The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the operation of Malaysian public universities and infinitely affected the way academics work. It is a devastating challenge where academics in the field of creative arts strived to cope with a transition from shifting face to face studio-based teaching and learning activities to online teaching and mentoring. This gave rise to a sudden change for them to carry out their administrative duties full-time at home and to re-adjust to alternative academic activities during the cordon sanitaire. This article describes the experiences and unusual situations faced by the academics, as well as their responses to this crisis in different dimensions starting from the initial stage of the Movement Control Order until the period they resumed work in the university office. The discussion proceeds with how the global pandemic has affected their teaching routine in the field of creative arts at present with a focus on music and film specialisations. This phenomenonderived ethnography significantly employs self-conscious observation along the online teaching process uniquely conducted for a few respective courses in designated Malaysian public universities when the pandemic-triggered disruption was experienced. With a discussion only limited to observation based on the data gathered for the teaching component, the authors hope to recommend a practical approach in reinvigorating academic practices during and post COVID-19 period.

This article aims to examine the representation of Japanese occupation of Malaya in films produced by Shaw Brothers during the Golden Era of Malay cinema, namely "Sergeant Hassan" (1958) and "Matahari" (1958). Currently, films depicting the past are relatively less prevalent in Malaysia, and scholarly analysis is comparatively less conducted on such films. Hence, the authors try to analyse how the films, in a given context, which reconstruct and reflect the historical past are experienced by the society at large. Bearing in mind that the films are based on a similar subject (Japanese occupation as its backdrop), it is important to determine why different receptions were registered from the audiences on both films. This prompted the authors to examine the reasons why these two films received a different level of popularity from their contemporary audiences (in the late 1950s). In this article, both the textual and contextual analysis will be employed: the former method is used to interpret the meanings constructed through the film's text and promotional materials for both films. The latter would explore the historical circumstances that shaped both the production and reception of the films. This is mainly through promotional materials as well as secondary sources through interviews conducted by third party researchers who had interviewed Shaw Brothers and those who had experience working with them. The findings of this article indicate that the Shaw Brothers were ambitious with their films projects about the Japanese Occupation by widening the promotion of "Sergeant Hassan" to a wider audience and not limited it solely to the Malays 1. By capitalising on the historical pasts that the contemporary audiences (in the late 1950s) had personally experienced, Shaw Brothers had embarked on the complex relationship of socio-political and economic conditions which had also shaped different receptions towards these films.

Kebebasan media tidak pernah dipinggirkan dalam wacana dan perbincangan ilmiah. Baru-baru ini, indeks kebebasan akhbar di Malaysia telah dilaporkan jatuh dua kaki tangga ke kedudukan 147, berbanding dengan 145 pada tahun sebelumnya (Reporters Without Borders, 2014). Perkara ini telah menunjukkan betapa pentingnya untuk pengkaji meneliti ruangan kebebasan media, khususnya terhadap kewartawanan dan pemberitaan bahasa Inggeris di televisyen tidak berbayar (free-to-air television), iaitu TV2 dan NTV7. Berita bahasa Inggeris yang dilaporkan di keduadua televisyen telah dijadikan sampel kajian dan rujukan dalam kajian ini. Walau bagaimanapun, kajian ini bukanlah sebuah kajian kuantitatif yang melibatkan kajian analisis kandungan. Namun, artikel ini menggunakan analisis konteks yang menumpu kepada asal usul kewartawanan di Malaysia dengan meneliti dasar dan akta negara ini seiring dengan pemilikan saluran televisyen di Malaysia. Seterusnya, sampel kajian telah dianalisis berdasarkan daripada pemerhatian terhadap mitos-mitos seperti nasionalisme dan perpaduan kebangsaan. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa output berita yang bertindak sebagai agen penstabilan dan pembangunan kebangsaan berkait rapat dengan kawalan dan pemilikan terhadap televisyen di Malaysia. Oleh itu, usaha dalam memperolehi ruang kebebasan media merupakan suatu proses yang berterusan dan hanya akan berhasil dengan melangkaui kesemua isu yang dibincangkan dalam artikel.