Malaysia should look into a 'green recovery' for the economy

With the climate crisis causing droughts as well as floods and other extreme weather events, some countries are attempting a ‘green recovery’ from Covid-19 – Pakistan, for instance, has hired tens of thousands of people who lost their jobs in the pandemic to plant trees. — AFP

I didn't light any candles on my birthday this year. No candles, no cake and definitely no party. How to celebrate in such grim times? If I had lit a candle at all, it would have been for those who have died from the dreaded C-disease. There would have been more than 17,000 candles at that point if I was to mark all Malaysians who have lost their lives to the pandemic.

Instead, what I did on the day was to mull over the state of the nation since we share the same birthday. Malaysia's National Day on Aug 31 also felt muted this year. It felt like the country was limping through its birthday as a shell of its former successful self. A once-roaring Asian tiger is now staggering, badly wounded in the war against this virus, shouldering a battered economy, growing poverty and a fragile leadership, with the third prime minister in office in three years.