Kids Don't Suck :')

In a time where it's clear that every person is being affected by the same thing, it only makes sense to try and come together. That means giving whatever food that can't be sold anymore is given to those in need (I'm looking at you, milk farmers for schools), and that everyone should be given shelter during a time where it's imperative to shelter-in-place (I'm looking at you, empty hotels). In the last drop of good news I could find in such challenging times comes from the epitome of innocence-- kids. This week, two kids in Hanoi, Vietnam used all their "lucky money" (money they have saved up over the years) and gifted 20,0000 masks to the UK due to shortages that the country is facing in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). Their names are Nhan and Khoi and they're adorable.

Vietnamese kids use lucky money to buy PPE masks for UK

Democracy > Orders to Stay Indoors

We are only a third through a year and it looks like we won't be seeing anything past our bedroom walls with the God-forsaken COVID-19 cases taking over the ways of life as we know it-- running errands, human touch, and elections. This, however, may not be the case for South Korea. In fact, showing up to something many would (sadly) opt-out for shows to have a staggering impact in numbers during this time. For the first time in 28 years, South Korea had a 66.6% turnout (about 44 million voters)-- over a quarter of the country's population. Most of the voters showed up in masks and gloves while keeping their distance, especially within the disinfected voting booths. This is the highest they've seen since the 71.9% turnout in 1992. The result of the election was a landslide; the Democratic party won the majority (180 seats filled in the National Assembly seating of 300), leading to the party gaining 60 seats. Nevertheless, this is still an unprecedented event considering there are about 10,000 infected, but about 7,000 recovering-- a noteworthy accomplishment in which the government receives widespread praise for the way they've been handling the crisis-- it's no wonder why the election had such a high turnout. This was also the first nationwide vote held in any highly infected country in the world since the outbreak began.

South Korea sees the largest turnout in almost 30 years in election held during coronavirus outbreak

So Malaysia Really Did THAT

I mean, I know it's on the dreaded Coronavirus, but it was too good not to pass up. It's also midnight o'39 and I already promised my sister we'd go running at 6am. Maybe my judgment is clouded. We'll see when we review this post in class. Anyway.
The country of Malaysia currently has more than 2,900 cases of individuals that are diagnosed with the Coronavirus and 45 deceased (on paper), making it the country with the most cases of COVID-19 in Southeast Asia. In the midst of this international pandemic, the Malaysian government's Women's Development Department posted a list of "tips" for women to help cope with the lockdown and self-isolation period we are all living in. These so-called "tips" included the following:

• avoid "nagging
• continue to wear makeup
• refrain from being "sarcastic" when asked to help with household chores
• avoid wearing "home clothes"

As you can imagine, this did not go over well for the Malaysian government. In fact, the Malaysian government had to issue an apology. Their intentions were to enforce positive habits and behaviors during this challenging time, but their advice almost seemed to be a cover for the increase in domestic violence due to these (necessary) shelter-in-place orders-- it seemed like a subtle suggestion to appease to abusers rather than find help. Unfortunately, this is not the first time the Malaysian government has been accused of sexism. More recently, in 2017, a member of parliament claimed husbands were "abused" when wives gave insults, withheld sex, and denied consent for Muslim men to take another wife during a debate on amending domestic abuse laws.






Malaysian government apologizes after advising wives to avoid 'nagging' during coronavirus lockdown