Morning Brief

Covid has decimated road travel, hurting collections at more than 30 toll highway operators that include PLUS, Litrak, Ekovest, IJM, and Prolintas, prompting the possibility of renegotiating, postponing toll hikes, and even a restructuring of toll concessions.

Transport planning consultant Rosli Azad Khan, discusses.

It’s been 52 years since the first moon landings, but the dream of human lunar habitation has yet to come to fruition. That may change in the coming years as NASA makes plans to return to the moon by 2024, amid a flurry of private companies entering the space industry and spurring innovation. We discuss the future of space exploration and international cooperation with Garvey Macintosh, NASA Asia Representative.

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As parliament is set to reconvene next week, we ask Ibrahim Suffian, Programme Director at the Merdeka Center what he expects from the parliamentary sitting. As a follow-up from the survey conducted by Merdeka Centre that showed Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s approval at 67%, we also ask him for an update on the approval rating of politicians.

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As EMCO has been lifted last week for most of Klang Valley, Malaysia’s healthcare system remains strained to its limits. We ask Azrul Mohd Khalib, CEO, Galen Centre for Health & Social Policy if special privileges should be given to fully vaccinated individuals. We also discuss the decision to reopen schools in September and what strategies should the government take now.

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According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), mean salaries and wages fell 9% in 2020 due to the economic effects of the pandemic. Is this downward trend a temporary blip, or could we see long-lasting implications for the Malaysian economy? Labour economist Dr. Niaz Asadullah helps us understand the data better.

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In the last week, Biden’s government implemented several measures that indicated a hardening stance against China. We speak to Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow, Lowy Institute about this tension between the two countries.

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According to the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM), mean salaries and wages fell 9% in 2020 due to the economic effects of the pandemic. Is this downward trend a temporary blip, or could we see long-lasting implications for the Malaysian economy? Labour economist Dr. Niaz Asadullah helps us understand the data better.

Image Credit: EPA-EFE

In the last week, Biden’s government implemented several measures that indicated a hardening stance against China. We speak to Richard McGregor, Senior Fellow, Lowy Institute about this tension between the two countries.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

We speak to Dr. Sanjay Rampal about the most recent guidelines set by the Ministry of Human Resources on ventilation and air quality during the Covid pandemic. We also get Dr. Sanjay's perspective on the recent Klang Valley Taskforce and the recent spike in Covid cases.

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Amid changing SOPs, various types of movement restrictions, and opaque announcements, international chambers of commerce have been petitioning both the Federal and State governments to express their concern over the Covid-19 response. They have warned that businesses are rethinking their investment decisions here in Malaysia, as cases remain high and confidence erodes. So we reached out to Marco Winter, Executive Director of MDBC Malaysian Dutch Business Council, to understand better the concerns being brought forward by the international business community.

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