Perikatan Nasionals deregistration and Melaka state election: A test of law, coalitions and democratic accountability The cancellation of Perikatan Nasional (PN)s registration on October 20 raises a question larger than the survival of one coalition: how can regulatory enforcement protect organisational rules without unnecessarily narrowing democratic choice? With Melaka voting on Nov 14, legal process and electoral preparation now intersect under exceptional time pressure. The Registrar of ..

Proactive and pre-emptive steps needed to deal with the seasonal haze The El Nio-triggered haze is becoming a serious health issue, leading to temporary school closures to protect pupils and students from health risks. Beyond these disruptions, the economies of affected countries have been badly hit, with repercussions felt across sectors ranging from agriculture to tourism. Indonesia needs to adopt more environmentally friendly agrarian practices, mirroring the Malaysian oil palm industry, to ..

Malaysias education system is failing the test of national unity When a child refuses to share a table with another child because one eats pork, we are no longer talking about a minor classroom incident. We are talking about a failure of national education. Schools are supposed to produce citizens. Instead, too many are producing children who see difference as contamination, faith as a barrier, and fellow Malaysians as people to be avoided. This is not unity. It is segregation being taught ..

In a West Wing that has turned qualified into a flexible suggestion, Katie Zacharias five-day run as White House press secretary still managed to set a personal best for brevity. Appointed as the Fox-and-Newsmax face who would finally put the podium back in order after Karoline Leavitts exit, she arrived bearing the official presidential seal of approval: attorney. She left after one briefing, one South Lawn exchange about the bar exam, and a presidential suggestion that she might prefer a life ..

Malaysias occupational safety and health (OSH) statistics often make depressing reading. Fatalities, occupational accidents, injuries and occupational diseases tell us what has already happened. They are important, but they are essentially lagging indicators. Perhaps it is time for Malaysia to give greater prominence to leading indicators measures that show whether employers are taking effective action to prevent accidents and occupational ill health before they occur. This is particularly ..

Budget 2027: From household relief to sustainable growth Budget 2027 seeks to ease the financial pressures facing Malaysian households while laying the groundwork for longer-term economic growth. With global uncertainty, rising business costs and household expenses still weighing on economic decisions, the challenge is to provide timely support without losing sight of productivity and competitiveness. The budget provides for RM459.8 billion in federal expenditure, comprising RM376.8 billion in ..

Budget 2027: Eight tests of Malaysias fiscal credibility beyond the RM80 billion promise Budget 2027 presents Malaysia with a demanding bargain: protect households from economic shocks while demonstrating that relief does not compromise fiscal repair. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim tabled the fifth MADANI budget on October 9, presenting social protection as a national covenant. My assessment is that its credibility depends less on the generosity of announcements than on whether eight ..

Schools are shut. Is your child actually safer at home? Haze is a term used by governments because it sounds relatively mild. We are experiencing a toxic, smoke-laden crisis and the word smog is more accurate. It is important to recognise that the transboundary haze affecting Malaysia from Indonesian peat and forest fires is a mixed contaminant with physical and chemical components. We have the PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) and gaseous pollutants like carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide ..

Tax relief for elderly care, but some children still shirk their duties One of the tax relief measures in the 2027 Budget announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim last Friday caught my attention and gave me food for thought. Taxpayers who hire caregivers or pay for care services for their parents or grandparents would be eligible for tax relief, even when the care is not required for medical reasons. The government has also proposed reducing the service tax rate for elderly care ..

Its more than a literary surprise. The 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature arrived as a quiet but resounding wake-up call: it honoured Anne Carson, Canadas polymath and lifelong classicist, a scholar steeped in Homeric verse and Sapphic fragmentations whose uncompromising body of work amounts to a vital cultural redemption for the humanity squandered amid todays unrestrained AI indulgence. We live in an age intoxicated by technological facility, an era in which ubiquitous, unchecked artificial ..

Every national budget is a tightrope walk above a storm. I know this not from textbooks, but from long nights at the Ministry of Finance when I was the Minister, staring at numbers that never quite add up to everything the nation needs. Every ringgit is debated and fought over. The relief a struggling family desperately needs now must be weighed, painfully, against the discipline that protects their childrens future. Budget MADANI 2027 walks that tightrope with remarkable steadiness. The total ..

Anwar unveils major spending measures with goodies in Budget 2027 Against the backdrop of the governments poor performance in the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections, the upcoming Melaka state election and a general election expected next year, the fifth Madani Budget tabled by Prime Minister and Finance Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on Friday carries strong electoral overtones. It appears aimed at winning back support amid declining approval ratings. Anwar announced a host of goodies ..

Lessons from Anwars China visit on Malaysias talent and tech development Accompanying Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim on his recent official visit to China, I had the opportunity to experience a high-speed rail ride from Shanghai to Hangzhou. Covering a distance of over 160 kilometers, the journey took just 45 minutes. About 10 minutes after the train departed, Anwar walked into the media carriage. Initially, everyone assumed he was merely dropping by for a casual chat with reporters. ..

THE growing number of senior citizens in Malaysia should prompt us to think beyond celebrations, discounts and occasional programmes for the elderly. Malaysia is ageing and this demographic change will eventually affect almost every part of society. Department of Statistics Malaysia figures show that the proportion of Malaysians aged 65 and above increased from 8.0% in 2025 to 8.4% in 2026. The proportion aged 60 and above had already reached 12% in 2025, representing about 4.1 million people. ..

U.S. and China back to the future with a strong sense of history President Xi Jinpings state visit to the United States did not end in a communiqu thick with numbers. It ended under chandeliers in the East Room, with two toasts that tried to do what briefing books cannot: give a quarrelsome present a usable past. The White House state dinner of Sep 24 was a ceremony, of coursesea bass, sparkling wine, an eagle in bronze, a curtain hiding a ballroom still under construction. But the speeches ..

Remembering Tun Siti Hasmah: She made me feel I belonged here On Monday morning, when I read that Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Ali had died, I sat still for a long time. She was 100 years old. A century is a life we instinctively call long, full and blessed. But numbers do little to soften a goodbye, particularly when someone remains so vivid in memory. To Malaysians, Tun Siti Hasmah was many things: one of the countrys pioneering Malay women doctors, an advocate for maternal and child health, a ..

Tun Dr Siti Hasmah: The exemplary prime ministers wife News of Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Mohd Alis passing has brought widespread grief to Malaysia. In my heart, I quietly say goodbye to a lady who was both extraordinarily noble and comfortably grounded. Throughout my career in media, I met Tun Dr. Siti Hasmah on numerous occasionssometimes on the reporting trail, other times at official functions or the Prime Ministers residence. She and Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad were complete contrasts. He was almost ..

Domestic violence: Are we seeing more violence or more reporting? The recent reports of rising domestic violence cases in Malaysia should concern all of us. Police statistics show that 7,391 domestic violence cases were recorded nationwide in 2025, compared with 7,116 in 2024. The figure stood at 5,507 in 2023 and 6,540 in 2022. At first glance, the figures appear to show a clear upward trend. But there is an important question that deserves closer examination: Are more people actually ..

In Melaka and GE16, PH + Bersatu + MUDA must team up to beat BN + PN In the past two state elections, Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) played a very pragmatic and realistic political war gameand both came out victorious each time. Meanwhile, Pakatan Harapan (PH), Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu), and Parti Bersama Malaysia have been playing an isolated solo game, achieving little to nothing. Who are the worst candidates to govern Malaysia? BN and PN, undoubtedly. Who ..

The royal institution must not become a political football Disrespectful and uncivilised. Those were the unusually strong words used by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim when he criticised the actions of the Negeri Sembilan Menteri Besar Datuk Ismail Lasim and members of the state executive council in the continuing royal and constitutional crisis. In this rather unfortunate dispute, I stand behind the prime minister and the federal government because, in my profound view, we must uphold ..

A tale of two first ladiesMelania Trump vs Liyuan Xi President Xi Jinpings visit to the United States has unfolded with an almost cinematic precision, and the American sidethrough the Trump White Househas matched that tempo with a performance of its own. The arrival, the motorcade shot and every step from carpet to dais carried an unspoken promise: nothing will be left to accident. And nowhere has the symbolism felt more immediate than in the figures standing just off centre stagetwo First ..

How Umno and PAS undermined their own political advantage in Negeri Sembilan Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) scored a sweeping victory in the Negeri Sembilan state election, demonstrating an apparently unstoppable momentum. Had it not been for their own reckless blunders, their political rivals would never have found an opening to strike back. Upon forming a joint state government in Negeri Sembilan, BN and PN ought to have repaid the strong mandate from Malay voters through ..

Najibs pardon sparks public outrage: royal prerogative vs public morality News that former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has been granted a conditional royal pardon with permission to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest has sent shockwaves through Malaysia's political landscape. The development has triggered opposite reactions across political parties, civil society groups, and the general public. While Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) supporters made no attempt to hide ..

The open-air experiment: Are we building our own replacements? Humanity is currently running the largest, most consequential experiment in its history. But unlike traditional scientific trials, this experiment isnt confined to a sterile laboratory. It is happening in the open, connected to our global networks, and its subject is a technology that could soon outsmart us: Artificial Intelligence (AI). As artificial intelligence rapidly evolves, a fear is taking root that AI will achieve a level ..