General

 When visiting Sabah for the first time back in 1994, Dr Marc Ancrenaz, together with Dr Isabelle Lackman, realised that many orangutans were hanging around in disturbed and over-logged forests. They decided to establish an intensive study site in the fragmented forests of Lower Kinabatangan to study orangutan adaptation to habitat disturbance, and thus, the NGO Hutan was born. Then in 1998, they established the Kinabatangan Orangutan Conservation Programme (KOCP) in the village of Sukau, and switched from a purely scientific approach, to a more holistic one, by incorporating the needs and aspirations of the local communities. How has this approach worked in favour of orangutan conservation in the area? Following International Orangutan Day 2021 which was celebrated on the 19th of August, we speak to Dr Marc Ancrenaz, scientific director of Hutan and co-director of KOCP, to discuss this and more.

Image source: Hutan 

UMNO’s Dato Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been appointed the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia after 114/220 MPs pledged their support to him. The status quo remains. 

One can’t help but wonder, what all the drama and anxiety that many Malaysians have been feeling over the past couple of weeks especially, was for? What did the protests accomplish?

But more than that, there’s also the question of what next? If the progressives intend to take the power from the elite, for the people, what do we need to think about differently? 

Recently, S. Arutchelvan, the Deputy Chairperson of Parti Sosialis Malaysia, wrote a piece on Malaysiakini BM titled “Hakikatnya Gerakan Rakyat Juga Gagal.” It’s a pertinent and powerful piece that reflects on the shortcomings of the left-leaning “progressives,” including his own party and discusses what we need to do next, as we head towards GE-15 and future elections. 

Arul joins us on the show to share his thoughts.

Image source: Shutterstock

Malaysian SMEs in retail and F&B that are still considering digitalizing their operations can now better understand and learn more through digital guidebooks.

Image Credit: J.M. Image Factory | Shutterstock

Several business groups have hailed the appointment of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob as Prime Minister, as they look forward to resuscitating and relaunching economic and business activities in the country. We speak with Industries Unite about the immediate issues the incoming administration needs to address, as well as how Industry would like to engage and contribute to policy moving forward.

Image Credit: zmpixes | Shutterstock

Malaysians can still walk in for their jabs at 13 vaccination centres in the Klang Valley from today, says the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force. However, foreigners will now have to make an appointment.

Image Credit: ThamKC | Shutterstock

Life in the pandemic feels like it’s following the same old routine looking at the same four walls over and over again, but how do we break out of the bore and cultivate good habits? Angela Eimer, habit strategist & coach, shares a general discussion about health and habits, and how they help us in the workplace and in our general lives.

Image Credit: fizkes | Shutterstock

KL-based fashion-tech startup Ellegra believes the next disruption in online retail will be driven by the level of curation you can offer your customers. And they aim to do this via their style boxes, which are curated by the platform’s personal stylists and - you guessed it - an algorithm. We speak to Founder Gwen Delhumeau about offering a highly personalised shopping experience, the true cost of fast fashion, and how Malaysians are taking to trusting an algorithm for their OOTDs.

The two Ps - the pandemic and politics - have been the main newsmakers for the past 18 months. But ironically, both have also been stumbling blocks to news media looking to gather and verify information about these very issues. We speak to journalists Emmanuel Santa Maria Chin and Lee Shin Yiing to find out how they've been navigating the challenges in holding business and policymakers to account.

Image Credit: Lens Hitam / Shutterstock.com

The fragility of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob's new government likely means a slew of generous cabinet appointments for the MPs who supported his push to the premiership, according to Ben Suffian, Programme Director at Merdeka Centre.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Raising the govt debt ceiling beyond 60% of GDP to help economic recovery is a certainty, especially as elections loom, says Firdaos Rosli, Chief Economist at the Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd or MARC.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com