General

Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced there will soon be privileges such as interstate travel for those who have been fully vaccinated. Dr Vinod Balasubramaniam, Senior Lecturer and Co-Lead of the Infection and Immunity Research Strength, at the Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine & Health Sciences, discusses if this move is premature.

Image Credit: Holger Kleine | Shutterstock.com

我们常说马来西亚是个天然资源丰富的国家，而当中就包含了33种属于金属类、非金属类和能源类别的矿物，经济潜能估计超过4兆令吉。虽然采石和采矿业产业占国内生产总值GDP的比例从来就不高，哪怕是1960年代我国经济发展刚起步，产值仅仅是GDP的6%上下，60年以后，比例更在2%-3%左右，业务听起来既不性感也不酷，也似乎没有什么前景。但它其实是基础性行业，支撑着所有重要的经济领域，在经济发展上具有战略重要性。建筑、电气和电子、通讯、运输、工业制造这些行业都重要，对吧？每一个的生产都有它不可缺的矿物，稀土、锰矿、铁矿、镍，而这些具战略意义的矿物马来西亚都有。问题在于如何将国内的矿物产业发展成一个整合上下游，并对环境负责的经济生态。

这一期上我们节目的OM Holding就是这么一家从事锰矿的勘探、开采、铁合金冶炼和贸易，于上下游产业都垂直整合的公司。当然，OM近日来会成为话题，因为它是第一家同时在澳洲和大马股票交易所挂牌的公司。这一期节目我们就邀请OM控股执行主席兼总执行长刘义东来和我们聊聊个中缘由。

pitchIN raised RM59.5 million in 2020, almost 3 times more than in 2019. This was almost half of the capital raised on equity crowdfunding platforms in 2020 and makes them Malaysia’s leading crowdfunding platform by far. On the back of this astounding growth, Roshan Kanesan speaks to CEO and Co-founder Sam Shaffie about the pitchIN's plans to open a secondary market, get an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO) platform license, become a one-stop shop for digital investing, and more.

Equity crowdfunding allows regular investors to enter the world of early-stage investing, a world that was accessible only by private equity, venture capitalist, or high net worth investors.

Image credit: pitchIN

De facto Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan told the Dewan Rakyat that the Emergency Ordinances have been revoked since last week, catching many by surprise. Wong Chin Huat, Political Scientist, at Sunway University discusses the lack of transparency and the implications of the revocation, one being that the Dewan Undangan Negeri Sarawak needs to be dissolved and state elections to be held within 60 days.

Image credit: S.O _ Shutterstock

Britain's call to rewrite the Northern Ireland protocol has once again brought post-Brexit talks with the EU to a standstill. The EU, meanwhile, says that Britain needs to respect its international obligations- particularly one which was such a key tenet of the original divorce from the EU. So where will post-Brexit negotiations go from here? We speak to Michael Gasiorek, Professor of Economics from Sussex University to find out.

Nearly 90% of S&P 500 companies reporting quarterly results beat estimates from the Street. What propelled these earnings and can this momentum continue?

The Morning Run also speaks to Joe Quinlan, Chief Market Strategist at the US Trust-BOA Private Wealth Management, about the heavy selling on China and Hong Kong markets, and the growing policy risk there.

数码领域出现了一种新的付费模式，叫订阅制度。订阅制度让用户每个月缴费后定时地享受到商品和服务。全球订阅市场规模非常庞大，预计在2023年将超5000亿美元。马来西亚的订阅平台SUBPLACE的创办人Mak在这一集的访谈中让我们了解订阅机制将如何影响未来的消费模式，以及卖家如何借着订阅制度留住消费者。

Sovereign’s attempt at destroying the Citadel was thwarted by Shepard and the Normandy crew, and yet the threat of the Reapers remains. With the powers-that-be in the galaxy still in denial, Shepard had to begrudgingly work with a shady organisation with questionable moral and ethics, Cerberus, to stop the Reapers. We review the follow up to the highly acclaimed Sci-Fi RPG to see how well it holds up in 2021.

IMAGE SOURCE: EA.COM

Art can be a powerful tool to highlight issues of social justice and human rights; the Human Rights in ASEAN - The Cartoonists Perspective online exhibition brings together works from cartoonists and illustrators around Southeast Asia to comment on pressing issues such as the state of emergency in Malaysia; the Lèse-majesté law in Thailand; the murderous war on drugs in the Philippines; the coup in Myanmar and religious extremism in Indonesia. Curated by Malaysian cartoonist Zunar, the exhibition provides valuable perspective on the state of human rights in the region, as well as highlights the crucial role of art.

Everyone's A Critic is jointly presented with CENDANA. For updates on Malaysian arts and culture, visit BASKL.

The Hartal Doktor Kontrak strike was held today, after their demands over the rights of contract doctors failed to be met by the government. We speak with a doctor involved in the protest about how things went, and the message they're hoping to send.

Image Source: Diana Polekhina, Unsplash