frequently gone against decisions made by the coalition’s leaders.

He said PAS’s claim that Bersatu had automatically ceased to be part of PN after announcing plans to form a new political coalition was evident in itself.

“It’s like that idiom, ‘Hidung tak mancung, pipi tersorong-sorong’,” he said, using a Malay idiom referring to someone who pushes themselves forward despite being unwelcome.

PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang previously claimed that under the PN constitution, any party that chooses to join or form another alliance would automatically lose its membership.

However, PN chairman Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar later said that Bersatu remained a component of the coalition. - FMT

Ringgit ends higher vs US dollar ahead of inflation data

 Market participants remained cautious ahead of the US CPI release, with July inflation expected to ease slightly to 3.4%, says analyst.

KUALA LUMPUR:

The ringgit finished higher against the greenback on Wednesday ahead of the release later tonight of the US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for July, which is expected to provide further clues on the direction of interest rates in the US.

At 6pm, the ringgit rose to 4.0835/4.0875 versus the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.0905/4.0940.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid noted that the ringgit was well supported against the US dollar today, while other Asian currencies were generally mixed against the greenback.

“Clearly, market participants were guarded today as the US CPI will be published tonight. Consensus estimates showed CPI inflation could come in at 3.4% in July versus 3.5% for June,” he told Bernama.

Afzanizam noted that economists were expecting a moderate US inflation rate for July.

“Still, in light of the elevated crude oil prices, higher-than-expected inflation could lead to a higher US dollar. For now, the US Dollar Index was rather flat at 99.855 points,” he added.

At the close, the local currency ended higher against a basket of major currencies.

It climbed against the Japanese yen to 2.5655/2.5682 from 2.5680/2.5703 at yesterday’s close and rose against the euro to 4.7107/4.7153 from 4.7188/4.7228. The ringgit improved vis-à-vis the British pound to 5.5180/5.5234 from 5.5238/5.5285 previously.

The local note was mostly higher against regional currencies.

It climbed against the Singapore dollar to 3.1905/3.1941 from 3.1930/3.1962 on Tuesday and appreciated against the Philippine peso to 6.67/6.68 from 6.68/6.69.

Against the Indonesian rupiah, it climbed to 228.4/228.7 against yesterday’s close of 229.0/229.3 but edged down against the Thai baht to 12.3488/12.3665 from 12.3323/12.3481. - FMT

GUTSHOT PODCAST EP 106 UNSUSTAINABLE MALAY ECONOMY

By Syed Akbar Ali  

HOW MUCH SUGAR SHOULD A PERSON CONSUME ON A DAILY BASIS, AND WHAT ARE THE CONSEQUENCES OF CONSUMING TOO MUCH SUGAR?

 

The person who is physically, emotional, mentally, psycologically fit can be consider as healthy person.

What is actually need In order to healthy body?,its right amount of sleep, digestable amount of food, and a small little excersises.

So what is digestable amount of food to eat? That food which properly fill nutritional value of body completely can be consider as right amount food.

So there comes for consumption of sugar which I think is major cause for healthy life, as if not taken in right amount can be harmful for body.

So the amount of sugar to be taken per day, I think is not more than 20 - 30 gm /day, this is what I believe, mainly we consume sugar in tea, coffee, Sweets, so 20-30 gm is enough for day, but scientific research says it should be 10-12 % only as daily recommended

As we also have natural sugar present in our foods also, vegetables, fruits, so it can be balance with natural for our body.

Consuming more sugar can be harmful, as leads to-:

. Fatigue in body

. Leads to diabetes

. Disturb in digesrion

. Affects filtration process of kidney

. Make blood thick

. Take long time for injury to recover

And so on,

At younger age although the body's capacity to control blood glucose level is good but as the age increases this capacity decreases therefore many people become diabetic with age. So sweet sugar should be eaten in less amount in a single meal or time.

If you eat sugar in small amount but at intervals it will better than a single large serving.

As usual, we remind you to take your Memo Plus Gold daily. It will help to keep you alert and mentally sharp. For more information or to order for Memo Plus Gold, please visit : https://oze.my

Immigration dept caps Malaysian passport validity at 10 years after overseas travel issues, offers free replacement

 

The Immigration Department said the move was aimed at standardising the implementation of PMA requirements and avoiding confusion during international travel. — Picture by Miera Zulyana

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 — The Immigration Department has set the maximum validity period of the Malaysian International Passport (PMA) at 10 years with immediate effect, following issues faced by some Malaysian passport holders travelling overseas with passports valid for more than 10 years.

The department said the move was aimed at standardising the implementation of PMA requirements and avoiding confusion during international travel.

As part of the measures, the department will issue notification letters to airlines to assist affected Malaysian travellers overseas.

It will also stop issuing PMAs with validity periods exceeding 10 years until the issue is resolved with the relevant parties.

Existing PMA holders with validity periods exceeding 10 years will be given free replacement passports, with the new passports having a maximum validity of 10 years.

The department said affected PMA holders would also be given priority for passport replacement.

The Immigration Department said it remained committed to improving the implementation of PMA requirements to facilitate matters for Malaysians and ensure smoother international travel. - malaymail

Lame excuse or logical that ‘sakau’ accuser PMX must be present for hajj fund RCI debate to take off?

 

SUCH was apparently the rationale behind yesterday’s (Aug 12) walk-out by Opposition parliamentarians after their bid to postpone a special sitting on the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report on Lembaga Tabung Haji (TH) was rejected.

Except for Bersatu lawmakers who stayed put in the Dewan Rakyat, both PAS and Parti Wawasan Negara MPs left the august hall just as Religious Affairs Minister Datuk Dr Zulkifli Hasan stood to deliver a ministerial briefing on the RCI report which scrutinised the hajj fund’s management and operations from 2014 to 2020.

The crux of the matter is that both PAS and Wawasan had wanted the briefing to be postponed in view of the absence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim whom they label as the “sakau (act of plundering) accuser” following an elective laparoscopic surgery to treat a para-umbilical (abdominal) hernia on Aug 10.

After all, not only had the special session took place without any motions, resolutions or voting processes, the duo deemed the presence of PMX as essential “to answer important questions and establish a transparent accountability process”.

“This failure caused opposition MPs who were fully prepared to debate this issue to request that the session be postponed until PMX himself could attend to ensure that the accountability process could be implemented,” justified Perikatan Nasional (PN) chief whip Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan.

The PAS secretary-general went on to lament that the matter was “also overshadowed by the odd procedure in the report’s tabling”.

“Typically, an RCI report must first be tabled in Parliament under embargo terms before being made public. However, in the case of TH’s RCI, the report was made public during the Negeri Sembilan state election before being brought to the Dewan Rakyat,” recounted Takiyuddin who is also the Kota Bahru MP.

“This reversal clearly shows that the debate in the House now no longer has a significant difference compared to the debate outside Parliament unless PMX is present in person to defend the report in front of the people’s representatives.”

Scoring brownie points

While it cannot be ascertained if this is merely a strategic move with UMNO to delay the “unearthing of truth” given the “almost RM13 bil loss” incurred by TH had occurred during the Barisan Nasional (BN) reign, Bersatu has somehow endeared itself to detractors by not participating in the walk-out.

“This is an important issue for the rakyat and there’s no need for  political drama,” jibed Bersatu vice-president Datuk Dr Radzi Jidin who is also the Putrajaya MP.  “We even asked for the discussion period to be extended. The rakyat need to know the truth”.

But the one lawmaker who stole the limelight most is perhaps former MUDA president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman who slammed the opposition for boycotting the parliamentary debate on grounds of PMX’s medical leave, thus forsaking the interest of failed more than 10 million TH depositors.

“It’s very unfortunate that we on the opposition side who’re the loudest in championing the Malay-Muslim cause have chosen to boycott the debate on the institution that is most important to the Malay-Muslim community,” justified the Muar MP during the special sitting.

We aren’t boycotting PMX. We’re boycotting our duty to millions of TH depositors … Parliament is not a one-man show. PMX is unwell but that does not mean the rest of us should stop doing our jobs.

 

The responsibility of 222 healthy members of parliament is stopped just because of an unhealthy PMX?

Those who are paid tens of thousands in salaries, have confirmed pensions and all kinds of allowances have clearly failed to play that role.

At the end of the day, the entire affair was capitalised by Madani backers to attack the sincerity of the opposition faction who is the loudest in defending the Malays and Islam “yet their action doesn’t go beyond safeguarding their political interest”.

This includes the bashing of one inhumane post which teased PMX if he could “urinate smoothly post operation” for choosing a date so close to the RCI tabling in Dewan Rakyat to undergo his so-called “elective surgery”. 

 - Focus Malaysia