Arveent Kathirtchelvan of PSM Youth recently wrote an article exploring why Parliamentary Democracy will not be a solution to a lot of the problems, despite what many think. We have a conversation with him about what he thinks would be a better way to actually give power to the people.

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There seems to be quite a lot of noise coming from UMNO over the past week or so, from statutory declarations to the continuous war among factions that seems to be eating the party up from the inside out. So, what’s up with UMNO? Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs joins us to share his insights.

Image source: Ahmad Maslan Facebook, Shutterstock, Zahid Hamidi Facebook

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A few days ago, the Kuala Lumpur High Court rejected former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bid to stop a bankruptcy order, which was slapped onto him in April, for failing to pay a tax bill totalling 1.74 billion ringgit. But what does this all mean for Najib and our political landscape? Constitutional lawyer, Lim Wei Jiet and political commentator, James Chai, joins us to discuss.

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It looks like it’s shaping up to be a pretty hectic couple of weeks at the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s palace. His majesty wrapped up his first day of meetings with the head honchos from the opposition bench yesterday, with more meetings scheduled for today. On top of that, the YDPA is also set to convene a special Rulers’ conference next week. 

But what exactly is going on? And should we expect any significant changes in the coming months? Dr Bridget Welsh, joins us to discuss.

Image source: Anwar Ibrahim Facebook, Istana Negara Facebook, Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad Facebook 

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Many analysts and researchers have pointed out that our electoral system is highly flawed. That the British’s First-Past-The-Post system that we still use in Malaysia to this day is not only unfair to the people but also does not encourage diversity in our political space. Think of the seat negotiations that take place among coalition buddies before elections, or how you vote for the party with the strongest chance of defeating the incumbent, as opposed to a party that you necessarily agree with. Worst of all, is how the value of each of our votes aren’t equal, contrary to popular belief. 

On this episode, Yap Ming Yao, who’s a researcher at UNDI Saksama, joins us to discuss our broken electoral system and what we can do to fix it.

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For the longest time, DAP has been labelled, by some, as a pro-Chinese, evil party. But are things changing with a new wave of younger representatives in the party? On this episode, DAP Youth Chief Howard Lee joins us to discuss social democracy and the Future of DAP.

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On this week’s episode of Beyond the Ballot Box, we take a look at democracy. What does it actually mean in Malaysia? Qyira Yusri of UNDI18 and Sharan Raj of PSM, join us to discuss if elections should be held during a pandemic, the importance of protests, and how we can change the mindset of the rakyat, so that we know that we have the power to shape the country in our image, not the government/elites.

Image source: Sharan Raj's Facebook, EPA-EFE, Qyira Yusri's LinkedIn

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It’s been a few months now, since the 2020 Sabah elections. Few would deny that it was an exciting, heartbreaking and thrilling affair. The whole country was paying attention. But a lot of us here in the Peninsula, we tend to see things through the lens of National politics. (i.e. What does it mean for PH, what does it mean for BN, etc) But what was the Sabah elections about to Sabahans themselves? 

On the first episode of Beyond the Ballot Box, we’re joined by Bridget Welsh, Vilashini Somiah and Benjamin Loh, authors of the recently published “Sabah From the Ground: The 2020 Elections & the Politics of Survival,” to discuss the complexities and nuances of Sabah’s political landscape. 

Image source: Bridget Welsh's Twitter, Benjamin Loh's LinkedIn, Vilashini Somiah's NUS Academia

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