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Daily Express
26-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Express
Malaysian Bar EGM dissolved due to lack of quorum
Published on: Saturday, July 26, 2025 Published on: Sat, Jul 26, 2025 By: Minderjeet Kaur, FMT Text Size: KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Bar's extraordinary general meeting (EGM) has been dissolved due to a lack of quorum, Bar Council president Ezri Abdul Wahab said. He said 500 members were needed to convene the EGM but only 309 members turned up. 'I am disappointed (that it has been dissolved) because for each EGM we have to spend money,' he said at a press conference at Menara Matrade here this morning. The EGM had been called for on July 1 to debate two key motions concerning judicial independence in the country. One, titled 'Judicial independence', was supposed to be tabled by Ezri. The second, 'Motion to hold the prime minister accountable for having allowed for the undermining of public confidence in the judiciary,' was to have been jointly proposed by lawyers Malik Imtiaz Sarwar and Surendra Ananth, with support from four others. A third motion, 'Implementing a fair rate of minimum remuneration for pupils', put forward by lawyers Goh Cia Yee and Vince Tan, had garnered widespread support and was seconded by 190 lawyers. Ezri said the young lawyers had been expected to attend, especially for the tabling of the third motion. 'We felt the young lawyers wanted to speak up and that was why we organised the EGM,' he said. Among the lawyers who had turned up for the EGM was former attorney-general Tommy Thomas. Asked if the lack of quorum was due to a lack of trust in the Malaysian Bar, its vice-president Anand Raj said those who attended wanted to hear the debate. 'The majority of members had entrusted us with the motion at the AGM in March. That motion passed, and what has happened in the last few months reflects that,' he said. He was referring to the motion for the Bar to file a legal challenge against the Federal Territories Pardons Board over the decision to halve former prime minister Najib Razak's jail sentence for his SRC International corruption conviction. This is not the first time that the lack of a quorum had led to Bar meetings being called off. In 2023, the Bar's annual general meeting (AGM) was called off when only 276 lawyers turned up. A quorum of 500 was needed for the AGM to proceed. This led to lawyer-activist Siti Kasim lashing out at 'lazy' lawyers, saying that there were 9,000 members in Kuala Lumpur alone. There are 24,000 Bar members in Peninsula Malaysia. - FMT * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Daily Express
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Express
‘Turun Anwar' for political relevance, not justice, says Prime Minister's aide
Published on: Thursday, July 17, 2025 Published on: Thu, Jul 17, 2025 By: Minderjeet Kaur, FMT Text Size: Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin said those seeking change should do so through elections instead of putting on a show through street protests. Kuala Lumpur: Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's political secretary has dismissed the upcoming 'Turun Anwar' rally as a politically motivated stunt by those trying to stay relevant after losing the last general election. Shamsul Iskandar Md Akin said while organisers were framing the July 26 protest as a response to public frustration, their real motive lay elsewhere. Advertisement 'This is not about the people, it is about a small group attempting to reverse what they failed to achieve through the ballot box,' he said in his speech at the National Economic Forum organised by the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia. Perikatan Nasional is reportedly aiming to draw 300,000 participants to the rally at Dataran Merdeka. A smaller protest held in Shah Alam on July 6 drew over 300 attendees. Shamsul said the government was given the mandate through a 'free and fair' election and had been working tirelessly since then to resolve long-standing issues left by previous administrations such as institutional decay and weaknesses in governance and fiscal management. 'You do not fix democracy by disrespecting it,' he said, warning against attempts to distort the democratic process. 'If change is desired, contest the next election, that is the democratic way. This protest is not a movement for justice but a performance for relevance,' he said. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Daily Express
15-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Express
Criminals laundering money via social media, crypto deals, says expert
Published on: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 Published on: Tue, Jul 15, 2025 By: Minderjeet Kaur, FMT Reporters Text Size: Jessica Chuah, vice-president of Growth (Asia Pacific) at Crystal Intelligence, speaking during a panel discussion at the International Conference on Governance and Integrity 2025. PUTRAJAYA: Regulators must 'up their game' to combat emerging money laundering methods involving unlicensed money changers and social media platforms, a regional financial crime expert said today. Jessica Chuah, vice-president of Growth (Asia Pacific) at Crystal Intelligence, said criminals were increasingly using Telegram, Facebook and Instagram to promote peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency trades that masked illegal fund flows. Advertisement 'These days, people say 'I want to buy Bitcoin or Ethereum', but a lot of those funds are illegitimate,' she said on the sidelines of the International Conference on Governance and Integrity 2025. 'They'll look for unlicensed money changers, often advertised as P2P traders on Telegram or Facebook. The commission is slightly higher, but the appeal is that you can't trace them. 'It's like I want to sell to you, and you want to buy, (it looks) just like I'm selling to my mother,' she said. Chuah said these informal transactions were deliberately structured to avoid licensed crypto exchanges, which were bound by Malaysia's anti-money laundering (AML) laws. 'They will not go to the licensed ones. The moment they do, AML kicks in. So, they go to the silent players. Technically, it's quiet under the law. There's no record. That's the biggest threat. You're facilitating money laundering and disrupting the financial system,' she said. Corporates complicit in silence Also speaking at the conference, Joshua James, regional cybercrime and counter-fraud coordinator for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said businesses such as banks and telcos were ignoring fraud risks because enforcement could hurt their profits. 'Some of the companies are making a lot of money off of scams and fraud. And they don't have a strong incentive to be able to detect it,' he said. James said even strong local laws might not be enough, as international criminal networks operated beyond national borders. As such, he urged the country to lead by example in tightening domestic standards and demanding the same from its trade partners. 'That forces others to improve too,' he said. * Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel and Telegram for breaking news alerts and key updates! * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
Daily Express
06-05-2025
- Automotive
- Daily Express
AT&S focuses on grooming locals for AI production facility
Published on: Tuesday, May 06, 2025 Published on: Tue, May 06, 2025 By: Minderjeet Kaur, FMT Text Size: Commercial operations of Austrian tech giant AT&S's Kulim plant began early this year. (Bernama pic) KULIM: Austrian tech giant AT&S is ramping up efforts to develop a skilled Malaysian workforce in line with a commitment to have locals make up almost 100% of the entire staff strength at its plant here. AT&S's executive vice-president for microelectronics business, Ingolf Schroeder, said the company is collaborating with vocational training centres and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions to achieve the target. Malaysia has become a critical manufacturing base for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), a company focused on artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing. 'Our facility here (in Kulim) is producing AMD's next-generation products, including advanced integrated circuit (IC) substrates used in AI,' Schroeder told reporters at AT&S's Malaysian plant in the Kulim Hi-Tech Park yesterday. AT&S is already actively engaged with vocational and TVET institutions to provide professional training and foundational skills as well as to ensure smooth onboarding. AT&S Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik (M) Sdn Bhd senior vice-president and managing director Yap Suan See said the company sends experts to local institutions in partnership with the education sector. She said the company also has programmes to meet each student's preferences. '(For instance) some students prefer hands-on production floor experience, so we provide that,' she said. Yap noted that universities do not offer specialised courses related to IC substrates, a critical component used in semiconductors, smartphones, industrial electronics, automotive systems, medical devices, and AI hardware. 'We are working with institutions to develop the relevant modules and training programmes to better prepare students,' she said. She added that fresh graduates hired to work at the plant are given 'a lot of training'. Schroeder said AT&S has training programmes to meet industry needs. 'We have laid the foundation with local universities, and we need their willingness to adjust training content and make onboarding easier,' he said. 'We've had good cooperation from local authorities,' he added. AT&S currently has 1,500 employees at its 255,000-square-metre site in Kulim. In 2021, it picked Malaysia for its first facility in Southeast Asia. Construction work on the plant began in November 2021, while commercial operations began early this year. The firm has invested over RM5 billion in its Malaysian facility, part of a broader RM8.5 billion Phase 1 development plan involving two production sites, including RM600 million for research and development. AT&S's manufacturing facility in Kulim started the high-volume manufacturing of high-end IC substrates in March. * Follow us on Instagram and join our Telegram and/or WhatsApp channel(s) for the latest news you don't want to miss. * Do you have access to the Daily Express e-paper and online exclusive news? Check out subscription plans available. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express's Telegram channel. Daily Express Malaysia
