By The Rakyat

Social media – expectation: a way to interact with friends and family. Reality: cyberbullying, an epidemic that has made life miserable for a large number of people, especially youths. Last year, Malaysia ranked second in Asia for cyberbullying among youths. In this episode we look at cyberbullying and how it affected a student, an influencer and an adult, with one case leading to an eventual suicide. Listener discretion is advised.

Malaysia is back on Lockdown! And to celebrate the third time that this is happening in space of 15 months, we decided to thank all wonderful Malaysians who made this lockdown possible with an episode dedicated Crowding Culture where in recent months, a large number of people decided that they would stand for hours just to show off and be part of the hype train. 

We look at three of the most recent incidents: Uniqlo’s Roadside Store, Taco Bell in Cyberjaya and McDonald’s cash grab of the year, the BTS Meal. 

Bring some tissues and a prepare a bedpan because we promise, you will be 100% offended.

Zoo Negara is back in the spotlight, but for all the wrong reasons. In 2020, reports began coming in of the Zoo’s poor financial status thanks to the first MCO. While it survived, the Zoo was then faced with allegations of illegally selling animals (oh deer!), and most recently, social media went abuzz with accusations claiming that the zoo was not only filthy, but its animals were malnourished, and its staff lazy. 

The boys did not just talk about the Zoo for this episode, they also visited it. And you’ll never guess what they found out …

This week, we look at Undi18, which allows youths 18 and above to vote during elections. Its recent delay caused uproar, as a number of politicians have hinted at an upcoming General Election, meaning that 18 years old, who are able to own property, start families and even pay taxes, are exempted from voting unless the election happens after the law is implemented in September 2022.

In this episode, the boys look at the age old dilemma of vernacular schools that has been on debate since the issue first started when politicians needed a dead horse to beat on in an effort to trigger Malaysians. They look at the source of vernacular schools, whether vernacular schools are a road block to national unity and what the actual problem might be.

Recently, the Malaysian government launched the National Unity Action Plan (Blueprint) 2030 which aimed to strengthen unity among Malaysians. 

However, racism still exists among Malaysians, especially when it comes to house renting. So in this episode Yee Hong, Andrew and Nat attempt to to wade through the murky issue of rental racism. 

They look at how Malaysia's supreme law, the Federal Constitution's laws against racial discrimination doesn't apply among citizens, how the government's upcoming Residential Tenancy Act might not help in curbing racism and whether landlords have a right to pick and choose who can live in their homes.

On our first ever episode we look at Sugarbook, the app that has been on the minds of many Malaysians while also discussing the finer points of "sugaring", and whether the sugar-daddy, sugar-baby relationship is as bad as everyone is making it to be.

In this episode, Yee Hong, Andrew and Nathaniel introduce themselves and talk about how By The Rakyat started, what it aims to do, its direction as a new show in a sea of so many other podcasts while also giving a tease for Episode 1.