BFM :: The Bigger Picture

World Turtle Day is celebrated annually on the 23rd of May. In conjunction with this year's celebration, we speak to Chen Pelf Nyok, the co-founder of the Turtle Conservation Society of Malaysia, to discuss the need for turtle conservation and the threats being faced by these shelled reptiles, which include the exotic food trade, habitat destruction, global warming and the illegal pet trade.

The Ulu Muda Forest Reserve lies on the north-eastern flank of Kedah, bordering Thailand.
Despite its rich biodiversity, immense natural beauty and function as a water catchment area for the Muda, Pedu and Ahning dams, the Ulu Muda forest has become the latest victim of illegal and uncontrolled logging. We get the low-down of what's happening to the forest reserve from Hymeir Kamaruddin, an eco-guide and Director of Earth Lodge, who has been exploring and working in the Ulu Muda area since the late 1990s.

Dr George Lee returns to discuss the latest medical news. Expect deep insights delivered with generous humour. Joining him today is Fifa Rahman, Policy Consultant at Malaysian AIDS Council to discuss the socioeconomics and public policy challenges behind the idea of a vaccine for AIDS. Who will benefit from this vaccine? Who will get access to it? And will it promote promiscuity? 

By 1956, Singapore's left-wing anti-colonial movement had grown into a coherent multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic movement, that threatened the moral right to British rule in Singapore. The British, Labour Front President Lim Yew Hock, and PAP Secretary-General Lee Kuan Yew all saw the movement as a threat to be crushed (for very different reasons). But they had to find an excuse to destroy the movement, while pinning the blame elsewhere (ideally on each other). In this episode of “The History of Singapore”, PJ Thum explains how Lim Yew Hock attempted to destroy the left-wing anti-colonial movement, while trying to escape the blame. Please send questions, comments, and feedback to [email protected] or visit thehistoryofsingapore.com. Support the show at patreon.com/pjthum.

In its fourth cycle, the Sembilan Art Residency paired Anahita Ghazanfari and Syahbandi Samat. The former comes from Iran; the latter from Sabah. The artists share their experiences of the residency and tell stories of the works they individually and collaboratively produced.

The winner of this year’s Young Art Taipei 2016 tells what drives him. Although trained as an architect, he has given up that day job to use art to raise questions, challenge the status quo and express what he thinks isn’t always obvious.  Ajim Juxta explains ‘arcology’.

Ever felt like you or the objects around you are moving even nothing is moving? That could be an episode of vertigo. Hear all about it from Dr Shailendra Sivalingam, Ear, Nose & Throat, Head & Neck Surgeon from Sunway Medical Centre.

Soda contributes to poor dental hygiene, obesity and type-2 diabetes. How did products which are essentially nothing more than sugar and water become multi-billion dollar industries while driving up health care cost of governments around the world? Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University takes on this issue in her latest book "Soda Politics: Taking on Big Soda (And Winning)." We speak to her about soda taxes, marketing practices of Big Soda as well as how soft drink makers are responding to the overall decline in soda consumption worldwide. 

Yesterday, it was about women acting in roles written by Shakespeare. Today, it’s women singing. The inaugural music festival organized by The Gardens Theatre brings together a list of singers, each taking the stage on a different date. We have invited three of these performers in to give us a sneak peek and to help us anticipate what to expect.

We all know that the cost of cancer is high. Half of all cancer patients end up in in financial catastrophe  within one year of diagnosis. Is there such as a thing as affordable cancer treatment?