Current Affairs

Tomorrow is International Worker’s Day often also known as May Day or Labour Day. This year the issue of the implementation of the Minimum Wage policy is high on the labour movement’s agenda. Currently, minimum wages is implemented in various forms in more than 90% of the countries around the world. The Malaysian Trade Union Congress notes that some two million workers are still not being paid minimum wage. We also get a pro-business policy perspective focused on the impact of minimum wage on micro-enterprises and SMEs. SMEs account for about 97% of businesses in Malaysia. And some 77% of enterprises have less than 5 workers.

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US President Barack Obama has left Malaysia after completing a three-day state visit -- the first sitting president to visit, after President Lyndon B. Johnson nearly 50 years ago. But did the trip live up to its hype? What did it achieve? And what did it mean for PM Datuk Seri Najib Razak's administration? Melisa Idris gets the thoughts of Professor James Chin, Professor of Political Science and Head of School of Arts & Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia.

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On the eve of the visit of US President Barack H. Obama, we speak to Ralph Nader, an American political activist, consumer rights advocate and five-time Presidential candidate. We learn about Obama’s record on trade and workers rights, his relationship to corporate America, how US citizens have been disempowered and if there is hope for change.

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Anwar Ibrahim has withdrawn from pursuing PKR's presidential post, leaving his wife Wan Azizah uncontested. Factionalism is emerging in face of the four-way tussle for the deputy president's post. What is the party's game-plan and where is it heading? Running up to the party's elections, we take a step back to examine the players in the game.

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Earth Day Network's Theme for this year is Green Cities. In 2005, Malaysia launched a year long 'Green Nation' campaign that they claimed was successful. However, over 600 green spaces in Kuala Lumpur remain ungazetted. The future of a sustainable urban development rests on its weak policy on the environment, a grey area in Malaysia's vision for a greener country. Can our regulators act on what's necessary for the future?

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In our on-going series of discussions on ASEAN we speak to the author of “Can Asians Think?“ and “The Great Convergence: Asia, The West and the Logic of One World”. As a professed ‘fan’ of ASEAN Mahbubani dismisses critics of ASEAN’s model of regional cooperation adding that the regional grouping's contribution to dialogue between big powers in the Asia- Pacific is immense.

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People are asking tough question of the proposed Kidex Skyway - running from Kinrara to Damansara – and its stated aim to alleviate traffic congestion. While urban development undeniably comes with a price, the question remains not only about who pays that price but whether this the best solution for the well recognized problem. Anxious and angry residents have been doing their own investigations into various aspects of the project including what they call an inadequate Environmental Impact Assessment. Also troubling is what the approval process for the Kidex project says about Pakatan Rakyat’s Buku Jingga and its political promises.

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The rejection of a motion to debate a private members bill – Social Inclusion Act of 2014 - does not augur well for our parliamentary democracy says the lone socialist MP. The bill itself was not rejected on its merits but for what seems to be bureaucratic and procedural reasons. In our interview this morning we ask why this Bill was proposed.

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Searchers in the south Indian Ocean are now narrowing in on a series of 'pings', with a fifth signal picked up during search operations yesterday.

What does it take to search for these 'pings'? And what happens after the black box's battery runs out? Is all hope lost? Melisa Idris asks Pete LeHardy, from Phoenix International in Largo, Maryland in the US. Phoenix International is the company that operates and maintains the US Navy’s inventory of underwater search and recovery equipment, including the Towed Pinger Locator and the Bluefin 21.

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Today we talk to the people behind a new initiative to develop a commitment to participating in a democracy. The project is called the Pledge and Candidate Monitoring Project by Kuasa. Will State Assemblymen participate? Do voters have time in their busy day to think about who they voted for? And what will their 1st year report card finally tell us about really existing democracy in Malaysia.

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