BATU PAHAT, April 19 — Johor recorded a revenue collection of RM575 million in March this year, marking a 30 per cent increase from RM400 million in the same period last year.

Menteri Besar Datuk Onn Hafiz Ghazi said the increase in revenue collection had enabled the state government to implement projects and initiatives, aimed at resolving issues faced by the people, including flood problems.

“I am pleased to announce the state government has agreed to approve cleaning and silt removal works along 20 kilometres of the Sungai Senggarang basin, involving an allocation of RM3 million,” he said at the launch of the Jelajah Orang Johor (JOJ) programme for the Parit Raja state constituency here today.

Onn Hafiz said the state government had also agreed to build a pump house and instal a hydraulic pump in Parit Bengkok at a cost of RM500,000.

He said the state government had provided several forms of assistance to help ease the people’s burden, including Ziarah Kasih, Bantuan Asnaf Dapur Kasih, Jualan Kasih, Bantuan Bilik Guru, Bantuan Klinik Kesihatan Bergerak, Bantuan Sokongan Ekonomi Wanita, Bantuan Laptop Siswa and Bantuan Mahasiswa Johor through Yayasan Pelajaran Johor (YPJ).

“When state revenue increases, we will channel it back to the people...that is our intention,” he said.

He urged all elected representatives, department heads and local community leaders to work together in addressing issues faced by the people.

“Do not work alone...keep moving as a team. InsyaAllah, nothing can stop us from achieving success,” he said.

JOJ serves as a platform for the state government to engage directly with the community, facilitating the delivery of government messages while also providing an opportunity for the public to share their views with relevant leaders and agencies.

The state government has allocated RM4 million to implement the programme across all 56 state constituencies this year. — Bernama

FAKE news has been crowding out the real thing ever since social media became a news distributor. This is all the more so when disaster strikes.

The most blatant example of this was on display when the OceanGate Expeditions' Titan submersible, with five tourists and crew members, lost contact during a dive to view the wreckage of the Titanic. A rescue mission was launched by the United States Coast Guard (USCG), but found no survivors. It was later revealed by the USCG that all onboard the Titan died in a mysterious implosion.

On June 25, 2023, one fake content creator seized the opportunity to make money by broadcasting an audio recording of screams on TikTok, claiming the cries of distress were from the victims calling for help. Except that they weren't. As Reuters later fact-checked, the screams were actually extracted from a video game called Five Nights at Freddy's. Within days, the TikTok audio attracted about five million viewers. Weeks later, it hit 20 million views. The content creator walked away with millions, courtesy of social media owners and advertisers, caring little for the tragedy that the family of the victims was going through.

When a massive earthquake hit Turkiye and Syria in 2023, killing more than 51,000 people, greedy content creators were busy uploading videos of old disasters, such as those in Japan and Greenland. Again, like in the case of the Titan tragedy, fake content creators were claiming the videos to be real-time footage, Reuters reported.

More recently, when tragedy struck nearer home in Myanmar on March 28, fake content creators were hard at work again. For weeks, they were uploading bogus videos after the 7.7 quake hit Mandalay. Most of them were not shot in Myanmar but in Syria and Malaysia, reports say.

Is there ever a way to stop these fraudsters? Yes, there is. But first, the nature of the profiteering game. It is a game of three players: the fraudulent content creators, the advertisers who incentivise them, and social platform companies that provide the sites for the content creators.

Start with the fraudsters. So long as the fraudsters are able to monetise their content, they will never stop. If media reports are right, content creators and social platforms last year shared US$26.28 billion in advertising revenues between them. What it means is this: curbing fake content is more the job of the advertisers and social media platforms.

Several studies by universities in the United States say that many advertisers are placing their ads unwittingly on fake content sites, thereby monetising them. They need to be more responsible. If they care for their brands, they will.

Of the three, the social platform companies, which together control cyberspace, have the greatest influence in curbing fake content. All are saying that they are doing their best to remove fake content, but the reality is many fake news and bogus videos get through.

Social platforms must do more in making it difficult for fraudsters to place their bogus content on their sites. Search engines can help, too. If they can block billions of "bad ads", they sure can block bogus content.

KUALA LUMPUR, April 20 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim spoke to leaders from both Myanmar’s ruling junta and the deposed civilian government during his two-day working visit to Thailand, leading to concessions between warring factions in the war-torn nation.

Analysts described it as a rare outreach effort, as the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) continues to ostracise Yangon following Myanmar’s military coup in 2021, which deposed an elected civilian government and sparked a civil war.

What was the meeting about?

Putrajaya supported the call to bar the ruling generals from Asean meetings after Yangon was accused of shunning the bloc’s peace plan. However, a powerful earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28 provided junta chief Min Aung Hlaing with a rare diplomatic window, including a visit to Bangkok for key meetings in early April.

The magnitude 7.7 earthquake killed more than 3,600 people, while rights groups estimate that the civil war has displaced more than three million people.

What came out of it?

A few concessions were achieved, including an extended ceasefire to allow more humanitarian aid into disaster-hit regions. Anwar told reporters in the Thai capital that the warring factions had agreed to avoid “provocation” as he hailed the meetings as a success.

Myanmar’s junta announced a 20-day ceasefire on April 2, following a similar move by the opposition National Unity Government (NUG) after the earthquake struck.

However, the junta has continued military operations in some areas despite the ceasefire, according to the United Nations and other groups in Myanmar.

Anwar suggested that his meeting was cause for optimism for more dialogue between the NUG and the junta in the future.

Why was Myanmar a top agenda item at the Bangkok visit?

There are multiple reasons, said Khoo Ying Hooi, associate professor at the Department of International and Strategic Studies, Universiti Malaya.

Myanmar has become not just a regional flashpoint but, for Anwar, a test of whether Malaysia can provide meaningful leadership amid one of Asean’s most protracted and morally complex challenges.

“Anwar’s decision to engage both the military junta and the NUG signals a strategic recalibration. It’s a calculated and controversial move to confront the diplomatic paralysis that has rendered the Five-Point Consensus ineffective,” she said.

“Rather than perpetuate a stagnant status quo, Anwar appears determined to reopen dialogue channels and reassert Asean’s diplomatic relevance.”

Why does peace in Myanmar matter to Malaysia?

There is a reputational cost of inaction as Asean chair if Anwar handles the Myanmar question lightly, Khoo said.

“Asean’s credibility has already been severely damaged by its failure to respond meaningfully to the post-coup violence in Myanmar.

“As chair, Malaysia cannot afford to manage the crisis simply; it must demonstrate initiative, particularly in the wake of recent devastating earthquakes that have further worsened conditions on the ground.”

Is this a win for the Anwar administration?

Anwar’s diplomatic gamble could go in one of two directions.

If successful, Malaysia may reclaim its standing as a key regional actor capable of shifting entrenched Asean norms, Khoo said.

But if it falters, Anwar risks facing accusations that it has helped legitimise military rule without any real progress, undermining both Malaysia’s credibility and Asean’s already fragile legitimacy, she added.

Ultimately, failure would reinforce the perception that the bloc is incapable of holding its members accountable.

NEW DELHI, 19 April: Sekurang-kurangnya 11 orang terbunuh manakala 11 lagi cedera selepas sebuah bangunan empat tingkat runtuh di timur laut Delhi pada pagi Sabtu.

Tragedi itu berlaku kira-kira pukul 3 pagi di kawasan Mustafabad, yang terletak di bahagian ibu negara India yang padat dengan penduduk.

Seorang pegawai Pasukan Tindak Balas Bencana Kebangsaan (NDRF), yang anggotanya dikerahkan ke lokasi, menyifatkan kejadian itu sebagai “runtuhan lapis ke lapis”, iaitu keadaan apabila setiap tingkat bangunan runtuh terus ke atas tingkat di bawahnya.

“Kami sangka mungkin sesuatu melanggar rumah kami tetapi apabila menjenguk keluar, keseluruhan bangunan sebelah sudah menjadi timbunan runtuhan,” kata seorang jiran seperti dipetik dalam laporan media tempatan.

— TVS