Commentary: A different Malaysia may emerge from the ashes of its COVID-19 crisis

By Bridget Welsh

21 Jul 2021


SEMENYIH, Malaysia: Across Malaysia the hashtag #Kerajaangagal (failed government) is trending.

Malaysia is not alone in grappling with a debilitating pandemic. Yet what makes this crisis different is how it is playing out politically.

Malaysia is arguably experiencing its largest broad crisis since the 1969 racial riots. Then the riots were elite driven, but the policies in their wake fundamentally transformed Malaysia.

The same could be said of the aftermath of the 1997 to 1999 Asian financial crisis which provoked an elite struggle that gave birth to the Reformasi movement.

The government’s handling of COVID-19 has evoked unprecedented social reaction and, in the government’s failings, transformed political narratives and mobilisation.

Explainer: Which drugs are proving most effective at treating those who fall ill from Covid-19?

By TESSA OH

JULY 09, 2021

• The global race for effective Covid-19 treatments is ongoing
• Large-scale clinical trials are still underway in search of the most promising drugs
• Infectious disease experts here said much progress has been made in the past year
• Unlike in the early days of the pandemic, data now shows which treatments are effective

SINGAPORE — As nations around the world race to get their people inoculated as an exit strategy to Covid-19, using vaccines hailed as a "scientific miracle" given their rapid development, medical experts are still working to find the best treatments for those who become ill from the coronavirus.

Several large-scale clinical trials are still underway around the globe to assess and determine the most promising drugs that can be used to treat Covid-19 even when most people are fully vaccinated.

TODAY takes a closer look at how Covid-19 treatments have progressed over the course of the pandemic.

Commentary: Even if PM Muhyiddin steps down, few good options for Malaysia’s top role

Malaysian political parties are each making secret moves behind the scene leading up to Aug 1 when the state of emergency ends, says James Chin.

By James Chin

06 Jul 2021


HOBART: After tremendous pressure was applied by the Agong and the general public, the two houses of the Malaysian Parliament will now sit before 1 Aug.

Initially, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government had announced that Parliament will only sit in September, more than two months away, to give the government a chance to catch up on the vaccination programme and, perhaps more importantly, give Muhyiddin time to crunch the numbers to stay in power.

Other than Muhyiddin and his allies, everyone wants Parliament to sit as soon as possible and for the emergency to be lifted as planned on Aug 1.

Malaysians have been incredibly unhappy with the performance of the government towards mitigating COVID-19, the vaccination rollout and shutdown of the economy. Many are waving the white flag in a #BenderaPutih movement to seek help.

For Muhyiddin, there is the added pressure of UMNO, the most powerful party in the ruling coalition, wanting to pull out of the government to force a general election.

People are saying the political pressure became so overwhelming, it led Muhyiddin to check himself into a hospital on Jun 30.

What’s fuelling China’s new online nationalists

By YUAN YANG

JULY 01, 2021


Last summer, a friend of mine told me that she found China’s biggest social media platform Weibo was becoming “unusable” for feminists and liberals such as her. Tempers were so heated, Bao told me, that disagreements easily became personal pile-ons.

After a friend became the centre of a social media storm, she posted a message: “We’re all just blades of grass, what’s the point of fighting with each other?”

Bao ended up becoming the next target.

At the time, we put it down to Covid-19, which, across the world, left people stuck at home, bored and anxious. They were just venting.

But a year on, Chinese nationalist sentiment is even greater online. It used to be outsiders, a United States politician criticising the government for instance, who received the worst of the attacks from bloggers.

Now insiders bear the brunt.

Most S'poreans say elections are fair, offer ‘genuine choice’ but 1 in 4 feels opposition candidates ‘prevented from running’: IPS report

By NG JUN SEN

JULY 02, 2021

A survey found that Singapore had the second-highest proportion of respondents who believe that genuine choices are offered to voters in elections, behind Taiwan.

• A 2020 global survey that polled more than 2,000 Singapore respondents was analysed by IPS
• It found that Singaporeans were among the most political apathetic and least politically active in the world
• Most people said they had some, though not much, power to effect changes on government decisions or on politics
• Most said elections are fair and viewed treatment of voters positively
• Despite political apathy, Singaporeans do take part politically by signing petitions, donating to groups

SINGAPORE — Most people in Singapore are likely to believe that national elections are fair, that they have some say in what the Government does, and that they are given a genuine choice in the polls, findings by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) showed.

IPS lecture: Govt review needed to promote positive masculine norms in S’pore, says Aware executive director

By TESSA OH

MAY 25, 2021

• Ms Corinna Lim called for a study on masculinity to be done as part of the Government’s review on gender equality
• She said this can help promote more positive masculine norms among men
• She pointed out that few studies on men have been done here
• She also renewed calls to expand National Service to include non-combat roles

SINGAPORE — To better promote positive masculinity norms among men and boys here, the Government could commission a study on masculinity in Singapore as part of its review on gender equality.

The suggestion came from Ms Corinna Lim, executive director of the Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware), a gender advocacy group.

She was speaking on Monday (May 24) at a lecture series organised by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), a think tank under the National University of Singapore.

JTC, Shell tie up to explore building 60ha solar farm at Semakau Landfill

By WONG PEI TING

JUNE 17, 2021


SINGAPORE — A solar farm will be built at the Semakau Landfill, covering about one-sixth of its 350ha space, if plans by government agency JTC Corporation and oil giant Shell come to pass.

On Thursday (June 17), JTC and Shell signed a memorandum of understanding to explore developing this solar farm at the landfill on Semakau Island, which is south of mainland Singapore.

It is expected to have a capacity of at least 72 megawatt-peak, which is enough to cut Singapore’s carbon emissions by 37,000 tonnes a year.

The energy generated can power up to 17,500 households for a year.

[How sweet! 17,500 households? There are about 1 million households in Singapore. 17,500 is less than 2% of households. And the major consumer of power is industry and commerce, not households. But hey, every little bit helps, eh?]

Solar panels have been deployed on the island before, but on a far smaller scale, spanning some 0.95ha.

The solar farm, which is expected to take up 60ha, is thus set to be the first large-scale solar project in Singapore where a landfill is used for clean-energy generation.



It is supported by the National Environment Agency (NEA) — which oversees the landfill — and the Energy Market Authority (EMA), and is in step with Singapore’s target to increase solar deployment to at least 2 gigawatt-peak by 2030.

This is equivalent to powering about 350,000 households for a year.

[Note that this (2 gigawatt-peak) is a target for 2030. Not going to achieve that with this exploratory solar farm on Semakau. What would it take? Here is the working from 2019:]