PRESS DIGEST - Malaysia - June 16

Following are the main stories in Malaysian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE STAR (www.thestar.com.my)

-- The Dewan Rakyat (People's Legislative) kicked off its meeting on Monday with a 25-minute commotion minutes after Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin took his oath as the new Bukit Gantang Member of Parliament.

-- A "General", five "senior officers" and 36 recruits were arrested when police clamped down on a phony paramilitary group operating from a shoplot in Taman Gombak Jaya near Kuala Lumpur.

-- Interest in penny stocks continues to dominate trading activity but market experts have cautioned investors to know the fundamentals of the company shares they are buying.

BUSINESS TIMES (www.btimes.com.my)

-- A new local company, whose hiring plans indicate a sizeable operations being drawn up, is expected to enter the 65 billion ringgit retail scene soon, sources said.

-- Scomi Engineering Bhd (SMNG.KL) is confident that it can win a $2.5 billion (8.8 billion ringgit) job to set up a monorail system in Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, said its president Hilmy Zaini.

NEW STRAITS TIMES (www.nst.com.my)

-- Najib Razak on Monday made his 1Malaysia concept the highlight of his first day in Parliament as prime minister, distinguishing it from previously unworkable attempts at unity and equality.

THE EDGE FINANCIAL DAILY (www.theedgemalaysia.com)

-- Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) (MASM.KL), which saw unrealised mark-to-market fuel hedge losses of 640.2 million ringgit in the first quarter, will not fly unhedged given the volatility of fuel prices, its executive director Tengku Azmil Zahruddin said.

THE MALAYSIAN RESERVE (www.themalaysianreserve.com)

-- Property developer Glomac Bhd (GLOM.KL) has awarded a contract worth more than 230 million ringgit to a local construction company to build the Glomac Tower, a 36-storey project located in the immediate neighbourhood of the Petronas Twin Towers, sources said.

-- Scomi Engineering Bhd (SMNG.KL) will partner Brazilian contractors CR Almeida to bid for the first phase of the Sao Paulo monorail project worth $6 billion (21.17 billion ringgit) next month, its president Hilmy Zaini said.

THE SUN (www.sun2surf.com)

-- Seven opposition Members of Parliament were suspended from the Dewan Rakyat (People's Legislative) for two days on Monday after Mohamad Nizar Jamaluddin (PAS-Bukit Gantang) turned his oath-taking into a 20-minute show of protest over the Perak crisis.

-- Berjaya Sports Toto Bhd (BToto) (BSTB.KL) has registered a net profit of 410.49 million ringgit for the financial year ended April 30, 2009, up 17.7 percent from 348.66 million ringgit in the previous financial year.

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($1=3.512 Malaysian Ringgit)