Good Things

Zero Waste Malaysia is a trailblazing non-profit that has been empowering communities to live sustainably and reduce waste for over eight years now. From a meeting of two like-minded friends, to a movement of over 50000 members, Zero Waste Malaysia continues to grow in strength, and we catch up with Irene Chooi (Education Programme Manager), and Tasha Sabapathy (Senior Programme and Communications Officer) to discuss the good work the group have been doing, and to find out more about their groundbreaking initiatives, such as the educational resource Trashpedia, and their educational Green Wira training programme. We also focus on how adopting the “5 Rs'' of zero waste - Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rot - can help simplify our lives.

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Andrew Morley is the CEO of World Vision International, an organisation focused on fighting hunger, poverty and climate change. Coordinating over 34,000 staff in nearly 100 countries, World Vision has provided aid to over 100 million vulnerable children and families. We spoke to Andrew Morley about his journey and World Vision’s various efforts to help the needy in an increasingly conflict-ridden global landscape.

Image Credit: addkm, Shutterstock

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From the beginning, organisms evolve from one cell, which divides and becomes new cells that in turn divide. This cell cycle is the key to life, enabling growth, development and reproduction. Sir Paul Nurse, Chancellor of the University of Bristol, dedicated much of his scientific career to studying how this cycle is controlled, and the gene that plays a decisive role in several of the cell cycle’s phases. This was a discovery that garnered him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2001, together with Leland Hartwell and Tim Hunt. We caught up with Sir Paul when he visited Kuala Lumpur recently, and asked him about life, curing cancer, and why science is important. (Sir Paul was in KL on 24 June to deliver a Nobel Laureate Lecture on ‘What Is Life’, organised by Akademi Sains Malaysia and National Institute of Biotechnology Malaysia.)

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Renowned Malaysian fashion designer Bernard Chandran is marking an important milestone in 2024 - working for 30 years in Malay Contemporary Fashion. Known for his innovative designs that blend traditional Asian elements with contemporary Western aesthetics, Bernard is a local and global icon with a unique vision, and impeccable craftsmanship. He has earned accolades and a dedicated international clientele, including royalty and celebrities, and over the decades, he has not only showcased his collections at prestigious fashion weeks but has also played a pivotal role in putting Malaysian fashion on the world map. We catch up with Bernard for a look-back at his illustrious career, and a look at his plans for the years to come.

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Dr. Wong Siew Te is a renowned wildlife biologist, tropical ecologist and CEO/ Founder of the Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre (BSBCC) in Sabah. Following his studies first in Taiwan, and then at the University of Montana, he has focussed his life's work on the Malayan sun bear, the smallest and least known bear species. In 2008, Dr. Wong founded the BSBCC to rehabilitate sun bears and reintroduce them to the wild, and the centre also educates the public about sun bears and their ecological importance. Beyond sun bears, Dr. Wong has contributed to various research projects and published numerous papers on wildlife conservation, raising global awareness about the need to protect sun bears and their habitats. Previously honoured as a CNN Hero in 2017 and a "Wira Negaraku" by the Malaysian government, his dedication to sun bear conservation is unmistakable. In May alone, we celebrated International Sun Bear Day, Endangered Species Day, and International Day for Biological Diversity, so we catch up with Dr Wong to find out more about all the good things and work he's been doing in the conservation field, protecting sun bears, endangered species and promoting the importance of biological diversity in our world.

Image Credit: Bornean Sun Bear Conservation Centre, Instagram

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Gibbons, also known as the singing apes, are endangered in Malaysia, but we don’t even know how many of them we actually have left across both the Peninsula and East Malaysia. Marini Ramli, also fondly known as Bam, has dedicated her life and career towards protecting these gibbons. She started the Gibbon Rehabilitation Project or GReP and later on the Gibbon Conservation Society to help rehabilitate orphan gibbons until they can finally be released back in the Malaysian jungles, and to create greater awareness about the vital role that these small apes play in our megadiverse ecosystem. In conjunction with International Day for Biological Diversity, she joins us on the show today to share her personal journey in conservation and the work that GCS is doing.

Image credit: Gibbon Conservation Society

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Fazley Fadzil is the Pro-tem secretary at Transit Malaysia, an NGO comprised of concerned citizens focussing on representing public transport users and advocating for their needs.

On top of that, if you’re a public transport user in Malaysia, you’ve definitely used a particular app by a private company. Highly reliable and the ultimate survival tool for public transport users in Klang Valley. Interestingly, it was Fazley and a bunch of other volunteers who made the app as functional and reliable as it is today.

Fazley joins us in this episode to share his story.

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The Malaysia Teacher Prize (MTP) was started to celebrate exceptional educators and unsung heroes in Malaysia, and is the first of its kind in our country to recognise teachers on a national scale, and provide a platform to scale their best practices. Now running for its third year, the competition, organised by Pemimpin GSL, is a localised version of the world renowned Global Teacher Prize, and seeks to highlight educators who are empowering our next generation within and beyond the classroom. With Teachers Day coming up on the 16th of May, we want to honour the tireless and never ending work of our teachers, who are educating and moulding the next generation of Malaysians. We speak to Constance Yuen, the CEO of Pemimpin GSL, to discuss how the MTP helps appreciate, celebrate and highlight outstanding teachers in Malaysia, and we also chat with Muhammad Nazmi bin Rosli, an English Teacher from SK Long Sebangang in Sarawak, and the winner of the Malaysia Teacher Prize for 2023, and also Khou Jerome, a Mathematics Teacher from SJKC Union, Penang, who was one of the top 10 finalists from MTP 2023. Both Nazmi and Jerome share how and why they became teachers, their unique methods to make learning fun for their students, and how they overcome challenges in their work.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Macaranga is a Malaysian environmental journalism portal founded by Wong Siew Lyn and Law Yao-Hua. They produce in-depth, research-based features, train environment journalists, and do tremendous work raising awareness, driving change, and building an informed community dedicated to environmental conservation.

In light of World Press Freedom Day 2024, we speak to the co-founders of Macaranga on the challenges of running an independent media company, speaking truth to power and what gives them hope during an increasingly worsening climate crisis.

Visit this link if you’d like to support Macaranga: https://www.macaranga.org/be-a-macaranga-supporter/

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What is it like to reach for and study the stars? Malaysia’s first astrophysicist, Professor Emeritus Tan Sri Dr Mazlan Othman, has shown us what that looks like, paving a path for women in STEM and today, she remains a role model for many who dream of a career in astrophysics. She joins us on the show today to reflect back how the stars aligned for her career both in Malaysia and on the global stage, and why we should continue to explore where no man has gone before.

Image credit: UNIS Vienna/Flickr

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