KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 — Umno’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan projected calm early this morning before heading to court where he is expected to be charged with money laundering, by showing off his breakfast of fried rice with Kimanis anchovies that he had prepared himself.

The former Barisan Nasional (BN) information chief took a dig at Parti Warisan Sabah’s defeat in last Saturday’s Kimanis parliamentary by-election with a pantun, a Malay rhyming poem, about his breakfast adapted apparently from a dish he encountered in the east Malaysian state.

“Before heading to court 21/1/20 to plead not guilty. I cooked for myself a breakfast of fried rice with Kimanis anchovies ‘blue eyes’ bought during #PRKKimanis.

“Add eggs, shallots, green chilli, vegetable, chilli sauce, a little bit of salt, cooking palm oil. Plain water to drink,” he tweeted, including several pictures of himself and his home-cooked meal.

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The tweet drew mixed reactions from other Twitter users, but one thing many noted was Ahmad’s apparent calmness. As at 9am today, the post has received over 200 likes.

Umno won its fifth straight by-election since the 14th general election in Kimanis, Sabah, in tightly fought contest to earn a morale boosting victory that party leaders claimed signalled Pakatan Harapan’s waning influence.

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Umno’s Datuk Mohamad Alamin polled 12,706 votes against Warisan candidate’s Datuk Karim Bujang’s 10,677 votes to win the seat with a 2,029-vote majority. 

Ahmad and former Felda chairman Tan Sri Shahrir Samad will face charges for alleged money-laundering offences in the Sessions Court here today.

Both Shahrir and Ahmad were detained yesterday after they presented themselves to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya to complete the final investigation process.

The MACC said both men would face charges under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001.