The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development launched the new National Women’s Policy 2025-2030 in conjunction with International Women’s Day earlier this month. It has been a long time coming, as the last revision was made in 2009. We speak to Omna Sreeni-Ong, Founder & Principal Consultant ENGENDER Consultancy about this.

Other stories we covered:

• DBP wants Bahasa Malaysia used in government campaigns: This happened after DBP accused civil servants of prioritising English over Bahasa Malaysia when naming government campaigns, programmes and premises. So we get into the conundrum of integrating our national language into government projects, or whether a more multilingual approach is the way to go.
• Malaysia vs Nepal in Asian Cup 2027: Harimau Malaya is facing off against the Himalayan Republic at the Sultan Ibrahim Stadium, making it the first match under new Aussie head coach Peter Cklamovski. This also marks the comeback of Mohamad Faisal Abdul Halim, who survived acid attacks last year. We speak to sports journalist T. Avinesh for his thoughts.
• Former PM Ismail Sabri backs unity government: Ismail Sabri has come out to address claims that he and 13 other UMNO members had withdrawn their backing for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, saying that this narrative is false. This is coming on the heels of him being under investigation by the MACC for allegations linked to misappropriation of funds. We hear thoughts from Syaza Shukri, associate professor of political science at the International Islamic University of Malaysia as well as Professor Wong Chin Huat, political scientist from Sunway University.
• Is YOLO mentality linked to risky behaviour?: This recently came up in Parliament, after Deputy Health Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni attributed this kind of mentality to being the reason young people engage in same-sex relationships, which fuels rising HIV cases among young men. We unpack his statement, and what the data tells us, with Andrew Tan, vice president of non-profit Kuala Lumpur AIDS Support Services Society

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