COMMENT | Politicians got talent? From swaying hips to singing 'Kau Ilhamku'?

COMMENT | I first walked into the newsroom in the midst of the pandemic, so my earliest days at Malaysiakini can all be traced back through WhatsApp texts - from advice to hesitant banter - as I tested the waters with colleagues.

Often, I am reminded by sub-editors and more senior journalists that this is a vastly different world from when they started in the industry. For one thing, they had to be in the office every day.

Even the interns and trainees who came after my cohort saw the action that came with the job much more quickly than I ever did in my first few months working within lockdown conditions.

This went on for almost a year until our strictest of standard operating procedures were lifted earlier this year. We’ve since resumed returning to the office, with the newsroom being at its fullest just last week, right before many embarked on their journeys to their designated states for the general election.

Despite returning to the office, workplace interactions are often still heavily reliant on WhatsApp usage - sometimes even at the office itself.

On a normal day, our newsroom is akin to a library, with the occasional break of giggles from some and the odd phone calls being made on a loudspeaker.

Yesterday, my phone pinged during my shift. Someone had sent the work group a video that prompted those who covered the previous general election to cringe.

The video shows Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz...