INSAP researcher Michelle Low analyses the latest C19 lockdowns, detailing growing Malaysian frustration, anguish, and worsening state of mental health over weaknesses in managing the pandemic and she has suggested learning from successful lockdowns in Italy, Taiwan, South Korea and New Zealand to the government. The writer articulates creating a heat-map to HIDE to help Malaysians better navigate hot-spots.
Ujian Penilaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) akan dimansuhkan mulai tahun ini. Fokus pendidikan akan memfokuskan kepada perkembangan kognitif melalui sistem pentaksiran yang baharu yang mana keberkesanannya diragui sebilangan ibubapa. sebagai alternatif sistem pendidikan yang lebih baik, sekolah vernakular telah menjadi ‘trend’ bagi kaum bumiputera kebelakangan ini. Pemansuhan UPSR dan keraguan pelaksanaan sistem yang baharu dijangka menjadi faktor kebanjiran murid-murid kaum bumiputera ke sekolah vernakular akan datang.
The present world is a bi-polar world with US as the superpower and China as the main rival. China has made great strides in military power, Science and technology, space applications, agriculture, International Trade, Services, Manufacturing, etc. It is closely following the US and has given a stiff competition to the global superpower. As both countries happen to be very powerful, both economically and militarily, with none of the two willing to sub-serve the other, the battle for supremacy between the two is bound to hot up in the near future. So, how should the two countries DEAL with each other? Should there be coercion by military, economic and diplomatic means or cooperation through effective bargaining, mutual non-aggression, mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs and mutually shared responsibility?
The PEMERKASA initiative announced on Wednesday 17th March 2021 shows a reasonable level of assistance
and aid to vulnerable groups such as the recently unemployed and the self-employed who have lost significant
levels of income. Altogether the package is worth RM20bil and is focused on 20 strategic initiatives to boost
economic growth, support business continuity and continue targeted assistance to people and sectors most
affected by the pandemic. Of this RM20bil, RM11bil will be earmarked as direct fiscal injection. This is rather
unorthodox from previous spending packages as the vast majority of funding in previous rounds were devoted to
non-direct fiscal measures such as through the banking system and Employee Provident Fund (EPF) withdrawals.
On the 17th March 2021, the Minister of Finance, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul announced that an additional customs duty tariff is set to be imposed on several items of trade, in accordance with the Customs Duty Act 1967 (CDA). An export tariff of 15% is to be imposed on the following items involving ferrous waste and scrap ie. remelting scrap ingots of iron or steel which previously enjoyed a 10% tariff rate according to the Customs Duties Order List 2017.
Malaysians were perplexed yesterday by news of yet another bailout of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) when its parent, Malaysia Aviation Group Bhd (MAG) revealed that sovereign trust unit Khazanah Nasional has committed to inject RM3.6 billion in new capital into the perennially loss-making airline. This latest bailout, coming after Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz’s statement last November that RM28 billion had been injected into MAS by Khazanah then, raises the total bailout of MAS to RM31.6 billion.
PETALING JAYA: The government’s task in eradicating poverty and uplifting the economy to improve the people’s livelihood never ends, says Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker.
The Malaysian Government should look at holistic management of the Covid-19 pandemic so that policies rolled out can benefit all strata of Malaysian society. An INSAP online survey, conducted over a week in January 2021, showed that the government needs to enhance its communications for Covid-19 efforts so that every segment of society is engaged and aided, even the T20 income group, as survey findings indicated that 6% of T20 respondents had slipped unnoticeably into the B40 category.
The statistics released by the DOSM revealed dire levels of unemployment and requires decisive action by the government to alleviate the pressure in the near and medium term as well as working towards increasing economic productivity for the long-term as many young people find themselves ide and out of work.
Persons with disabilities (PWD) have been referred to, even up to recently as a “vulnerable group”. PWDs have been the main target group of social welfare planning for years, in general, or as a response to unemployment. The question here is, why are PWDs still “vulnerable”? Shouldn’t past policies or frameworks have guaranteed that this group would not be “exposed to the elements, as they are now? Could it be that current underlying narratives (that PWDs need only to be protected and not empowered) are perhaps the bane of society? Could it also be that these archaic perceptions of Malaysian society are the very things that stunt quality policy-making? Malaysian policy-makers will benefit from a paradigm shift – a change in perspectives, “woke” cognizance and an overall empathy for target communities, especially PWDs.
