The NGO Architects of Diversity (AOD) has launched a campaign calling for the enactment of a Residential Tenancy Act in Malaysia, aiming to address long-standing issues in the country’s largely unregulated rental housing market. We spoke to Jason Wee, founder of AOD, to understand how the act could foster a fairer and more transparent rental ecosystem.

Other stories we covered:

• Government launches new concert SOPs: This follows the drug-related deaths at the Pinkfish New Year’s Eve concert earlier this year. We spoke to Dr Nur Afiqah Mohd Salleh, Vice President of the Malaysian AIDS Council, and senior lecturer at the Faculty of Medicine in Universiti Malaya on how effective these new measures will be.
• A rocky road ahead for Pos Malaysia: Pos Malaysia recently came under fire after its CEO made a controversial comment about a staff member’s torn uniform, sparking wider conversations about the company’s long-standing struggles. We spoke to Emmanuel Samarathisa, founder of The Malaysianist, who explores how the company’s challenges could be linked to its dual role as a commercial entity and a public service.
• Hearing loss at the workplace: Hearing loss has become Malaysia’s number one occupational disease, with Occupational Noise-Induced Hearing Disorder accounting for 81% of work-related health issues reported between 2019 and 2023. We spoke to Dr. Gogillan Seevaratnam, an occupational health doctor from Hospital Sungai Buloh, about why this continues to be a major concern despite existing regulations and whether Malaysia has enough trained professionals to tackle the issue.
• The Booker Prize shortlist is back: The International Booker Prize, one of the world’s most influential awards for translated fiction, has released its shortlist for this year. To celebrate, The Booker Prizes has released a series of short films with UK actors reading excerpts from the shortlisted books. We discuss this year's diverse list, which includes works from Denmark, Japan, and India, with one book even being translated from the Kannada language.

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