Each year from 25 th November to 10 th December the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence provides a space to reflect on the uneven progress across the world. The 2025 theme, “ UNiTE to End Digital Violence against All Women and Girls ”, is timely. It recognises that gender-based violence now takes place not only in homes, workplaces and communities but also in online spaces that shape how young people communicate, learn and work.    The evolving nature of digital violence   In...

Mei Sim Lai OBE DL giving her remarks during the launch of the UK Malaysian Film Festival 2025. As one of the flagship events of  The British Malaysian Society  the UK Malaysian Film Festival made its much-anticipated return on 27th October 2025 at the new Everyman Cinema Whiteley, in London . Now in its second iteration, the festival celebrates the vibrant resurgence of Malaysian storytelling on the big screen here in the UK. Hosting a Malaysian film festival in the UK represents not only an...

On Malaysia’s 68th Independence Day, I reflect not just on Malaysia’s journey, but on my own one shaped by Commonwealth ties, intergenerational service, and a city that raised me in contradictions. To be precise, this anniversary marks Malaya’s independence in 1957, when it became the tenth member of the Commonwealth. Malaysia as we know it today emerged in 1963 through union with Sabah, Sarawak, and Singapore (though Singapore departed in 1965). This layered history matters. It reminds us that