In July, Fadhlina Siddiq was elected as Ketua Wanita Keadilan (Chief of PKR’s Women’s Wing). Fadhlina is an activist-lawyer who is particularly passionate about issues concerning gender equality and equity. Despite only joining the party two years ago, Fadhlina has been a supporter for a long time now and her dad, Siddiq Fadzil was the former president of ABIM and close confidante of Anwar Ibrahim. 

Fadhlina joined us on the show today to share her journey in politics, what she plans to do differently as the chief of PKR’s Women’s Wing and their plans for GE15. 

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There was a strong leftist movement in Malaysia pre-independence. In fact, leftist parties were integral in the fight against the British and gaining independence. On this episode, we explore what role leftist parties played in the 40s and 50s and how and why they eventually got squashed. What lessons can we learn from the past?

Image credit: Wikipedia

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The High Court has delivered its verdict on Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s corruption case involving a 1.25 billion ringgit solar hybrid energy project for rural schools in Sarawak, and found her guilty on all three charges.

So, what does this mean for our political landscape moving forward?

Joining us to unpack is Dr Oh Ei Sun, Principal Adviser, Pacific Research Center.

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A couple of days ago, the Federal Court upheld the guilty verdict in former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International case. Najib is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 210 million ringgit. While there may be some narrow escape routes left for Najib, the fact of the matter is this: UMNO’s Kleptocrat poster boy is currently behind bars, as we head towards GE15. So, what does this mean for our political landscape moving forward?

Image credit: Shutterstock / Afif Abd. Halim

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People often think of politics as just government and the people. But another vital aspect that most people don’t think about – billionaires. Who are billionaires/ultra-wealthy and what role do they play in our society/politics? We discuss with S. Arutchelvan, Deputy Chairperson, Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM).

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Recently, Kelantan Deputy Menteri Besar Datuk Mohd Amar Abdullah said the following in response to the Malaysia Happiness Index 2022: “We are among the happy states. Happy means that the people are satisfied, the people are happy even if there are problems. That is why we are included in the happiness index. We got a score of 7.0, slightly different from Terengganu’s 7.2. Compared to Selangor’s 5.0, it is much different. That is a state that is said to be intelligent, ruled by Pakatan Harapan, the land is abundant, the state is rich, but the people are not happy.” But is the happiness index a good tool to measure how well citizens of a particular state (or country) is doing?  We discuss this with James Chai, political analyst and Visiting Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute.

Image credit: Shutterstock

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Road to GE is a show that explores your power in deciding who serves you in government. 

On our first episode, we discuss the whole idea of going back to your hometown to vote for elections. Every time there’s an election in Malaysia, there’s talk of needing to take a couple of days off from work, traffic jams and increase in prices of flight tickets, as people rush to make it back to their hometowns to vote. This is something very normal here, something we’re all accustomed to. But what if this practice could be hurting democracy a little bit. 

Danesh Prakash Chacko, Director, Tindak Malaysia, joins us to discuss. 

Image credit: Shutterstock / Djohan Shahrin

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A lot has happened over the past four years. What has been the impact of the political turmoil of recent times, not just on democracy, but also on the everyday lives of Malaysians? In this episode we discuss a few different angles, including youth movements, voter disillusionment and anti-party hopping law.

Image credit: Firdaus Latif

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve probably heard of the word ‘Bitcoin’. If you’ve paid closer attention, you might’ve also heard things like Ethereum, Ripple, Dogecoin, etc. These are all different types of Cryptocurrencies, which apparently can make you turn your RM 10 into RM 1000 over a short period of time. It’s said to be the currency of the future, one that offers freedom from the shackles of centralised banking systems. But what’s going on here, really? Is Crypto really a tool to liberate yourself or just another method for the super rich to exploit the masses? We speak to Arveent Kathirtchelvan, Youth Chief, Parti Sosialis Malaysia. 

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Healthcare is a human right. Yet, healthcare has become increasingly expensive over the past two to three decades. Those who can afford, take on expensive private insurances – not because they want to, but because the only other alternative would be to visit inaccessible, overcrowded, understaffed and poorly maintained public hospitals, which are bleeding specialists to the private sector – while those who can’t afford, such as the B40, have to deal with the aforementioned underfunded healthcare system. On this episode we discuss these problems, possible solutions and take a look at Cuba (which arguably has the best healthcare system in the world) and examine what we can learn from them.

Image credit: Shutterstock / Ben Gingell

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