Current Affairs

The Parti Keadlian Rakyat party elections have been in the news for all the wrong reasons. Results from the party polls, which were due on May 11, have been postponed due to disputes in 16% of divisions. However the re-polling process has itself has been tainted, with media reports even yesterday of violence in some areas. Violence has been taking place at the Parti Keadilan Rakyat polls. Questions about the party's structure, as well as its democratic ambitions, are being raised. We begin by asking, why the violence.

This report is by Aziff Azuddin.

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Malaysia has many laws that curb media freedom. One of them is the Sedition Act, which of late has been used by the government in an apparent attempt to cool tensions in the public sphere. And yet we call ourselves a democracy. Is control over the media undermining our democracy? These questions and more were posed at a forum last night entitled "Handling The Heat: Is Media Freedom A Requirement for Democracy?” The British High Commission Kuala Lumpur and the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus sponsored the debate. We bring you highlights.

This report is by Aziff Azuddin and Alexandra Lok.

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Calls to reassess the 1963 Malaysia Agreement follows popular disaffection with the position of the Borneo’s states of Sabah and Sarawak in the Federation. Ironically, the 13th General Elections underscored the importance of the two states for Barisan Nasional’s electoral strategy. Have the Borneo states received a raw deal? Last weekend, the Sarawak Association for People's Aspiration and the Borneo Heritage Foundation organized a forum on the Agreement. BFM speaks to Jeffrey Kitingan, also Bingkor state assemblyman (Sabah) and Chairman of State Reform Party about desires for a better deal for the Borneo states.

This report is by Alexandra Lok.

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Insurgents from the Sunni extremist group the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, known globally by its acronym ISIS, grabbed headlines over the weekend with gory images of massacres of Iraqi troops and Shite Muslims. Having taken the city of Mosul, the insurgent are making their way to the capital, Baghdad. Did the US invasion of 2003 spark this sectarian conflict; is the Saudi Arabian government funding it: and will Iran’s involvement in halting the advance of ISIS in Iraq deepen the perception that this is a sectarian conflict.

This is a report by Aziff Azuddin.

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Conflicts in the jurisdiction of the Civil and Syariah courts have been most visible in custody battles. But it’s the recent position of the Royal Malaysian Police has deepen the already contentious nature of the issue. Last Tuesday, the Inspector-General of the Police suggested that children in these custody battles be placed under the care of the Welfare Department. This followed the refusal of the police to act on a court order by the Civil Court that a Muslim father return his child to his Non-Muslim spouse. The IGP said that the police have chosen to take “a middle path” in these cases. In that case the Syariah Court had given the Muslim custody of the child. Central to the conflict is the question of which legal system takes precedence, and if the Police can refuse to act on a Civil court order. BFM spoke to Nizam Bashir. He is a Bar Council member and practicing lawyer in both the civil and Syariah court systems.

This is a report by Alexandra Lok

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A year after widespread protests as the World Cup stats, the Pew Research Center asked Brazilians what they think about conditions in their country.

The survey found 72% of Brazilians are dissatisfied with the way things are going, as well as the impact that hosting the World Cup will have on their country.

About six-in-ten think hosting the event is a BAD thing for Brazil, because it takes money away from schools, health care and other public services — a common theme in the protests that have swept the country since June 2013.

Melisa Idris speaks to Paulo Sotero, Director, Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, on why the current sentiment in Brazil so grim.

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Around the world, airport security procedures are constantly being reviewed and tightened following attempts of crime and terrorism. Just this week, the Karachi airport in Pakistan was attacked by heavily armed militants, who were disguised at security guards. Back home, security at airports nationwide were also beefed up, following the disappearance of Malaysia Airline flight MH370.

Melisa Idris speaks to Angela Gittens, the Director General of Airports Council International, on just how airport security has changed over the last few decades, especially after the security breaches in the aviation industry. ACI’s members operate over 1,860 airports all over the world.

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In one of the largest shows of public dissent in tightly regulated Singapore, last Saturday some 2,000 people participated in a protest against perceived inadequacies in the state-run pension system. The protesters were calling on the government to improve the Central Provident Fund (CPF), saying it lacks transparency and fails to meet their retirement needs. The issue became high profile after the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sued blogger Roy Ngerng for defamation for his postings on the CPF funds.

Vincent Wijeysingha is a civil activist and ex-politician from the opposition Singapore Democratic Party, who gave a speech at the rally. He tells BFM what the #ReturnOurCPF protest was really about.

This is a report by Lim Li Ann.

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For the past 26 years, IMD, an international business school in Lausanne, Switzerland, has issued a list of the countries it says are the world’s most competitive. IMD ranks countries across the world according to four broad categories — economic performance, government efficiency, business efficiency and infrastructure.

In this year's ranking, Malaysia has moved up to 12th position from 15th last year, in a list of 60 economies.

Melisa Idris speaks to Professor Arturo Bris, director of the IMD World Competitiveness Center, on Malaysia’s ranking and which category showed the biggest improvement.

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Malaysia has been criticised on the breach of non-refoulement for deporting refugees back to Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government has been pressured into investigating the war crimes committed during the war as there have been reports published on cases of alleged torture or possible death on those suspected to have LTTE links or sought asylum in fear of persecution. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has been thought to be disbanded since 2009 when the Sri Lankan forces killed their leader.

This is a report by Alexandra Lok.

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