About Me

Hi! I'm Law Yao Hua ('Yao Hua' is my first name), a Malaysian journalist in Kuala Lumpur. I have been reporting on the environment, ecology, medicine, and public health since late 2013.

I co-founded Macaranga, Malaysia's first and only environmental newsroom. With Macaranga, I developed editorial expertise in rainforest investigations and storytelling (browse stories here) — including work that stopped illegal logging projects and helped indigenous communities secure land rights in court.

I've won international and national awards on data journalism, investigative reporting, and longform narrative. I was a 2026 Fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University.

In addition to journalism, I was an insect ecologist (PhD Entomology, 2010) and lecturer. I love to teach. I first taught when I was 18. Since then, I have taught continually at schools, universities, prisons, and temples. Through workshops and mentorships, I have guided journalists from first-timers to mid-career editors.

I also volunteer actively and led a Malaysian charity organization (350 members) in 2021-2024.

Resume

My resume (updated May 2026)

What I am working on

Build and run a food journalism newsroom in Malaysia

After our partial success with developing reader revenue at Macaranga, I'm keen to try again and do better. The challenge is to build a newsroom that can provide our audience with products or services so useful that they eagerly pay us for them. In other words, this newsroom must help its audience solve problems and make life easier (or more enjoyable).

This time I want to do it with food reporting. Because Malaysians love to eat, kan? I'm also betting that it's easier for a food newsroom to provide utility than an environment newsroom could.

Survey the market for user needs

My first step towards building the food newsroom is to learn what my audience need. What prevents them from eating well at home? What stops them from cooking delicious and healthy meals with/for their families? If I could provide the solutions, how might they prefer to receive them? I intend to spend some months talking to MANY people.

My interests

Happy to chat about and work on data journalism, mapping, and reporting for narrative non-fiction. Also anything that might help me better understand the landscape and forces affecting food and people in Malaysia, e.g., nutrition, economics, public health, culture, urban planning, farms and fisheries.