The fifth decade of life witness changes in achievement, success and health. Some changes may be invigorating and exciting, others can be difficult and challenging.

AFTER winning three by-elections in a row – the Cameron Highlands MP seat and Semenyih and Rantau state seats, can the opposition make it 4-0 in the parliamentary seat of Sandakan?

IMAGINE that you are going into business for the first time. You are setting up a shop and have learnt that no premises can be used for trade, business or industry without a licence from the relevant local authority.

YOU must be from another planet if you have never heard of K-pop group BTS. They are the biggest boy band in the world right now and have even been compared to The Beatles. Yes, the Fab Four themselves.

TUN Dr Mahathir Mohamad ma­­naged to take a breather last weekend. He seemed to be in a light-hearted mood after watching a preview of a documentary on the May 9 election that returned him to power for a second time.

AL-JAZEERA columnist Belen Fernandez wrote an article arguing that the intense outpouring of grief and emotion at the burning of the cathedral of Notre Dame – an inanimate object – was “misplaced”, compared to the suffering of tens or hundreds of thousands of human beings around the world.

MUHAMMAD Rofiqul A’la is a jovial and portly thirty-nine year old farmer and kyai (or ustaz) from Jember in the densely populated province of East Java. Kiyai Rofiq as he’s called in his village is also part of the reason that Joko Widodo (or Jokowi) was able to surprise Indonesians and the world, in last week’s Presidential elections.

THE Pakatan Harapan government could end up like Lou Bega’s Mambo No. 5, Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy and Sir Mix-A-Lot’s Baby Got Back if it doesn’t handle reforms properly.

I READ with a heavy heart some of the responses to the Notre-Dame Cathedral fire. Barely a month has passed since the Christchurch mosque shootings, where the res­ponse by Kiwis led by Jacinda Ardern was one of compassion, action, and grace; and here I am reading vile, insensitive responses made by the very community of faith shown that compassion.

First impressions of this immense and curious country with a fascinating culture.

Malaysia is performing a delicate balancing act between two superpowers.

DESIGNING effective public policies in Malaysia is often a thankless job. I spent 10 years in government, intermittently, and one thing I realised pretty early on is that while a lot of effort is made to craft good public policies, it is almost never appreciated.