General

We’re continuing to see the fallout of UMNO’s mass purge of members last month, with former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri saying he is ready to retire from mainstream politics. Separately, Noh Omar said he has no intentions to join any political party, but he is open to telling “the truth” be it for PN or UMNO. What does all this mean for the future of UMNO or politics in general especially when PN has already revealed its shadow cabinet? For insights, we speak to Shazwan Mustafa Kamal, Associate Director, Vriens and Partners.

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World Bank has forecast economic growth of 4% for Malaysia in 2023. Decent projections at first glance but what can be gleamed from their Economic Monitor Report? What are some of the policy recommendations that they have for this unity government to resolve our long standing economic issues? Dr Apurva Sanghi, World Bank’s lead economist for Malaysia answers those questions and more.

Minister for Digital and Communications Fahmi Fadzil last week announced the Unity Fixed Broadband package which provides high-speed broadband for RM69 per month targeted towards the B40 income, people with disabilities and senior citizens. How far will this go in addressing the digital divide in the country? Alexander Wong of SoyaCincau weighs in on this and other digital policy initiatives.

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On Saturday, the US shot down the Chinese surveillance balloon that had been making its way through US airspace  with the Navy and Coastguard collecting the debris to look for clues as to its actual purpose. China said the balloon was for meteorological research. Chong Ja Ian, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore tell us what the political repercussions will be from this.

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The recent blockbuster U.S January payroll numbers shook market perceptions and quashed expectations that the Fed may be finished with rate hikes. This has caused the market to pullback from the January highs but this may be a buying opportunity for investors. For  insights we speak to Joe Quinlan, Chief Market Strategist, US Trust-BOA Private Wealth Management.

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原文摘录：新任首相拿督斯里安华在上任后的某场记者会上，抛出一句“Cerakin”（细化），让在场的各源流记者听得一头雾水，一些巫裔记者甚至笑称，未来可能随时得带上字典上班呢。其实，对国语执着的可不止安华。早阵子，原籍大马的澳洲新科议员林文清早前就在议会上大秀国语，引起媒体关注，更早之前，泰裔新加坡艺人Pornsak则低调地通过连线方式，特地向我国老师学习国语。这不禁让人纳闷，究竟是什么让国语在外地成了一份宝，但看在我国华裔眼中，却成了最开不了口的语言。

原文链接： 

国语难学 还是心里有结？

惩罚错误/强制学习 真的会让人爱上国语吗？

Patrick Teoh takes you on another foot-stomping, hand-clapping ride down memory lane as he blows dust off his vinyl collection to bring you a selection of hits from the 60s to 80s.

Join Othniel Ting & Daryl Ong as they delve into an album of our chosen artist of the week, running you through the stories & history of the album track by track. This week, we go through "Let's Stay Together", the iconic fourth studio album by legendary soul singer Al Green, as it celebrates its 51st anniversary this week.

Azmyl Yunor and Zan Azlee join Kam Raslan in this episode of A Bit of Culture to dissect and analyse recent events. Azmyl starts off by sharing his frustrations of yet another music venue being raided by the authorities and then wonders whether we should be allowed to vote for our own mayor. Kam then shares his experience going through Youtube’s most viewed videos and how he does not recognise most of them. He then asks whether he should still try to be in touch with recent trends, or ignore them completely. In the second part of the show, Zan gives his thoughts on the new film classifications that were recently released.