Malaysia

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (Photo: www.themalaymailonline.com) Kuala Lumpur (VNA) –Malaysia’s laws on juvenile crime need to be reviewed, said the country’sDeputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on January 9. Speaking at a conference on educationfor crime prevention held in Kuala Lumpur capital city, Zahid stressed that if childreninvolved in crime are put in prison, they could learn to do serious crimes andprison will be an institution to train juveniles to do heavier crimes. Malaysia should send the children tocorrectional institutions such as the Henry Gurney School, he added, saying itwill prevent them from committing serious crimes in the future. He alsoencouraged the establishment of crime prevention clubs in schools, under thesupervision of the Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation.Nearly 160 underage children arebeing detained in Malaysia’s prisons in … [Read more...] about Malaysia should review laws on juvenile crime: Deputy PM

The Malaysian ringgit continued its uptrend to hit a 19 month high against the USD on January 8. (Photo: AFP/VNA)Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – The Malaysian ringgit continued its uptrend tohit a 19 month high against the USD on January 8.The currency is traded at 3.998 ringgits against the greenback. It was up 70basis points against January 5’s close of 3.995.It appreciated against a basket of other major currencies, including theSingapore dollar, the Japanese yen and euro but fell against the British pound.The ringgit continued to rise against Vietnamese dong when one ringgit can buynearly 5,700 VND.According to Bernama, the Malaysian National News Agency, the note is beingbuoyed by the country’s strong trade surplus and expectations of a hike in theOvernight Policy Rate (OPR) by Bank Negara Malaysia this year.By the end of 2017, the Malaysian economy experienced a growth of 5.8 percent.The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund forecast that the SoutheastAsian … [Read more...] about Malaysia’s ringgit hits 19-month high against USD

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad (Source: Reuters) Hanoi (VNA) -  Malaysia’s opposition alliance on January 7 named former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad as its prime minister candidate for a general election in August this year. In an announcement after a convention of the Pakatan Harapan or Pact of Hope (PH), its Secretary General Saifuddin Abdullah said that Mahathir will be the candidate for prime minister. The PH also named Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, President of the People's Justice Party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) (PKR), as candidate for deputy prime minister. The PH alliance groups four parties: the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM)) led by Mahathir, the PKR, the Democratic Action Party (DAP), and the National Trust Party. If elected, Mahathir, 92, will become the oldest Prime Minister in the world.-VNA … [Read more...] about Malaysia: opposite alliance picks PM candidate

Malaysia's opposition coalition on Sunday named 92-year old former premier Mahathir Mohamad as its prime ministerial candidate for a general election that must be called by August. With the country's most popular opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in jail, Mahathir is seen as the biggest threat for Prime Minister Najib Razak, who is engulfed in a corruption scandal. Mahathir, who earned a reputation during his 22-year tenure as prime minister of being a no-nonsense authoritarian with little time for dissenters promoting liberal values, stands to become the world's oldest leader if the opposition wins. A victory could also potentially pave the way for former Mahathir foe Anwar to become the prime minister. Mahathir and Anwar's wife Wan Azizah Wan Ismail will be the Pakatan Harapan coalition's candidates for the premier and deputy prime ministerial posts respectively, secretary general Saifuddin Abdullah said at the alliance's convention. If the opposition wins, the component parties have … [Read more...] about Malaysia’s opposition alliance names 92-year old Mahathir as PM candidate

Searching for missing MH370 (Source: CBS News)Hanoi (VNA) – The government of Malaysia on January 5 agreed to anoffer by a US exploration company to resume the search for the missing MalaysiaAirlines flight MH370.According to Malaysian Transportation Minister Liow Tiong Lai, the country hasreached an agreement with the Ocean Infinity company on a "no cure, nofee" basis.The Malaysian government has agreed to resume the search for the missing plane,he said, affirming that finding the answer is the responsibility of thegovernment.The contract would be finalised in Kuala Lumpur by next week, he said, addingthat the decision will be informed to relatives of the victims on the plane.The announcement was made after the Ocean Infinity said it was moving SeabedConstructor, the vessel that the company uses for the search, towards thevicinity of the possible search zone.The search campaign is scheduled in January and February, when the weathercondition is favourable.MH370 with 239 on board … [Read more...] about Malaysia agrees to allow US firm to resume search for MH370

Illegal immigrants arrested in Malaysia (Source: nst.com.my)KualaLumpur (VNA) – A total of 47,092 illegal immigrants, including 885children under 12 years old, were detained by the Malaysian ImmigrationDepartment throughout 2017.DirectorGeneral of the department Mustafar Ali stated that the arrests were made afterauthorised agencies examined documents of 188,884 foreigners in more than16,000 operations across the country. Of the arrested, there were 33,079 menand 13,128 women.Thecountry has worked with concerned parties, including non-governmentalorganisations on appropriate measures to manage unlawful immigrants and theirchildren at the detention depots.Alsoin 2017, as many as 1,257 employers were caught for hiring and harbouring illegalforeign workers and 80 percent of them had been charged. TheImmigration Department will continue to intensify operations the curb theinflux of illegal immigrants into the country, Ali added.-VNA … [Read more...] about Malaysia: Over 47,000 illegal immigrants arrested in 2017