PRESS DIGEST - Malaysia - Nov 2

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)

- Racist comments from "one or two United Malays National Organisation (Umno) leaders" should be ignored because the majority of members in the party are not racist, Prime Minister and president Umno Najib Razak said.

- Publicly-listed automated equipment manufacturing in Penang that serve the semiconductor, hard-disk drive and light emitting diode industries are looking to come up with new products for other industries, said ATS Systemisation Bhd managing director Beh Lai Lien.

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

- Prime Minister Najib Razak wants Barisan Nasional (National Front) component parties to put their houses in order and be steadfast in their convictions in facing political challenges.

BUSINESS TIMES (www.btimes.com.my)

- PPB Group Bhd's (PEPT.KL) proposed sale of 5,7979ha in Chupping, Perlis, to Felda Global Ventures Sdn Bhd has angered the state government, which wants to buy the land for development purposes.

- Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB.KL), may team up again with Turkish conglomerate Limak Group and India's GMR Group to bid for more airport jobs, said Limak Group chairman Nihat Ozdemir.

THE EDGE FINANCIAL DAILY (www.theedgedaily.com.my)

- With the global stock market rally appearing to lose steam given a lack of fresh leads and a rally "fatigue", investors are again forced to decide on their next course of action, a banker said.

THE MALAYSIAN RESERVE (www.themalaysianreserve.com)

- CIMB Islamic Bank Bhd, the Islamic banking arm of CIMB Group Holdings Bhd (CIMB.KL), expects to double its total assets by this year-end from 18.65 billion ringgit recorded at the end of 2008, its chief executive officer Badlisyah Abdul Ghani said.

THE SUN (www.sun2surf.com)

- Doctors are sounding the alarm bells over the abuse of a cheap over-the-counter painkillers that schoolchildren and drug addicts are using to get high, Addiction Medicine Association of Malaysia president Steven Chow Kim Weng said.

- Ministers will be made accountable if a high-powered task force scrutinising wrongdoings exposed in the Audirot-General's Report 2008 points to those higher up the pecking order, sources said.

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($1=3.400 Malaysian Ringgit)