Partai Amanat Nasional (PAN) bergerak cepat menonaktifkan Bupati Langkat Syah Afandin dari jabatannya sebagai Ketua Dewan Pimpinan Wilayah (DPW) PAN Sumatera Utara, menyusul operasi tangkap tangan (OTT) yang dilakukan Komisi Pemberantasan Korupsi (KPK). Langkah ini disampaikan Wakil Ketua Umum DPP PAN Viva Yoga Mauladi, yang mengakui partai merasa sedih dan prihatin atas kasus pelanggaran hukum yang menjerat salah satu kadernya tersebut.

Viva Yoga menegaskan, kepemimpinan PAN di Sumatera Utara untuk sementara diambil alih langsung oleh Dewan Pimpinan Pusat (DPP). Menurutnya, kasus hukum yang menimpa Syah Afandin merupakan tanggung jawab pribadi dan bukan ‘dosa’ partai, karena justru bertentangan dengan platform dan garis perjuangan PAN dalam membangun pemerintahan yang bersih. Ia menambahkan, PAN sepenuhnya menghormati proses hukum yang sedang dilakukan KPK dan menekankan perlunya penanganan yang profesional, objektif, dan transparan.

Dalam pernyataannya, Viva juga menggarisbawahi bahwa Ketua Umum DPP PAN Zulkifli Hasan secara berulang mengingatkan para kader yang duduk di lembaga eksekutif maupun legislatif untuk menjaga integritas, patuh terhadap hukum, dan berhati-hati dalam menjalankan tugas. PAN, lanjutnya, menyampaikan permohonan maaf kepada masyarakat atas kasus pelanggaran hukum yang melibatkan Syah Afandin dan berjanji akan terus melakukan pembinaan watak serta karakter kader, sekaligus meningkatkan kapasitas pengetahuan mereka dalam menjalankan amanah jabatan.

Sebelumnya, KPK membawa Syah Afandin alias Ondim ke Gedung Merah Putih KPK di Jakarta untuk menjalani pemeriksaan lanjutan setelah terjaring OTT. Lembaga antirasuah itu juga melakukan penangkapan terhadap sejumlah pihak lain dalam operasi di Sumatera Utara. Dengan menonaktifkan Syah Afandin dari struktur partai dan mengalihkan kendali DPW Sumut ke DPP, PAN berupaya meredam dampak politik kasus ini sekaligus menegaskan kembali komitmennya terhadap penegakan hukum dan tata kelola pemerintahan yang bersih.

Sa Sa International Holdings Ltd. is ramping up store openings and restoring a full dividend payout after a sharp rebound in profit, underscoring management’s confidence in the recovery of Hong Kong and Macau’s beauty retail market. The cosmetics chain’s full-year sales rose 14.2% to HK$4.383 billion, while profit increased 1.6 times from a year earlier, allowing the group to boost its final dividend and return its payout ratio to 100%. Chairman and chief executive Simon Kwok said the stronger distribution reflects a “very strong” outlook, pointing to broad-based improvement in store traffic and spending.

Kwok said all key operating indicators in Hong Kong and Macau — including revenue, same-store sales, transaction volume, average ticket size and units per transaction — recorded year-on-year gains in the last financial year. Momentum has continued into the new year: in the first quarter of the current financial year, total revenue grew 24%, with offline sales up 30.9%. Hong Kong and Macau led with a 32.5% jump in offline sales, while Southeast Asia rose 17%. Online revenue slipped 3.2% overall, weighed by an 18.1% decline in mainland China, even as Hong Kong, Macau and Southeast Asia posted online growth.

On the back of the recovery, Sa Sa is reviving its brick‑and‑mortar expansion, particularly in tourist districts that were heavily rationalised during the downturn. The company plans to open 10 new stores in the current financial year; it has already added outlets in Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui, including a large upstairs shop of about 6,000 to 7,000 square feet at the Mong Kok Man Wah Centre, on top of an existing ground‑floor unit. A store at the Airside mall in Kai Tak is slated to open in August, and another at Lok Ma Chau is planned to capture cross‑border traffic. Kwok said tourist‑area stores are now about half the number they once were, leaving “substantial room” to rebuild the network, though he stressed the group will not neglect local customers.

Store format will be a key part of the strategy. Kwok said he and his wife favour large outlets and that she has advocated opening flagship stores to serve both mainland and local shoppers in a more spacious, comfortable environment. Still, decisions between large and small formats will depend on rents and operating costs; smaller shops require less staff and investment. He said that while the opening of new outlets may “slightly” dilute same‑store sales metrics, the impact should be limited as long as locations and rental terms are carefully chosen. Footfall remains the main focus: “Only when there are people will there be revenue,” he said, adding that broader product assortment and competitive pricing should help underpin demand even as more drugstore and beauty chains enter the market.

Sa Sa also aims to stabilise and eventually grow its Southeast Asian operations, where the group ended the last financial year with 75 stores — 70 in Malaysia and five in Singapore. The region’s near‑term target is to achieve break‑even. Three of the five Singapore stores are already profitable, and Kwok said the company would consider opening more outlets there if suitable opportunities arise, noting that Singaporean sales growth was particularly strong in the second half of the year. The Malaysian business is described as stable, with management planning tighter cost control. Kwok played down concerns about competition from other travel destinations and cross‑border consumption trends, saying that Hong Kong remains convenient for many mainland visitors, some of whom come once or twice a month, and that the company’s breadth of products and pricing remain competitive.