Good Things

“Makanan Adalah Hak Untuk Semua” (Food Is A Right For Everybody) is something that the folks of Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur firmly believe in. The group of volunteers have made it their mission to feed the homeless and the marginalised at the corner of Jalan Panggong, in Kuala Lumpur since 2013, and continue to do so, even today. We find out more about the organisation from Nurul Fitrah Marican and Quratulain Atiqah Norzahirul Anuar, who are both coordinators with Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur.

Image credit: Facebook / Dapur Jalanan Kuala Lumpur

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Suri Kempe is an activist who has been fighting for gender equality and equal citizenship rights for more than a decade. She’s been attached to various non-profits over the years, including Sisters in Islam and ARROW. She’s now the President of Family Frontiers. She joins us on the show to talk about her journey in activism, how 9/11 changed her life and her hope for the future of Malaysia.

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22 year old Hasan Al-Akraa was born in Aleppo, Syria. In 2012, he and his family had to leave their wartorn home country to seek refuge. Today, Hasan is a teacher and an activist fighting for refugee rights. He joins us on the show to share his journey, struggles and that time where he was placed in a detention centre as a 12 year old.

Image credit: Facebook / Hasan Al-Akraa

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Adam Adli has been a prominent political activist and human rights defender for more than a decade, before transitioning to frontline politics and joining PKR in 2021. He was recently elected as the PKR Youth Chief. He joins us on the show to talk about his journey in activism, his decision to join a political party, and that time he got arrested for lowering a flag of former Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak, and raising one representing students, in its place. He joins us to share his journey.

Image credit: @AdamAdli/Twitter

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As the world commemorated the International Workers’ Day back in May, women workers across Asia and the Pacific united to continue their fight for workers’ rights, and push for their demands on social protection and decent work. Feminist and labour organisations put forward their demands for employers and governments to provide decent work and living wages and ensure social protection of workers, and for governments to strengthen workers’ participatory democracy and ratify International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions No. 87 and 98 on rights to organise and collective bargaining, No. 189 (on domestic workers protection), 177 (concerning home-based workers), and 190 (on violence and harassment). We speak to activists Sring Atin of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union, Kamz Deligente of the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, and Edz dela Cruz, of the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development, to find out more.

Image credit: Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD)

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For close to four decades now, Five Arts Centre has been creating, experimenting and educating. Known for their interdisciplinary, and intercultural work, the collective have been bringing social, political, and cultural issues to the stage, through performances, exhibitions, creative seminars, research workshops and arts advocacy. They recently moved to a new space, and as they put it, "have been navigating some significant changes recently." On today's episode of Good Things, we look back at Five Arts Centre's history and long list of achievements, and find out some of their plans for the future, with June Tan and Mark Teh, who are both arts practitioners, activists and members of Five Arts Centre. 

Image credit: Japan Foundation Asia Centre

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The Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network is a regional network of organisations and individuals committed to working towards abolition of the death penalty in the Asia Pacific. On this episode, we’re joined by Dobby Chew, Executive Coordinator of the Network.

Image credit: Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN)/Facebook

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Doctors On Ground (DnG) is a medical non-profit organisation championing sustainability in community development and healthcare to marginalised groups in Malaysia. Though only established in 2021, the organisation has already assisted close to 700 families across the country. On this episode, we’re joined by Arissa Jemaima Ikram, founder of DnG.

Image credit: Doctors On Ground (DnG)/Notion

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Ahead of Teachers Day, we speak to two exceptional educators, Cheryl Ann Fernando and Samuel Isaiah. Cheryl is a Teach for Malaysia Alumni, who was also part of the National Education Council for Policy Reform in 2018/2019, and Samuel was named as one of the Top 10 finalists of the Global Teacher Prize 2020. Now working together in Pemimpin GSL, Cheryl as CEO and Samuel as Programme Director, the organisation is focused on improving school leadership. They believe that school leaders are the key drivers that will lead to school transformation and without great principals, there will be no great schools. They join us to share why they are focused on providing training and support to school leaders to improve their knowledge, motivation and skills, in hopes of increasing levels of achievement amongst students.

Image credit: Pemimpin GSL

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Transformative Justice Collective (TJC) are a collective founded on the principles of transformative justice, and committed to seeking the reform of Singapore’s criminal punishment system, starting with the abolition of the death penalty. They’ve been important figures in pushing the Singapore government to grant clemency for Nagaenthran Dharmalingam, who was unfortunately executed yesterday. In this episode, we’re joined by one of the founding members and organizers of the TJC.

Image credit: Transformative Justice Collective/Facebook

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