Showing posts with label Malaysia. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 June 2025

Be prepared to face hotter days

Experts warn of wet-bulb temperatures for those vulnerable to heatstroke

Preparing for Extreme Heat

Tips on how to stay safe in hot weather

As global warming ratchets up, Malaysians should prepare to face hotter and muggier days during the dry spell brought about by the annual Southwest Monsoon, say weather experts.

Along with this, it is also time to pay attention to not just dry-bulb readings provided by the typical thermometer but also wet-bulb temperatures (WBT), which scientists say are important to those who are vulnerable to heatstrokes or related ailments.

WBT is an indication of how much the air can be cooled by the evaporation of water into it and is usually measured using a thermometer with the bulb covered by a wet membrane, with higher WBT signalling an increased risk for the vulnerable.

WBT and high humidity are often missed during reporting on heatwaves, even though they play a huge role in how a person experiences heat.

Academy of Sciences Malaysia’s fellow Dr Fredolin Tangang said while the Southwest Monsoon season is usually marked by hot and dry weather, global warming could be contributing to even hotter conditions.

“According to the latest observation, the first quarter of 2025 was the second warmest year compared to the corresponding period in 2024, which was the warmest year on record.

“This despite La Nina being active during the first quarter of this year,” he said when contacted.

The APEC Climate Center in (South) Korea, he said, indicated that the surface air temperature over the Indo-pacific region is 80% above normal during the current monsoon period this year.

“Also, the sea surface temperature (SST) was forecasted to be above normal.

“High SST could drive higher relative humidity, and this increases the WBT and also the heat index, creating favourable conditions for heatstrokes,” he said.

Fredolin suggested that the relevant authorities should provide an early warning system to the public to be alert for excessive heat and humidity.

“More public announcements of the danger of heatstroke and how to avoid getting one should be regularly broadcast, while the public should not take lightly the extreme conditions that heighten the risk for heatstrokes,” he said.

A 2023 paper published by researchers from Universiti Teknologi Malaysia raised concerns about the future emergence of urban areas as hotspots for heat stress, particularly in peninsular Malaysia.

Their study showed a notable increase in the mean temperature over the peninsula, surpassing the global average, which could lead to a substantial increase in WBT, especially in dense urban regions.

According to National Antarctica Research Centre climatologist Prof Datuk Dr Azizan Abu Samah, there is a high chance the Asean region will see above-normal temperatures between June and August, based on several predictive models.

“The inter-monsoon period typically transitions into the Southwest Monsoon over the Asean region in June and will continue throughout the outlook period,” he said, while advising the people to minimise their exposure to the blistering sun as much as possible.

Meteorological Department’s (Metmalaysia) director-general Dr Mohd Hisham Mohd Anip said the main cause for current hot and humid weather is the Southwest Monsoon that began on May 10, with the phenomenon expected to continue until September.

“This monsoon typically brings dry weather to most parts of the country.

“However, thunderstorms and heavy rain may still occur from time to time,” he said.

Mohd Hisham added that the extended absence of rain over several days could result in searing conditions similar to what happened earlier this month.

On June 2, Metmalaysia issued a Level 1 heat advisory in six areas in the peninsula which experienced maximum daily temperatures of between 35°C and 37°C for three consecutive days.

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Monday, 9 June 2025

Decades later, Mahathir still stuck in a dilemma of his own

It’s okay to call for unity but to wantonly resort to make use of race and religion for political relevance is not healthy for a multi-ethnic country.

For young Malaysians unfamiliar with the nation’s political history, here’s a recap of former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s obsession with his version of Malay supremacy.

In 1970, a year after the May 13 racial riots that followed huge electoral losses for the ruling Umno-led Alliance, Mahathir authored “The Malay Dilemma”, essentially his manifesto outlining his political and racial beliefs.

It examines and analyses the make-up of the Malays and the problem of racial harmony in Malaysia. The book claims that the tolerant and non-confrontational nature of the Malays led them to fall under the dominion of others, and that the government must correct Malaysian Chinese hegemony in business.

The book was banned by the then prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, who felt that it threatened racial harmony. As soon as Mahathir became prime minister in his first term in 1981, he lifted the ban.

Many times, Mahathir has labelled all non-Malays as “pendatang” (immigrants) despite most having been born and bred here, many for at least three generations. He has been unapologetic about this term, insisting that he is correct historically.

In his latest bid at wantonly promoting Malay supremacy, he is attempting to bring together all the Malay parties, including his former rivals Bersatu and PAS, while inviting Umno members to join too.

His approach appears to be rooted in a perception of threats to Malay identity and interests, which he argues necessitates a collective response from the Malay population.

Honestly, there is nothing wrong in any party trying to unite a community. It’s not just the Malays, others do it subtly too. Groups in Sabah and Sarawak are also known to use such divisive tactics for political reasons.

However, to premise his arguments on a narrative of vulnerability, suggesting that the community faces challenges from other ethnic groups, is tantamount to falsehood, in my opinion.

He has sensationalised his concerns about the erosion of Malay rights and the position of the Malay language when there is no such threat whatsoever. He knows hitting the primordial sentiments of Malays will hit the right chord.

Figures on Malays in power

Claims of erosion of Malay and Bumiputera rights is an utterly reckless claim if one cares to look deeply into who’s in charge in the public sector. This is vital because these are the people who formulate government policies and implement them.

A check with the government’s latest list of secretaries-general and directors-general will show some shocking figures – well, shocking to those who claim that Malays and Bumiputeras are losing their position. The list actually makes Mahathir’s assertions laughable.

Of the 43 top-most government officers — namely the chief secretary to the government and secretaries-general — only three are non-Malays.

Of the 107 directors-general and those of their equivalent ranks, only four are non-Malay. If you take the deputies into account, only about 5% of this total are non-Malay.

The heads of security forces and the police, their deputies and senior officers are mostly, if not all, Malays or Bumiputera. The head of the judiciary and the majority of judges are Malays or Bumiputera too.

None of the vice-chancellors in public universities are non-Malays. Government scholarships, jobs and placements in public universities stick to the quota system, although it’s not a written policy. But most Malaysians accept this reality.

Constitutional rights

The special rights of the Malays and Bumiputera are securely entrenched in the Federal Constitution, and it’s safe to say it will never ever be erased until the majority of Malays decide that they don’t need it anymore.

Claims that the DAP is trying to remove their special privileges and dilute the political power of the Malays is all hogwash. The DAP leaders themselves are seen as being more compromising these days.

All they appear to want is to remain in power to ensure there is non-Malay representation in the government. They know better not to rock the boat.

As for Islam and the royalty, they are not only untouchable, but no sane Malaysian wants to even go near these subjects. Besides the constitutional safeguards, there is enough fear among Malaysians to keep their distance.

No one in their right senses would ever want to rock this boat as they know the serious consequences that they will have to face.

The data on population growth also shows that the percentage of Malays and Bumiputera will reach a super majority in a few decades. When it reaches that stage, political battles will mainly involve Malay parties. Non-Malays will be an insignificant minority.

To argue that it’s all right for the Malays and Bumiputera to dominate the government since the Chinese control the private sector is akin to comparing apples with oranges.

The private sector generates revenue from private investment and pays taxes to help run the government. The government is mainly funded by taxpayers. They must coexist for the betterment of the nation. It is not a competition.

Election strategy

Most know that the perceived threats to the Malay community raised by Mahathir and his ilk are exaggerated or politically constructed to rally support ahead of the next general election, due by February 2028. Their goal is to bring down Anwar Ibrahim and Pakatan Harapan.

Mahathir is leveraging on ethnic solidarity in an attempt to regain influence after previous electoral setbacks, including losing his deposit in Langkawi in the 2022 elections.

Mahathir is reckless in taking this approach, as such tactics can exacerbate ethnic tensions in a country that is inherently multi-ethnic, with all citizens enjoying enshrined constitutional rights pertaining to race and religion.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FM

Source link https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/opinion/2025/06/09/decades-later-mahathir-still-stuck-in-a-dilemma-of-his-own

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Thursday, 5 June 2025

Made-in-Malaysia AI vital for growth

Experts: Time to build, own and export our own systems so as not to be left behind

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia must urgently develop its sovereign AI systems or risk becoming digitally advanced but economically dependent – and ultimately face long-term economic decline, experts say.

They said as Malaysia races ahead with its digital transformation, much of that progress remains powered by imported artificial intelligence tools, thus raising concerns about economic dependency.

AI Society president Dr Azree Shahrel Ahmad Nazri said Malaysia must urgently develop and own its AI systems or risk falling further behind economically, despite the country’s rapid digital transformation.

“Without local AI ownership, we cannot export, licence or embed these technologies into regional products that generate income or foreign exchange,” he said when contacted.

He warned that countries like Malaysia, which rely heavily on foreign-developed AI, face growing risks to GDP growth, productivity and national competitiveness.

Citing emerging macroeconomic trends, he explained how AI-driven productivity gains, if limited to non-tradable sectors like education, health or governance, can distort real growth indicators.

In Malaysia’s case, he said the impact could be severe.

Despite being online, automated and connected, he said the country risks building a digital economy that “exports little, owns less and pays more”, driven by rising licensing fees, AI subscriptions and reliance on foreign cloud infrastructure.

Azree said such imported productivity could also distort Malaysia’s exchange rate, making the ringgit appear stronger than it really is and hurt traditional export sectors.

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He called for urgent investment in sovereign AI capacity and policy-driven infrastructure.

“We must build, own and eventually export our own AI. Otherwise, we risk being tenants in our own digital economy,” he said.

Universiti Malaysia Sarawak senior lecturer Dr Chuah Kee Man said Malaysia’s dependence on foreign AI tools may bring short-term efficiency, but it risks long-term loss of control and competitiveness.

“To become an AI exporter, Malaysia must move beyond short-term grants and build a genuine innovation ecosystem,” he said.

This includes regulatory sandboxes, stronger intellectual property protection and targeted investment in areas like halal logistics, Islamic finance, smart cities and multilingual natural language processing.

Chuah explained that Malaysia’s current progress is uneven across sectors.

While the country has talent and early-stage initiatives, he said sovereign AI development demands sustained investment in infrastructure, skills and computing power.

In terms of cost, he said developing a medium-sized foundational model would require serious commitment.

“If we take current industry standards for medium-sized foundational models, it could be about RM50mil and take about two years to build if there is a consolidated effort on it.

“For a sovereign AI model, it could easily go up to RM500mil. It can take up to five years or longer if the infrastructure is not sufficiently powerful,” he said.

Because of the scale involved, Chuah suggested a collaborative approach.

“Heavy investment – that is why a partnership model may be more feasible since we are technically playing catch-up,” he said.

Echoing the need for strategic investment, cybersecurity specialist Fong Choong Fook said Malaysia should establish a National AI Sovereignty Fund to finance homegrown AI development.

Fong said the sovereignty fund can be backed by capital from public and government-linked companies.

“This fund would directly support the development of models like PutraGPT, prioritising Bahasa Melayu/Nusantara, Islamic jurisprudence and regional languages,” he said.

Fong said developing the nation’s own AI system would also pave the way for a Malaysian Large Language Model (LLM) consortium, open data-driven AI innovation and export-ready frameworks.

“The LLM could bring together universities, MNCs, GLCs and start-ups to train sovereign models using ethically-sourced local datasets.

“Government agencies should anonymise and release datasets (health, law, commerce) to stimulate trustworthy AI development when adopting open data for AI innovation.

“We can also develop export frameworks and certifications – such as halal certification standards – so that AI models are certifiable for compliance, ethics and privacy, especially to build trust in Islamic and Asean markets,” he added.

When developing AI, Fong said the government must consider investing in three strategic pillars: talent, infrastructure and IP ownership.

He said Malaysia needs a strong pipeline of AI engineers, data scientists and computational linguists, supported through focused education, public-private partnerships and incentives to retain talent locally.

He added that Malaysia must also establish national AI compute infrastructure, including sovereign cloud services, GPUs and secure data centres to support large-scale model training and experimentation.

“IP ownership is essential to shift policies to prioritise ownership of algorithms, datasets and models – especially for sectors like finance, halal trade, cybersecurity and Bahasa Melayu/Nusantara applications where we have domain edge and regional relevance.”

“If we can develop AI that is context-aware for Asean or Islamic financial systems, Malaysia can lead in culturally and linguistically aligned AI exports, rather than competing head-on with Silicon Valley,” he said.

With partnerships like MyEG-BeiTou, where Malaysia contributes data and policy access while the core technology remains foreign-owned, Fong said the country must remain cautious when relying on foreign-based AI systems.

“While it may represent short-term digital progress by enabling adoption and government integration, it also sets a precedent: data flows out, while value flows into others. This is digital dependence masked as digital development.

“True progress means co-developing and co-owning the intellectual property. If Malaysians provide the data, the insights and the use case validation, then Malaysians must also hold equity in the resulting tech,” he added.