The scheme of arrangement is one of the corporate rescue mechanisms embodied in our Companies Act 2016. However, there may be situations where the court sanctioned the scheme and yet it fails to be implemented subsequently. The question which now saddles in the minds of the creditor(s) is the next possible course of action against the company. Are they allowed to come to the court to seek legal remedies to improve or resolve the situation even after the court has sanctioned the scheme? Unfortunately, our existing law fails to address this specific area post the Sanction Order. Using content analysis as the methodology of research, this article seeks to address the power and jurisdiction of the court after sanctioning the scheme of arrangement.

In view of the constitutional prohibition on 'discrimination against citizens on the ground only of ... gender' in art. 8(2) of the Federal Constitution, is the court at liberty to interpret s. 1(b) of Part II in the Second Schedule so as to remove the discriminatory effects of that provision, or must that task be left to Parliament?

The Court of Appeal recently confronted this question in Mahisha Sulaiha Abdul Majeed v. Ketua Pengarah Pendaftaran & Ors and Another Appeal^[1], concluding by a 2-1 majority that 'matters concerning sensitive and controversial moral and social issues are inherently legislative questions'.^[2] Accordingly, the court could not re-interpret s. 1(b) of Part II of the Second Schedule so as to grant citizenship by operation of law to children born outside Malaysia to Malaysian mothers and non-Malaysian fathers.

The conflict between civil and Syariah courts is a long-standing issue even before the insertion of clause (1A) of Article 121 of the Federal Constitution. It seems that the civil court had encroached on the jurisdiction of the Syariah court in most of the decided cases. Needless to say, the amendment of the Federal Constitution in 1988 had separated the jurisdiction of the civil and Syariah court, whereby both courts cannot interfere and encroach on the other jurisdiction. After 1988, several cases went to the apex court to determine whether such cases fell under the civil or Syariah court jurisdiction. Therefore, this paper aims to analyse the development of conflict of jurisdiction between civil and Syariah courts as separated by Article 121(1A) of the Federal Constitution, particularly by looking closely into the new development of cases such as the case of Iki Putra Mubarrak v. Kerajaan Negeri Selangor [2020] 6 CLJ 133. Apart from the discussion, a conclusion and recommendations to reduce the tension and conflict between civil and Syariah court will be made to uphold Article 121(1A). Considering that Malaysia is a dualistic country that practices civil and Syariah litigation, such conflict might lead to a floodgate of unwanted cases when the civil court encroaches on the Syariah court's jurisdiction.

INTRODUCTION

In modern society, where war is no longer a norm in most countries, the armed forces nevertheless still play an essential role in ensuring a safe environment that enables citizens to enjoy their fundamental freedoms and rights. In the context of Malaysian society, the question arises as to whether armed forces personnel should be accorded the same fundamental rights as every other Malaysian. In Malaysia, the armed forces are bound by the Federal Constitution and the Armed Forces Act 1972 ('the Act') in exercising their rights and performing their duties. But are their rights always guaranteed under the Constitution and the Act?

Despite total employment returning to pre-pandemic levels, the number of retrenchments in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22) between October and December doubled to 2,990 from the 1,300 in 3Q22. However, fewer jobs were cut in the second half of 2022 – 890 – than expected in the information and communications sector, which covers technology firms. Manpower Minister Tan See Leng told Parliament last November that firms in the sector had reported 1,270 layoffs within four-and-a-half months from July 2022. The earlier figure was derived from mandatory retrenchment notifications that firms could submit ahead of planned job cuts, a Ministry of Manpower spokesman said on Wednesday at a briefing on the finalised fourth quarter labour market report.

Foreign worker employment quota approvals, including through the Foreign Worker Employment Relaxation Plan, will be halted from Saturday (March 18) until further notice to shore up utilisation of approved quotas. In announcing the decision, Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar said 995,396 foreign worker employment quota applications had been approved as of Tuesday across various sectors, namely manufacturing (387,122), construction (342,106), services (143,568), plantation (76,325), agriculture (45,899), as well as mining and quarrying (376). "Approvals for foreign worker quotas so far are expected to meet foreign labour needs by industry, including in critical sectors," Sivakumar said, urging employers with approved quotas to speed up the bringing in of foreign workers during this period to fill their needs.

SINGAPORE: Close to seven out of 10 working elderly in Singapore earn less than S$2,500, according to figures provided by Manpower Minister Tan See Leng on Tuesday (Feb 7). He was writing in response to parliamentary questions by Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai on the number of Singaporeans above 65 years old still working along with their salaries and industries. A total of 207,300 Singapore residents aged 65 and above were employed in 2022 - an employment rate of 31 per cent, said Dr Tan. “This is high compared to OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, and is probably the result of the high life expectancy of Singaporeans,” he added.

NEW YORK: The largest-ever trial of the four-day work week found that most UK companies participating are not returning to the five-day standard, and a third are ready to make that change permanent. The study involved 61 organisations and about 2,900 workers who voluntarily adopted truncated work weeks from June to December 2022. Only three organisations decided to pause the experiment, and two are still considering shorter hours, according to data released yesterday. The rest were convinced by revenue gains, drops in turnover and lower levels of worker burnout that four is the new five when it comes to work days. That thousands of employees adopted shorter schedules is notable given that the research occurred during trying economic circumstances that squeezed many British companies, including rapid inflation, political instability and fallout from Brexit.