General

In this week's show, shortages in semiconductor manufacturing and the resurgence of COVID in the region continues to ravage the global automotive supply chain, the MotoGP skips the Malaysian GP and Toyota wins the Le Mans 2021. We take an early Pit Stop in Part 1 as Daniel discusses barn finds: what to look out for and what it might cost to restore one.

In Part 2, we go through the car launches, starting with the chic Renault Arkana , the pricey Land Rover Defender and the divisive Genesis GV60. Finally in Part 3, Daniel brings us an unlikely comparison between two great small crossovers in the RM250k Volvo XC40, and the RM174k Mazda CX-5 2.5 Turbo.

Take Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, add murder and opera... and you have Annette, a film telling the story of a comedian and an opera singer, and how their lives are changed by the arrival of their first child. In this episode, we review the film, its performances, soundtrack, and what it's like watching it at home, as it drops on Amazon Prime.

Josil and Harry had planned meticulously to fly back to Malaysia from Bangkok for their daughter’s birth, so that she could get Malaysian citizenship. However, travel restrictions during the pandemic meant that Harry, as a foreign spouse, couldn’t enter the country. The couple look back at how they had to choose between letting Josil return to Malaysia alone to deliver their first child, and staying together as a family.

This is part of a series highlighting the impact of our gender-biased laws for citizenship. Listen also to Myra and Kangwa’s story, where the couple share how their family is coping with their daughter’s non-citizenship status.

This podcast was produced in collaboration with Freedom Film Network, and with support from Family Frontiers.

Prime Minister Dato Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be announcing the new Cabinet lineup for his government this week, and we look into what the ideal Cabinet would look like. First, we discuss the potential of having a more technocratic government. Next, following the calls for an East Malaysian to manage the portfolio for Rural Affairs, we explore what it takes for us to identify the right people to fill specific minister posts. And finally, we look into why we need better gender representation in the Cabinet.

Image Source: zmpixes, Shutterstock

The government has set new entry requirements for the Malaysia My Second Home Programme, including a bump in monthly income requirement to RM40,000, and an increase in minimum fixed deposit to RM1m. Several groups have called these changes excessive - Dhanya Nair tells us more.

Image Source: AR, Unsplash

The Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games kicked off yesterday, with 22 of our Paralympians scheduled to compete after a year's delay. We check in with our contingent on the journey of our national team in getting there, and how they are doing.

Image Source: lev radin, Shutterstock

As the number of people vaccinated in Malaysia and globally continues to climb, we are now hearing more about “breakthrough infections”, or infections among people who have been partially or fully vaccinated. How concerned should we be about this and is this because of the Delta variant, which is much more transmissible than other variants of the virus? 

Immunologist & virologist Prof Dr Shamala Devi Sekaran joins us to shed more light on this.

Image source: Shutterstock 

They're a symbol of national pride, of bravery, courage and regalness. The Malayan tiger is prominently featured in our national coat of arms, and Malaysia's football team is also affectionately referred to as ‘Harimau Malaya.’ But the Malayan tiger is also officially listed as Critically Endangered under the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. According to WWF-Malaysia, there are less than 200 Malayan tigers left in the wild here in Malaysia. Why are their numbers still dwindling, despite long and concerted efforts to protect them? What more needs to be done? We discuss this and more with Christopher Wong, the Tiger Lead of WWF-Malaysia.

Image source: Shutterstock 

Freedom of Information of a citizen’s right to information, is a democratic right. As the saying goes “the control of information is the tool of the dictatorship.” Unfortunately, in Malaysia, despite calling itself a democratic nation, freedom of information as a legal provision is only offered in two states - Selangor and Penang. 

Recently, the folks at UNDI18, have launched a campaign focusing on the Right to Information. Charlene See, Programme Lead of UNDI18 joins us on the show to discuss.

Image source: Shutterstock 

Online accommodation platform Airbnb has said it will temporarily house 20,000 Afghan refugees at no charge to help them resettle across the world.

Image Credit: Moma okgo | Shutterstock