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UMNO held its General Assembly on the weekend, where political watchers were looking out for indications of the dynamics within the party, and how it would position itself ahead of the next General Election and more importantly, in relation to Bersatu which leads the Perikatan Nasional government. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Bridget Welsh, Asia Research Institute, Nottingham University Malaysia.

What does the recently concluded UMNO General Assembly suggest about the relationship between UMNO, Bersatu and PAS in their battle for the hearts and minds of Malay political society? How has the experience of the last year under Perikatan Nasional reshaped expectations and demands of the Malay ground. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Ibrahim Suffian, Executive Director, Merdeka Center.

How do we best understand the number report on the covid-19 vaccine rollout and how is it related to vaccine supply and to the timelines on achieving herd immunity? Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Tan Sri Dr Jemilah binti Mahmood, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Malaysia Muhyiddin Yassin on Public Health since March 2020 and Under Secretary General for Partnerships in the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies since January 2016.

The Ministry of Health’s official guidance on its Covid-19 website has listed a few groups it deemed are not suitable to receive Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine. This includes: women who are pregnant or planning to get pregnant; cancer patients who are undergoing treatment like chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, Persons Living with HIV with CD4 counts of less than 200. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Prof Dr Woo Yin Ling, Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist at Universiti Malaya Medical Centre.

The Ministry of Health’s official guidance on its Covid-19 website has listed Persons Living with HIV, with CD4 counts below 200 (protein found on immune cells) as among the groups that are not suitable to receive Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA vaccine. This however seems to contradict international advice. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Dr Khairil Erwan Khalid, Secretary, Malaysian Society of HIV Medicine.

Malaysiakini today paid the half a million ringgit fine for contempt of court, that was imposed by the Federal Court last Friday over five readers' comments on its website.n The news portal launched its fundraiser immediately after the sentence was handed down, and raised the 500,000 in less than 5 hours. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to MalaysiaKini CEO Premesh Chandran.

Immediately after the Court’s verdict, lead counsel for MalaysiaKini was quoted in the press, warning against knee-jerk reactions to the summaries of the judgments. He said that the full grounds of the Federal Court rulings would have to be studied. Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan ask Datuk Malik Imtiaz Sarwar what his understanding is of the judgment.

How has Malaysian media evolved to keep up with new technologies and platforms, but also the growing demand of the public to speak and to be heard? Will the verdict trul spell the end of free speech in Malaysia? Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Gayathry Venkiteswaran is Assistant Professor at the School of Media, Languages & Cultures at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.

The National Covid-19 Immunisation Plan will begin on Wednesday -- earlier than was initially scheduled -- with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to receive their first jabs in two days. Will it go according to plan? Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Former Health Minister & Head of the Selangor Task Force for Covid-19.

We turn to the state of Selangor and its policies in managing the localised needs of pandemic management. We look at Selangor’s 'Targeted Community Screening' based on Artificial Intelligence to detect hotspots and to bust the cluster. How are these plans coordinated with those of the Federal government? Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, Former Health Minister & Head of the Selangor Task Force for Covid-19.