FIVE years ago I gave a lecture titled “Healing the Malaysian Nation” to several different audiences. Asked coincidentally to deliver a lecture of the same name, I added “2.0” at the end.

Our vigilance and normalisation of mask-wearing is especially important given the recent uptick in local transmissions and the declaration of Kuching as a red zone again.

I SUSPECT it is a rare thing in any organisation for every member of staff, from the CEO to the company driver, to discuss and collectively shape its broad strategy.

A DOMESTIC weekend getaway to rehabilitate constitutions and provide fresh inspiration (incidentally in the parliamentary constituency of the fourth and seventh Prime Minister) unavoidably included much discussion about threats to the national constitution and the aspirations of particular individuals (especially those surrounding the eighth Prime Minister and those vying to be the ninth and 10th).

Lessons to be learnt from 222 young Malaysians debating on the economy and education.

The ‘unity’ asserted by our motto was a homage to federalism. Today, it also applies to unity across diverse communities in Malaysia. It is ironic then that our coat of arms has become a lightning rod of division.

LAST week I argued that improving our institutions should be according to our historical circumstances, laws and the desires of Malaysians, even though lessons should be taken from international best practices.

THE ongoing Black Lives Matter protests around the world have continued to fuel debate and introspection in politics, economics and culture. As a graduate of comparative politics and sociology, the phenomenon is making me revisit the many theories of government, institutional legitimacy and political philosophy that I read at the London School of Economics.

Regardless of political affiliation, the majority of Malaysians hope that the success of controlling the coronavirus will replicate in the government’s efforts to repair the economy and improve livelihoods.

Lessons from the US protests and the importance of national institutions in moderating, and taking the lead in addressing tensions and frustrations that citizens feel and wish to express.

NORMALLY, these corridors would permit young relatives to run, jump, chase each other or play hide and seek. Occasionally they wonder about the portraits on the walls and the trinkets in crammed cabinets: memorabilia of ancestors who once played in the same hallways. This year, the planks stayed uncreaked, sweat-free.

THE second paper by Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (Ideas) fellow Tricia Yeoh on federalism is titled “The Political Economy of Federal-State Relations” and makes for concise but fascinating reading on how ministries, agencies and other federal bodies have been established and empowered over and above institutions and mechanisms at the state level: “the politico-bureaucratic complex”.