Current Affairs

Bob Broadfoot, Managing Director of HK-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy, discusses Transparency International’s recent Corruption index, which shows Malaysia has been slipping the charts; the reasons for capital outflow from Malaysia and the dilemma Prime Minister Dato' Sri Najib Razak is facing in terms of reform vs the need for electoral support vs the need for resolution of Fiscal Imbalance.

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Dato Saifuddin Abdullah, Deputy Minister of Higher Education, explains why it is important to have more emphasis on teaching liberal arts in public universities, whether lecturers are spending too much time researching, and the type of PhD training that they are receiving. He says more can be done to recruit more American and European lecturers and also Malaysian PhD holders. One measure is to remove the need for SPM qualification in the case of Malaysians. Dr Ong Kian Ming at UCSI University joins us as guest interviewer. This is part two of Saifuddin on BFM series.

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Heiko Timmers, Nuclear Physicist at the School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences, University of New South Wales, discusses Malaysia's nuclear plans, with two nuclear power plants slated to be built by 2021, and whether Malaysia is ready to take on this task.
He discusses the steps that Malaysia should take in order to ensure that these two plants can be successfully and safely built,
He also talks about how Tepco handled the crisis in Japan, and what the Japanese government got right.
He also talks about corruption, and the necessity of oversight board that works in concert wuth the International Atomic Energy Agency -- and whether there are lessons that Malaysia can learn post the nuclear disaster in Japan.
He also talks about the current paranoia and fear over Nuclear and whether it is justified, and discusses the worst case scenario in a nuclear disaster.

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Professor Dr Chandra Muzaffar, the Chairman of Yayasan 1Malaysia, discusses ethnicity and race relations in Malaysia.

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Dato Saifuddin Abdullah, the deputy minister of higher education, explains his position why students should be allowed in politics, and what he meant when he said there were little napoleons running universities. Dr Ong Kian Ming, lecturer at the Faculty of Economics and Policy Sciences in UCSI, is guest interviewer.

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Teresa Kok, Selangor State Senior Executive Councillor for Investment, Industry & Trade, and Member of Parliament for Seputeh and State Assemblyman for Kinrara, discusses manufacturing as Selangor’s main focus in terms of investment and the reasons for it, the proportion of investments derived from local and foreign sources, the reasons for Penang obtaining more investment in value terms than Selangor, wat is Selangor’s main appeal as an investment destination. She also discusses the general elections, which are said to occur in 2012.

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Tunku Abidin Muhriz, president of the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs (IDEAS), talks about his book "Abiding Times", his thoughts on free market, the gaps in our democracy, and whether religion and democracy make strange bedfellows. This is part of the series "IDEAS on BFM".

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Professor Rohan Gunaratna, Head of the Nanyang Tech Uni Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, discusses the risk of Malaysia coming under attack by terrorists, how many occurrences of terrorist activities there has been, whether Malaysia is a breeding ground for global terrorists, whether Malaysia has adequate security/defence plans in place should the country come under attack, whether Malaysia has an active intelligence network to monitor terrorist activity, the cost of defending the nation against terrorist attacks and whether there any special precautions to prevent venues such as the Petronas Twin Towers from coming under attack.

He also talks about how closely authorities in the region and globally work together to prevent these attacks, whether there is a lack of awareness by authorities and the general public in managing this threat in Malaysia, and whether more funds should be routed to prepare the nation for terrorist attacks.

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Rosli Dahlan, partner at Lee Hishammuddin Allen and Gledhill, explains the rights of property owners affected by the construction of the MRT station and rail line, and when they can expect to be compensated.

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Yukiko Ogasawara, President of the Japan Times Limited, spoke about overcoming gender differences in the final part of our series for International Women's Day. The Japan Times is Japan's oldest English language newspaper; founded in 1898. She also talked about managing the father-daughter relationship as her dad,Toshiaki Ogasawara is Chairman and Publisher of The Japan Times, Ltd.

Gender difference in an Asian context only held her back as a child, as she was raised in Japan until 8 years old. She feels it's a confidence issue, and when she doubts herself, she faces challenges and gets on with it.

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