The Anonymous TikTok That Pre-Dated The UM Storm

This builds on what I shared in my posts on Saturday and Sunday.

Nadi Daily reported on Saturday that, even before the Universiti Malaya student sparked controversy by describing the donations to Najib Razak as the "stupidest thing" she had ever watched, another Gen Z youth had already mocked the fundraising drive on TikTok. 

Although available news reports and social media posts did not explicitly identify this individual, the video received an overwhelming response – garnering over 228,600 likes, 62,600 shares, and more than 1,700 comments, according to screenshots obtained. (Note: The high number of likes on the TikTok video showed that the issue attracted the attention of many, although it did not prove that all viewers agreed). 

Fires in Indonesia that have sent toxic smoke and disrupted daily life across Southeast Asia have triggered the highest-level alert by the regional bloc’s meteorological monitor. 

The months-long pollution spell has closed schools, fuelled a surge in respiratory conditions and restricted outdoor activities in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Timor Leste. 

The eleven-country organisation’s Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) said in a notice on their website on Friday that they had activated “Alert Level 3 for the Southern Asean region” – the highest rung of a four-tiered alert system. The alert level is triggered when there is a “high risk of severe transboundary haze in the region” and is reserved for widespread moderate to dense smoke haze, observed over two or more consecutive days. 

The ASMC have already issued two Level 3 alerts this year, according to their website. Singapore ranked second on IQAir’s live ranking of the world’s most polluted major cities behind Baghdad on Saturday, with Kuala Lumpur third. All readings showed “very hazardous” levels”. 

Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) on Friday said they are officially issuing legal "preventive measure notices" to seven specific Indonesian companies under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act (THPA) and will take further action where warranted. 

Three of these firms – Bumi Andalas Permai, Bumi Mekar Hijau and SBA Andalas Wood Industries – received similar notices during the 2015 haze crisis. Those cases remain open. 

The other four companies that were issued notices for the ongoing haze are Paramitra Mulia Langgeng, Sumatera Alam Anugerah, Hutan Lestari Raya and Bangkanesia.

Only warnings? Much good that it will do!!

A day earlier, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim declared that the government have done "everything we possibly can" through official channels. What a joke!! 

What exactly is "everything"? Politely asking our neighbor to stop suffocating us while we shut down hundreds of schools and breathe in toxic air? If "everything" means playing nice while our lungs pay the price, then the strategy is working perfectly!! 

As Bersama's Lee Chean Chung (right) says: "Doing everything we can" is not a policy. Malaysians deserve action, not excuses on the haze".

The Renaming of Nations

Throughout history, the global map has been constantly redrawn, not just by shifting borders, but by nations choosing to redefine their own identities on the world stage.

In 2002, East Timor became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century and adopted the Portuguese name of Timor-Leste. 

Following this trend of official updates, Cape Verde changed its UN-recognized English name to Cabo Verde in 2013. 

The Kingdom of Swaziland rebranded as Eswatini in 2018. 

A year later, the Republic of Macedonia officially became North Macedonia. 

And more recently, Turkey registered its name change to Türkiye with the United Nations in 2022. 

Finally, on June 26, 2026, the Pacific island nation of Nauru reclaimed its traditional indigenous identity by officially becoming the Republic of Naoero. 

Malaysian women's doubles pair Pearly Tan-Thinaah Muralitharan are just one match away from winning their second World Tour title of the year after storming into the Taipei Open final on Saturday. 

The world No. 5 took 35 minutes to sweep aside American world No. 27 Francesca Corbett-Jennie Gai 21-15, 21-17 in the last four.

Timor Leste Joins ASEAN

Timor Leste joins the Association of South East Asian Nations today. 

It was ASEAN’s first expansion since the 1990s and was more than a decade in the making.

I am embarrassed because I was so wrong! I had erroneously thought that Liverpool were returning to winning ways! Ehm, they lost again! This time to a 3-2 defeat to Brentford yesterday. 

Arne Slot's men fell two goals (5, 45) behind against the Bees in the first half and then hit back through Milos Kerkez on the cusp of the interval. 

Brentford earned a penalty on the hour to restore their cushion, however, and Mohamed Salah's 89th-minute effort was not enough for the Reds to take anything from this game. 

And please, do not be fooled by the narrow 3-2 scoreline. Brentford were superior in every aspect, and had Liverpool somehow rescued a point it would have been grand larceny. 

I don't think I'm the only one who feels it but there was this nagging fear that the 5-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt was an anomaly in an otherwise appalling run of performances and results. 

That proved to be the case, with Liverpool back to an abject level against Brentford, showing a lack of control and fight throughout. 

It is now four Premier League defeats in a row and questions are being rightly asked of Arne Slot, who looked lost. When substitutions are being made every game, when players are being shoehorned into positions and every change looks like a desperate gamble, it tells you everything was wrong to start off with. 

And Liverpool are in sixth place ‒ four points behind leaders Arsenal.

Southeast Asia's Brutal Heatwave

Presently as the brutal heatwave grips Southeast Asia, it is not surprising to find Malaysia searing, scorching and sweltering. 

 

In an Instagram post by @seasia.stats, Kuala Lumpur has come in seventh place as the capital city with the hottest temperature at 34°C.

 

The steaming list features all the capital cities in the Southeast Asian region recording the highest temperatures according to the findings from weather forecast website AccuWeather’s update from last Monday (May 06). 

 

Meanwhile, Yangon, Myanmar takes the first spot with a blistering 39°C, Bangkok, Thailand in second place at 38°C and Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam in third place at 36°C.

 

The other capital cities include Manila, Philippines in fourth place (36°C), Phnom Penh, Cambodia in fifth place (36°C), Vientiane, Laos in sixth place (36°C), Singapore in eighth place (33°C), Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam in ninth place (33°C), Jakarta, Indonesia (33°C) in tenth place and Dili, Timor-Leste (31°C) in last place. 

 

“It is estimated that the temperature will continue to rise to 45.9°C, and the very hot conditions are expected to persist”, the post said.

 

Malaysia's S Sivasangari made short work of American Caroline Fouts to reach the third round of the World Squash Championships in Cairo, Egypt yesterday. She needed just 24 minutes to win 11-6, 11-7, 11-6. 

 

The London Classic winner's real test will begin when she faces the winner of the match between Egypt's world No. 3 Hania El Hammamy and France's Melissa Alves next.

Flag Bloopers

Malaysia is a painful embarrassment!

 

At the 29th SEA Games (August 19-30, 2017) in Kuala Lumpur, there were errors galore. If you don’t know already, I am referring to the flag bloopers.

 

It started with the commemorative booklet – which had the Indonesia flag the wrong way around. This made it appear as the Poland flag.

 

 

This received an avalanche of flak before Wisma Putra issued a formal apology to Indonesia for the "unfortunate situation".

And if you check out state broadcast station, RTM’s screenshot above, the Singapore flag is shown as Vietnam, the Thailand flag as Singapore, the Indonesia flag as Thailand, the Vietnam flag as Indonesia, the Myanmar flag as Philippines, the Philippines flag as Myanmar, the Cambodian flag as Laos, and the Laos flag as Cambodia.

 

Only Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam and Timor Leste had their flags correctly assigned to the rightful countries.

 

It means we got 8 out of 11 flags wrong in the medal tally broadcast on Day 5.

 

[The Star Online quoted RTM director-general of broadcasting, Abu Bakar Ab Rahim as admitting the mistakes during its news segments on Thursday and Friday].

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo via fandylo on Twitter

 

And not forgetting, a Malay daily had mistaken Poland’s flag for Indonesia’s.

 

Then a Malaysian swimmer, Keith Lim Kit Sern was shown in a television broadcast tagged with a Singapore flag.

Not only that – but he was labeled KUL (presumably for Kuala Lumpur) instead of MAS for Malaysia.

 

TV3, another TV station had a SEA Games schedule for football with what appeared to be a wrong flag attributed to Indonesia. The semi-finals match listed as Thailand-Indonesia showed the latter with a Myanmar flag.

 

Then again, the match should actually be between Thailand and Myanmar – so the flag was right but the listed country was wrong.

 

[And if you already didn’t notice, the second semi-finals match between Malaysia and Indonesia had misspelt our neighbor as “Idonesia”].

 

Malu lah, to see one event riddled with so many blunders. Malaysia Memang Tak Boleh!