Live & Learn

The first five years of a child’s life is always seen as one of the most critical stages of their development as babies and young children learn by listening and interacting with the adults in their lives. But not all parents have access to or are equipped with the knowledge and resources on how to support a young child’s socioemotional and cognitive development. That’s where the Thrive by Five app aims to come in. We find out more about the app as well as the importance of the first five years from Datin Dr Ng Soo Boon, President of the MAPECE, and Dr Haley LaMonica, clinical neuropsychologist and senior research fellow at the Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney where she is the project lead on the Thrive by Five project.

Image Credit: Thrive By Five

Sekolah Main Wayang (SMW) is an experimental theatre school targeted for underprivileged teens, and is facilitated by art practitioners in the fields of music, theatre, film, and the visual arts. Wayang TEK-tek is the latest theatre workshop series by Sekolah Main Wayang, which focuses on Orang Asli (OA) youths, and the program brings together traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and lo tech or DIY tech (tek) into a wayang-like performance with the aim to open up conversations, promote creativity and critical awareness, whilst celebrating OA culture and heritage. We find out more about the project from three of its facilitators, visual artist Fairuz Sulaiman, theatre director Ayam Fared and sound artist Arnont Nongyao.

Image credit: Sekolah Main Wayang

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ‘reformasi’ brand is centred around two ideas – fighting against corruption and for institutional reforms. So how did he and his cabinet perform in their first 100 days with regard to reforms?

More than 50,000 people displaced, and 4 people dead. The southern states of Peninsular Malaysia is facing yet another severe case of floods, especially in Johor, as the Malaysian Meteorological Department warns that the current monsoon season is likely to last until April. But with one flood after another, how much of it is “natural” and how much is driven by uncontrolled human activity? And how are all these instances of floods upending the lives of people? We find out from Aroe Ajoeni, Communications Director with Klima Action Malaysia (KAMY). 

If you are interested to help with KAMY’s fundraising efforts for JPOAJ, click here to find out how you can help. 

Image credit: Facebook/Balai Polis Segamat

Rare Disease Day is celebrated every year on the 28th of February (or 29th in leap years) - the rarest day of the year. The day aims to raise awareness about rare diseases and the challenges faced by people living with these conditions. Rare diseases are the ones that affect a small percentage of the population, often fewer than 1 in 2,000 people. Muhammad Athif Fahri is one of those affected by a rare disease - he is suffering from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1, which affects his muscles and ability to breathe. Doctors have said the disease is incurable, and that without proper treatment, he will not make it past the age of two. We speak to Baby Athif's parents, Nur Azizah Zamri and Mohd Farhan bin Mohd Sait, about how life has changed for them all since Athif's diagnosis, and they also discuss how they are trying to get the right treatment for their youngest son, to save his life.

*Zolgensma therapy is a treatment that can halt or even reverse the effects of the disease. Baby Athif needs to raise RM9 million to cover the cost of the treatment and related expenses. Find out how you can support him by clicking here and here.

Image Credit: Nur Azizah Zamri & Mohd Farhan bin Mohd Sait

Last Friday at Parliament, Prime Minister & Finance Minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim unveiled the new Budget 2023. The Budget billed ‘Developing Malaysia Madani’ involves an allocation of RM388.1 billion. 

But is this a gender-responsive budget? Does it do enough to push for equality and equity across genders?

We speak to Lilian Kok, who’s the Programme Manager at the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM). 

Brought to you by Mah Sing. Reinvent Spaces. Enhance Life.

Picture a child’s life, and most of us will probably think of them in school, or perhaps playing in the playground. But that’s not the reality for some children, especially migrant and refugee children, who are most at risk of being detained under immigration laws. With the Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution recently saying that the ministry plans to shift children detained in immigration depots into the care of NGOs, what might those alternatives look like? To dive into this issue, we speak to Anderson Selvasegaram, executive director of SUKA Society.

Image credit: Shutterstock

After a short hiatus, we're back with Law & Behold, our monthly series which aims to arm Malaysians with constitutional literacy, done in collaboration with The Malaysian Bar, the University of Malaya's Faculty of Law, and the Malaysian Centre for Constitutionalism and Human Rights (MCCHR).

On this episode, we tackle citizenship and clothing - firstly, we look at the recent news that the Cabinet has decided to update current laws to confer automatic citizenship to the children of Malaysian women, who were born overseas. What were the legal grounds for this case, and what does this new step mean for women who have long been fighting for equality for their overseas-born children? Next, we discuss the cases involving people being turned away from public institutions for their attire - do dress codes infringe on freedom of expression? Can services be denied to you solely based on your attire? We discuss these issues and more with Kee Hui Yee (Lawyer, Kanesalingam and Co) and Abraham Au (Constitutional Lawyer, Messers G.S. Nijar).

Image Credit: Family Frontiers

Last Friday, PAS members organised and participated in a procession, marching bearing replicas of medieval weapons and armour. This was part of the Himpunan Pemuda Islam Terengganu (Himpit) gathering. 

Images and videos from the procession that went viral caused a stir and panic on social media, largely among non-Malays but many Malays too. Some social media users likened the costume and parade to the racist extremist group Ku Klux Klax, but others have brushed it off as nothing more than cosplay. 

So, was it merely cosplay or are we witnessing something far more profound and worrying here?

Kristang, a creole spoken by the Melaka Portuguese community, has been listed by UNESCO as a “severely endangered” language. With fewer and fewer people picking up and speaking the language, it has been a dying language despite efforts to revive it. In conjunction with International Mother Language Day, we learn more about this creole and why it’s important to keep minority languages alive from Prof Dr Stefanie Pillai from the Faculty of Languages and LInguistics, Universiti Malaya.