Just today Feb 16, Malaysia has announced their extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO) for 4 of their states (Selangor, Johor, Penang and KL) till March 4.
The COVID-19 restriction on other states will be put on slack. Control Movement Control Order for some of the states will be reinstated.
Recovery Movement Contol Order (RMCO) will take place for the northern state of Perlis.
Defence Minister of Malaysia said that travelling of more than 10km is permitted now even for MCO areas but, interstate travelling is still prohibited.
On Feb 15, 2,176 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Malaysia the lowest reported in the past 30 days. A total of 266,445 cases up till now in Malaysia.
Currently there are 47,135 active cases with 260 patient in ICU, 112 people using ventilator support and 975 deaths from the pandemic in Malaysia.
On Tuesday, Feb 16, a Budget 2021 speech by Deputy Prime Minister was being held. An increase in Goods and Service Tax (GST) will take place from 2022 to 2025. Depending on the economic situation now happening “sooner rather than later” Deputy PM said.
Without the increase of GST, the rising recurrent need will not be able to be met especially in healthcare.
An overall Budget loss of $64.9 billion, 13.9% of gross domestic product for 2020. It was the biggest loss since Singapore’s independence, said, Deputy PM.
A total of $11 billion in insufficiencies is expected in the year 2021.
During the COVID-19 pandemic since last year, there’s been a sharp increase in numbers on unauthorized online banking and card transactions.
A total of 1,848 cases were reported to the police last year compared to the 329 cases in 2019 and just 114 of such reports in 2018.
The most commonly reported cases are E-commerce scams which have also increased 19.1% last year compared to 2019.
The implementation by the banks such as one-time passwords cannot prevent online scams from happening. A number of victims were tricked by scammers into revealing their IDs and passwords.
Some precautions have been made such as banks rejecting card payments by some commonly disputed merchants or even setting credit limits.
On Tuesday, Feb 16, Deputy Prime Minister said that the Additional Registration Fee (ARF) will be down to zero for electric cars from Jan 2022 to Dec 2023.
A minimum of $5,000 will have to be paid for ARF for now, so narrowing the cost of an electric vehicle will help encourage buyers to switch to an electric car compared to others.
Deputy PM added that lowering the ARF will help buyers on tax rebates from the Electric Vehicle Early Adoption Incentive for electric cars. Road taxes for electric cars will also be reviewed.
These are part of the measures that are taken by the government to help to phase out the fuel cars now on the road.
Last year August, a Singapore Management University(SMU) student from Sri Lanka breached his SHN notice by leaving his room in Hotel Grand Pacific multiple times.
He was caught on Aug 10 last year when his room was found empty with the door not closed.
Two days later after being caught, he was found hanging in his room and was pronounced dead on the scene.
According to the CCTV footage, he was seen leaving his room to visit his friend next door to watch Netflix together.
During this time, a security officer walked past and saw that his room door was not closed, and thus, he closed it. Through the CCTV footage, it can be seen that the guy was walking up and down in the corridor after realizing he could not enter the room.
His friend has then alerted the hotel personnel and was then able to go back to his room after that.
Two days after the incident last year, his friend failed to contact him and have alerted the hotel staff. When the duty manager of the hotel arrived, he knocked and rang the bell of his room but no reply was given.
When they opened the door, they found him hanging in his room motionless.
On Tuesday, Feb 16, the investigating officer of the case strongly suggest that he killed himself and no foul play was suspected of.
GST will be imposed on low-value goods that are bought online and imported by air or post from 1 January 2023 onwards.
The new imposition will also be extended to non-digital services that are imported, such as live interactions wil ocerseas providers of counselling, tele-medicine and fitness training.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said that this will help to level the playing field for local businessed to compete effectively.
Previously, low-value goods below $400 that are imported via air or post were not subject to GST to facilitate border clearance, but the tax is paid on such goods that are bought here.
It is worth noting that all goods imported via land or sea are already taxed, regardless of value.
DPM Heng said:
One aspect of a fair and resilient tax system is ensuring a level playing field for our local businesses vis-a-vis their overseas counterparts.
This is especially relevant as e-commerce for sales of goods and services, is growing.”
Overseas suppliers of goods and services will be subject to the same GST treatment as local suppliers,
Shoppers will have to pay the GST when they buy from overseas suppliers, just like how they are being charged when they buy things from local businesses.
All eligible Singaporeans will receive an additional $200 GST Voucher which would be exclusive of their regular GST Voucher Cash Payment.
The $200 payout will be a one-off payment for all lower and middle-income households. This payment will be paid to eligible Singaporeans in June 2021.
Eligible Singaporean households will also receive a U Save Special Payment which will be used to offset their utility bills. The amount ranges from $120 to $200.
Families with children below the age of 21 will receive an additional $200 top-up in the Edusave or Post-Secondary Education Account.
All Singaporean households will also receive a $100 CDC voucher which can be used at hawker centres.
An appeal for information relating to a Hit-and-Run accident involving a dog has been reposted numerous times on Instagram.
A dog was hit by a Blue Picanto with the license plate number ending 9193L (to be confirmed by the OP), along Choa Chu Kang Way, at the bus stop in front of Block 523, Choa Chu Kang Street 51.
The dog could be seen with blood in its mouth and it passed out before good samaritans came and woke it up.
The accident happened on 14 February at around 5.20pm.
The original poster of the appeal is believed to be @libekkar on Instagram, so anyone with vital information about the hit and run, please contact her via DMs.
Images source: @libekkar, @prettybines, @evanjarleen, @arenawzq on Instagram
Pictures of an aftermath of a fight were recently uploaded on the Facebook page SG Chinese Community which shows a coffeeshop which got thrashed by drunk patrons.
Source: SG Chinese Community
Broken glass bottles were seen strewn all over the floor as bystanders gathered outside the coffeeshop.
Source: SG Chinese Community
The incident happened in Geylang and it is currently unknown on the number of people who were injured from the fight.
