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In Malaysia, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the significant contributor to economic growth. However, since the coronavirus outbreak, Malaysian SME business activity has been severely slowed. Therefore, during this COVID-19 pandemic crisis, government business supports and assistances are indispensable because if SMEs go down, the country will be affected. This chapter will focus on supports and assistances provided by Malaysian government on SMEs impacted from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. The chapter will be introduced with the background of SMEs in Malaysia, follow by scenarios of COVID-19, the Movement Control Order imposed by Malaysian government, and the impact of COVID-19 on SMEs. Next the chapter will discuss the government supports and assistances and follow by government monitoring on supports and assistances given. Lastly, the chapter ends with suggestions for SME recovery of COVID-19 pandemic crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to provide commentary on the challenges and impacts of the pandemic crisis to higher education institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia. It also outlines mitigation plans, innovative strategies adopted and implications and recommendations to HEIs.

The research study uses a discourse analysis to examine the higher education challenges and impacts of the pandemic in Malaysia.

The findings reveal that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the higher education sector in Malaysia significantly. Both lecturers and students in HEIs are faced with multiple challenges in teaching and learning. The effect was more severe in East Malaysia due to poor Internet connectivity for online learning. Nevertheless, COVID-19 also provides an opportunity to HEIs to reconstruct the education system and establish updated programmes and assessments. The success of online learning to mitigate the impacts is still unknown.

The review of the literature and news are not comprehensive as the current pandemic crisis is not over.

This paper is presumably representing a frontier review with more empirical research studies to be conducted to investigate the extent of the current crisis affecting teaching and learning in HEIs in Malaysia. Though there were some commentaries on how the pandemic affects education, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first commentary paper in higher education realm in Malaysia.

The purpose of this study is to develop a new framework to measure waqif preference of waqf-based qardhul hassan financing in Malaysia.

Using a maqāṣid approach, this study’s data were drawn from 286 valid usable questionnaires to examine the effects of consumer, family, ummah and humanity factors on the preference.

The study found that the said factors sourced from Attia’s maqāṣid al-Shariah were instrumental in determining waqif preference to donate in waqf-based qardhul hassan financing.

Like others, this study’s findings are limited in terms of their generalisations and applications. The theory, context and variables used should be expanded in future works.

The results obtained are useful as a yardstick to enable the offered waqf-based qardhul hassan financing for improved mutual well-being among different classes of the wealth of societal groups in Malaysia. Furthermore, the results provide valuable insights into the direction for practitioners mainly managers involved in introducing waqf-based qardhul hassan financing as a new Islamic social financial instrument for poor and needy folks, at best.

This study is novel in terms of the proposed conceptual framework, where the waqif perspective comes into play.

To analyse Sukuk Prihatin (SP), the first-ever retail digital sukuk issued by the Government of Malaysia in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the national economic recovery plan. The issuance of SP was oversubscribed, even upsized, resulting in the government announcing its intention to issue similar types of sukuk in the future. In light of this, the purpose of this study is to understand the motivation for retail investors to invest in SP.

The purposive sampling method was applied via a self-administered survey, while the cross-sectional data were empirically tested using the SmartPLS 3.2.9 structural equation modelling. An integrated model of the theory of planned behaviour and social cognitive theories was used in determining investors’ intention to invest in SP.

The findings of this research revealed that attitude (ATT) towards SP investment (SPI), social norms (SN), perceived control (PBC) regarding SPI, sukuk features (SF), tax incentives (TI) and the spirit of unity and brotherhood (SUB) were significant determinants of investors’ willingness to invest in SP. This research also provided evidence for significant national pride-moderated interactions of ATT, SN, PBC, SF, TI and digitisation on investment intention.

The outcome of this study could assist governments and policymakers to structure sukuk and other debt-based capital market products to attract retail investors who would be willing to invest in the development of the nation in the midst of a crisis.

This study is the first of its kind to investigate various relevant predictors, which have been derived from behavioural, contextual and motivational perspectives. These predictors could influence investors’ perceptions of an innovative sukuk like SP, which was issued in the midst of a pandemic. The value of this study is its possible use by governments and policymakers to further develop debt-based capital market products that have the dual function of an investment vehicle and a source of funds for the economic recovery of a nation.

The study focuses on the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and policy measures implemented by the Malaysian government to address issues during this period. The study examines the impacts on the financial security and mental health of single-parent families in Malaysia.

The study used a cross-sectional survey to obtain data about single-parent families. To support the information collected with the survey, interviews were conducted with six representatives from six single-parent associations.

The study identified that policy measures implemented by the Malaysian government have helped improve the financial security of single-parent families. However, for mental health, the support single parents received was not able to provide better quality of life, as the majority were severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during lockdown, before they received any assistance from the government.

The study was conducted during the pandemic; thus, the study was not able to include a larger sample of single parents. Therefore, the findings cannot be generalized to explain nationwide issues. However, the study provides important insights into understanding the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on people, especially single-parent families.

The study confirmed that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected single parents in different ways. Financial security and mental health, the focus of this study, have provided a clear justification for how pandemics could affect people’s lives. Specifically, the situation was exacerbated after the implementation of movement control orders in Malaysia, and it has continuously affected the living conditions of single-parent families.

The study focuses on single-parent families, a group that receives less attention from the government and policies, although this group is recognized as one of the vulnerable groups. Understanding this context helps to provide a clear guide for how policies can be formulated and provides equal attention to assist this group in the future.

This study focuses on single-parent families. Few studies have examined this perspective using Malaysia as the study context. Moreover, the study analyzes the pandemic situation, and this area is still new and underexplored.

Using Anthropological methodology to achieve an understanding from a “local point of view” the purpose of this paper is to explore how safety is established in what clearly is, at least from the outside, a risky everyday. Floods are a recurring problem for people in Jakarta. However, for poor families living on river banks in the city center the floods also constitute a necessary condition to create a viable livelihood. The floods keep land grabbers and urban developers at bay and keep costs for living low. For the families living in these areas there is a constant “trade off” between safety and risk taking with the purpose to create a living.

The methodology applied in the paper is conventional Anthropological field work. The material is collected through participant observation and formal interviews. The data produced are of an experience near quality which is analyzed in terms of how it addresses and relate to the infrastructural policies of Jakarta and the specific project of normalizing the river Ciliwung.

The fact that people perceive floods as normal part of everyday life does not mean that they are unproblematic. Furthermore, the flood mitigation programs that authorities claim are “normalizing” the river system actually increase riverbank settler’s problems.

Additional long-term field work on conditions for political mobilization inside and outside the formal political system in urban Jakarta is needed to better understand why organized resistance seldom materializes and how to strengthen the bargaining capacity of local communities in urban planning processes.

As flood mitigation programs demand relocation of people, the argument forwarded in the paper is that general social and economic security systems have to be strengthened, enhancing capacity for mobility, before instigating flood mitigation programs.

Studies of disasters and risk often portray local subjects as either victims or losers. In this paper a more nuanced picture is presented. Vulnerability as well as livelihood is related to floods. The paradoxical situation is that people’s vulnerability as well as safety is related to their embeddedness in local socio-economic networks. People are dependent on specific networks and a specific space to produce a livelihood. However, the same embeddedness makes their livelihood vulnerable to the demands of being relocated. If relocated their networks are scattered. Just offering alternative living space and economical remuneration for lost property is not sufficient to replace a lost livelihood. Relocation without a new form for subsistence economy creates new forms of vulnerability. Hence, relocation rather than flood is perceived as the main danger by people living on river banks in Jakarta.

Even with the Saudi Arabian Government's discretionary measures to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the economic sectors were not spared from the damage. Thus, the paper aims to use a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's (KSA) economy, with a special focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and production. These influence the level of poverty.

The paper adopted the social accounting matrix (SAM) for Saudi Arabia built in 2021 by Imtithal Althumairi from Saudi Arabia's 2017 SAM. The model represents a snapshot of the economy and different flows that exist within the tasks and institutions. Two simulations (mild and severe) were conducted because of the focus on the distributional outcomes.

Decrease in job creation and economic growth were significant evidence from the study's findings. Findings show that more families hit below the poverty line because the negative impacts of the pandemic have shifted the income allocation curve. Findings show that the weakest of the poor are mitigated by government social grants during the pandemic.

The paper is restricted to the relevant literature relating to the impact of COVID-19 on Saudi Arabia's economy and evaluated using the SAM model. Moreover, the COVID-19 is still an ongoing scenario; thus, the model should be updated as data utilised for the operationalisation are made available.

The information from the suggested model can be suitable to measure the degree of the harm, and thus, the likely extent of the desirable policy feedback. Also, the model can be updated, as data are made available and formulated policies based on the updated data implemented by the policymakers.

Apart from the recovery planning of SMEs during the pandemic, the paper intends to stir up Saudi Arabia's policymakers through the macro-micro model to recovery planning and resilience of the economy with emphasis on mitigating unemployment.