Morning Brief

Dato' Sri M Ramachelvam, Co-Chairperson of the Bar Council Migrants, Refugees and Immigration Affairs Committee, discusses if it was a contempt of court when the Immigration Department deported 1,000 Burmese undocumented migrants despite a stay order from the court. Image Credit: Mamunur Rashid / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With overseas travel on the back burner for now, many 2020 holidaymakers are still waiting to hear back from airline companies on their flight ticket refunds. MAVCOM is pushing this point by saying airlines ought to make full refunds of flight tickets cancelled due to current restrictions, but can airlines afford it? The Morning Run speaks to Khair Mirza, Director of Airport Investor Resource at M...

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that inflation is soft and there are no immediate plans to start tapering on bond repurchases. Joe Kalish, Chief Global Macro Strategist at Ned Davis Research, discusses the implications of Powell’s statement including Ned Davis’ asset allocation strategies, and the likelihood of a taper tantrum again. Image Credit: Shutterstock.com See...

The government has announced that the provision of 5G infrastructure in the country will be led by a government-owned special purpose vehicle (SPV). To find out whether this is a viable plan for the country's 5G ambitions and what it means for all of us moving forward, we speak with Alexander Wong, Managing Editor and co-founder of the tech news portal SoyaCincau. Image Credit: Shutterstock.com Se...

The move to reopen schools from March 1st has been met with backlash from parents, who raise virus concerns as well as frustration over money spent on digital devices to enable homeschooling. Opposition lawmakers have also called on the government to have teachers and school staff vaccinated as soon as possible. For some insight into the dilemma parents are facing, we speak to Datin Noor Azimah Ab...

Thomas Daniel, Fellow for Foreign Policy and Security Studies at the Institute Of Strategic & International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia, discusses concerns about Malaysia’s plans to deport some 1,200 Myanmar citizens, and in the long-term, practical strategies to take in and resettle refugees. Image Credit: YuriAbas / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The hottest name in social media at the moment is none other than Clubhouse, an audio-based platform where users are able to hold or listen in on live conversations with others — whether that’s your best friend or Elon Musk. The app has seen such an explosion of growth in recent months, with Clubhouse’s proponents calling it the future of social media, while sceptics say it&rsquo...

Ties between UMNO and Bersatu have become increasingly strained in recent months. Questions have arisen over whether the parties will continue to work together - and if so, whether Bersatu could survive a general election without UMNO's backing. To find out what this means for the future of the Perikatan Nasional coalition, we speak to Dr Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of Inte...

With President Joe Biden in the White House, how could the US relationship with Saudi Arabia and Iran change? The Morning Run speaks to James Dorsey, Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies & the Middle East Institute, for his insights here. Image Credit: Ron Adar / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr. Rachel Gong, Senior Research Associate at Khazanah Research Institute, helps the Morning Run team unpack the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint - the hits and misses. Image Credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maszlee Malik, former education minister, lectures us on the complexity of our education and his grand visions and ambitions for our education system. Image Credit: msyaraafiq / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marcus Strom from MEAA Media discusses the impact of Facebook's Australian news ban and the global ramifications of the Australian news media bargaining code, the first law regulating how tech giants and media outlets license content. Image Credit: EPA-EFE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vivek Vaidya from Frost & Sullivan helps us navigate the different aspects of Malaysia's ambitions to be an automotive manufacturing hub and what it needs to do to introduce EV vehicles to scale. Image Credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

S. Pusapathi from MySkills passionately makes the case for the government to take the issue seriously, with the need for robust and innovative solutions to reskill youth to free them from gangsterism. Image Credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Howie Lee from OCBC Bank shares with us his outlook for the commodities markets (oil and non-oil), which are seeing across the board rallies. We also discuss whether this is the start of a supercycle and how investors can take advantage of the hot commodities market. Image Credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eddin Khoo from PUSAKA emphasizes the facilitative role the government needs to take in engaging diverse stakeholders through consultative dialogue to ensure the blueprint's success. Image Credit: msyaraafiq / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia’s national vaccination programme will kick into gear later this month, with the first batch of some 300,000 Pfizer vaccines set to arrive on February 21st. Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin also unveiled the official vaccination strategy handbook yesterday, which details the timeline of the vaccination as well as the logistics of the rollout. There will be many questions on th...

Khoon Goh from ANZ dissects Singapore's 2021 Budget that balances the short-term support in managing the pandemic as well as the long-term initiatives in human capital and sustainability to deliver a resilient economy. Image Credit: Phuong D. Nguyen / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tricia Yeoh from IDEAS shares the structural solutions Malaysia needs to adopt to return the economy to growth in 2021 and beyond. Image Credit: Abdul Razak Latif / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The implementation of the Undi 18 law and whether 18-year-olds should be allowed to vote has re-emerged in public discourse. James Chai, Head of Commercial and Research at INVOKE Solutions, weighs in on this. Image Credit: EPA-EFE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

William Pesek from Nikkei Asia channels Japan's frustration in the lack of a vaccination plan and uncertainties surrounding the Olympics with the absence of its new Prime Minister. Image Credit: john smith williams / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Economic reflation won't occur even if loan moratoriums are extended, says Dr Geoffrey Williams of Malaysia University of Science and Technology. So what will spur recovery? Image Credit: Holger Kleine / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julia Goh, Senior Economist from UOB Malaysia, distils Malaysia's GDP numbers, the worst since the Asian Financial Crisis of 2007. We discuss 2021 projections and how rising oil prices might provide some fiscal space. Image Credit: kamarulzamanganu / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Luca de Nard from Nielsen Malaysia deep dives into the changing consumption patterns of Malaysians during this festive period and shifting retail experience. Image Credit: Unsplash.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s challenging times for traditional media, and radio is no exception. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, traditional media has been struggling to survive amid the broader digital transformation in media consumption, as audiences turn to streaming and online avenues. This in turn eats into advertising dollars, as advertisers go to where the consumers flock. So, as we celebrate World Radio...