Day: July 1, 2026

LRT3 Reflects MADANI Govt’s Commitment To Better Public Transport – Saifuddin

SHAH ALAM, July 1 -- The Shah Alam Line LRT3 is another testament to the MADANI Government's commitment to providing a more modern, efficient and integrated public transport system to improve people's daily lives, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said. He said the new line was introduced to ease congestion along one of the busiest transport corridors in the Klang Valley. “It not only expands public transport options, but also helps reduce traffic congestion, shortens travel time and lowers daily commuting costs, especially for those travelling to work, educational institutions or attending to daily errands. “This is one of the government's strategic investments to improve the people's quality of life and strengthen the country's public transport network,” he said in a Facebook post. On Sunday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, when launching operations of the line, announced free fares on the Shah Alam Line LRT3 from June 29 to July 31, including Prasarana Malaysia Bhd (Prasarana) feeder bus services along the route. Saifuddin Nasution urged the public, especially those living in Shah Alam, Klang, Subang and areas along the LRT3 alignment, to take advantage of the free travel period. He said the initiative gives people the opportunity to experience the new rail line and its feeder bus services at no cost, while encouraging greater use of public transport. “The Shah Alam Line LRT3 and its feeder bus services are available free of charge until July 31 so that more people can experience the service and make the switch to public transport. “So if you live, work or study along the LRT3 route, now is the time. Leave your car behind for a while and try the LRT3 for free until July 31. Try it once and, insya-Allah, you'll want to ride it again,” he said. --Credit: FB - Saifuddin Nasution Ismail -- BERNAMA 

SHAH ALAM, July 1 — The Shah Alam Line LRT3 is another testament to the MADANI Government’s commitment to providing a more modern, efficient and integrated public transport system to improve people’s daily lives, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said. He said the new line was introduced to ease congestion along one of […]

YB Datuk Fahmi Fadzil Receives Courtesy Call from Malaysia’s Ambassador to Lebanon

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil today received a courtesy call from Malaysia's Ambassador to Lebanon, Anwar bin Udzir, in a meeting aimed at strengthening professional ties and exchanging views on current developments concerning Malaysia's interests at the international level. Fahmi said he first got to know Anwar while they were working together during the Ministerial Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity held in Tokyo in 2025. He noted that meetings of this nature are important for fostering stronger working relationships, facilitating the exchange of perspectives, and discussing developments that are relevant to Malaysia's interests on the global stage. Anwar bin Udzir received his letter of appointment as Malaysia's Ambassador to Lebanon from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on May 18, 2026. Fahmi also extended his best wishes to Anwar, expressing confidence that he would carry out his responsibilities successfully and continue to represent Malaysia with distinction in Lebanon. -- MINUTESMY

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil today received a courtesy call from Malaysia’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Anwar bin Udzir, in a meeting aimed at strengthening professional ties and exchanging views on current developments concerning Malaysia’s interests at the international level. Fahmi said he first got to know Anwar while they were working […]

PTPTN Offers Nearly RM500,000 In Prizes Through Simpan SSPN Prime Bonanza Campaign

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 -- The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) is offering a total prize of almost RM500,000 to 106 winners of the Prime Bonanza Draw Campaign to reward depositors who choose the national education savings scheme Simpan SSPN Prime. In a statement today, PTPTN announced that the campaign will run from today until Oct 31 and features two draw categories -- Platinum and Gold. Under the Platinum category, the grand prize is a Jaecoo J7 2WD PHEV, followed by RM50,000 cash for second place, RM30,000 for third place and 50 consolation prizes of RM1,000 cash each. For the Gold category, participants stand to win a Proton X50 Flagship as the grand prize, followed by RM30,000 cash for second place, RM10,000 for third place and 50 consolation prizes of RM500 cash each. According to PTPTN, depositors only need to open an account or top up their savings during the campaign period, with every net savings of RM100 in Simpan SSPN Prime earning 10 draw entries. “Users who make deposits through the myPTPTN application, salary deductions or direct debit facilities will receive double entries — 20 draw entries for every RM100 of net savings,” the statement said. PTPTN added that accounts must remain active without any withdrawals or transfers during the retention period from Nov 1, 2026, until Jan 31, 2027. PTPTN Chief Executive Ahmad Dasuki Abdul Majid said the campaign reflects the organisation’s appreciation for depositor loyalty while encouraging Malaysians to cultivate early savings habits in preparation for their children’s higher education expenses. Meanwhile, PTPTN also announced that Ahmad Dasuki recently presented prizes to the grand winners of two previous campaigns — Lun Ying Chian, winner of the WOW! Simpan SSPN Plus 2026 Draw under the WOW! Plus Series 1 category, and Heaw Zi Bin, winner of the New Slay! SSPN Slay Draw under the Slay 1 category. The grand winner of the WOW! Plus Series 1 category received RM20,000 in cash, while the winner of the Slay 1 category took home a Yamaha NVX 155 motorcycle. Simpan SSPN offers several benefits, including income tax relief of up to RM8,000 annually, takaful protection for depositors, a free Matching Grant of up to RM10,000 per eligible family, competitive dividend returns, government-guaranteed savings and Syariah-compliant features. Additionally, under the Geran Padanan Ihsan (GAPAI) initiative announced in Budget 2025, students pursuing studies at Higher Education Institutions (IPT) from families earning between RM4,000 and RM6,000 monthly are now eligible to apply for a Matching Grant of up to RM5,000 per family. More information on Simpan SSPN is available via PTPTN’s official portal and the myPTPTN application. -- BERNAMA

KUALA LUMPUR, July 1 — The National Higher Education Fund Corporation (PTPTN) is offering a total prize of almost RM500,000 to 106 winners of the Prime Bonanza Draw Campaign to reward depositors who choose the national education savings scheme Simpan SSPN Prime. In a statement today, PTPTN announced that the campaign will run from today […]

4th China International Supply Chain Expo Concludes in Beijing

BEIJING, July 1 -- The fourth China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) came to a close on June 26 in Beijing. Held under the banner 'Connecting the World for a Shared Future,' the event drew 676 exhibitors from 85 countries and regions, including leading supply-chain companies, innovative SMEs, and research institutions. Overseas participants accounted for 36.5% of the total, while Fortune 500 companies and sector front-runners made up 65% of the exhibiting base. Organizers described the expo as an open, sustainability-focused, and results-driven platform for international trade and supply-chain cooperation.  Australia took part as the guest country of honor, with France's Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region and Italy's Liguria region joining as the first overseas guest regions alongside China's guest provinces, Anhui and Hainan. The arrangement spurred cross-regional exchanges and collaboration throughout the event. The expo welcomed 223 overseas business delegations for on-site visits and negotiations, marking a 29.7% increase from the previous expo. Drawing more than 1,200 exhibitors and supply-chain partners, this year's CISCE marked the largest gathering in the expo's history and shattered previous participation records. On-site professional attendance rose 22% compared with the last edition. Organizers hosted 70 business forums and two evening exhibitor networking events, with the livestreams attracting more than 62 million cumulative online views. This year's event also marked the beginning of the "Digital and Intelligent CISCE" initiative. The former Digital Technology Chain exhibition was upgraded to the Digital and Intelligent Technology Chain, with a dedicated artificial intelligence exhibition zone added. The event saw 161 new products, technologies, services, and applications make their global or industry debuts. In parallel, the 2026 edition of the Global Supply Chain Promotion Report and a new Global Supply Chain Resilience Index Matrix were released, providing new insights into global supply-chain resilience. Business activity at the expo was robust, with exhibitors establishing ties with 43,000 upstream and downstream partner companies, surpassing last year's figure. On the final morning alone, 115 companies and institutions from China and abroad signed letters of intent to exhibit at the fifth CISCE. This early booking figure represents a 12.7% year-on-year increase. Among them, 20 firms committed to multi-year participation, signing agreements spanning three or five years. Media coverage also expanded, with more than 2,300 Chinese and international journalists accredited to cover the event, up 21.5% from 2025. -- PRNewswire -- Source: China International Supply Chain Expo   

BEIJING, July 1 — The fourth China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) came to a close on June 26 in Beijing. Held under the banner ‘Connecting the World for a Shared Future,’ the event drew 676 exhibitors from 85 countries and regions, including leading supply-chain companies, innovative SMEs, and research institutions. Overseas participants accounted for 36.5% of […]

AKPS recommends procurement of Glock firearms, strengthens operations and security

PUTRAJAYA: The Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) has proposed the procurement of Glock-type firearms for the team's use due to their durable specifications and low maintenance costs. AKPS Director-General Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said that in principle, the government agreed to supply AKPS with firearms to facilitate matters and ensure safety aspects while on duty. "We want something that is easy to maintain and doesn't have large maintenance costs." "Everyone knows that the weapon we usually use is a Glock, low maintenance and durable. That's what we ask for," he said after the AKPS monthly gathering here today. Previously, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim approved an allocation of RM22 million to equip AKPS with appropriate firearms and equipment. Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the move was approved by the Prime Minister following the urgent need to strengthen the security of AKPS personnel after the shooting incident on a vehicle carrying an agency commander in Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah last February. In the incident, a Proton X70 driven by SAC Mohd Nasaruddin M Nasir, who is now the Deputy Director General (Operations) of AKPS, was shot at about 5.40 am at the entrance near the Muhajirin Mosque in Bukit Kayu Hitam, Kedah, approximately one kilometre from the Malaysia-Thailand border. Meanwhile, Mohd Shuhaily in his speech said AKPS is now equipping its members and officers with new outside expertise to ensure they remain competent. "This is because the people hope to see a team that is sufficiently credible at the country's entrance, standing firmly and with full self-respect, bound by a high attitude and work knowledge," he said. He also stressed that the aspect of integrity is highly emphasized in the AKPS team, with corrupt practices and any misconduct not being compromised. "We must put an end to the culture of corruption and misconduct at the entrance. "Since operating, AKPS in less than a year has terminated the services of five officers and 15 people are still in disciplinary action procedures and another 50 are still under active investigation," he said. -- BERNAMA

PUTRAJAYA: The Border Control and Protection Agency (AKPS) has proposed the procurement of Glock-type firearms for the team’s use due to their durable specifications and low maintenance costs. AKPS Director-General Datuk Seri Mohd Shuhaily Mohd Zain said that in principle, the government agreed to supply AKPS with firearms to facilitate matters and ensure safety aspects […]

WePlay Teams Up with Justin Quincy Hubner for an Indonesia Football-Themed Campaign 

JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 1 -- WePlay, a global social entertainment platform operated by WEJOY PTE. LTD, announced a football-themed collaboration with Indonesia national team player Justin Quincy Hubner, inviting Indonesian users to share their hopes and messages for the future of Indonesian football online. Centered on football passion, fan expression, and interactive online participation, the campaign began at 12:00 on June 11, 2026, and runs until 24:00 on June 24, 2026.  Justin Quincy Hubner was born on September 14, 2003. He plays as a centre-back and defensive midfielder, currently represents Dutch Eredivisie club Fortuna Sittard, and plays for the Indonesia national team. The WePlay x Justin Hubner collaboration centers on the theme of cheering for Indonesia's football dream. Through WePlay's in-app plaza and the official WePlay Instagram account, users are invited to share their hopes for Indonesia to qualify for the next World Cup finals, or to leave messages for Justin Hubner, using campaign hashtags, comments, and friend interactions to participate. WePlay will randomly select eligible participants to receive limited rewards, including WePlay x Justin Hubner co-branded jerseys, a co-branded signed jersey, a Football Star avatar frame, and 600-coin red packets. Looking ahead, WePlay will continue to explore more ways to connect sports, entertainment, games, and social interaction around the interests of young users worldwide. Through localized content and themed campaigns, WePlay hopes to offer users not only light and enjoyable online entertainment experiences, but also more opportunities to express themselves, connect with friends, and participate in community conversations around shared interests and real emotions. About WePlay WePlay is a global social entertainment platform operated by WEJOY PTE. LTD. With the mission to "bring joy and friends to young people around the world," WePlay is dedicated to helping young users find joy and connection through games, voice-based interaction, and online entertainment experiences. The platform brings together multiplayer interactive games, voice rooms, virtual rooms, and other features to provide an easy, accessible online social entertainment experience. With the vision to "bring people together through games, lead the trend of global online social entertainment," WePlay continues to focus on young users' interest expression and localized community interaction, extending the sense of connection created through online entertainment into richer cultural and community scenarios.  -- PRNewswire Source: WEJOY PTE. LTD  

JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 1 — WePlay, a global social entertainment platform operated by WEJOY PTE. LTD, announced a football-themed collaboration with Indonesia national team player Justin Quincy Hubner, inviting Indonesian users to share their hopes and messages for the future of Indonesian football online. Centered on football passion, fan expression, and interactive online participation, the campaign began […]

Toku delivers on its Makimoto roadmap as Kawa goes live, marking its first public release of sovereign conversational AI infrastructure 

SINGAPORE, July 1 -- Toku, Asia Pacific's leading AI-powered 360° customer experience platform, today made Makimoto Kawa ("Kawa") available to developers, the first open-source conversational AI infrastructure built and hosted in Singapore, designed for teams operating under APAC's regulatory and data residency requirements. Kawa's post-conversation transcription API, together with an interactive playground, is live now at makimoto.ai.  The release is Toku's first publicly available sovereign conversational AI infrastructure, and a milestone in the Group's wider push to deepen these capabilities. By pairing open-source development with enterprise-grade deployment, Makimoto complements Toku's existing customer experience platform and supports long-term innovation opportunities across the Group's AI roadmap. At launch, Kawa is available as a post-conversation transcription API, built for recorded calls, voicemail, and large-scale analysis of archived customer interactions. Developers submit an audio recording to the API and then retrieve the completed transcript, with speaker separation and segment-level timestamps. Each account includes a free monthly allowance of 1,000 minutes and an open-source interactive playground for testing before integration. A real-time transcription API, designed for live voice agents, captioning, and in-conversation analytics, will follow as a subsequent release. The Kawa API runs on a composable orchestration layer, allowing developers to swap individual components in the pipeline, such as audio pre-processing or the speech-to-text model, without redesigning the surrounding system. Hosted in Singapore, Kawa keeps customer audio and transcripts in-country, supporting organisations operating under Singapore's Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and sector-specific frameworks, including guidelines issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). It is designed to meet growing demand among enterprises and regulated industries for AI infrastructure that gives them greater control over how data is processed, where workloads run, and how regulatory obligations are met. The architecture established for Singapore provides a foundation for future deployments in markets with similar data-residency and compliance requirements. "We committed in April to putting Kawa in developers' hands by 1 July, and today we have. Models are becoming a commodity, and the cycles are getting shorter, so today's best choice is next year's legacy. The advantage that endures is a composable orchestration layer that lets you replace and upgrade components without rebuilding the system each time, and that work, in the open, is what Makimoto is for," said Thomas Laboulle, Founder and CEO at Toku. Developer interest has continued to build since Makimoto was first announced in April. The managed API available from launch provides developers and enterprises with immediate access to a production-ready transcription pipeline, while Kawa's open orchestration layer enables inspection, configuration, and future extensibility. Through subsequent releases in 2026, Toku intends to progressively open additional layers of the pipeline, moving towards greater community participation and modifiability. The launch also marks early progress on Makimoto's Singapore-based AI ecosystem Toku announced in April. The ten graduate roles, spanning engineering, developer relations and community, drew more than 400 applicants from universities and polytechnics across the region, with the inaugural cohort now being finalised for hire. The response reflects strong regional appetite to build production-grade open-source infrastructure rooted in Asia-Pacific. Makimoto is operated through Makimoto Technology Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Toku Group, maintaining a clear distinction between community and enterprise editions of its software. Through the remainder of 2026, Toku plans to add the real-time transcription API and open-source more of its technology stack. Developers can start building with Kawa today at makimoto.ai. About Toku Headquartered in Singapore, Toku Ltd. (SGX Catalist: TKU) is a cloud-native, AI-powered customer experience platform purpose-built for enterprises operating in complex, multi-market environments. With deep roots in the APAC region and an expanding global footprint, Toku's modular 360° CX Platform orchestrates customer interactions across voice, chat, email and digital channels while managing regulatory, linguistic and infrastructure complexity at scale. Built on end-to-end ownership of its technology stack, from carrier-grade connectivity to AI applications, Toku delivers enterprise-grade security, reliability and deployment flexibility in commercial cloud, private data centres and hybrid environments. Its AI capabilities include transcription, summarisation, sentiment analysis, conversation analytics and governed virtual agents, designed to integrate seamlessly with enterprise systems and customer data. Trusted by leading enterprises and public-sector organisations, Toku helps organisations streamline operations, scale customer engagement and deliver consistent experiences in fragmented markets worldwide. For more information about Toku, visit toku.co Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Toku's expansion plans and business strategy. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Toku undertakes no obligation to update these statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. Sponsor's Statement Toku Ltd. (the "Company") was listed on Catalist of the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited (the "Exchange") on 22 January 2026. The initial public offering of the Company was sponsored by PrimePartners Corporate Finance Pte. Ltd. (the "Sponsor"). This press release has been reviewed by the Sponsor. It has not been examined or approved by the Exchange and the Exchange assumes no responsibility for the contents of this press release, including the correctness of any of the statements or opinions made or reports contained in this press release. The contact person for the Sponsor is Ms. Ng Shi Qing, 16 Collyer Quay, #10-00 Collyer Quay Centre, Singapore 049318, sponsorship@ppcf.com.sg. -- PRNewswire  Source: Toku Ltd

SINGAPORE, July 1 — Toku, Asia Pacific’s leading AI-powered 360° customer experience platform, today made Makimoto Kawa (“Kawa”) available to developers, the first open-source conversational AI infrastructure built and hosted in Singapore, designed for teams operating under APAC’s regulatory and data residency requirements. Kawa’s post-conversation transcription API, together with an interactive playground, is live now at makimoto.ai. The release […]