The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is currently planning to construct a solar park in Indonesia’s eastern region to boost the nation’s new and renewable energy growth. Dadan Kusdiana, Director General of Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation at the Ministry of Energy, aligns the idea of a solar park with the vision of large-scale construction of solar power plants …

Beyond the challenge in beating the pandemic, here’s another agenda the nation is dealing as underwater divers snip through discarded nets tangled around a reef in plastic-choked waters off the coast of Thailand which is a recent project to help protect marine life and assist the battle against coronavirus. In view of this, lethal source of plastic waste, ensnaring turtles …

The health authorities in the Philippines announced that they had confirmed 16 more cases of a new strain of coronavirus that is thought to be more contagious, with two cases of local transmission. In view of this, the Department of Health reported that the two patients with the B117 variant from La Trinidad, Benguet and Calamba City, Laguna, had no …

SINGAPORE: On Friday (January 22) cargo drivers from Malaysia transporting critical goods to Singapore said they faced delays at land entry checkpoints, on the first day mandatory COVID-19 tests were enforced by the Singapore government. On Thursday, the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore (MTI) announced that COVID-19 antigen rapid testing would be gradually rolled out for cargo drivers …

PETALING JAYA – There will be no deferred national exams in Malaysia, like Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM, GCE O-level equivalent), Sijil Kemahiran Malaysia (SKM, certificate of vocational skills), Sijil Tinggi Persekolahan Malaysia (STPM, GCE A-level equivalent). The first examinations will begin on Feb 22. Education director-general Habibah Abdul Rahim said that despite calls to do so, there would also be …

Singapore’s government aims to establish urgent legislation in order to formalize the use of contact-tracing virus data in serious crime investigations. Legislation to restrict the use of data to prosecute seven types of serious crimes will be implemented at the next parliamentary sitting in February, the Smart Nation and Digital Government Office said in a statement on Friday. Murder, terrorism, …

The recently announced Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance in Malaysia is too broad and should be updated urgently to meet international standards for human rights, Human Rights Watch said today. The decree announced on January 14, 2021, gives police powers to the Malaysian military, allows compulsory confiscation of property without the right to appeal the compensation offered, and gives near-complete immunity …

Kuala Lumpur – The Ministry of Communications and Multimedia of Malaysia announced on 14 December that its Minister, Saifuddin Abdullah, would chair the first ASEAN Digital Ministers’ Meeting (ADGMIN1) by teleconference from 21-22 January 2021.The meeting, entitled ‘ASEAN: A Digitally Linked Society,’ aims to deepen cooperation between ASEAN countries to create digital ecosystems as a pillar of the post-COVID-19 development …

SHAH ALAM: At the Sessions Court here today, a former senior assistant secretary to the ministry was charged with two counts of collecting RM100,000 in bribes related to the issuance of tenders to supply and distribute bio-fertilizers to a company. Shahrulzaman Jaafar, 43, reported to have been tried on both counts. He was formerly with the Ministry of Agriculture and …

KUALA LUMPUR- If the government does not get its Covid-19 policies correct, Malaysia is in danger of getting perpetual movement-control orders (MCOs), said Dr Musa Mohd Nordin. Dr Musa said during an online forum on Jom Channel on Wednesday, “We are not finding the hotspots and not doing enough mass testing with rapid tests” (Jan 20). And if the government …