Today's countdown includes:

5. This year's theme for Sabah's harvest festival, better known as Pesta Ka'amatan is "Kaamatan Beyond Food Security". We hear about the celebrations from Ariff Adi Putra, a research associate at the Institute for Development Studies - and from Kapayan Assemblyperson Jennie Lasimbang.

4. Foreign cable-laying ships will now be officially exempted from the cabotage policy. In addition, the exemption extends to ships transporting cargo between Sarawak and Sabah, Labuan and the Peninsular. We hear Dr Rais Hussain, former Chairman of MDEC, on how Malaysian's flip-flop treatment of the policy has impacted the country's economic prospects.

3. Amnesty's annual report reveals 2023 had the highest number of executions in the past decade, increasing by 31% from 2022, with the biggest culprits being Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Iran. We hear from Tham Jia Vern, a criminal justice policy researcher from HAYAT for her insights on where Malaysia stands on this front.

2. A global study reveals that Malaysia tops a list of countries that consumes the most microplastics. We reached out to two Professors from the University of Nottingham Malaysia; Kang Nee Ting, Head of the School of Pharmacy, as well as Christopher Gibbins from the School of Environmental and Geographical Sciences to help us understand the microplastics that plague the nation.

1. Our top story: Social Protection Contributors Advisory Association of Malaysia has criticised the government’s handling of EPF withdrawals, comparing it to “stealing from the poor to benefit the rich”. Professor Dr Ahmed Razman Abdul Latiff, an economic analyst from the Putra Business School weighs in on the pushback.

Image credit: SIVStockStudio, Shutterstock

Produced by: Sudais Ferhard, Alia Zefri

Presented by: Lee Chwi Lynn, Sharaad Kuttan

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Categories:  politics,  international,  government

Tags:  sabah harvest festival,  executions,  spcaam,  sabah and sarawak,  peninsular,  amnesty,  death penalty,  microplastics,  malaysia ranking,  epf,