General

Malaysia is one of only 25 countries in the world, that does not grant women the right to confer nationality on their children on an equal basis as men. This despite the fact that Constitution also stating that that there shall be no discrimination against citizens based on religion, race, ethnicity, place of birth or gender. The Association of Family Support & Welfare Selangor & KL (Family Frontiers), an umbrella body for the Foreign Spouses Support Group, has long been campaigning for gender equality in citizenship laws in the country, and filed a suit in December last year, to uphold the principle of equality in the Federal Constitution, as well as Malaysia’s commitment to international conventions on gender equality. We get some updates on that suit from Suri Kempe, the President of the Association of Family Support & Welfare Selangor & Kuala Lumpur (Family Frontiers) and Josil Murray, an affected mother and member of the Foreign Spouses Support Group.

Similar to Patreon, Twitter is testing a way to let followers help their favorite accounts by buying them a coffee… or a few dozen coffees. Twitter’s new “Tip Jar” is not without issues, but it comes at a time when creators and home-based entertainers may need all the help they can get.

Khairy Jamaluddin, the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation, has announced the launch of the Hotspot Identification by Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) system; this AI system will be another pre-emptive measure to contain COVID-19, helping with risk assessment and early warning in order to hopefully prevent further clusters.

A code of practice giving employees the ‘right to disconnect’ from work and not engage in electronic communications outside of their normal hours has come into effect in Ireland. How much longer until this code of practise is adopted elsewhere?

The skin care market in Malaysia is expected to reach $1.28 Billion by 2027. However, the beauty industry like many other industries was severely impacted during the pandemic.  We speak to Yap Yann Fang, Founder and Director of Beauty & Co on why she decided on starting her brand, how she markets her services and what the pandemic taught her as an entrepreneur.

Over the past year, many of us have had a taste of what working from home feels like in order to curb the current pandemic. But as the vaccination progress continues, the return to work in offices seems inevitable. So the question that lies within this foreseeable future is – how is our new world gonna look like post-pandemic? What would going back to work be like, what would offices look like, and where does coworking space fit in? Derrick Tan of Common Ground talks to Sim Wie Boon about this.

Image credit: Common Ground

How will listed education group SEG International adapt to a tougher operating environment, an oversaturated market, and the push to digital? Roshan Kanesan explores this and more with Hew Moi Lan, Group CEO and Executive Director of SEG International Berhad.

SEG International is the only listed pure play education company on the main board, and runs the SEGi Group of Colleges.

Khoon Goh, Head of Asia Research at ANZ Bank discusses Bank Negara Malaysia’s decision to leave the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) unchanged, and the implications of imposing MCO 3.0 and delaying Phase 3 of the National Immunisation Programme.

Image Credit: Gwoeii / Shutterstock.com

Last year, the European Union and China finally concluded negotiations on the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, intended to promote market access between the two. However, Sino-European ties have become more fraught of late, with concerns rising in the EU over China's treatment of its Uighur minority. Will this mean the end of this long-awaited agreement? We speak to Nick Marro, Lead Analyst on Global Trade from The Economist Intelligence Unit to find out.

Image Credit: Shutterstock.com

Wendy Ang, Country Head of Transaction Banking at Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia shares the findings of the bank’s survey on the impact of the pandemic on SMEs, and how they are adapting digitally.

Image Credit: Wright Studio | shutterstock.com