27-Aug-24 17:00

Ben Suffian, Program Director, Merdeka Centre

Stories we covered today:

1. Former prime minister and Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has been charged with the Sedition Act. This follows the remarks he made during the Nenggiri state by-election campaign, in which he claims that he had not been invited by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to take the oath as prime minister after the 15th General Election despite getting the support of 115 out of 222 Members of Parliament. We dive into this with Ben Suffian, program director of Merdeka Centre.

2. Public transport operator Prasarana has fallen victim to a cybersecurity attack. This case isn't the only one of its kind, as other Malaysian companies have also been reported to be hit by internal data breaches recently. Anwer Yusoff, a cybersecurity expert from Cybersecurity Malaysia weighs in on the kind of mitigation efforts needed in incidents like this.

3. Several parties from the Asia Internet Coalition, which consists of several tech companies, have urged the government to halt its plans for licensing online platforms, citing a lack of clarity over the proposed regulations. Emmanuel Saramarathisa, founder of The Malaysianist, who wrote a piece on this issue, shares his thoughts with us.

4. The National Antarctica Research Centre's Professor Datuk Azizan Abu Samah told Malay Mail that there's a 79% chance Malaysia will experience La Niña by the end of the year. This means more rain, and a higher risk of flooding during this period. We ask Afandi Nor Azmi, a research fellow at ISIS Malaysia for his thoughts.

5. Two deaths caused by heat stroke has occured in Pahang, which brings into light the prominent health effects caused by the hot weather. We revisit a previous Health & Living interview on this issue.

Image Credit: Abdul Razak Latif, Shutterstock