Category: Development EN

Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. So goes a popular quote. There is no end to education. Learning is a lifelong process. “Research shows that you begin learning in the womb and go right on learning until the moment you pass on. Your brain has a capacity for learning that is virtually limitless, which makes every human a potential...

Every school kid needs to know this...    

Parents, don’t fall into the comparison trap. Comparing our children – whether to siblings or peers – breeds insecurity, fosters sibling rivalry, produces stress and anxiety, and creates distance in our relationships. As a popular quote goes, “Comparison is the thief of joy.” No two children are the same. They have different talents and interests, develop at different rates, and have...

Frustrated by the growing danger of motor traffic, in the 1970s, residents of Delft's Tuinstraat (“Garden Street”) illicitly erected barriers to curb traffic. They inadvertently invented the woonerf (living street), a common space for play and socialization, especially for kids. (Melissa & Chris Bruntlett, author of “Building the Cycling City: The Dutch Blueprint for Urban Vitality”)...

This signage is a good reminder: When you’re driving, you’re not stuck in traffic. You ARE traffic. You ARE why congestion, bumper-to-bumper queues, and gridlock form. A typical response from traffic planners has often been “let’s widen the roads and build even more of them, too.” But new roads attract more traffic – a concept known as “induced demand”. As the great American...

The Consumers Association of Penang (CAP) urges the government to revert to prefabricated low and low-medium cost flats and apartments. Malaysia adopted a prefabricated building system (also known as ‘prefab’) in the late 1960s, building low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur and Penang, being the first Asian country to do so. Rifle Range, Kampung Melayu, and Noordin Street Ghaut flats in Penang;...

The Benefits Go Far Beyond Literacy by Hannah Sheldon-Dean Parents hear it all the time: it’s important to read to your kids. But why exactly is that? And does it matter how – or when, or what – you read to them? It makes sense that being read to would help kids learn to read themselves, and it’s true that being read to supports that crucial learning process. But the benefits of reading...

Consumers Association of Penang welcomes the proposals in the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the 12th Malaysia Plan to promote economic prosperity, wipe out core poverty, fight corruption, improve the quality of life of our people, and address the climate crisis. The plan will remain only a plan unless it is implemented efficiently and effectively to achieve the desired outcomes.  It is encouraging...