TIG Post

Tag: Malaysia and Indonesia

  • Malaysia’s PM hands in shock resignation

    Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad submitted his resignation to the country’s king on Monday, his office announced, a shock move that could plunge the country into political crisis.

    The surprise announcement comes amid speculation that 94-year-old Mahathir was attempting to form a new ruling coalition that would exclude his promised successor Anwar Ibrahim.

    It is not clear who will be the next Prime Minister or whether general elections will be held.

    Mahathir’s party, the Malaysian United Indigenous Party (Bersatu) announced Monday it would be dropping out of the ruling coalition Pakatan Harapan in support of the prime minister.

    “All members of the House of Representatives of the party are also out of Pakatan Harapan. All of them have signed the Oath to continue to support and trust Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as the Prime Minister of Malaysia,” according to a statement from Bersatu President Muhyiddin Yassin.

    Deepening the political turmoil, Malaysia’s Economic Affairs Minister Mohamed Azmin Ali and Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin were both fired from Anwar’s People’s Justice Party earlier Monday.

    Nine other lawmakers declared their allegiance to the ousted pair and left the party as well, according to a statement from the lawmakers. The 11 lawmakers also announced that they are forming an independent block in parliament.

    It follows meetings over the weekend between lawmakers of the ruling coalition and members of the former ruling party United Malays National Organization (UMNO), over alleged plans to form a new government, according to local news reports.

    In response, Anwar called out “traitors” within his own party and accused members of Mahathir’s party of plotting a change in the current ruling coalition.

    “We know there are attempts to bring down PH and form a new government,” Anwar said.

    Speaking at his party headquarters Monday, Anwar said he had met with the Prime Minister and told him that, “this treachery could be dealt with together.”

    “Those from my party and outside are using his name. He reiterated what he said to me earlier. He had no part in it. He made it very clear in no way would he work with those in the past regime,” Anwar said.

    Source: edition.cnn.com

  • Malaysia, Indonesia shut thousands of schools as haze worsens

    Thousands of schools have been ordered closed across Malaysia and Indonesia on Thursday, affecting at least 1.7 million students, officials said, as toxic haze from rampant forest fires sent air quality plummeting.

    Nearly 2,500 schools were ordered to suspend classes in Malaysia — including nearly 300 in the smog-hit capital of Kuala Lumpur — over soaring health concerns sparked by toxic haze from out-of-control blazes in Indonesia’s Sumatra and Borneo islands.

    In the Malaysian city of Kuching, in Borneo island, air pollution index was recorded at 267 as of 0600 GMT, among the top 10 most polluted areas in the world, according to the World Air Quality Index. That is also categorised as “very unhealthy” by Malaysia’s environment ministry.

    In Indonesia, hundreds of schools in hard-hit Riau province on Sumatra island were also set to close on Thursday, with 800 already closed in one district alone, while about 1,300 were closed in its Central Kalimantan province on Borneo.

    Read:Thousands pray for rain in Indonesia as forests go up in smoke

    The closures affected at least 1.7 million students in Malaysia. It was not clear how many students were forced to stay home in neighbouring Indonesia.

    Jakarta is deploying thousands of security forces and water-bombing aircraft to tackle the blazes, mostly started by illegal fires set to clear land for plantations.

    The fires belch smog across Southeast Asia annually, but this year’s are the worst since 2015 and have added to concerns about wildfire outbreaks worldwide exacerbating global warming.

    Thursday’s school shutdown marked the first mass closure in Kuala Lumpur as air quality deteriorated to “unhealthy” or “very unhealthy” levels on an official index in many parts of peninsular Malaysia, to the east of Sumatra, with the capital’s skyline shrouded by dense smog.

    Malaysia’s Sarawak state, on Borneo, was also smothered in toxic haze, as the fires hike diplomatic tensions.

    Borneo is divided between Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei.

    ‘Major setback’

    A growing number of Malaysians were suffering health problems due to the haze, with authorities saying there had been a sharp increase in outpatients at government hospitals — many suffering dry and itchy eyes.

    Air quality was in the “unhealthy” range across Singapore on Thursday morning, according to the National Environment Agency, as the city state’s environment minister called it a “major setback” in the fight against climate change.

    Read:Indonesian police use snake to scare Papuan man

    “The forest fires in Indonesia and the resulting haze have affected the health and well-being of people in Indonesia and the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) region,” Singapore’s environment chief Masagos Zulkifli said on social media.

    “It is regretful that so many lives and livelihoods have been impacted.

    “The amount of carbon emissions generated from the fires will present a major setback to the global fight against climate change,” he added.

    The haze crisis comes as Singapore gears up to host a Formula One motor race on Sunday.

    Poor visibility closed several airports in the Indonesian part of Borneo, and scores of flights have already been diverted and cancelled in the region in recent days due to the smog.

    Authorities have tried to induce rain through a technique called cloud seeding in a bid to extinguish the fires in Indonesia.

    But the onset of the rainy season, which usually starts in October, could be the only thing able to douse the blazes.

    Source: aljazeera.com