Malaysia is facing a silent pandemic of non-communicable diseases.

The Health Ministry says NCDs claimed about 94 thousand lives annually...a figure that's more than twice the number of deaths recorded during the two-year COVID19 pandemic.  

For example, Type 2 diabetes is no longer a disease affecting only adults...as it now affects teenagers and young people as well.  

Data from the National Diabetes Registry showed that new cases among people aged below 30 had increased last year compared to the year prior.  

In fact, Type 2 diabetes is now being diagnosed in Malaysians as young as 14.

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The number of active Buy Now, Pay Later account holders rose to eight million in the first quarter of the year.  

The Finance Ministry says the total outstanding BNPL balance reached RM5.3 billion during the same period.

However, the ministry assured that BNPL debt remains low, accounting for only around 0.3% of total household debt in Malaysia as of the end of last year.  

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The Prime Minister has defended the government's decision to reduce the BUDI95 fuel quota.  

He says the move was based on actual usage data, showing that most users consumed far less than the new limit.  

In fact, less than 1% of BUDI95 users consistently pumped more than 200 liters of RON95 petrol between October last year and May of this year.  

Earlier, authorities reduced the subsidy fuel quota from 300 liters to 200 liters a month.

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And the government has no plans to impose mandatory health checks based solely on age for motorists renewing their driving licenses from the age of 70.  

The Transport Ministry says the Institute of Road Safety Research found no conclusive evidence that such a policy would significantly reduce road accidents.  

In fact, statistics showed that those aged 70 and above only accounted for 3.5% of all people involved in road accidents over the last five years.  

This is in comparison with nearly 70% involving those aged between 16 and 40.

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