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The immediate response by countries worldwide to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020 was through the implementation of border lockdown, minimizing human movements. Malaysia launched Ops Benteng (Fortress Operation) via National Task Force (NTF) as the country faced high risk transmission through under-detected illegal movements of people across the land and maritime borders. Human trafficking and smuggling has been a great concern before the pandemic, and thus posing unprecedented challenge to the Malaysian border security agencies. This paper aims to analyze the role of security agencies involved in Ops Benteng, the extent of coordination and challenges faced by NTF while implementing the border control measures. The methods include structured interview with officials from Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), the Home Ministry (KDN), and the National Security Council (NSC). This studywill be the first in articulating duties and responsibilities, as well as cooperation between border control agencies and challenges faced in security governance structures. The author argues that the dilemma of compartmentalizing problems by the agencies working in silo and the bureaucratic hurdles that impede coordination efficiencies need to be addressed by all involved stakeholders and the implementation efficiency can be further enhanced by an integrated cooperation framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused impact on the survivability and performance of organizations. Some organizations were forced to stop their daily business operations and suffer losses to the point of having to reduce their workforce. Organizational performance and organisational profit was also affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the affected sectors in Malaysia is the tourism sector such as the hotel industry. Based on the current scenario, this paper highlights the organization's strategy in maintaining the survivability of the organization during the Movement Control Order MCO. This study uses a qualitative approach by interviewing two (2) Human Resource Managers in the hospitality industry at Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The results of this study shows that the Turnaround Strategy is an effective strategy, in re-stabilize the performance of the organization for the sake of its survivability. Among the measures taken by the organization is by implementing the Turnaround Strategy which consists of three (3) dimensions such as asset reduction, cost savings and revenue generation. The organization's actions effect the organization's performance from the aspects of communication, productivity and leadership in the organization. Previous studies by Mann & Byun (2017) and Santana et al. (2017) stated that Turnaround Strategies are effective in maintaining organizational survivability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This preliminary research requires theoretical aspects in perceiving the extent of the organization's direction in adopting the Turnaround Strategy, workforce reduction and its relationship with performance in an organization when dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This concept paper focuses on the challenges in healthcare volunteers by exploring the issues faced by Malaysia while conducting relief missions. This will help them to support and develop role plans to increase their preparedness in the field. This paper will explore the challenges faced by healthcare volunteers and their response to the COVID-19 crisis. The challenges of healthcare volunteers have tremendous increased when COVID-19 hit the world. The role of healthcare volunteers is undeniably important in the field and often said to be the backbone in humanitarian assistance especially to the government agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). However, the development of healthcare volunteering activities is still insufficient and at an unsatisfactory level. There are cases which the volunteers still lack of experience, training and preparation when dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. This issue can be seen clearly when the Malaysian government, through the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) urged for more healthcare volunteers to come forward to assist MOH against the COVID-19 pandemic issue. Healthcare volunteers tend to have the great potential to provide important and substantial support to governments and NGOs. This is hoped to be an inspiration to healthcare volunteers to help against the COVID-19 pandemic and to the social's well-being psychological and development of the community. In this concept paper, the author will explore the challenges in order to increase the preparedness of volunteers and their effectiveness in providing assistance to the community in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In facing the current global health issue of Covid-19 pandemic, the practice of social work using group methods has become very limited. The need for group work that involves meeting with group members becomes very challenging because the nature of group meeting should be avoided due it can pose a risk of Covid-19 infection. This paper discusses the challenges faced by social workers when using online medium as new norms working with group. This preliminary study used document analysis method. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling. The study data involved 20 fieldwork report documents by a total of 20 social workers who attended the Postgraduate Diploma in Social Work (DPSKS) program and had conducted group work for 7 weeks online. The group of clients they handle involved 20 groups of final age teenagers who are studying at a local university students. The total number of respondents was 94 people The data of this study were then analyzed using document analysis techniques. The results of the study shown that five main issues that were challenges when performing group online were; (i) unclear reaction of group members (ii) longer rapport (iii) technical problems (iv) lack of cohesion among group members, and(v) challenges of social workers coping. The creativity of social workers is highly recommended so that the implementation of group work can be maximized even if it is not like a face-to-face session. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of the spreading of world wide's COVID-19 pandemic are significant and noticeable. The economic downturn and the impact on health have had a huge impact on the human life. Both direct and indirect effects of the outbreak have profound implications, including mental health. This situation imperils the psychological well-being of individual due to feel uncertainty, insecurity and anxiety and isolation. In this review paper, mindfulness approaches that can be learned by any individuals to manage stress in order to cope with their psychological issues during pandemic of COVID-19 such as mindfulness techniques. Application of mindfulness technique can be taught online through psychological first aid (psychological first aid) in tele-mental health services. The tele-mental health services' user is encouraged to practice mindfulness technique by engaging in the self-dialogue while applying the mindfulness-training exercises that have been learned through psychological first aid. This approaches able to coordinate the higher mental function to calm an individual to the state of relaxation. This action will help the person in taking an advantage during the implementation of movement control order to maintain optimum health by self-care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]