Recently in Parliament, there's been a fair amount of back and forth about SPM candidates who were absent for the exam, and what the exact numbers are. But beyond all that furore, what does this percentage of absenteeism tell us about the true rate of school dropouts in Malaysia? We explore that with Sharan Raj, before going on to discuss how something like TVET can play a role here, with Raja Rizal Kamrul, the President of the Malaysia TVET Innovation and Technology Association.

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Deputy Minister of Human Resources Mustapha Sakmud told the Dewan Rakyat that older people are returning to the workforce because of financial commitments. So, we unpack the various reasons behind this by speaking to Dr Saidatulakmal Mohd, Associate Professor of Economics at Universiti Sains Malaysia. We also heard from listeners on how they feel about senior citizens returning to the workplace, and whether they are set to retire.

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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has advised university students to use critical thinking in dealing with hate speech. Considering the fact that hate speech is something that evokes so much emotions from people, we're wondering, is rational thinking enough to counter it? So we unpack this with a psychologist. Then, we heard from our listeners on whether they find hate speech triggering, and what they do to cope.

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Scholarships are a hot topic right now, and this is because Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that the Public Service Department (JPA) will continue to offer scholarships for students pursuing medicine, dentistry and pharmacy, after initially saying that they would be stopping it. The reason for this, according to Anwar, was that the country still needed experts in these fields. But is this actually an effective way to meet our labour needs? We unpacked this with educationist Nina Adlan Disney, from Leap Ed. We also revisited a conversation that our friends on The Bigger Picture had, on what this would mean for the medical field specifically. Then, we opened up the floor to our listeners, to chip in their thoughts and experiences when it comes to choosing a field to study.

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The Selangor government is planning to ban the sale of cats and dogs in pet stores, to encourage people to adopt instead. We speak to Edward Lim, who is the Shelter Manager of PAWS Animal Welfare Society, to get his perspective on this. Then, we open up the floor to our listeners to share their experiences when it comes to adopting animals, and where they stand on this suggestion by the Selangor government.

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Malaysia’s Ambassador to the United States Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz has suggested that the Federal Constitution be amended to ensure a period of five years between general elections and create a fixed term for parliament. So first, we discussed the pros and cons of this proposal and whether it would solve the problem of political instability with political scientist, Dr Wong Chin Huat. Then later, we also heard from listeners on what they think about this idea.

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Kedah’s Menteri Besar Dato Seri Muhammad Sanusi Nor recently made headlines over a claim that Penang belongs to Kedah. His comments have spurred both criticisms and support, most notably from Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim calling the remarks "irresponsible". So first, we unpacked the truth behind these claims from a historical perspective. And then later, we talked about the use of history in contemporary politics.

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Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo is currently on a two-day work visit to Malaysia, and in a joint press conference with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, pledged their commitment to further strengthen bilateral ties between both countries. So, we spoke to Dr Azmi Hassan, Senior Fellow at the Nusantara Academy of Strategic Research about what agreements emerged from the visit, and what it tells us about the direction of Malaysia- Indonesia relations. We then heard from listeners on whether Indonesia is pulling ahead of Malaysia, and if we are falling behind in ASEAN.

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A commotion broke out in parliament yesterday, after Parliament Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul exercised his authority to allow a debate of the Auditor-General Report 2021. This was met by objection from the Opposition bloc, who argued that this went against parliamentary rules and called for it to be passed without a debate. Government MPs were not happy about this, which led to a shouting match. So we unpacked what the deal is with this report - What does it entail? Why should it be debated? And what does it mean for government transparency to open up the report for discussion?

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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for children to be taught to wash toilets. He said that this is to ensure comfort and cleanliness are maintained and to foster respect for all people, including those who clean toilets. So first, we speak to a retired principal and discuss whether such an initiative would help promote civic mindedness among students. Then, we hear from our listeners about their thoughts on this and whether they think cleaning toilets will make children better people.

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