Current Affairs

Following the shooting death of a Bernama TV cameraman during an aid mission to Somalia on Sept 2, Mercy Malaysia has announced that it will still field another humanitarian aid team by year-end, to help alleviate Africa’s worst famine in history.

Professor Dr Mohamed Ikram Mohamed Salleh, Vice President 1 of Mercy Malaysia, shares from his experience of being on the ground at Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, where foreign relief aid is concentrated. He also talks about why the famine is the nation's worst over three decades, the sentiment of the local Somalis in Mogadishu and how local Malaysians can pitch in to help, beyond just giving money.

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Merdeka Center for Opinion Research's latest voters opinion poll saw the prime minister's approval rating dip to 59%, from 65% recorded in May 2011. The respondents, aged 21 and above, were interviewed via telephone between August 11-27. Respondents were selected through a random sampling method along the lines of ethnicity, gender, age and state of residency in Peninsular Malaysia.
Of the 1,027 respondents polled, 59% were Malays, 32% Chinese and 9% Indians.

Ibrahim Suffian, Executive Director of the Merdeka Center discusses the survey findings and defends his methodology.

Key findings from the survey:

(a)   59% of the Malaysians polled said that they were satisfied with Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak's performance in this survey which is 6% lower compared to 65% recorded in May 2011. Broken down into ethnic groups, the survey found 69% of Malays, 38% of Chinese and 69% of Indian respondents expressed satisfaction.

(b)   51% of the respondents felt that the country was headed in the right direction, down slightly from 54% in May 2011.

(c)   Economic related concerns have continued to rise, now comprises 38% of voters; this is markedly 14% higher than December 2010

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"I don't think there's a single solution to the world's energy problems," said Hector Ingram, founder of biocomposite company Ricycled that recycles rice husks into products. Assured investment conditions, such as the Feed-in-Tariff system for renewable energy in Malaysia,  is necessary to drive the adoption of biomass in Malaysia, because ultimately, businesses may have a green slant but they have to be profitable, he says.

In the interview, he talks about why Ricycled decided to focus on product manufacturing instead of energy generation, the profit margin comparisons, as well as the viability of biomass and other green energies in Malaysia.

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With Malaysia set to implement the Feed-in-Tariff system for renewable energy in December, many are concerned about how the initiative will impact the Malaysian solar industry players and consumers.

Ahmad Hadri Haris, former chief technical advisor for renewable energy at the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water*, debate these issues with Shamsudin Khalid president of the Malaysian Photovoltaic Industry Association.

They also discuss their views on SEDA's role and how SEDA approvals will affect the industry.

* Ahmad Hadri Haris has since joined First Solar as the Senior Director of Public Affairs for the Asia Pacific region.

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The ruling Democratic party of Japan is preparing to elect its new leader to replace Prime Minister Naoto Kan, following his decision to step down after 15 months of party infighting and criticism of his administration’s initial response to the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

The winner will become the country's next prime minister -- its sixth in five years. The candidates are former foreign minister Seiji Maehara, ex-transport minister Sumio Mabuchi, trade minister Banri Kaieda, finance minister Yoshihiko Noda and farm minister Michihiko Kano. 

Koichi Nakano, associate professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan, speaks about the leading contenders, and the challenges that awaits Japan's next leader.

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In the final part of our Merdeka Series on Current Affairs, "Many Voices, One History", we take you back in time to the eve of Merdeka Day in 1970, where Tunku Abdul Rahman delivered his last nationally-broadcasted speech as Prime Minister.

In this heartfelt speech, he announced that he will be stepping down after 2 years as chief minister, and 13 years as the first Malaysian Prime Minister. The Tunku also said he will be recommending that Tun Abdul Razak to replace him.

The speech also came one year after the 1969 racial riots. Tunku Abdul Rahman urged all Malaysians to "never, never forget" the incident, that he called "a social and mental earthquake – one that shook us to the core" and that "we must NEVER, NEVER forget"
Themes from the speech -- UNITY, GOODWILL, LOYALTY -- as still relevant today. "No matter what we are, we are ALL Malaysians."

Tunku Abdul Rahman's 1970 speech gave a preview to the Rukunegara, which was later proclaimed the following day by the Yang di- Pertuan Agong on Merdeka Day.

The five tenets were formulated in the wake of the May 13th 1969 racial riots.

1. Belief In God
2. Loyalty to King and Country
3. Upholding The Constitution
4. Soverignity of the Law, and
5. Good Behaviour and Morality

PROCLAMATION OF INDEPENDENCE 1957

In 1954, Abdul Rahman led a delegation to London to seek independence for Malaya, but the trip proved to be unfruitful. The British were reluctant to grant independence, using the excuse that there needed to be evidence that the different races in Malaya were able to work together and cooperate before independence could be obtained. Later in 1955 Abdul Rahman, along with Tun Sir Tan Cheng Lock and Tun V. T. Sambanthan, made a trip to London to negotiate Malayan independence, and 31 August 1957 was decided as the date for independence.

At the stroke of midnight on August 30th, the Union Jack was lowered at the Selangor Club Padang (now Dataran Merdeka) and the Malayan flag was raised. The Proclamation of Independence, read by Tunku Abdul Rahman, at Merdeka Stadium on Saturday 31st August 1957, as watched by 25,000 people.

This recording of his emotional but determined voice leading the cheers, have become a familiar icon of Malaysian independence.

BFM89.9 would like to thank the National Archives of Malaysia, especially the Memorial Tunku Abdul Rahman, for the audio recordings of Tunku Abdul Rahman's speeches.

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In this fourth part of our Merdeka Series: Many Voices, One History:

One of the country's top constitutional law experts Professor Emeritus Datuk Dr Shad Saleem Faruqi discusses the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Malaysian Constitution. Professor Shad is a senior professor of law at Universiti Teknologi Mara and visiting professor at Universiti Sains Malaysia.

In the interview he discusses:

(1)  The constitutional right to religious freedom

(2)  The conditions that govern the right to propogate one's religion

(3)  Whether the right for religious liberty includes the right to NOT believe, e.g adopt atheism, agnosticicism, humanism, etc.

(4)  Our constitutional right as individual citizens to freedom of speech

(5)  The rights of assembly and the legality of the rally on electoral refrom

(6)  The concept of Personal Liberty

(7)  The freedom to choose one's gender indentity

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Tan Sri Yuen Yuet Leng, former Deputy Director of the Special Branch and head of its secretive intelligence unit nicknamed "God's Little Acre", talks about his work during the Communist insurgency, and the 13th May 1969 racial riots. This is part two of the Merdeka Series 2011: Many Voices, One History.

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For the first part of our Merdeka Series: Many Voices, One History, we speak to Zainah Anwar, the author of the book 'Legacy of Honour', which traces the story of three generations of the Onn Family-- men who have influenced this country's history for well over a century.

In this interview, Zainah discusses the lives of three remarkable leaders — Datuk Jaafar Muhamed (the first Menteri Besar of Johor), Datuk Onn Jaafar (the founder of UMNO), and Tun Hussein Onn (the third Prime Minister of Malaysia). In researching the book, what she found similar in the three men was honour, integrity and a strong sense of duty in public service.

Zainah's father, Tan Sri Haji Anwar bin Abdul Malik, was a close friend of Dato' Onn Jaafar. Along with their companions Haji Syed Alwi bin Syed Sheikh al-Hadi and Mohamad Noah Omar, Dato' Onn founded the United Malays National Organization (UMNO)  as a means to rally the Malays against the Malayan Union. Dato' Onn took up the role of UMNO's president on May 1st 1946.

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Teh Chi-Chang, Executive Director of Research for Social Advancement (REFSA) discusses how consumers can be adversely impacted by the recent MAS-AirAsia tie-up. 

Under the comprehensive collaboration framework, Khazanah, which has a 69.5% stake in MAS, will take up a 10% stake in AirAsia through Tune Air, while the latter will acquire 20.5% of MAS.

REFSA believes the tie-up between MAS-AirAsia will impact consumers in terms of less frequent flights, higher ticket prices, poorer service levels and reduced job prospects. 

Reduced flight frequency

Consumers may be at the losing end as they may then have limited air travel options with less frequent flights

Higher Ticket Prices

Air fares will likely go up. Where previously both airlines would compete to offer the lowest possible fare, they can now collaborate to raise prices. Ticket prices can also be pushed up by reducing flight frequencies.

Poorer service levels

By eliminating healthy market competition, there will be less incentive to offer high service levels to consumers

Reduced job prospects

Airline employees will now have fewer job options, and likely smaller pay hikes. Collaboration between Air Asia, MAS and Firefly would mean fewer options for employees.

Chi-Chang also discusses concerns that the collaboration between both airlines may lead to cartel-like price-fixing of air fares, despite the anti-trust study and the Competition Act, which is set to be enforced next January.

REFSA is an independent, non-profit research institute providing information on social, economic and political issues affecting Malaysians, with the aim of promoting open and constructive discussions that result in effective policies to address those issues.

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