Top 5 At 5: Planting the Seeds for Arborism

Today's countdown includes:

5. The number of Malaysians looking for jobs in Singapore from January to March this year has gone up from 28,000 to over 46,000. We look back at a conversation we had with Joelle Pang, General Manager of FastCo Malaysia, on whether Malaysians are set on staying in Singapore for work, or if they do consider returning home.

4. Tan Sri Azam Baki's appointment as the chief commissioner of MACC, has been criticised by C4, the Center to Combat Corruption and Cronyism. Pushpan Murugiah, the CEO of C4 weighs in on how this will impact MACC's credibility, and the delay in expediting an alternative process to the appointment process.

3. Brickbats for Pahang ruling government's appointment of five assemblypersons following the amendment of the state constitution in 2020. Ooi Kok Hin, Executive Director of Bersih comments on whether Pahang's unity government reneged on a promise, sacrificing broader representation for policial expediency.

2. Craun Research, a government agency which specialises in crop research, has developed a rice alternative from sago starch. Professor Datin Sri Paduka Dr Fatimah Mohamed Arshad, Research Fellow at the Institute of Agricultural and Food Policy Studies of UPM comments on whether Sarawaks’s sago rice will be more widely accepted.

1. Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung's call for the MBPJ to appoint arborists, in light of recent incidents of trees uprooting in public spaces and endangering lives. We interview Terrence Tan Teck Seng to understand how this decision can be best implemented.

Image credit: Cheng Wei, Shutterstock