Nepal clears SMART deployment as families of missing Malaysians await news

Nepal clears SMART deployment as families of missing Malaysians await news



Families of Malaysins who went missing following the recent flash floods in Nepal are hopeful for some news from the field following the Nepali government’s approval of the deployment of the Special Malaysian Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) from today. — Bernama pic


Summary

• Families of missing Malaysians in Nepal are hopeful for news following the government's approval of the Special Malaysian Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) deployment.
• Muhammad Firas Shah Shabuddin, a relative of one of the missing, expressed relief and anticipation for updates on his father's status.
• SMART will assist Nepali authorities with technical expertise in search efforts after previously only teams from China, India and South Korea were allowed.

First Published: Saturday, 05 Sep 2026 9:36 AM MYT


KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 5 — Families of Malaysins who went missing following the recent flash floods in Nepal are hopeful for some news from the field following the Nepali government’s approval of the deployment of the Special Malaysian Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team (SMART) from today.

Muhammad Firas Shah Shabuddin, the youngest child of Shabuddin Mun, one of 10 Malaysians from Team Loe heading to Everest Base Camp (EBC), expressed relief about the latest development.

“I feel a bit happy, because it’s been a week or more waiting without any development… I do really hope my father is safe and we have our team (SMART) being deployed.


“At least with their deployment, I hope to get an answer as soon as possible (about my father’s status) when they begin operating there,” he told Bernama when contacted yesterday.


He related how his family has handled the pressures of waiting for any news, adding that his mother had displayed exceptional strength and was the emotional pillar who other members were relying on emotionally at this point.

Muhammad Firas also spoke about trying to remain calm and rational, explaing that his family was focused on keeping each other strong, with the support of various parties, including their extended family and relatives.

The 11-member strong SMART team is expected to be deployed tomorrow and will assist search efforts by local Nepali authorities, especially in areas requiring technical expertise and specific operational capabilities.


The Nepali government had previously only allowed rescue teams from certain countries to operate, including China, India and South Korea, before approving SMART’s deployment. — Bernama

Early-morning fire destroys five business premises at Penang’s Chew Jetty heritage area

Early-morning fire destroys five business premises at Penang’s Chew Jetty heritage area



Five business premises at the iconic Chew Jetty heritage area here were destroyed in a fire that broke out early this morning. — Picture via Facebook/PenangToday Community


Summary

• A fire at Chew Jetty destroyed five business premises, including a car workshop and timber factory, but no casualties were reported.
• Firefighters' swift response saved a nearby petrol station and prevented the fire from spreading to residential areas.
• The fire's cause is under investigation, and affected businesses suffered extensive losses, including T-shirt printing and car painting shops.

First Published: Saturday, 05 Sep 2026 10:25 AM MYT


GEORGE TOWN, Sept 5 — Five business premises at the iconic Chew Jetty heritage area here were destroyed in a fire that broke out early this morning.

Northeast District Zone 1 operations officer Rosli Ibrahim said no casualties were reported in the incident.


He said the Penang Fire and Rescue Department received a distress call at 1.08am, after which firefighters arrived at the scene about two minutes later.


“The fire involved five premises, including a car workshop, welding shop and timber factory. Firefighting operations were still ongoing as of 3 am, but the blaze has since been brought under control.


“Firefighters’ swift action helped save a nearby petrol station and prevented the fire from spreading to nearby residential areas,” he said when met at the scene today.

Rosli said the operation involved 30 personnel from the Paya Terubong, Jalan Perak and Lebuh Pantai fire and rescue stations, assisted by 17 volunteer firefighters, Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) personnel and police.

He said the cause of the fire and extent of the damage were still being investigated.


Meanwhile, victim Toh Aik Aun, 50, said the fire destroyed the T-shirt printing premises he had operated for about 30 years.

“There were hundreds of pieces of customers’ clothing still at the premises. Everything was destroyed,” he said.

Another victim, Hong Jing Lian, 60, said his car painting shop, which had been in operation since 1997, was destroyed in the fire, with losses estimated at RM1 million.

He said a Suzuki Swift, a Mercedes-Benz C-Class and a BMW were among the vehicles caught in the fire at the premises.

Chew Jetty, located along George Town’s historic waterfront, is the largest and one of Penang’s oldest Chinese clan jetties.

Built on stilts above the sea, the settlement has been home to generations of Chinese residents since the 19th century and is located within the Unesco World Heritage Site. — Bernama

As smoke spreads across South-east Asia, Indonesia works with neighbours to tackle transboundary haze

As smoke spreads across South-east Asia, Indonesia works with neighbours to tackle transboundary haze



Kampung Rasau residents Rikat Tanggok (right) and his wife, Jumi Buu, sell durians by the roadside along the Serian-Sri Aman road in Sarawak, on September 4, 2026 as South-east Asia is hit by transboundary haze. — Bernama pic


Summary

• Indonesia is actively collaborating with neighboring countries within the ASEAN framework to combat transboundary haze originating from forest and land fires in the region.
• Indonesian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Vahd Nabyl emphasized the significance of maintaining strong bilateral relations to tackle environmental issues with cross-border impacts.
• The country is fulfilling its obligations under the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution, including providing daily reports and data on environmental conditions.
• Indonesia is also advocating for the full operationalization of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control to enhance regional response efforts.

First Published: Saturday, 05 Sep 2026 10:33 AM MYT
Last Modified: Saturday, 05 Sep 2026 10:36 AM MYT


JAKARTA, Sept 5 — Indonesia continues to coordinate with neighbouring countries and utilise Asean mechanisms to address transboundary haze, while intensifying domestic efforts to control forest and land fires as smoke spreads across parts of South-east Asia.

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Vahd Nabyl said Indonesia placed importance on cooperation with neighbouring countries and maintaining good bilateral relations, particularly in addressing environmental issues with cross-border impacts such as haze.



“Together with countries in the region, Indonesia is also stepping up vigilance against dry weather linked to prevailing climate conditions,” he said in a statement on Saturday.


Haze from fires in Indonesia has spread across parts of South-east Asia, affecting neighbouring Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei as well as the Philippines.


In Malaysia, an emergency was declared throughout Serian Division in Sarawak on Friday after the Air Pollutant Index (API) exceeded 500, while several other areas in the state have also recorded hazardous or very unhealthy air quality.


Vahd said Indonesia was also using the Asean framework to address the haze, with mechanisms under the Asean Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (AATHP) already in place and regular meetings held to discuss the issue and coordinate follow-up measures.

He said the Asean Secretariat, acting as the Interim Asean Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (ACC THPC), had maintained Alert Level 3 for the region since August 26, requiring Asean member states to submit daily Situation Reports, including haze trajectory maps, for distribution to national focal points.


Vahd said Indonesia had fulfilled all daily reporting obligations and mandatory actions under Alert Level 3 in accordance with Asean’s Monitoring, Assessment and Joint Emergency Response procedures.

This included proactively providing data on hotspots, environmental conditions, indications of haze movement and forest and land fire control efforts.

“Indonesia also continues to push for the Asean Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control to become fully operational,” he said. — Bernama

‘We have an idea for peace’: Trump dispatches envoys Kushner, Witkoff to Moscow and Kyiv

‘We have an idea for peace’: Trump dispatches envoys Kushner, Witkoff to Moscow and Kyiv



US President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner (left) and the US President’s special envoy Steve Witkoff are heading to Moscow and Kyiv with a proposal aimed at ending the Ukraine war. — AFP pic


Summary

• President Donald Trump announced the deployment of envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow and Kyiv to present a proposal aimed at ending the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
• While specific details of the plan remain undisclosed, Trump hinted at the potential for peace, expressing confidence in his envoys' negotiating abilities.
• This mission follows accusations of favoritism towards Russia, as both envoys have previously visited Moscow.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed a mutual ceasefire during the envoys' visit to facilitate discussions, while Trump emphasized the need for European nations to increase their financial contributions to Ukraine's support.

First Published: Saturday, 05 Sep 2026 9:28 AM MYT


WASHINGTON, Sept 5 — US President Donald Trump said Friday that he was sending envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end the four-year-old Ukraine war.

It will be the first time that Trump’s son-in-law Kushner and businessman friend Witkoff have visited war-torn Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a vow to solve the conflict.

Both US envoys have previously visited Moscow, leading to accusations that they have taken Russia’s side in negotiations.


“They’re bringing with them a proposal to end the war,” Trump told reporters when asked about the trip.


Trump would not say whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory as he has previously suggested but added: “We have an idea for peace.”


“I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They’ve done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we’ll do it,” he said.

The US leader blamed the war that began with Russia invading Ukraine in February 2022 on a “personality problem” between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.


Zelensky earlier said he had proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia while the US envoys visit Moscow and Kyiv.

“There will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire – without its own airstrikes – for the duration needed to conduct these talks,” Zelensky said in his evening address.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP the two envoys would visit Kyiv on Sunday. The Kremlin declined to comment on the matter.

A report in the US news outlet Axios said Kushner and Witkoff would travel on Friday, meet Putin at the Kremlin on Saturday, and then Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday.

The two men have also been involved in negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Iran.

Trump meanwhile played down Germany’s move earlier this week to blame Russia for an attempted drone attack on an airport.

“I speak to him. I know him very well. Putin’s not looking to attack Nato territory,” Trump said in the Oval Office when an AFP reporter asked him about the German allegation.

Trump has long been skeptical about maintaining support for Ukraine and had a televised row with Zelensky in the Oval Office in February 2025. With Putin, he has veered between friendliness and frustration.

The US leader said on Thursday that he would ask Europeans to repay the American aid provided to Ukraine under the administration of his predecessor Joe Biden.

Trump has long demanded that Europeans shoulder more of the cost of Western support for Ukraine. — AFP

Built for slow burn: Kuala Lumpur's unbreakable heat

Built for slow burn: Kuala Lumpur's unbreakable heat

Chandran Nair
Published: Sep 2, 2026 7:00 AM
Updated: 9:48 AM



COMMENT | The Star recently published a piece asking whether Kuala Lumpur sits on one of the world's most intense urban heat islands. The answer, confirmed by peer-reviewed science and satellite data, was yes - and increasingly so.

The data is astounding on its own. Yet that an article like that was even published is a symptom of a deeper problem: in a city governed seriously, skyrocketing urban heat would not be a "true or false" question requiring a newspaper to fact-check foreign studies.

Government-mandated longitudinal data on Kuala Lumpur’s temperature would be part of domestic academic studies and deeply embedded into the institutions responsible for urban planning and policymaking.

It is worth asking if our leading universities are engaged in any such cutting-edge research to address these issues. The absence of these fundamentals should scare us all - except those who seem to be furthering it with a mixture of ignorance, incompetence, negligence, and denial.

Kuala Lumpur is a city that has been consuming voraciously and building relentlessly, while the well-established systems that are critical to making a tropical city liveable and resilient have been sidelined and trampled upon in the pursuit of ill-defined notions about progress and economic growth. The rising heat is the most visible result, but it is not the only one.

Flash floods, deteriorating water quality and ecology, air quality failures, poor solid waste management - not to mention hazardous waste - and a gas pipeline exploding through a residential suburb - these are not unrelated “misfortunes”.

They are the outputs of the same governance and institutional failure, rooted in a lack of accountability of decision makers, ignorance, lack of competence and apathy, expressing itself across different systems and allowing for abuse of public funds.

A vision of the city of the future

In 2024, I argued that Kuala Lumpur had the potential to become the world's first Botanical City - a tropical capital that puts ecological management and design as well as restoration at the centre of its identity and growth.

This was not some utopian "green" idea, as many in city administration and the government imagined; it was a proposal to reverse the trend towards irreversible decline and collapse. But before a city can be reimagined, it must be diagnosed properly. This two-part piece is that diagnosis.

This piece sets out the case and drivers of the mess we are creating and that it will lead to ruin. The second part sets out who the main actors are and how they are facilitating the current decline unless there is a major overhaul of current approaches, capabilities and attitudes.

Importantly, the argument here is not an environmental one; it is about governance, economic and social development as well as urban planning for an unpredictable 21st century. It is an argument about building robust governance for urban resilience and security in the face of the economic assault driven by archaic views about growth.

These have normalised ways of thinking about progress in narrow terms, predominantly linked to crude ideas about making money at all costs. In this outdated view, everything is for sale if it adds to gross domestic product (GDP) growth.

Thus, better and more advanced approaches which value real and intangible assets and equity are crushed to maximise profits derived from fast-track and unsustainable development.

The question of how a tropical city manages heat, water, ecology, and infrastructure is not a specialist concern for sustainability departments or NGO campaigns; it is ironically an economic question which must be at the heart of all decision-making.

It is the central question of whether a city can function - whether its workers can be productive, its children can learn productively, its hospitals can manage rising populations, its air is breathable, its water drinkable, its economy can attract and retain the talent and investment it needs to compete and stay relevant.

It is a question of ensuring the majority of residents - not just the wealthy and middle class - do not suffer from the drudgery of daily life and enjoy the same rights of access to public goods – clean air, potable water, etc - as the more privileged.

What the science tells us

Multiple peer-reviewed studies have found that Kuala Lumpur's urban heat island pushes temperatures between 4.2°C and 9.5°C above surrounding rural areas, with the worst readings at night. That upper range places Kuala Lumpur among the most intense urban heat islands on earth.

How many city leaders and politicians are aware of this, or are they blissfully ignorant? And if they are aware, then what are they doing about it, as there is scant evidence that mitigation measures at scale are being put in place?

A March 2026 study in Scientific Reports found the effect is still worsening and that, combined with heatwave events, the cumulative heat burden on residents is considerably higher than previously estimated.

A 2025 systematic review in ScienceDirect, covering 27 peer-reviewed studies on urban heat in Southeast Asia, confirmed Kuala Lumpur is among the most severely affected cities in the entire region. But it has triggered no policy discussion, no debate discussions unless they are all taking place in secret. It is hard to tell if any university is conducting research on this topic. Peer-reviewed scientific reports are hard to find.

Kuala Lumpur's total green coverage fell from 6,564ha in 2001 to 5,891ha in 2013. It lost 50 percent of its natural green space since 1970. Per capita green space dropped from 13 to 8.5 sq m between 2010 and 2014 - below the World Health Organization minimum of nine sq m - and construction has continued at pace since.

There has been no discussion about the need to take action. Measurable in the last few years, authorities in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya have mounted an unprecedented assault on urban trees.

And the way solutions are discussed is also off track. A 2025 systematic review in ScienceDirect of 27 peer-reviewed studies across Southeast Asia found that planting more trees, adding green roofs, and expanding parks could reduce air temperatures by up to 2.6°C and surface temperatures by up to 11°C in treated areas. This is all good but not happening at the rate needed in the capital.

And what is being done is still cosmetic. The city generates enormous additional heat from traffic, millions of air-conditioning units, and the energy demands of a rapidly growing metropolis, all of which feed back into the heat island. We must stop the problem at source by rethinking the notion of the city, not constantly optimising for addressing the symptom.

But the inconvenient question is whether our institutions have the capabilities.

No institutions, no experts, no knowledge pipeline

A key factor in this relentless unchecked destruction is that most of our institutions are weak without any strong commitment to using science and technology to tackle threats which are of an existential nature.

Malaysia has no dedicated urban climate science institution. Singapore's "Cooling Singapore" programme - a funded, mandated, multi-institutional effort led by the Singapore-ETH Centre, with the National University of Singapore (NUS), the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, the Technical University of Munich, Singapore Management University, and A*Star - represents the benchmark for what a serious tropical city government builds when it takes urban heat as a governance problem.

Malaysia has nothing equivalent. No university is spearheading studies in this area.

Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities runs transdisciplinary urban heat research with an explicit mandate to translate findings into tested, validated policy interventions. The science-to-policy pipeline is institutionalised, and it is staffed and funded as a core state function, in a way that it is not in Kuala Lumpur.

There is no such thought; after all, who would ever think of it? The rot is deep.

The most comprehensive recent heat mapping of Greater Kuala Lumpur was funded by the Habitat Foundation - a private NGO - and conducted by Think City, another civil society organisation. The most important urban climate data being generated about our capital is not being generated by a government body with a policy mandate; it is being generated by charities filling a vacuum left by the state.

And academic research on Kuala Lumpur's heat, drainage, and ecological systems is published predominantly in international journals, often through international collaborations. Where are the local universities in all of this? Even with this knowledge, what is absent is the institutional channel to translate it into Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) planning decisions, ministerial briefs, or legislative reform.

Research on Malaysia's climate knowledge ecosystem is quite clear that the knowledge gap in the science of climate change over Malaysia and the surrounding region remains wide. And there are hardly any tangible efforts to narrow the gap. Instead, money is invested in lacklustre conferences with little science and hardly any serious discussion about policies to re-imagine the city.

At the same time, there is an obsession about attracting investment in data centres across the country, which will only help exacerbate these problems. The absence of hard questions being asked and independent regulatory oversight about data centres is a stark reminder of the malice.

The same pattern appears beyond urban ecology. The government's approach to food security repeatedly defers to foreign expertise in a way that reveals the same absence of confidence in our domestic scientific institutions.

In May, the agriculture and food security minister said it was partnering with the United States for sustainable agriculture and regenerative practices. A country that has been farming in a tropical climate for centuries does not need to import the conceptual frameworks of a country whose food system is among the most ecologically destructive on Earth.

It needs better domestic institutions that generate knowledge for local applicability and policy that enables the right kind of development with the correct accountability systems.

This is not a funding problem per se. It is a structural choice, repeated across successive governments, not to build institutions that would make inconvenient knowledge impossible to ignore. After all, a state that does not produce the science has a convenient excuse and no basis for not acting on it.

A press that is unable or unwilling to hold power to account

No major Malaysian national publication has a science editor with a dedicated remit for environmental and urban systems reporting. This is representative of a culture that does not take science seriously - despite the endless slogans about investing in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (Stem). It also means there is little critique of governance failures from an evidence-based perspective in the fourth estate.

The Putra Heights pipeline explosion of April 2025 illustrates the pattern. The explosion affected 1,254 people from 308 families, destroyed 87 homes completely, and left 148 others needing repair. The Peninsular Gas Utilisation Pipeline - 2,680km long - had been laid through what became densely populated residential areas, with no adequate inspection regime in the intervening decades.

The Putra Heights pipeline explosion


The Environmental Quality Act 1974 requires additional monitoring after such incidents but carries no obligation to make findings public. Twenty-eight NGOs called publicly for transparency in the aftermath, but to no avail. The independent inquiry into the cause has produced no published conclusions. Yes, the press covered the fire, but it did not build and sustain the accountability case.

After the explosion, Petronas itself identified additional pipeline segments with conditions resembling the Putra Heights site - but the locations of these at-risk segments were not disclosed publicly. And no one is asking questions, not politicians, not academics, not NGOs.

This is critical infrastructure running beneath the homes of hundreds of thousands of Klang Valley residents. A functioning press environment would have made the non-disclosure politically untenable. It did not.

This is not about looking for scapegoats or blaming but about creating an environment in which society collectively improves by learning from its mistakes and thus raising standards for all.

Ecological and urban systems reporting is not a specialist niche. It is governance reporting. A city that does not know how hot it is getting, why it continues to flood, why its pipelines are exploding, why its trees are being cut indiscriminately, or what is being stored in its industrial zones is a city whose residents cannot make informed demands of those who govern it.

The public has no effective channel

Malaysia has not held local council elections since the 1960s; the Kuala Lumpur mayor is a political appointee picked by the federal government, not by the residents of the city. The planning decisions that shape the city - what gets built, what gets demolished, what is rezoned from green lung to condominium - are made by people who answer to no one that residents can vote out.

They are unaccountable and thus open to pressure from potential vested interests, including politicians and businesses. Six decades without local government elections have produced a city that has no plan for a hot world, for more severe floods, and a public that is structurally disempowered, disillusioned and even apathetic in most cases - because what can we do?

It need not be this way. In other megacities across the world, residents have statutory rights of consultation on planning applications, elected local councillors who are answerable at the ballot box, an elected mayor with a mandate specifically from their constituents, and formal channels through which environmental objections carry legal weight.

These are not cultural differences; they are institutional ones based on a quest for good governance. When a KL-ite objects to a development destroying a green space, there should be a system designed to hear that objection at the outset and make the consequences of ignoring it real.

Consultations which are limited, last-minute and often inconsequential should not be tolerated. Petitions get ignored, letters are never replied to because institutions have normalised their power to ignore the public.

Some communities do organise, and occasionally win. Taman Rimba Kiara residents went to court and prevailed at Malaysia's highest court. Bukit Dinding residents have mounted sustained legal challenges. But these victories are exhausting and the exception.

The 90-day judicial review window - which is the primary mechanism made available to residents for challenging development decisions - is expensive, technically challenging, and easily suppressed by well-resourced developers. Winning once does not prevent the same model being applied to the next green space.

There is a fear cultivated over decades - of speaking out, of being categorised as political, troublemakers or subversive, of what happens to people who are too visible in their objections. Some NGOs say the hard and honest thing, but they are consistently marginalised.

The result is a city where people adapt their personal lives - with air conditioning, with shorter outdoor hours, with children kept inside - while expecting nothing from the institutions that made the conditions they are adapting to, and inadvertently helping destroy the future of the city.

CHANDRAN NAIR is the founder and CEO of Global Institute for Tomorrow and the author of “Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-Western World”.

49 Pakistani Troops Killed In Three Separate Attacks Across Balochistan.

 

OutSyed The Box

Friday, September 4, 2026

UPDATED: 49 Pakistani Troops Killed In Three Separate Attacks Across Balochistan.

 

UPDATED: The death toll has gone up to 49 Pakistani soldiers killed.

These attacks happened today Friday 4th September 2026. But these were not part of the usual Friday Turkey shoots that happen in Pakistan.  The death toll kept rising. First it was reported that six soldiers had been killed. Then it crept up to 12 killed, 18 killed and the latest news say 25 soldiers were killed.  Latest update 49 killed. The Baloch Liberation Army which is behind the attacks has filmed the attacks and uploaded it on Social Media. Indian media have also accessed the names of the soldiers who were killed.  The brazen and coordinated daylight attacks shows BLA fighters calmly walking about and inspecting the results of their handiwork.  There are no Pakistani military or Police to be seen in the videos. The Baloch have taken control of Balochistan.

What is to be noted is that they also attacked a huge copper and gold mine called the Reko DIQ which is a Canadian investment by Barrick Mining.  Some Indian commentators say it is American. 

Barrick Mining's Reko Diq copper and gold project in Balochistan is a significant venture in the region, aiming to harness one of the world's largest undeveloped copper and gold reserves. The project, which is 50% owned by Barrick, 25% by federal state-owned enterprises (Pak Army?) and 15% by the Government of Balochistan, is expected to produce substantial amounts of copper and gold annually, with a projected life of 37 years and a potential free cash flow of over US$70 billion. 

Here is the video. 

 

PAS wants FT portfolio if PN takes over Putrajaya

PAS wants FT portfolio if PN takes over Putrajaya

4 hours ago

Faiz Zainudin

Federal territories delegate Abdul Rani Daud says the party should lead the department and prove how it can solve pressing issues.

Abdul Rani Daud also wants the federal territories PN chairmanship, currently held by Bersatu’s Radzi Jidin, to be handed to PAS.

KOTA BHARU:

PAS wants to lead the federal territories department if Perikatan Nasional succeeds in forming the government after the next general election (GE16).

Debating the party president’s policy speech at its 72nd muktamar here today, Abdul Rani Daud from the federal territories said the portfolio should be a priority for the party as it deals with pressing urban socioeconomic issues.

“When the people give us the mandate to form the government, PAS must make the federal territories (department) a priority portfolio, and federal territories PAS should be given the mandate to contribute to its leadership and expertise,” he said.

“It is here that we can prove how Islam solves issues concerning housing, urban poverty, PPR, hawkers, urban development, and societal wellbeing.”

The federal territories department, which comes under the Prime Minister’s Department, oversees the administration of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan. It is currently headed by federal territories minister Hannah Yeoh, of DAP.

Abdul Rani also called for the federal territories PN chairmanship, now held by Bersatu’s Radzi Jidin, to be handed to PAS.

He said this would strengthen coordination and election preparations across the federal territories.

“Federal territories PAS proposes that the chairmanship be given to PAS to strengthen coordination, unity of action, and readiness to face GE16,” he said.

“This is not a matter of position. This is a matter of responsibility to ensure PN wins at the nation’s centre of power.”

***

PAS' avarice is finally showing, wakakaka😂😂😂