KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia's largest ruling party Umno scored a thumping victory with 85 per cent of the vote in Saturday's (Aug 29) by-election in Slim, trouncing former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad's weeks-old party Pejuang.
Parti Pejuang Tanah Air, in its electoral debut, failed to make a dent in Umno's stronghold of Slim, garnering less than 14 per cent of the vote for the Perak state assembly seat.
Umno candidate Mohd Zaidi Aziz, who contested under the Barisan Nasional flag, received 13,060 votes, soundly defeating Pejuang’s Amir Khusyairi Mohamad Tanusi who only managed 2,115 votes. Independent candidate Santharasekaran Subramaniam meanwhile received 276 votes.
Safety procedures to curb the spread of the coronavirus were in place at all 12 polling stations, with voters alloted time slots and required to socially distance and have their temperature taken.
Umno had defended the seat in the 2018 general election with 45 per cent of the vote. Saturday's wide margin was thanks in part to the fact that two of its opponents in 2018 are now its allies in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government.
Umno, Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS) and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia are all part of the federal government as well as the Perak state administration, after the coup in February which deposed Tun Dr Mahathir.
PAS had in 2018 taken 22 per cent of the vote in Slim, while Bersatu was backed by a third of voters.
The 95-year-old Dr Mahathir formed Pejuang earlier this month along with a handful of Bersatu leaders who refused to join hands with Umno. The elder statesman had in the 2018 general election led the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which then included Bersatu, to a shock win that ended Umno's six-decade rule.
Election Commission chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh (left) reviews the voting process in the Slim by-election. PHOTO: BERNAMA
Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said the margin of victory showed Umno was gaining back the support of those who had turned their backs on the party at the last polls.
“This shows the voters have missed us,” he told reporters. “This will be further revealed if the Sabah state elections or GE15 are held,” he said, referring to the next general election.
Three-quarters of the voters in Slim are Malay Muslim, who make up the majority in more than half of Malaysia's parliamentary constituencies.
The results show that most of those who had voted for Bersatu in 2018, when Dr Mahathir was still its chairman, did not back his new party on Saturday.
"Pejuang was formed to go up against the three Malay parties in PN but this by-election has shown it will need a miracle to mount a credible challenge at the next general election," risk consultancy BowerGroupAsia's director Adib Zalkapli told The Straits Times.
This was the third by-election since Mr Muhyiddin led Bersatu out of the PH government, and all three have been won by Umno. This was also the only by-election of the three that saw an opposition candidate try to win a Malay majority seat, providing the first real bellwether of the crucial Malay vote.
Just over two-thirds of the 22,749 registered voters in Slim cast their ballots, less than the 81 per cent two years ago, reflecting voter fatigue that was apparent during the two-week campaign.
If the outcome in Slim is indicative of the national sentiment among Malay voters, it would mean that Pejuang, as well as other opposition parties will struggle to galvanise enough support to unseat the current government.
TOKYO: Yoshihide Suga, a longtime lieutenant of Japan's Shinzo Abe, has emerged as a strong contender to succeed him as prime minister, an outcome that would extend the fiscal and monetary stimulus that defined Abe's nearly eight years in office.
Abe, Japan's longest-serving premier, said on Friday (Aug 28) he was stepping down due to a worsening of a chronic illness, setting the stage for a leadership election within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
While some other would-be successors have declared their intention to run, the 71-year-old Suga has said he doesn't want the job. But such comments have been called into question by an aggressive media push in recent days that put him squarely in the public eye.
"They are really going to try to get Suga to replace Abe and continue the Abe government without Abe," said Sophia University political science professor Koichi Nakano.
In an interview with Reuters this week, Suga stressed the need to spur economic growth over tightening restrictions to contain the virus, pointing to the need to promote tourism.
"We need to consider what we can do to prevent the economy from falling off a cliff," Suga said at his parliamentary office, where a large photograph of him standing next to US President Donald Trump was on display.
The interview, in which Suga again denied he wanted the job, was part of the publicity blitz before Abe announced his resignation, in which he gave interviews to at least four major news organisations.
A self-made politician, Suga was chosen by Abe in 2012 for the pivotal role of chief cabinet secretary, acting as top government spokesman, coordinating policies and riding herd on bureaucrats.
The winner of the LDP vote, which domestic media said could be held around Sep 15, is virtually ensured the premiership because of the party's majority in parliament. The victor will serve out Abe's remaining term as LDP chief, which ends in September 2021.
Former defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, 63, a soft-spoken security hawk who aims to revive Japan's regional economies, is also expected to run. A long-time Abe critic, Ishiba is popular with the public but less so among party members of parliament.
Ex-foreign minister Fumio Kishida, 63, long seen as Abe's favoured heir, said on Friday he would run in the party poll, but the dovish lawmaker from Hiroshima has struggled to gain traction with voters.
Dark-horse potential candidates include Defence Minster Taro Kono, 56, who has an image as a maverick but has toed the line on key Abe policies, and Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi, 64, who has a reputation as a tough negotiator.
Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi is popular but at 39 seen by many as too young.
What format party executives pick to choose their next leader will have a big impact on the outcome. A decision is expected on Tuesday.
Usually, a leadership vote is held by LDP MPs along with grassroots party members.
In case of a sudden resignation, however, an extraordinary vote can be called with participants narrowed to MPs and representatives of the party's local chapters.
"A regular election gives Ishiba a better chance," said Steven Reed, professor emeritus at Chuo University.
In 2012, Ishiba beat Abe in a first-round party poll that included rank-and-file members but he failed to win a majority and lost in a run-off, when only MPs voted.
Ishiba could also have an edge if LDP lawmakers put priority on a leader who would help the party keep its huge majority in a lower house election that must be held by late October 2021.
Talk of Suga as a contender bubbled up in April 2019 after he unveiled the new imperial era name, "Reiwa", for use on Japanese calendars after the enthronement of the new emperor.
Still, the veteran lawmaker has an image more as a behind-the-scenes operator than a frontline leader.
"The stamp of approval will come through deal-making in smoky backrooms in the LDP, but whoever wins will have to prove themselves by winning the next general election," said Jesper Koll, senior adviser to asset manager Wisdom Tree Investments.
TOKYO: The race to succeed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kicked off informally on Saturday (Aug 29), with several contenders announcing their plans to stand, a day after Japan's longest-serving leader announced his resignation.
Abe said he was suffering a recurrence of ulcerative colitis, the condition that forced him to cut short his first term in office, but that he would stay on until his successor is decided.
Exactly how the process will unfold was still unclear, with local media reporting on Saturday that several options were being considered.
Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party could opt for a more traditional leadership election, involving lawmakers but also members of the party nationwide.
But the urgency of the situation, as well as the constraints imposed by the coronavirus outbreak, could see the party instead opt to poll only its lawmakers and regional representatives - a faster process.
A decision on how the election will be held, and when, is expected early next week, along with more clarity on who will stand for the post.
A few would-be candidates have already thrown their hats into the ring, including party policy chief Fumio Kishida, a mild-mannered former foreign minister considered Abe's personal choice for successor, and ex-defence minister Shigeru Ishiba, who is seen as more popular with voters but commands less party support than some other candidates.
Finance Minister Taro Aso, himself a former prime minister and long considered a likely successor to Abe, has announced he will not stand.
Other possible candidates include powerful chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, viewed by many as a frontrunner, and current defence minister Taro Kono, a social-media-savvy former foreign minister who is seen as something of a longshot.
One woman is among those expected to stand so far: Seiko Noda, a former cabinet minister whose chances are thought to be slim.
Whoever comes out on top, analysts said, little major shift in policy is expected.
"Key policies - diplomacy and economic measures - won't be changed drastically," Shinichi Nishikawa, a professor of political science at Meiji University in Tokyo, told AFP.
"His successor could be a caretaker," effectively, Nishikawa added, given that the LDP will hold another leadership election in September 2021, with general elections likely the following month.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, an honorary professor of international politics at the University of Tokyo, said Abe's successor would not produce any surprises but would face "big challenges".
Most immediate will be the ongoing response to the coronavirus pandemic, with heavy criticism of Abe's government so far for policies viewed as contradictory and slow.
But there are also diplomatic challenges on the horizon, including on relations with China.
Ties had been warming, but with rising tensions between Beijing and Washington and concerns domestically about issues including the coronavirus outbreak and the situation in Hong Kong, the next prime minister faces a balancing act.
Abe is also leaving office with the issue of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics still unresolved. The Games were postponed by a year over the pandemic and are now scheduled to open in July 2021, but questions remain about whether the event can be held safely.
And the next prime minister will inherit an economy that had swung into recession even before the coronavirus crisis hit and may face further hits if additional waves of infection force business shutdowns again this winter.
Tokyo markets slumped on Friday on news of Abe's resignation but recovered slightly before the end of trade, and economists said disruption would be minimal because economic policy was not likely to change.
"We believe the current monetary easing policies and expansionary fiscal policies will continue for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic," wrote Naoya Oshikubo, senior economist at SuMi TRUST.
"Thus the impact on the market should be limited in the mid-to-long term."
BETING, West Java: With a watchful eye, Sanusi scanned the water in front of him as he drove his wooden boat along an unnamed narrow offshoot of West Java’s Citarum River.
The tide is low, revealing mangrove tree roots jutting out of the water, binding themselves to the loose and slowly eroding mud along the riverbank.
Sanusi slowed his boat as he neared his village Beting, not wanting the propellers attached to his boat to catch the many tree trunks and garbage in the water.
As the boat crawled further downstream, houses in various stages of decay started to reveal themselves.
Although some have remained occupied, the majority of the houses were abandoned, with their walls infested by mold and fungi while their wooden doors rotted away. Some stood lopsided while others were reduced to rubble.
All of the houses were surrounded by pools of mud and water left behind by a recent tidal flood which completely inundated Sanusi’s Beting village in the northern coast of Java, some 40km northeast of Jakarta.
Sanusi, 50, driving his boat down a river which cuts through his village, Beting, Bekasi regency, West Java. (Photo: Nivell Rayda)
The tidal flood hits Beting twice a month, at full and new moons. During those periods, the sea swells because of the gravitational force of the moon and drowns the entire village in water up to 1m deep.
The water, Sanusi said, sometimes linger for seven days.
“I fear that one day this village will become one with the sea,” the 50-year-old fisherman told CNA.
It has not always been like this, Sanusi said. The village was once a productive fish farming area and home to 600 families.
But for the past 11 years, the sea has encroached more than 6,000ha of fish ponds and residential areas in Beting and climate change, which resulted in rising sea level, stronger winds and bigger waves, has exacerbated the problem. Waves lapping on the shores carry away with them soils along the coast.
Today, only 100 families remain in Beting village, battling the fortnightly tidal floods which also inundate schools, mosques and the potholed road which serves as the village’s only land access to the outside world.
A girl walks past an inundated school, drowned by the frequent tidal floods which hit Beting village, West Java. (Photo: Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
The erosion has become so severe that tidal floods have reached houses which sit as far away as 4km from where the coastline used to be.
And the habitable area is confined to a strip of land along a small river, sandwiched by eroding fish ponds on either sides.
DOLLAR VILLAGE NO MORE
Sukara, who also has one name, said his family used to employ 10 people to work on their 7ha fish farm, producing tonnes of milkfish and prawns every three months.
The fish farms in Beting village were so productive that farmers there became the main suppliers of fishes sold in North Jakarta, a one-and-a-half hour boat ride away.
Buyers and brokers with their 8 tonne capacity boats would come to Beting at least three times a day to haul in their fishes. The farmers could easily earn US$10,000 every three to four months during harvest seasons.
Sukara, 37, went from a fish farm owner to a struggling fisherman almost overnight when the sea devastated his properties in Beting village, West Java. (Photo: Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
“The economy here thrived so much that they nicknamed this village the ‘dollar kampung’. People flocked here looking to work at fish farms or start their own,” the 37-year-old told CNA.
But that all changed in 2008 when the sea started to creep in and flooded the fish farms.
“It happened so quickly. Every lunar tide there would be one or two more fish farms which became one with the sea,” Sukara said, adding that the sea finally devastated his own pond in 2010.
Sukara lost hundreds of millions of rupiah in fish harvest and property damage when the erosion hit his fish farm, but more worryingly, the erosion had cost him his livelihood.
“Now, we don’t have a steady income. We’d be lucky if we can put food on our table,” he bemoaned.
Satellite images showing the alarming abrasion rate in Beting village, West Java. Images were taken in April 2001 (left), August 2010 (middle) and May 2019 (right). (Images: Google Earth Pro)
Like so many in Beting village, Sukara went from being a wealthy fish farm owner to a poor fisherman who makes 40,000 (US$2.79) to 100,000 rupiah a day catching fishes, clams and squids from the Java Sea.
To make matters worse, the sea is heavily polluted by trash and chemical waste from nearby Jakarta and the neighbouring industrial town of Bekasi.
Another former fish farm owner, Ahmad Payumi said life has become very hard for residents of Beting after the abrasion.
“People have been farming fish in Beting since the 1960s. Farming fish is our only source of income and for many people it’s the only thing they know how to do,” the 49-year-old told CNA.
A woman walks past an abandoned home in Beting village, West Java. The number of households in the village has been reduced to 100, down from the original 600 since coastal abrasion began in 2008. (Photo: Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
Payumi said the only options for people of Beting are to become a fisherman or work as a labourer somewhere else. Some people have even decided to be trash pickers at a landfill 70km south of the village.
“We don’t have degrees and diplomas. We can’t land a more decent job,” he said, adding that he stayed in Beting and become a fisherman because he has no choice.
“I wish I could cut my losses, sell my properties and move elsewhere to start another fish farm, but no one wants to buy a piece of land which is eroding,” he said.
AGGRAVATED BY CLIMATE CHANGE
The erosion which occurred in Beting is not unique.
In Central Java’s Demak regency, coastal abrasion has turned 3,200ha of residential and farming areas into a wasteland for the last 20 years, displacing thousands of people and leaving at least three villages under water.
In fact, throughout the northern coast of Java, there are numerous areas with alarming coastal abrasion rates dotting the 1,100 km coastline, although none are as bad as Demak and Beting.
A house in Beting village, West Java surrounded by a pool of mud and water caused by the constant tidal floods hitting the area. When the flood hits, the house is drowned in water up to 1m deep. (Photo: Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
Scientists said the northern coast of Java is more prone to erosion than other areas in Indonesia.
The land there is low lying and made up of mostly compacted mud formed through millenniums of sediment pile up, scientists told CNA, making it more susceptible to erosion.
The coastline also sits directly in the path of the west monsoon winds, which travels from mainland Asia to Australia between November and March, bringing with it big and strong waves as it enters the shallow Java Sea.
While coastal abrasion is a natural phenomenon which has been going on for millions of years in Java, today the process is aggravated because of climate change.
“Because of climate change, the weather pattern is changing. Winds which were normally moderate are becoming extreme and in turn, waves are becoming stronger,” Ratna Sari Dewi, a researcher at the government’s Geospatial Information Agency told CNA.
Aerial photo of the devastated fish farms in Beting village, West Java. The sea began to breach the fish farms in 2008 and since then at least 6,000ha have been affected. (Photo: Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
But while erosion is happening throughout Java, Beting and Demak are seeing exceptionally massive erosion rate due to the fact that they are located near two of Indonesia’s most populated cities: Jakarta and Semarang respectively.
The two cities are battling land subsidence due to the overuse of groundwater and in a bid to save their coastal areas from sinking, the cities have erected dikes, embankments and seawalls.
“These structures change the sea current patterns,” Adi Purwandani, an oceanography expert from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences told CNA.
“Jakarta sits in a bay which decelerates the current. If Jakarta erects a seawall, the sea current flowing to (Beting) will be stronger and the coastal abrasion rate there will be even faster.”
BATTLE TO SAVE THE VILLAGE
Despite the threat it would pose to villages like Beting, the Ministry of Public Works is pressing ahead with plans to erect a 32km giant seawall to protect Jakarta and its 9.6 million inhabitants.
Jakarta has a subsidence rate of 1.15cm a year, with some parts of the city sinking as much as 25cm annually and experts predicted that 95 per cent of Jakarta’s coastal areas could be entirely submerged below sea level by 2050.
The entire project is scheduled to be completed by 2030.
With Jakarta bent on saving itself from sinking by erecting a giant seawall, Dewi said the odds are against small fishing communities like Beting.
“The most vulnerable places are not cities like Jakarta, but villages like (Beting). They don’t have the money to erect dikes and they cannot afford to move,” she said.
A woman and a child stands on the porch of their inundated home, drowned by the frequent tidal floods which hit Beting village, West Java. (Photo: Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
Muslim, the secretary of Muara Gembong district, where Beting is located, told CNA that the district government lacks the money to build dikes and has repeatedly asked the central government for help.
“The central government has not responded to our request,” Muslim, who also goes with one name, told CNA.
But villager Sonhaji, who only has one name as well, said some residents are not giving up.
“We don’t want to leave so easily. This is our community. This is our home,” the 35-year-old said.
Sonhaji said residents have tried to save their homes and everything inside by erecting perimeter walls and raising their floors. Some had even built wooden houses on bamboo stilts next to the skeletons of their original homes.
Villagers in Beting also referred to the lunar calendar which they find more useful to predict the tidal floods. “By adopting the lunar calendar, we know when to be ready,” he said.
But Sonhaji felt that these efforts are band-aid solutions and believed more should be done to solve the underlying problem of coastal abrasion.
In 2013, Sonhaji and a number of residents began searching for mangrove seeds. “It was hard to find the seeds, because all of the mangrove trees in Beting had been cut down to make way for the fish farms,” he said.
“We talked to other communities who still have mangrove trees. We learned how to plant them and we learned how to cultivate them.”
Sonhaji, 35, has been trying to plant mangrove trees to save his community in Beting village, West Java from the ongoing coastal abrasion. (Photo: Wisnu Agung Prasetyo)
Sonhaji even reached out to corporate donors and individual philanthropists to finance the buying and planting of mangrove seeds.
But Sonhaji is struggling to get the whole village involved. “All the villagers care about is whether these mangroves can bring back the fishes. It might not be the case just yet, but if we built an ecosystem of mangrove trees they might,” he said.
Seven years since Sonhaji’s efforts began, more than 300,000 mangrove trees have been planted.
“Thanks to the mangroves, waves from the sea don’t directly hit our home. The mangroves slow down the erosion rate although they cannot stop it completely,” he said.
The planted trees only covered around one eighth of the affected areas and Sonhaji estimated that the village would need millions more to completely stop the abrasion.
And with climate change and the building of a giant seawall in nearby Jakarta it has become a race against time.
“I believe we can still save our village,” he said.
SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday (Aug 28) said that bilateral relations between Singapore and Japan deepened under the leadership of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and wished him a "good recovery".
Mr Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, announced earlier on Friday his resignation, citing ill health.
"I am sorry to learn that Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has resigned from office for health reasons," Mr Lee said in a Facebook post.
"I have worked well with Mr Abe for close to nine years. Under his leadership, our bilateral relations have deepened ... I wish Abe-san a good recovery as he begins treatment for his condition," he added.
The last time both leaders met in person was in November last year, said Mr Lee. They also met online in April, during a virtual ASEAN Plus Three Summit on COVID-19.
Mr Lee said Mr Abe had also played a "critical role" in concluding the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after the United States left the original Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations.
Singapore and Japan are among the 11 parties to the CPTPP, which was concluded in January 2018 in Tokyo, according to information on the Ministry of Trade and Industry's website.
Speaking to CNA's Otelli Edwards on News 5 Tonight, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan echoed Mr Lee's comments on Mr Abe's role in the CPTPP.
"When America pulled out, it was Prime Minister Abe's leadership that got the other 11 members of the TPP to proceed. And now today the CPTPP brought into force, ratified by most of its members, is a compliment to the efforts and the leadership of Prime Minister Abe," said Dr Balakrishnan.
Dr Balakrishnan called Mr Abe a "very positive, constructive force" for relations between Singapore and Japan, adding that the Japanese leader got on "very, very well" with Mr Lee.
"We're sorry for his resignation and for the fact that he had to do so under pressure ... because of his health, said Dr Balakrishnan.
"We wish him all the best and hope he makes a full recovery," he added.
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday that the country’s movement curbs will be extended to Dec 31, as the coronavirus pandemic isn’t showing any signs of ending soon.
In a national televised address, Tan Sri Muhyiddin said the recent worrying emergence of new clusters in several states and number of cases also led him to extend the recovery movement control order (MCO).
“Although we have handled the crisis well... in the interest of everyone, the government has decided that the recovery MCO will be extended to Dec 31, 2020,” he said.
The extension will allow the government to quickly handle outbreaks under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988, he said, while Malaysians will continue to adhere to health protocols set by the government.
Under the recovery MCO that began on June 10, most businesses have been allowed to reopen as long as they follow protocols such as recording the temperatures of visitors to their premises and imposing social distancing.
Nightclubs and pubs remained shut under the recocery MCO, with authorities saying it would be impossible to ensure health protocols such as social distancing at such outlets.
The movement restrictions were originally slated to end on Monday (Aug 31).
Malaysia’s borders will also generally remain shut, with those flying into Malaysia mandated to undergo a 14-day mandatory quarantine to prevent the spread of imported cases.
“Tourists are still not allowed to enter the country to avoid import cases,” he said.
Malaysia first imposed the movement curbs on March 18, forcing schools and non-essential businesses to shut down. People were confined to their homes except to buy food and essential items, or to seek medical treatment.
The strict stay-at-home rules bore fruit when daily cases began tapering, which led to the government starting the recovery MCO from June 10, gradually reopening many businesses and mass activities such as public worship and contact sports.
Malaysia on Aug 1 made it compulsory for everyone to wear face masks in crowded public places and on public transport, after authorities observed lower compliance to social distancing when it entered the recovery phase of the curbs.
“Due to face masks becoming an essential item in our everyday life, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs is discussing with manufacturers to reduce the price. If it’s fruitful, the price will be more affordable and can ease our burden,” PM Muhyiddin said in his speech.
Malaysia yesterday reported 10 new Covid-19 cases, bringing total infections to 9,306. The total death toll caused by the virus remained at 125. The
Health Ministry has prposed raising the fine by 10 times to RM10,000, for those who break the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).
“I support the recommendation by the Health Ministry to increase the fine for those who committed an offence (under the Act), at least two or three times more than the amount now. But this needs to be studied first before the Act is amended,” Mr Muhyiddin said.
The proposal by the ministry came just days after Cabinet minister Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali breached the mandatory quarantine order following his return from Turkey on July 7.
Instead of being quarantined for 14 days like other returnees from abroad, he was seen on his social media postings going about attending functions with others including meeting other ministers.
This raised public anger as other Malaysians had been fined and even jailed, for violating the quarantine.
KUALA LUMPUR: The recovery phase of Malaysia's COVID-19 movement control order (RMCO) will be extended to Dec 31 and tourists will remain barred from entering the country, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Speaking in a televised address on Friday (Aug 28), the prime minister said even though the number of new cases in the country has fallen, the virus is still raging globally. The RMCO phase was originally scheduled to end on Aug 31.
"I am aware that based on global developments, we will go through a lengthy period before the country can be completely free from the threat of COVID-19," he said.
"For now, the situation is controlled. However, if there is an increase in cases in certain locations, the government will take a targeted approach by implementing enhanced movement control order or targeted movement control order, as previously enforced in several locations."
He added: "This means that the government requires a legal mechanism to continue efforts to curb and control the spread of COVID-19. Hence, for the benefit of you all, the government has decided to extend the recovery movement control order until Dec 31, 2020."
He also emphasised that no individual will be excused from these laws and anyone who breaks the regulations will be punished.
Mr Muhyiddin expressed his support for the Ministry of Health (MOH) to increase the fines for those who break these laws, to twice or thrice the current amounts.
The prime minister also pointed out that the extension will ensure all parties adhere to the standard operating procedures and health protocols that have been outlined.
He added that foreign tourists are still barred from entering Malaysia during this period to prevent the spread of imported cases into the country.
The MCO, first imposed on Mar 18 to control the spread of COVID-19, was previously extended three times until May 12.
It was initially enforced when the number of daily new cases saw an alarming three-figure spike. Under the MCO, domestic and international travel was barred, and people were encouraged to stay at home to break the infection chain.
Subsequently, controls continued to be lifted over time. Daycare centres, hair salons, beauty parlours, open markets and night markets were given the green light to reopen.
Malaysia later entered the RMCO phase from Jun 10, where almost all social, educational, religious and business activities, as well as economic sectors reopened in phases, with standard operating procedures to be adhered to. Interstate travel was also permitted while the country's borders remained closed.
Four months of efforts seemed to have paid off as Malaysia began to report mostly single-digit increase in daily new cases - and even zero local transmission on a few days - until new clusters emerged.
On the back of 13 new clusters detected during the RMCO phase, Mr Muhyiddin had earlier reminded Malaysians to comply with social distancing rules and warned the public not to be complacent.
On Aug 3, Malaysia's Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the wearing of face masks was compulsory in crowded public areas, including markets, supermarkets, tourist areas, cinemas and on public transport.
