Beyond the Ballot Box

Teoh Beng Hock was once a promising young journalist and political aide to a member of the Selangor state legislative assembly from Pakatan Rakyat. In 2009, he was called in for a MACC investigation. He was later found dead on the rooftop of a building near the MACC offices. His unexplained death has sparked public outcry and ongoing calls for justice and accountability. 

However, 15 years in, there is still no justice for Teoh Beng Hock and no closure for his family.  On the 13-16 of July, the Teoh Beng Hock Association For Democratic Advancement will be having a Walk for Justice and a Memorial Night in honour of Teoh Beng Hock. 

We speak to Kenneth Cheng from the Teoh Beng Hock Association For Democratic Advancement. 

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Malaysia is becoming an ageing society and concurrently, there are changes in family structures. People are growing older, living longer, choosing to have less children or no children and unlike our grandparents' time, big families generally don’t tend to live under one roof anymore, for various reasons. This may not be an issue in and of itself but the problem arises because our current economic framework does not take into account these shifts, and unless changes happen quickly, there are going to be consequences. And the brunt of these consequences is going to be felt – or is already being felt – specifically by women. 

ISIS Malaysia recently published a paper that seeks to address this very issue. The paper is titled Building a Cradle-to-Grave Care Economy for Malaysia and is written by Lee Min Hui, Calvin Cheng, Shazana Agha and Anis Farid. In this episode, Min Hui joins us to unpack the findings of their study.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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How does a prosthetic limb turn a relatively sedentary person into an active para-athlete? Is it the prosthetic, or the willpower? Inspired by the story of 54-year-old Karunakaran Muttiah, a below-knee amputee who is now a para-archer, long-distance cyclist and mountain trekker, we explore the resilience and ability of the body to adapt, and even increase its performance, following an injury.

Image Credit: Shutterstock 

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The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) is a global grassroots movement aiming to end Gaza's blockade, address the humanitarian crisis, and support Palestinian rights. And they do so, interestingly… by sailing!

In this episode, we speak with James Godfrey, visiting from Australia, who volunteers on the international steering committee for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. 

The latest FFC missions are preparing to sail to Gaza in the coming weeks. One is a small boat which is stopping in European and Mediterranean ports on the way. The other mission is three ships - two cruise boats carrying hundreds of participants, including approximately 20 Malaysians, and one cargo ship carrying 5,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid.

To keep up to date on both Freedom Flotilla missions and follow the Malaysian participants sailing to Gaza follow Humanitarian Care Malaysia (MyCARE) socials on Instagram (mycare.hq) and their telegram channel (MyCARE). All the relevant information and links will be in the podcast description.

Image Credit: Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC)

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The European Union Parliamentary Elections took place from the 6th - 9th of June and saw far-right parties make big gains. The mainstream centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) maintained the most seats of any single group in the legislative body, but the far-right ultra-conservatives have now almost one-quarter of the total seats.  

So, how did this happen, and what does it mean for the future?

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Recently, the Bajau Laut community in Semporna, Sabah were evicted from their homes by authorities. The Indigenous stateless population saw their stilt and boathouses demolished and burned down, leaving them with nothing and nowhere to go.

So, why was this done? Is it because of national and state security, a reason so often given by the political elites? Well, a few days after the eviction, news broke that a 21-acre Housing and Urban Development Board (LPPB) land in Kampung Air, Semporna will be turned into a RM478 million township, to meet tourist demands.

So, what does peace and justice for the Bajau Laut community look like?

We speak to Wan Shakila Adiela Wan Azmi, Member of Borneo Komrad. Borneo Komrad is an initiative organization of students and young people from Sabah to build social advocacy such as education, culture and human rights. They run a school called 'Sekolah Alternatif' to empower Bajau Laut children and teenagers.

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There are about 189,340 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. These are only the ones registered under UNHCR, which means the actual figure is likely much, much higher. And it’s only going to go up in the near future, given the ongoing civil war in Myanmar, genocide in Gaza and conflicts on the rise in various parts of the world.

The question is, what can and should we do about it?

We speak to Dr Melati Nungsari, Associate Professor of Economics and the Deputy Dean of Research, Asia School of Business. Dr Melati has done plenty of research on refugee rights. The Asia School of Business & UNHCR also recently held a conference on Refugee Studies and Forced Displacement.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu Supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a shocking setback in the recent general elections. The BJP is still the most popular party in India, winning 240 seats in Parliament. However, they fell short of the 272-seat majority needed to form the government by themselves. This contrasts the past two elections in which BJP won comfortable majorities.

Although the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 283 seats collectively, enabling them to form the next government and Modi as the PM once again, the BJP will now depend on coalition partners.

The opposition coalition INDIA alliance, led by the Congress party and includes Tamil Nadu’s DMK, Kerala’s CPI-Marxists and various others, won 223 seats, surpassing expectations. The BJP has also continued to struggle to penetrate states in South India, winning only 1 seat in Kerala and 0 in Tamil Nadu.

So, what does this result mean?

We speak to Subin Dennis, an economist & policy researcher from Tricontinental Research India.

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On the 10th of June, the Malaysian government officially implemented the Diesel Subsidy reform, moving away from decades-old blanket subsidies. The Prime Minister has stressed that this move will save the government billions of ringgit annually and discourage smuggling and corruption. The government also said that the burden of removing these subsidies will only be felt by the T20 income earners and will not impact the B40 and M40. 

So, what are the potential long-term benefits of this reform and are there potential downsides? And what should the government do with the billions of ringgit they are projected to save from this reform?

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Israel has continued its destruction of Gaza and refugee camps in Rafah. Around 40 000 Palestinians have been killed, half of whom are children. Besides “weak” statements about “red lines” The United States of America, currently led by Joe Biden, has continued to give their full backing to Israel. 

But a couple of things for Malaysians to ponder. One, are we doing enough to help Palestinians? Two, why is it that in many parts of the world, the struggle for Palestinian liberation has reinvigorated progressive forces, but in polarised Malaysia, even this issue is used to sow division around racial lines?

We have a conversation with YB Nurul Izzah Anwar, Vice President of KEADILAN.

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