BANGKOK, May 3 — Across Bangkok, aromas of garlic, chilli and grilled meat drift from roadside stalls and carts, but tighter controls on vendors threaten livelihoods and the street food culture that defines the Thai capital.

Convenient, full of flavour and popular among locals and tourists alike, Bangkok’s street food is one of the city’s signatures – where sizzling woks and smoky charcoal grills turn boulevards and sidewalks into open-air kitchens from morning until late at night.

But many street sellers in the foodie paradise face an uncertain future as the Bangkok government in recent years has moved to clear footpaths, improve order and relocate vendors from curbsides in packed commercial districts to designated market stalls.

“I am worried because we are here illegally,” said Looknam Sinwirakit, who was once fined 1,000 baht (US$30; RM121.45) for obstructing the street while selling 50-baht (RM6.07) fried glutinous rice cakes in the capital’s Chinatown.

One of Bangkok’s busiest tourist areas, the neighbourhood’s steady flow of customers is worth the risk of city fines, Looknam, 45, told AFP.

“Vendors need to earn a living,” she said. “It’s not fair just to evict us, but if they tell us to (leave) then we have to.”

Nearby, durian seller Wong Jaidee, who has sold the strong-smelling fruit for more than two decades, said he also feared being made to move.

“I don’t have any backup plan,” the 56-year-old said. “Bangkok is a high-priced city and we may not be able to cope.”

Time to move 

Since 2022, the estimated number of mobile vendors in the city has fallen by more than 60 percent, with around 10,000 fewer now on the streets, according to data from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).

While dozens have moved to informal markets and hawker centres – using a model similar to Singapore, where food vendors are grouped in designated locations – many others have simply closed their business due to the stricter regulations or because they were no longer profitable, said BMA official Kunanop Lertpraiwan.

Pavements become battlegrounds for pedestrians and hawkers as street food sellers move their carts during the evening rush hour in Bangkok’s Chinatown. — AFP pic

The municipality has mostly targeted vendors crowding main roads with heavy pedestrian foot traffic, while those on side streets and in areas popular with backpackers and other tourists were allowed more flexibility, Kunanop said.

“We give them time and communicate with them clearly,” he said, adding some sellers were given several months to find a new location.

“It’s not like we will move them tomorrow.”

The city is pushing more vendors to set up shop in one of five hawker centres opened in recent years – the latest in April beside Bangkok’s popular Lumphini Park.

With rows of food stalls and picnic tables, the new hub so far houses around a dozen vendors who previously sold food on nearby streets.

BMA encouraged them to relocate, and they now pay 60 baht (RM7.28) a day to rent a hawker stall.

Panissara Piyasomroj, who sold noodles to morning runners in the park since 2004, said moving into the centre meant better conditions, including convenient water and electricity access.

Under a roof to beat the heat, the 59-year-old said her business had been “upgraded” and “looks cleaner”.

‘Part of the culture’ 

But for other vendors, the prospect of moving from a familiar setting remains a concern.

A street vendor pushing a cart of fresh fruit in Bangkok, Thailand across the road. — AFP pic

Thitisakulthip Sang-uamsap, 67, has sold fried vegetable balls near Chinatown for more than 40 years and worries she could be forced to relocate.

“I live around here... if they ask me to leave, I won’t be comfortable,” she said, adding she hoped the government would show empathy for older vendors earning little income.

The crowded, bustling sidewalks and the smell of freshly grilled squid and other street treats are for many visitors a key part of Bangkok’s charm – and a cheap, tasty meal on-the-go is worth the hassle of a blocked path.

German tourist Oliver Peter said Thailand has one of the best cuisines in the world, noting his favourite, Pad Thai – the popular stir-fried rice noodles ubiquitous in Bangkok’s streetside woks.

“It would be sad if they go away,” he said. “It’s part of the culture.” — AFP

PARIS, May 3 — The latest developments in the Middle East war:

Iran hangs man

Iran hanged a man convicted of involvement in the killing of a security forces volunteer during anti-government protests, the judiciary said.

“Mehrab Abdollahzadeh’s death sentence was carried out this morning after completing the legal formalities,” said the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.

Gaza flotilla in court

Two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla who were brought to Israel for interrogation appeared before an Israeli court, a rights group defending them told AFP.

Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila were taken to court in the city of Ashkelon, according to Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the Israeli rights group Adalah.

Israel’s Lebanon warning

Israel’s military issued new evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon for villages beyond the area it occupies, despite a truce with Lebanon intended to halt fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The warning covers more than 10 villages and towns, including several in the district of Nabatieh, which lies north of the Litani River. Israel has stationed troops south of the river.

Iran museum

Iranian authorities plan to turn a bombsite at a university in central Iran into a museum about the impact of US-Israeli strikes, an official said.

“The current damaged site will be preserved as a war museum at the university to remain a document of the country’s scientific oppression in history,” said Zafarollah Kalantari, head of Isfahan University of Technology.

Trump says US numbers in Germany to come ‘way down’

US President Donald Trump said the US would withdraw more troops from Germany than was previously announced by the Pentagon.

“We’re going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters yesterday, without providing details.

Earlier, a NATO spokeswoman said the alliance was seeking more information on the US decision, which came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran was “humiliating” the Trump administration in negotiations.

Trump casts doubt

Trump said he would review a new Iranian peace deal but cast doubt over its prospects, as Iranian media reported Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan.

“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies said Iran had submitted a 14-point proposal. It reportedly includes ending the conflict on all fronts and enacting a new framework for the crucial Strait of Hormuz, according to Tasnim.

Three killed in Lebanon

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon yesterday killed three people in Sammaiyeh in the Tyre district.

The Israeli military said it carried out strikes dismantling “approximately 70 military structures and approximately 50 Hezbollah infrastructure sites” across southern Lebanon.

Israel damages convent

A Catholic charity condemned what it called the “deliberate act of destruction against a place of worship” after a convent was damaged by Israeli forces in Lebanon.

The Israeli military confirmed a “religious building” was damaged by troops operating in the village of Yaroun and “houses located in a religious compound” were “damaged” during an operation to “destroy terrorist infrastructure”.

French Catholic charity L’Oeuvre d’Orient said troops “destroyed” a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek-Catholic religious order the charity is affiliated with. — AFP

KOOVAGAM (India), May 4 — For a few fleeting days each year, India’s often-shunned transgender community is welcomed and revered at a festival that is at once sacred ritual, celebration, and a refuge.

At the heart of it is the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan – and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom.

Several thousand attend the annual ceremony in Koovagam, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts that has gained prominence in recent decades.

“I need a life like a bird,” said Thilothama, 34, who uses only one name, her voice steady amid the hum of drums and devotional songs.

“Freedom – to do what I want, despite being transgender.”

Thilothama, who works for Thozhi, a Chennai-based charity supporting transgender people, has spent more than a decade helping others find work and counselling those navigating rejection and uncertainty.

Her own journey has been shaped by both resilience and loss.

Facing opposition from her family over her gender identity, she left home and built a life within the transgender community.

Today she earns a modest income – but speaks with quiet pride about her independence.

‘My world’ 

For the past 10 years Thilothama has returned to Koovagam, where a beauty pageant and singing contests are held alongside religious rituals.

“I believe the rituals here bring good things,” she says, adjusting her sari.

She recalls caring for a friend’s bedridden mother, only to be barred from the funeral rites after her death.

“That was the hardest time,” she says.

Thilothama, a tansgender, gets her bangles broken by a priest symbolising end of her marriage to Hindu warrior god Aravan during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. — AFP pic

The festival culminates in two days of ceremonies as Koovagam briefly becomes a rare space of acceptance.

On the first, priests tie a sacred thread around the necks of the transgender devotees, symbolising their marriage to the Hindu warrior god Aravan.

The next day, as devotees cry in mourning for his death, the thread and their wrist bangles are cut.

South Asia has a long history of people assigned male at birth but who identify as female.

In India’s last census in 2011, more than 487,000 people were members of the third gender – a designation the supreme court formally recognised in 2014, but whose members still face severe discrimination.

The transgender community dance freely during the annual Koovagam transgender festival at the Koothandavar temple in Tamil Nadu's Kallakurichi district. — AFP pic

For Anuya, a member of the community, the change in how she is treated at the festival is striking.

“Here, people smile at me, speak kindly. The villagers who are participating in this festival believe that if they get blessing from transgender people, they will have prosperity in their life,” she says.

“So I am getting more respect, and in this way I feel more proud of becoming transgender.”

As night falls, music and laughter ripple through the village.

“Usually, I feel alone. Here, I see so many like me,” says Dhanshika, another member of the community, smiling as she watched friends dressed in their finest sari dresses.

“I feel this is my world.” — AFP

MAY 3 — Futures studies has often been treated as an intellectual luxury—something produced by a small circle of thinkers and consumed by policymakers at the top.

This perception is no longer sustainable. 

In a world defined by overlapping crises—from artificial intelligence to climate instability and geopolitical fragmentation—the discipline must be recast as a practical tool for society at large.

The evolution of futures thinking can be traced to early pioneers such as Alvin Toffler and Heidi Toffler. Their landmark work, Future Shock, captured the anxiety of a world accelerating beyond human adaptability.

Published at the dawn of the information age, the book argued that technological and social change could overwhelm individuals, leading to stress and dislocation.

More than five decades later, this insight feels less like a warning and more like a description of daily life.

Similarly, John Naisbitt, through Megatrends, offered a broad mapping of societal transformation. His work influenced governments and corporations by highlighting the shift from industrial to information economies.

Yet both approaches share a structural limitation. They are rooted in top-down analysis.

The future is interpreted by a select group and then communicated outward. This risks reducing futures studies into a passive exercise, where societies merely absorb projections rather than shape them.

Futures thinking is increasingly seen as a shared human practice, shaped not only by experts but by everyday people navigating change together. — Unsplash pic

A more recent contribution challenges this model fundamentally.

In “Introduction to Islamic Futures Studies,” Ziauddin Sardar and Mirza Sarajklic argue that futures thinking is already embedded in everyday life.

Their central premise is disarmingly simple: ordinary people are constantly thinking about the future. Concerns about employment, technological change, or economic security are all forms of foresight.

This reframing shifts futures studies from an elite domain to a shared human practice.

A key concept they introduce is “polylogue”—a pluralistic conversation that cuts across cultures, disciplines, and civilizations.

In an age of “polycrisis,” where economic, environmental, and political disruptions reinforce one another, no single narrative can capture reality. Neither is there the certainty of “polytunities,” the readers must be warned. 

This is not necessarily a feel good book but a clarion call to understand the past, present and future as a seamless whole.

The future must therefore be negotiated collectively, not dictated from above.

At the same time, the book issues a caution about the growing dominance of external knowledge systems.

Digital technologies—especially artificial intelligence—are largely designed and controlled by major powers. 

These systems embed assumptions and biases that shape how knowledge is produced and circulated.

This creates what can be described as digital dependency. 

Societies that rely entirely on imported frameworks risk losing their capacity to think independently about the future.

For regions such as Asean and the Gulf, this is not a theoretical concern. It is a strategic one.

Without indigenous foresight capabilities, they risk becoming reactive actors in a rapidly shifting global order.

The book also reminds readers that futures thinking has never been politically neutral.

Historical figures like

Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, who wrote about Muslim societies in the 19th century, often framed their ideas within imperial contexts. 

In urging Muslims in the Levant or Orient to rise up to reclaim their futures laid the agenda to break the Ottoman Empire apart.

Blunt’s connections to Winston Churchill underscore how knowledge production can align with power structures.

This historical awareness reinforces a key lesson: futures studies must always be approached critically, with an understanding of who is producing knowledge and for what purpose.

Malaysia occupies a distinctive position in this intellectual landscape.

For decades, thinkers like Ziauddin Sardar have contributed to the country’s role as a bridge between civilizations. 

Initiatives linking global audiences to Islamic thought have demonstrated that alternative perspectives can coexist with dominant paradigms. However, the book is careful not to romanticise discourse.

The lived experience of Mirza Sarajklic—particularly his witnessing of the Bosnian War—serves as a stark reminder that ideas alone do not prevent catastrophe.

Without action, even the most sophisticated frameworks can fail to avert violence and instability.

The authors extend this concern to contemporary politics.

The resurgence of far-right movements across Europe signals how quickly political systems can shift. 

Democratic institutions, often assumed to be stable, can be reshaped by waves of nationalism and populism.

Futures studies, therefore, must move beyond linear projections. It must grapple with sudden ruptures and nonlinear change.

What distinguishes this book is its ethical grounding.

Drawing on Islamic intellectual traditions, including references to the Quran and Hadith, the authors provide a moral framework for navigating uncertainty.

This is not presented as an exclusive worldview. Rather, it offers universal insights into resilience, balance, and engagement with diversity.

The life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is invoked as an example of leadership under uncertainty—where continuity and change must be carefully balanced.

Such lessons resonate far beyond any single tradition, however. Hence it is not quaint to see the book referring to the likes of Prophet Moses even; for that matter other great messengers of peace, even Adam and Eve.

The book also situates contemporary society within what it calls a “post-normal” condition.

In this environment, complexity is the norm, and predictability is the exception.

Challenges such as nuclear risk, environmental collapse, and technological disruption are interconnected. They cannot be addressed in isolation.

This makes futures studies----the authors insist they must be plural as future is not linear but multi-linear---not just relevant, but indispensable in a turbulent world.

Countries that define themselves as trading states, practically the whole world except North Korea, even if the latter trade in fissile and nuclear technology too, cannot avoid the importance of futures studies.

Importantly, the tone of the book avoids extremes.

It neither succumbs to pessimism nor indulges in technological optimism.

Instead, it offers a measured reflection on human vulnerability and capacity. 

Without Future Studies there is no way a government can handle the brewing energy, economic and employment crisis that is about to hit the world due to war in places such as Ukraine, Iran, indeed, Sudan and Gaza too.

Readers are reminded that while uncertainty is unavoidable, human agency remains intact.

For policymakers, the implications are profound.

Futures studies must be embedded within governance structures. It should inform education, public policy, and institutional planning.

For Asean, this is particularly urgent.The region sits at the crossroads of great power competition, digital transformation, and environmental stress.

A reactive posture is no longer sufficient. Strategic foresight must become part of its diplomatic and developmental toolkit.

Ultimately, this book reframes futures studies as a collective endeavour.

The future is not something that happens to us. It is something shaped by our choices, values, and actions.

Moving beyond imitation toward participation is not just an intellectual shift. It is a necessity for survival in an increasingly uncertain world.

* Phar Kim Beng is professor of Asean Studies and director, Institute of Internationalization and Asean Studies, International Islamic University of Malaysia. 

** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 3 — A married couple were killed after the motorcycle they were riding was hit from behind by a car at Jalan Ampang near Menara Great Eastern early yesterday morning, in an incident involving a driver suspected of being under the influence of alcohol.

Kuala Lumpur Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department (JSPT) chief ACP Mohd Zamzuri Mohd Isa said in the 5.34 am incident, the 61-year-old man and his 56-year-old wife were pronounced dead at the scene due to severe head injuries.

He said initial investigations found that a Toyota Vios driven by a 24-year-old local man lost control before crashing into the rear of the victims’ Honda Wave Alpha motorcycle.

“Police have taken blood and urine samples from the driver for toxicology tests at the Chemistry Department as he is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol.

“The driver is currently receiving treatment in the Red Zone of Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL) for head injuries,” he said in a statement today.

Mohd Zamzuri said the driver’s friend, a 23-year-old front passenger, was also injured and is being treated in the Red Zone of HKL, while another rear passenger sustained minor injuries and has had his statement recorded.

“The bodies of the couple were claimed by their family yesterday and the case is being investigated under Section 41(1) of the Road Transport Act 1987 for causing death by reckless or dangerous driving,” he said.

Members of the public or witnesses with information on the incident are urged to contact the Tun H.S. Lee Traffic Police Station at 03-2071 9999 or any nearby police station. — Bernama

CHENNAI, May 3 — A routine landing turned chaotic at Chennai International Airport this morning when a passenger aboard Air Arabia flight  G9471 unexpectedly opened an emergency exit and jumped onto the runway moments after touchdown.

The incident happened aboard an Airbus A320 that was flying from Sharjah, had 231 passengers on board when it landed at around 3.23am, several Indians news outlets reported.

The jump occurred as the plane was taxiing towards the terminal, forcing the pilot to immediately halt the aircraft and alert airport authorities.

Airport operations were briefly thrown into disarray, with the main runway closed as a safety precaution shortly after the incident.

“The passenger was identified as 29-year-old Mohamed Sherif Mohamed Najmudeen. He jumped off the aircraft’s emergency exit on Taxiway V. This incident took place around 3.25 am,” an unnamed official was quoted by The Hindustan Times as saying.

“The airline staff informed security personnel and took the passenger to local police, who took him into custody,” another airport official, also anonymous, was quoted as saying.

The jumper reportedly ran towards the airport’s commercial area, briefly alarming staff and passengers before security personnel intervened and apprehended him.

Officials said he sustained injuries after jumping from the aircraft and was taken for medical treatment.

Another airport source said the passenger, believed to be from Tamil Nadu’s Pudukkottai, had claimed he was “unstable” at the time of the incident, though investigations are ongoing.

The aircraft was later towed to a parking bay around 4.25am, while runway operations resumed approximately an hour later at 4.35am.

TEHRAN, May 3 — Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said today that the US faced a choice between an “impossible” military operation or a “bad deal” with the Islamic republic.

The Middle East war, launched by the US and Israel in late February, has been on hold since April 8, with one failed round of peace talks having taken place in Pakistan.

Negotiations have since stalled as the US imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports, while Iran has kept the key Strait of Hormuz largely closed.

The Guards intelligence organisation said that US President Donald “Trump must choose between ‘an impossible operation or a bad deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran’”, in an online post carried by state television.

It added that the window for US decision-making “has been narrowed”, citing what it described as a “shift in tone” from China, Russia and Europe towards Washington as well as what it called an Iranian “deadline” over the US naval blockade, without elaborating.

US outlet Axios, citing two sources briefed on a recent Iranian proposal to the US, reported that Tehran had set “a one-month deadline for negotiations on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, end the US naval blockade and permanently end the war in Iran and in Lebanon”.

Today, Trump said in a post on Truth Social that he would be reviewing Iran’s latest proposal but added that he “can’t imagine that it would be acceptable”.

Iranian media, including the Tasnim and Fars news agencies, reported yesterday on the contents of the proposal.

According to Tasnim, Iran has said the outstanding issues between the two sides “should be resolved within 30 days” and should focus “on ending the war instead of extending the ceasefire”.

The issues, Tasnim said, included “the withdrawal of US military forces from Iran’s periphery, lifting the naval blockade, releasing Iran’s frozen assets and lifting sanctions”.

The report mentioned “ending the war on all fronts, including Lebanon and agreeing a new mechanism for the Strait of Hormuz”. — AFP

​KAJANG, May 3 — The remains of a nine-year-old girl who was found drowned in Sungai Langat at noon today will be laid to rest at the Sungai Long Muslim Cemetery in Hulu Langat tonight.

Earlier, a post-mortem on Nur Qaseh Deandra Mohd Qayyum was completed at the Kajang Hospital Forensic Department at 3.47pm.

Her body was then bathed and shrouded at the hospital before being transported by hearse at 6pm to Taman Rakan Mosque in Cheras for funeral prayers.

The victim was found by the search and rescue (SAR) team at 12.17pm, about 10.6 kilometres from where she was reported to have fallen.

Last Friday, she was believed to have been swept away by strong currents while trying to retrieve a ball that had fallen into a drain as she was playing with friends at an apartment area in Bandar Mahkota Cheras. — Bernama

BEIJING, May 3 — China accused the Philippines of landing personnel on a disputed reef in the South China Sea today as Manila said it would dispatch ships to drive off Chinese vessels it said were conducting research illegally.

The exchange extends a run of heightened tension between China and the Philippines, a US ally, over Sandy Cay, an unoccupied sandbar in the South China Sea.

Today, China’s Coast Guard said it had identified five Philippine personnel who had landed on Sandy Cay, an action Beijing termed “illegal,” according to state-run media outlet Global Times. The report did not specify what — if any — further action China had taken.

Manila said last week it had dispatched its coast guard to Sandy Cay after state media reports showed Chinese coast guard personnel arriving on Sandy Cay holding a Chinese flag.

Ties between China and the Philippines are strained over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, where Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire waterway.

Also today, a spokesman for the Philippine Coast Guard said Manila had identified four Chinese vessels conducting what it called illegal research in its waters and threatened to deploy aircraft and ships to force them to move away.

China’s foreign ministry and the Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately reply to requests for comment. — Reuters

LONDON, May 3 — The Rolling Stones have confirmed that the title of their upcoming music project is Foreign Tongues.

It comes after months of teasing by the rock group, through mysterious billboards and posts, which sparked rumours that the band would release a new album – their first since their 2023 Grammy Award-winning record Hackney Diamonds.

The Press Association understands the Stones will release their new album on July 10, after band members Mick Jagger, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards shared the artwork for the upcoming record on Saturday, with each musician posting a different portion of the cover.

Jagger shared a photograph which covered the bottom part of the cover and showed an illustration of what appears to be his mouth and chin.

Wood shared the middle portion of the cover which revealed his eyes and nose.

Richards completed the puzzle and shared the top half which featured an illustration of the head – some messy hair wearing a multicoloured bandana.

On Friday, the band shared a snippet from an unnamed song over a 13-second video to their 4.2 million fans of their signature tongue and lips logo on a moving background.

The caption consisted of two emojis, including one of a CD, leading fans to believe they are hinting at a new record.

Rumours of new music were first sparked last month when a series of cryptic messages including posters and QR codes linked to The Cockroaches popped up around London believed to be connected to the band.

The Rolling Stones have also reportedly released music and performed gigs under the pseudonym, The Cockroaches, with teaser videos hinting at the name shared on their Instagram.

The Cockroaches later released a limited-edition vinyl single, titled Rough And Twisted on April 11, which was reportedly only sold exclusively at independent record stores.

Formed in London in 1962, The Rolling Stones have a long history of chart-topping albums and number one singles, including (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, Paint It Black and Start Me Up.

After long-serving member Charlie Watts died in August 2021 at the age of 80, Steve Jordan has stepped in as the group’s drummer with its current line-up consisting of Jagger, Richards and Wood.

Throughout their decades-long career, The Rolling Stones have had 14 UK number one albums and eight number one hits.

The rock band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. — Bernama-PA Media/dpa

SUNGAI PETANI, May 3 — An elderly man is feared drowned after he was believed to have fallen into a river in Kampung Padang Tengah, Tikam Batu, today. The victim has been identified as Mohamad Khalid @ Halim Salleh, aged 83.

Kedah Fire and Rescue Department Zone 2 officer and senior operations commander, Fire Supt Bryan Del Bungkias, said an emergency call was received at 8.55 am.

He said the victim is suspected to have fallen into a drainage ditch near his home, based on his blanket found at the edge of the water. The distance from his house to the ditch is approximately 30 metres.

A team of officers and firefighters from the Tikam Batu Fire and Rescue Station was deployed to the scene to conduct search-and-rescue operations.

Bryan said the Water Rescue Team and the Royal Malaysia Police K9 unit have also been called in to help.

He added that members of the Water Rescue Team conducted dives in the area where the victim is believed to have fallen at 10.44 am, while searches along the riverbank are actively underway. — Bernama

BACHOK, May 3 — The government will continue to monitor suspicious offers related to badal haji services, particularly at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and on social media platforms.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Hasan said the monitoring is being carried out continuously to ensure Malaysians do not fall victim to scams, especially at the last minute ahead of the Haj season.

“To date, no complaints have been received regarding badal haji fraud. Nevertheless, Tabung Haji has deployed personnel to monitor activities on social media as well as at KLIA.

“I advise Malaysians, particularly Muslims, to always refer to the relevant authorities to verify any offers or information and avoid potential losses,” he told reporters after officiating a Bakery and Pastry Business Empowerment Programme in Kampung Telong here today. Also present was Tabung Haji group managing director and chief executive officer Mustakim Mohamad.

Zulkifli noted that the cost of performing the Haj is high, and unrealistic offers may not fulfil the required pillars and obligations of the pilgrimage.

Earlier, Malaysian consul-general in Jeddah Tengku Mohd Dzaraif Raja Abdul Kadir also cautioned Malaysians against dubious badal haji services, particularly those offered at unusually low prices compared to actual costs.

Meanwhile, 30 women from the Kelantan Rehabilitation Centre for Persons with Disabilities took part in the programme to improve their skills and generate income by producing and selling their products. — Bernama