NEW media has overshadowed the traditional method of relaying information. Over the past decade, news outlets have invested in online sites and mobile applications, radio can be streamed on-line and social media platforms have gained traction. Facebook has become the nation’s most-relied source of news, with 23 million Malaysians accessing the site as at 2019 — a high figure for the post-14th General Election (GE14) scenario. But social media carries the potential of more rapid and widespread disinformation, which is the deliberate act of dispersing information or news that is not only misleading but also biased or manipulative.

I AM sitting watching the rain stream down in my office cum studio – I say grandly. It’s meant to be a bedroom actually, but as we don’t have any guests at the moment, it does very well with my computer and my easel.

RECENT events have thrust a number of constitutional issues to the fore.

IN my article titled “UNITE TO HELP HAJIJI TO WORK THINGS OUT” on 4 October 2020, I urged all Sabahans to rally behind Datuk Hajiji for Sabah’s recovery from the current devastating economic depression and the present very bad situation inflicted by 3rd wave of Covid-19.

The existence of a painful void. Each of them described their feeling of loneliness as a kind of emptiness. The feeling of emptiness is perceived as a void.

About 84,805 Malaysians were declared bankrupt between 2015 and 2019. Based on the figure provided by the Insolvency Department, people below the age of 34 made up 26 per cent of the bankruptcy cases.

I’ve been wondering what to write about this week – no activities worth mentioning, unless you want detailed descriptions of the washing up, sheet changing, cat litter cleaning out. A lot of cleaning – come back Janet! I long for our maid/helper/whatever you want to call her to be able to return and work her magic.

STAYING connected. The incidental themes of interactions with others, importance of friends and keeping pets were the foundational texts that support the essential theme of “staying connected.” Some of the participants described the importance of interactions with others as either being in relation to families, siblings or to their own children.

LOCKDOWN again! For good reason, I know, but I must admit to a bit of a sinking heart. Last time it wasn’t the problem I expected - I found it rather interesting in fact that I was able to slow down and read and watch telly and paint and write my book and do online exercise. Since then I have educated myself to swim every other day, so as we learnt this morning that all facilities including the pool are closed, I am feeling a bit fed up. Especially as I find I eat more during lockdown, with nowhere to burn it off.

1970 to 2020 is exactly 40 years. Tun Razak introduced the NEP in 1970 after the 1969 racial riots. The official intention, inter alia, was social engineering, its main objective was to level income and fair wealth distribution. These were noble objectives and were meant to last 10 years. Prime Ministers after Tun Razak have produced variants of his NEP—-Tun M had 2 in his 22 years, National Development Policy in 1991 and National Vision Policy in 2002 [Warisan 2020].