Data from the online booking platform Agoda shows that Ho Chi Minh City recorded the highest growth in searches from Thailand, reaching 134%, followed by Da Nang with a 58% increase. Other destinations such as Hong Kong (China) saw more modest growth.
SINGAPORE: A video capturing two young Malaysians saying they feel Singaporeans are more proud than Malaysians is making the rounds on local social media interest pages, forums and messaging groups online.
The video, which is entirely in Mandarin, is a street interview by the TikTok channel KayPohBros. In this video, the interview asks a couple, who are from Kuala Lumpur, about some of the differences between Singaporeans and Malaysians.
They were asked whether Singaporeans or Malaysians are more well-mannered, and the man answered, “Hard to say. I’m leaning towards Malaysia.”
They were also asked what the differences were between Singaporeans and Malaysians speaking Chinese. The woman replied that Singaporeans mix more English in when they speak Chinese.
When asked who is more proud, the duo agreed with a laugh, “Singapore.”
Interestingly, many Singaporeans reacting to the video online agreed. One commenter wrote, “Malaysians are indeed very friendly, you can chat with them very easily and have a good conversation.”
Others echoed similar sentiments, highlighting the warmth and openness they often experience when interacting with their neighbours across the Causeway.
Singaporeans and Malaysians share deep cultural, historical, and social ties, enjoying similarities in food preferences and language overlaps to humour, values, and everyday experiences shaped by a common past.
Cross-border movement has also strengthened these connections. Many Malaysians live and work in Singapore, while Singaporeans frequently travel to Malaysia for leisure, food, and family visits.
Some commenters noted that what may come across as “pride” among Singaporeans could also be interpreted as confidence shaped by the country’s rapid development, while Malaysians’ perceived friendliness may stem from a more laid-back social culture. Rather than being opposing traits, these qualities often complement each other in cross-border friendships and collaborations.
Ultimately, the video has sparked not just comparisons but also reflection on how closely intertwined the two societies remain. While lighthearted differences in behaviour, speech, or attitude may exist, many online agree that Singaporeans and Malaysians have far more in common than what sets them apart.
This article (Young Malaysians say Singaporeans are more ‘proud’ in viral street interview) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.
NONTHABURI Thai police have arrested a 33-year-old man suspected of murdering his 25-year-old girlfriend, a popular online seller and influencer, whose body was discovered in a ransacked condominium room in the Bang Bua Thong district, authorities said on May 3, 2026. The victim, identified as Panitsuda Hattadol (also known as “Dream”), a 25-year-old online vendor […]
Boyfriend Arrested for Murder of Popular Online Vendor and Influencer Girlfriend in Nonthaburi Condominium
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With Vietnam–India ties resting on a solid foundation, the upcoming state visit by General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and State President To Lam will play a pivotal role in shaping the next phase of relations toward deeper, more substantive and long-term strategic cooperation.
To be truly inclusive, public outdoor spaces must meet the needs of the entire population, regardless of age, physical ability or mobility.
Although many cities have adopted universal accessibility policies in recent years, it’s important to consider whether these policies have actually improved accessibility and the experiences of citizens who live there.
Public spaces can become a source of fatigue and stress for older people if their features are not properly designed.
Several fields of research in urban design, urban planning, and architecture offer valuable tools for understanding the level of accessibility in public spaces. Three dimensions are particularly relevant, since they directly concern the way a built environment meets the needs of people with motor, visual or cognitive impairments. These three dimensions — comfort, legibility, and geometric clarity — enable us to assess whether a space is truly designed for everyone.
As an architect, urban planner, and full professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal, I study the universal accessibility of public environments by identifying the physical and spatial dimensions that promote their equitable use.
This article is part of our ongoing series The Grey Revolution. The Conversation Canada and La Conversation are exploring the impact of the aging boomer generation on Canadian society, including housing, working, culture, nutrition, travelling and health care. The series explores the upheavals already underway and those looming ahead.
Environmental studies focus on how people live and use public spaces. According to Jan Gehl, a Danish architect and urban planner, a space suitable for pedestrians must provide protection, comfort and appeal.
Protection ensures safety, for example through pavements separated from vehicle traffic or clearly marked pedestrian crossings.
Comfort facilitates movement through features like flat, continuous surfaces, the absence of obstacles, benches, handrails and adapted access.
Appeal is based on a combination of physical and sensory elements, such as greenery, light and the presence of activities, which promote a pleasant experience for users.
These criteria benefit everyone, but are especially essential for older people or those with reduced mobility. Pleasant and comfortable spaces encourage people to walk more and take advantage of the city. That, in turn, promotes social inclusion and enhances well-being.
The pedestrian route in Parc Safari in Hemmingford, south of Montréal, is an example of a tourist development that prioritizes comfort.
Flat, paved surfaces and the absence of ground-level obstacles, such as uneven steps or steep slopes, ensure comfortable and unimpeded movement. To provide a pleasant and safe experience, it is essential to maintain uniform surfaces and consistent levels, which facilitate the passage of pushchairs and wheelchairs as well as the movement of people with mobility challenges.
Urban planning studies on the “image of the city” focus on how people perceive and navigate their environment. Kevin Lynch, an American urban planner who taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard, profoundly influenced urban design with his work how cities are perceived. His research has identified five elements that help people find their way around the city:
Pathways (streets, pavements or footpaths).
Boundaries (walls, rivers or railway lines) that demarcate a space that may be difficult, or even impossible, to cross.
Neighbourhoods recognizable by their atmosphere, function or consistent architecture.
Nodes (places of passage or gathering, such as a public square, a crossroads or a station).
Landmarks (visible features that help people orient themselves), such as a tower, a bell tower, a sign, or a distinctive tree.
Montréal’s Esplanade Place Ville-Marie is a good example of a place with these qualities.
The design, organized around steps that incorporate a ramp clearly visible from the pedestrian’s line of sight, reduces confusion and makes it easier to understand the connections among the Esplanade’s different levels.
That makes it possible for pedestrians to anticipate the continuity of their route, making movement more reassuring and pleasant. The clarity of this layout ensures that the Esplanade Place Ville-Marie is accessible to all.
When boundaries and landmarks are clearly defined, the city becomes more welcoming and easier to navigate, particularly for people who have difficulty with orientation or trouble following directions. This reduces the anxiety associated with walking in complex environments and enhances the sense of security.
For example, as part of the Bristol Legible City project in the United Kingdom, 97 per cent of visitors highlighted the tangible impact of clear and consistent urban design on the walking experience and user comfort.
Studies of spatiality analyze the form and geometry of urban spaces to understand how their organization influences human movement and behaviour.
Bill Hillier, a British architect and professor at University College London, is known for his syntactic approach, a method of analyzing urban and architectural spaces.
His work shows that people naturally move along clear, direct axes. Certain cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease or mild age-related cognitive impairment, can affect memory, attention and orientation. A geometrically clear urban layout eases orientation for these people and enables them to mentally visualize the spatial layout of the area where they’re walking.
Another important factor is the spatial enclosure effect created by the continuity of façades, fences or building lines, which fosters a sense of containment and security.
The most accessible public spaces are, therefore, often those with simple, linear routes that offer a smooth and predictable path. A well-organized layout makes it easier for elderly people and visitors to plan their upcoming trips, maximizing their enjoyment of a city.
In Montréal’s Old Port, spaces are clearly defined. Along Saint-Paul Street, a continuous row of building façades shapes the street and guides movement, with the view shifting as you walk. A low curb adds to this sense of order and makes the route easy to follow.
The elements of comfort, navigability and geometric clarity can guide urban designers, including architects, urban planners, landscape architects and engineers, in creating public spaces that are accessible to all.
Adhering to these criteria from the design stage helps avoid costly and late-stage adjustments while ensuring optimal comfort and safety for all users.
When high-quality public spaces are designed from the outset, it is possible to meet the needs relating to mobility, vision and cognition without designing the space for a single type of user. A thoughtful and inclusive design makes the city more comfortable, accessible and safe for everyone, particularly for an aging population.
François Racine has received funding from the Friends of the Parc Safari Foundation.
SINGAPORE: A social media post where a Singaporean woman thanked Singapore Airlines for the kindness the carrier extended during one of the hardest times any person can experience, the death of a parent, has gone viral.
Audrey Yap, who goes by @yourlobangsis on Instagram, wrote in her caption, “I will not forget this experience with Singapore Airlines. I don’t take this lightly, and I am happy to tell the world about it.”
Ms Yap explained that her mum died unexpectedly during a holiday in Vietnam in February. However, she had booked a trip to Shanghai 10 months in advance with her mum on a first-class Singapore Airlines Suite, scheduled for June of this year.
What SIA did for her was twofold. First, what Ms Yap appreciated was the hassle-free refund process the airline facilitated for her during her “time of overwhelming grief.”
“This was done easily via their call centre and email exchanges,” she wrote.
However, after the refund was processed, because some of the miles in her mum’s SIA account had expired, not all of the miles could be returned.
Ms Yap then submitted an additional request for the reinstatement of these miles. She added that she understood the country did not need to do so, but was thankful SIA did.
Now the amount the miles are worth, S$113, isn’t a lot when compared with the amount Ms Yap will pay for all the flying she’ll do in her lifetime. But how SIA treated her is causing her to continue to choose to fly with SIA, even if it’s more costly.
“For this alone, I’m so proud to be a Singaporean, and I love my national carrier, Singapore Airlines, which carries compassion and heart in its policies.
For S$113, you won a loyal customer because in the lowest moment of my life, in my time of need, you were willing to make an exception.
People over policy.
Now, take my money, Singapore Airlines,” she wrote.
Commenters on Instagram and Threads, aside from expressing condolences, were heartened to read her story, with some saying they had the same experience.
“I had 7 tickets booked in 2 separate bookings, my kids and I, and in another one, my parents. Unfortunately, before the holiday, I found out I had cancer and had to start chemo asap. Informed SQ and was expecting to only be refunded for mine, but SQ refunded for all 7 tickets in a week. All they asked for was a memo from my doctor. Truly the best airline,” wrote a Threads user.
“I had a similar experience of their compassion when my friend and I had to cancel our flight (booked with no free cancellation), however, due to my friend’s health crisis, they refunded her the full amount plus miles deducted. I also feel even if it is expensive, I’ll try to always take SIA if I can,” added a commenter on IG.
“I redeemed my flight, and my house caught fire 1 week-ish prior to my travel. I called them, and they changed it immediately to another day with no questions asked,” wrote another.
“Last year, after my short visit to PH for my cousin’s funeral, I flew with SQ. And I really do appreciate their staff who kept on looking out for me because I was crying so hard during the whole flight. The silent crying. The staff kept on asking if I needed something. They are really good and very compassionate. Kudos to SQ!” a woman wrote on Threads.
The Independent Singapore has reached out to Ms Yap for further comments or updates. /TISG
Read also: Vietnamese woman whose brother died thanked SIA staff for ‘humanity, kindness, and professionalism’
This article (‘Take my money’: Woman praises Singapore Airlines for compassion after losing her mother) first appeared on The Independent Singapore News.
BANGKOK, May 3 — Across Bangkok, aromas of garlic, chilli and grilled meat drift from roadside stalls and carts, but tighter controls on vendors threaten livelihoods and the street food culture that defines the Thai capital.
Convenient, full of flavour and popular among locals and tourists alike, Bangkok’s street food is one of the city’s signatures – where sizzling woks and smoky charcoal grills turn boulevards and sidewalks into open-air kitchens from morning until late at night.
But many street sellers in the foodie paradise face an uncertain future as the Bangkok government in recent years has moved to clear footpaths, improve order and relocate vendors from curbsides in packed commercial districts to designated market stalls.
“I am worried because we are here illegally,” said Looknam Sinwirakit, who was once fined 1,000 baht (US$30; RM121.45) for obstructing the street while selling 50-baht (RM6.07) fried glutinous rice cakes in the capital’s Chinatown.
One of Bangkok’s busiest tourist areas, the neighbourhood’s steady flow of customers is worth the risk of city fines, Looknam, 45, told AFP.
“Vendors need to earn a living,” she said. “It’s not fair just to evict us, but if they tell us to (leave) then we have to.”
Nearby, durian seller Wong Jaidee, who has sold the strong-smelling fruit for more than two decades, said he also feared being made to move.
“I don’t have any backup plan,” the 56-year-old said. “Bangkok is a high-priced city and we may not be able to cope.”
Time to move
Since 2022, the estimated number of mobile vendors in the city has fallen by more than 60 percent, with around 10,000 fewer now on the streets, according to data from the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA).
While dozens have moved to informal markets and hawker centres – using a model similar to Singapore, where food vendors are grouped in designated locations – many others have simply closed their business due to the stricter regulations or because they were no longer profitable, said BMA official Kunanop Lertpraiwan.
The municipality has mostly targeted vendors crowding main roads with heavy pedestrian foot traffic, while those on side streets and in areas popular with backpackers and other tourists were allowed more flexibility, Kunanop said.
“We give them time and communicate with them clearly,” he said, adding some sellers were given several months to find a new location.
“It’s not like we will move them tomorrow.”
The city is pushing more vendors to set up shop in one of five hawker centres opened in recent years – the latest in April beside Bangkok’s popular Lumphini Park.
With rows of food stalls and picnic tables, the new hub so far houses around a dozen vendors who previously sold food on nearby streets.
BMA encouraged them to relocate, and they now pay 60 baht (RM7.28) a day to rent a hawker stall.
Panissara Piyasomroj, who sold noodles to morning runners in the park since 2004, said moving into the centre meant better conditions, including convenient water and electricity access.
Under a roof to beat the heat, the 59-year-old said her business had been “upgraded” and “looks cleaner”.
‘Part of the culture’
But for other vendors, the prospect of moving from a familiar setting remains a concern.
Thitisakulthip Sang-uamsap, 67, has sold fried vegetable balls near Chinatown for more than 40 years and worries she could be forced to relocate.
“I live around here... if they ask me to leave, I won’t be comfortable,” she said, adding she hoped the government would show empathy for older vendors earning little income.
The crowded, bustling sidewalks and the smell of freshly grilled squid and other street treats are for many visitors a key part of Bangkok’s charm – and a cheap, tasty meal on-the-go is worth the hassle of a blocked path.
German tourist Oliver Peter said Thailand has one of the best cuisines in the world, noting his favourite, Pad Thai – the popular stir-fried rice noodles ubiquitous in Bangkok’s streetside woks.
“It would be sad if they go away,” he said. “It’s part of the culture.” — AFP
PARIS, May 3 — The latest developments in the Middle East war:
Iran hangs man
Iran hanged a man convicted of involvement in the killing of a security forces volunteer during anti-government protests, the judiciary said.
“Mehrab Abdollahzadeh’s death sentence was carried out this morning after completing the legal formalities,” said the judiciary’s Mizan Online website.
Gaza flotilla in court
Two foreign activists from a Gaza-bound flotilla who were brought to Israel for interrogation appeared before an Israeli court, a rights group defending them told AFP.
Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila were taken to court in the city of Ashkelon, according to Miriam Azem, international advocacy coordinator at the Israeli rights group Adalah.
Israel’s Lebanon warning
Israel’s military issued new evacuation warnings in southern Lebanon for villages beyond the area it occupies, despite a truce with Lebanon intended to halt fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The warning covers more than 10 villages and towns, including several in the district of Nabatieh, which lies north of the Litani River. Israel has stationed troops south of the river.
Iran museum
Iranian authorities plan to turn a bombsite at a university in central Iran into a museum about the impact of US-Israeli strikes, an official said.
“The current damaged site will be preserved as a war museum at the university to remain a document of the country’s scientific oppression in history,” said Zafarollah Kalantari, head of Isfahan University of Technology.
Trump says US numbers in Germany to come ‘way down’
US President Donald Trump said the US would withdraw more troops from Germany than was previously announced by the Pentagon.
“We’re going to cut way down, and we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000,” he told reporters yesterday, without providing details.
Earlier, a NATO spokeswoman said the alliance was seeking more information on the US decision, which came after German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Iran was “humiliating” the Trump administration in negotiations.
Trump casts doubt
Trump said he would review a new Iranian peace deal but cast doubt over its prospects, as Iranian media reported Tehran had submitted a 14-point proposal to mediator Pakistan.
“I will soon be reviewing the plan that Iran has just sent to us, but can’t imagine that it would be acceptable in that they have not yet paid a big enough price for what they have done to Humanity, and the World, over the last 47 years,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
Iran’s Tasnim and Fars news agencies said Iran had submitted a 14-point proposal. It reportedly includes ending the conflict on all fronts and enacting a new framework for the crucial Strait of Hormuz, according to Tasnim.
Three killed in Lebanon
Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency said Israeli strikes across southern Lebanon yesterday killed three people in Sammaiyeh in the Tyre district.
The Israeli military said it carried out strikes dismantling “approximately 70 military structures and approximately 50 Hezbollah infrastructure sites” across southern Lebanon.
Israel damages convent
A Catholic charity condemned what it called the “deliberate act of destruction against a place of worship” after a convent was damaged by Israeli forces in Lebanon.
The Israeli military confirmed a “religious building” was damaged by troops operating in the village of Yaroun and “houses located in a religious compound” were “damaged” during an operation to “destroy terrorist infrastructure”.
French Catholic charity L’Oeuvre d’Orient said troops “destroyed” a convent belonging to the Salvatorian Sisters, a Greek-Catholic religious order the charity is affiliated with. — AFP
KOOVAGAM (India), May 4 — For a few fleeting days each year, India’s often-shunned transgender community is welcomed and revered at a festival that is at once sacred ritual, celebration, and a refuge.
At the heart of it is the Koothandavar Temple where ostracised transgender community members from across India come to honour the Hindu deity Aravan – and to enjoy a brief oasis of freedom.
Several thousand attend the annual ceremony in Koovagam, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, a tradition rooted in millennia-old Hindu texts that has gained prominence in recent decades.
“I need a life like a bird,” said Thilothama, 34, who uses only one name, her voice steady amid the hum of drums and devotional songs.
“Freedom – to do what I want, despite being transgender.”
Thilothama, who works for Thozhi, a Chennai-based charity supporting transgender people, has spent more than a decade helping others find work and counselling those navigating rejection and uncertainty.
Her own journey has been shaped by both resilience and loss.
Facing opposition from her family over her gender identity, she left home and built a life within the transgender community.
Today she earns a modest income – but speaks with quiet pride about her independence.
‘My world’
For the past 10 years Thilothama has returned to Koovagam, where a beauty pageant and singing contests are held alongside religious rituals.
“I believe the rituals here bring good things,” she says, adjusting her sari.
She recalls caring for a friend’s bedridden mother, only to be barred from the funeral rites after her death.
“That was the hardest time,” she says.
The festival culminates in two days of ceremonies as Koovagam briefly becomes a rare space of acceptance.
On the first, priests tie a sacred thread around the necks of the transgender devotees, symbolising their marriage to the Hindu warrior god Aravan.
The next day, as devotees cry in mourning for his death, the thread and their wrist bangles are cut.
South Asia has a long history of people assigned male at birth but who identify as female.
In India’s last census in 2011, more than 487,000 people were members of the third gender – a designation the supreme court formally recognised in 2014, but whose members still face severe discrimination.
For Anuya, a member of the community, the change in how she is treated at the festival is striking.
“Here, people smile at me, speak kindly. The villagers who are participating in this festival believe that if they get blessing from transgender people, they will have prosperity in their life,” she says.
“So I am getting more respect, and in this way I feel more proud of becoming transgender.”
As night falls, music and laughter ripple through the village.
“Usually, I feel alone. Here, I see so many like me,” says Dhanshika, another member of the community, smiling as she watched friends dressed in their finest sari dresses.
“I feel this is my world.” — AFP
MAY 3 — Futures studies has often been treated as an intellectual luxury—something produced by a small circle of thinkers and consumed by policymakers at the top.
This perception is no longer sustainable.
In a world defined by overlapping crises—from artificial intelligence to climate instability and geopolitical fragmentation—the discipline must be recast as a practical tool for society at large.
The evolution of futures thinking can be traced to early pioneers such as Alvin Toffler and Heidi Toffler. Their landmark work, Future Shock, captured the anxiety of a world accelerating beyond human adaptability.
Published at the dawn of the information age, the book argued that technological and social change could overwhelm individuals, leading to stress and dislocation.
More than five decades later, this insight feels less like a warning and more like a description of daily life.
Similarly, John Naisbitt, through Megatrends, offered a broad mapping of societal transformation. His work influenced governments and corporations by highlighting the shift from industrial to information economies.
Yet both approaches share a structural limitation. They are rooted in top-down analysis.
The future is interpreted by a select group and then communicated outward. This risks reducing futures studies into a passive exercise, where societies merely absorb projections rather than shape them.
A more recent contribution challenges this model fundamentally.
In “Introduction to Islamic Futures Studies,” Ziauddin Sardar and Mirza Sarajklic argue that futures thinking is already embedded in everyday life.
Their central premise is disarmingly simple: ordinary people are constantly thinking about the future. Concerns about employment, technological change, or economic security are all forms of foresight.
This reframing shifts futures studies from an elite domain to a shared human practice.
A key concept they introduce is “polylogue”—a pluralistic conversation that cuts across cultures, disciplines, and civilizations.
In an age of “polycrisis,” where economic, environmental, and political disruptions reinforce one another, no single narrative can capture reality. Neither is there the certainty of “polytunities,” the readers must be warned.
This is not necessarily a feel good book but a clarion call to understand the past, present and future as a seamless whole.
The future must therefore be negotiated collectively, not dictated from above.
At the same time, the book issues a caution about the growing dominance of external knowledge systems.
Digital technologies—especially artificial intelligence—are largely designed and controlled by major powers.
These systems embed assumptions and biases that shape how knowledge is produced and circulated.
This creates what can be described as digital dependency.
Societies that rely entirely on imported frameworks risk losing their capacity to think independently about the future.
For regions such as Asean and the Gulf, this is not a theoretical concern. It is a strategic one.
Without indigenous foresight capabilities, they risk becoming reactive actors in a rapidly shifting global order.
The book also reminds readers that futures thinking has never been politically neutral.
Historical figures like
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, who wrote about Muslim societies in the 19th century, often framed their ideas within imperial contexts.
In urging Muslims in the Levant or Orient to rise up to reclaim their futures laid the agenda to break the Ottoman Empire apart.
Blunt’s connections to Winston Churchill underscore how knowledge production can align with power structures.
This historical awareness reinforces a key lesson: futures studies must always be approached critically, with an understanding of who is producing knowledge and for what purpose.
Malaysia occupies a distinctive position in this intellectual landscape.
For decades, thinkers like Ziauddin Sardar have contributed to the country’s role as a bridge between civilizations.
Initiatives linking global audiences to Islamic thought have demonstrated that alternative perspectives can coexist with dominant paradigms. However, the book is careful not to romanticise discourse.
The lived experience of Mirza Sarajklic—particularly his witnessing of the Bosnian War—serves as a stark reminder that ideas alone do not prevent catastrophe.
Without action, even the most sophisticated frameworks can fail to avert violence and instability.
The authors extend this concern to contemporary politics.
The resurgence of far-right movements across Europe signals how quickly political systems can shift.
Democratic institutions, often assumed to be stable, can be reshaped by waves of nationalism and populism.
Futures studies, therefore, must move beyond linear projections. It must grapple with sudden ruptures and nonlinear change.
What distinguishes this book is its ethical grounding.
Drawing on Islamic intellectual traditions, including references to the Quran and Hadith, the authors provide a moral framework for navigating uncertainty.
This is not presented as an exclusive worldview. Rather, it offers universal insights into resilience, balance, and engagement with diversity.
The life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is invoked as an example of leadership under uncertainty—where continuity and change must be carefully balanced.
Such lessons resonate far beyond any single tradition, however. Hence it is not quaint to see the book referring to the likes of Prophet Moses even; for that matter other great messengers of peace, even Adam and Eve.
The book also situates contemporary society within what it calls a “post-normal” condition.
In this environment, complexity is the norm, and predictability is the exception.
Challenges such as nuclear risk, environmental collapse, and technological disruption are interconnected. They cannot be addressed in isolation.
This makes futures studies----the authors insist they must be plural as future is not linear but multi-linear---not just relevant, but indispensable in a turbulent world.
Countries that define themselves as trading states, practically the whole world except North Korea, even if the latter trade in fissile and nuclear technology too, cannot avoid the importance of futures studies.
Importantly, the tone of the book avoids extremes.
It neither succumbs to pessimism nor indulges in technological optimism.
Instead, it offers a measured reflection on human vulnerability and capacity.
Without Future Studies there is no way a government can handle the brewing energy, economic and employment crisis that is about to hit the world due to war in places such as Ukraine, Iran, indeed, Sudan and Gaza too.
Readers are reminded that while uncertainty is unavoidable, human agency remains intact.
For policymakers, the implications are profound.
Futures studies must be embedded within governance structures. It should inform education, public policy, and institutional planning.
For Asean, this is particularly urgent.The region sits at the crossroads of great power competition, digital transformation, and environmental stress.
A reactive posture is no longer sufficient. Strategic foresight must become part of its diplomatic and developmental toolkit.
Ultimately, this book reframes futures studies as a collective endeavour.
The future is not something that happens to us. It is something shaped by our choices, values, and actions.
Moving beyond imitation toward participation is not just an intellectual shift. It is a necessity for survival in an increasingly uncertain world.
* Phar Kim Beng is professor of Asean Studies and director, Institute of Internationalization and Asean Studies, International Islamic University of Malaysia.
** This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Bangkok- Two Japanese men were arrested in Bangkok on suspicion of possessing methamphetamine, Thai authorities announced on May 3rd, 2026. The arrests took place on the evening of May 2nd in Soi Sukhumvit 33, an area popular with expats and tourists. Officers from the Immigration Bureau’s Investigation Division detained Mr. Yuya, 47, and Mr. Naoto, […]
Two Japanese Men Arrested in Bangkok on Suspicion of Possessing Methamphetamine
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Sa Kaeo – Thai authorities have secured court approval to detain eight Chinese nationals suspected of being senior members of a major scam network operating out of Poipet, Cambodia, after the group was caught attempting to enter Thailand illegally. The suspects, seven men and one woman, were arrested along with a Myanmar national on May […]
Eight Chinese Nationals Linked to Cambodian Scam Network Detained in Eastern Thailand
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