Current Affairs

According to the Ministry of Health, last year marked the highest number of new organ pledgers in the country, with 29,500 people registering with the National Transplant Resource Centre. However, the ministry says this is still insufficient to address the nation’s shortage in organ supply.
In the following interview, Dato’ Dr Zaki Morad, chairman of the board of directors at the National Kidney Foundation and consultant nephrologist, discusses the organ supply shortage, commercial transplantation and  the government's initiatives to resolve the issue.

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Last year saw the founding of the Sinar Project, a non-partisan open source platform for online applications to improve transparency, governance and citizen involvement. The initiative, which features applications such as the Bill Watcher that tracks new Parliamentary bills, and the Corruption Issue tracker, was founded by three Malaysians, namely Khairil Yusof, Yuen Chi Lian and Swee Meng. Khairil is also one of the speakers at the upcoming TEDxKL on July 14th.

In the following interview, Sinar Project’s co-founder Khairil, who has a background in economics, talks about what sparked the idea for the initiative, the applications and features that have been developed thus far, as well as the challenges Sinar Project faces in providing useful information for Malaysians to make informed voting decisions in the next GE13.

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On June 12th, the Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) launched its latest “Watching the Watchdog” media monitoring project, which will see 50 media monitors analysing the media coverage of the 13th General Elections in Malaysia. This will be the third media monitoring project for CIJ, after the 12th GE in 2008 as well as the by-elections in Batang Ai, Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang in 2009.

In the following interview, Masjaliza Hamzah, executive officer at CIJ talks about the mechanics of the media monitoring project, what it hopes to achieve and whether the recent Cabinet decision to allow political parties to broadcast their manifestos is a sign of  free and fair access to media.

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Previously, BFM spoke to Andrew Khoo of the Bar Council on the employment rights of people living with HIV AIDS. (Check out the interview podcast here)

In the following interview, Dr Ilias Adam Yee, exco member of the Malaysian AIDS Council and clinical coordinator for research in AIDS at Universiti Malaya, talks about the employment challenges of people living with HIV/AIDS. He shares his medical perspective on the myths about transmission of AIDS and productivity of workers living with HIV AIDS, as well as the biggest barrier that prevents companies from adopting HIV employment policies to protect the rights of people living with HIV AIDS.

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According to the Ministry of Health, there were more than 83,600 HIV cases involving individuals aged 20 to 49 up from 1986 until September last year. This represents a segment of the Malaysian workforce, many whom continue to face discrimination in employment because they have HIV/AIDS.
In the following interview, Andrew Khoo, Bar Council co-chair of the Human Rights committee, discusses the employment rights of people living with HIV/AIDS, whether current legislation in Malaysia is sufficient to protect the rights of people living with HIV AIDS and what can help improve the employment problems for people living with HIV AIDS.

(BFM also spoke to Dr Ilias Adam Yee, exco worker of the Malaysian AIDS Council and clinical coordinator for research in AIDS at Universiti Malaya, on the employment challenges faced by people living with HIV AIDS and why employers don't have HIV employment policies. Click here for the interview)

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According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, a total of 156 people have died under Malaysian police custody from the year 2000 up until last year. Why do these deaths continue to happen and what must be done to prevent more custodial deaths?

In the following interview, E Nalini, executive director of local NGO SUARAM, shares why the NGO is questioning the reasoning by police when accounting for deaths under police custody, why the medical report alone is not enough to prove the police's credibility and the need for a Royal Commission of Inquiry to probe into the issue.

(BFM also spoke to Andrew Khoo, Bar Council Human Rights Committee co-chair for the legal rights of detainees under police custody. Click here for the interview podcast)

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Andrew Khoo, Bar Council Human Rights Committee Head talks about deaths under police custody, shedding light on the legal rights of detainees and suspect, whether there is a sufficient legal framework to investigate custodial deaths in Malaysia as well as the impact of the recently passed Security Offences Bill on the issue.

(BFM also spoke to E Nalini, executive director of SUARAM, on the human rights concerns behind deaths in police custody and the investigations into custodial deaths. Click here for the interview podcast)

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In the 12th General Elections in 2008, Pakatan Rakyat took over the state governments of Selangor, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan. With the 13th General Elections set to take place this year, how do Selangor and Penang state governments stack up?

In the following interview, Tricia Yeoh, author and former research assistant to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim, shares findings and observations from her latest book ‘States of Reform’ launched on June 9th, which reviews how the Selangor and Penang state governments have fared since March 2008.

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More than 4,000 Malaysian medical students are expected to graduate annually from 350 universities worldwide over the next few years, as more medical schools open up locally and institutions overseas offer lower fees for medical courses. Critics believe the large number of housemen will adversely affect the quality of future doctors, as housemen will have less clinical training experience.

In the following interview Dr Milton Lum Siew Wah, member of the Malaysian Medical Council and former president of the Malaysian Medical Association discusses the perceived decline in the quality of local housemen, the issues they face as well as the bigger picture of medical manpower planning in Malaysia.

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For World No Tobacco Day 2012, the World Health Organisation called on national leaders to be extra vigilant when dealing with increasingly aggressive interference from tobacco players who try to undermine government anti-tobacco policies.

Today on Current Affairs, Kathleen Tan speaks to Dr Susy Mercado, Team Leader of the World Health Organisation Tobacco Free Initiative, for her thoughts on tobacco industry interference.

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