Live & Learn

Law & Behold is a new series aimed at improving constitutional literacy among Malaysians, done in collaboration with The Malaysian Bar and the University of Malaya's Faculty of Law. In our second episode of the series, Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi and lawyer Firdaus Husni walk us through Article 5 of the Constitution, which provides for the right to life and personal liberty. We discuss what is meant by fundamental rights, and why the right to life and personal liberty cannot be deprived Malaysians, unless it is in accordance with law.

Rev. Dr. Alex Awad, a Palestinian Christian leader, professor, and author, and Imam Maher Ibrahim, a Muslim imam and preacher from the Bethlehem mosque in Palestine are on a journey to deliver powerful messages about the Palestinian cause and also reflect on the combined Muslim-Christian stand for the Palestinian cause. They join us to share more.

Divorce cases among Muslim couples in Malaysia are carried out in a separate court. Over the years, there have been statements made about the backlog and how the process takes a heavier toll on women. On today’s show, we explore this further and try to understand why in some instances, a case can stretch out for years before reaching a conclusion.

Anne-Cécile Mailfert is a women's rights activist and President of The Women’s Foundation (La Fondation des Femmes). Engaged in a fight for equality, Anne-Cécile works to promote gender equality and end combated violence against women. Her strategies include linking up with more than a hundred lawyers in France willing to work pro bono, to ensure the rights guaranteed to women under French laws are actually implemented. We find out more about her work.

We kick off a new series aimed at improving constitutional literacy among Malaysians, done in collaboration with The Malaysian Bar and the University of Malaya's Faculty of Law. In this first episode, Emeritus Professor Datuk Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi, a Professor of Constitutional Law and Surendra Ananth, the Co-Chairperson of the Malaysian Bar Constitutional Law Committee, join us to cut through the legalese and explain the meaning and significance of the Constitution, the supreme law of the federation.

An anthology of eighteen stories, The Principal Girl: Feminist Tales from Asia is a collection of feminist tales, drawn from Malaysia and Singapore, and the Asian diaspora. Featuring stories of bold, bright, and heroic women and girls, the stories in this anthology emphasise female empowerment, and privilege the strength and wisdom of young girls and women, over conventionally idealised traits such as beauty, obedience, conformity, and passivity. We find out more from Dr. Sharifah Aishah Osman, a Senior Lecturer at the Department of English, at the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of Malaya, and children's author Tutu Dutta, who are both the editors of this new compilation.

Dr Faith Harper wears many hats. She is a licenced professional counsellor and sexologist from Texas and is also the author of several books that discuss mental health. She joins us to talk about her approach to mental health, the stigmas surrounding this difficult topic and how to seek help for it.

There has been much discussion about the falling standards of English in Malaysia. But in the process of trying to improve our usage of English, are we neglecting the use of Malay, particularly when it comes to academic research? And how does this link to the national debate on whether to teach science and maths in English? We speak with sociologist Prof Syed Farid Alatas about academic imperialism and why we should worry less about our standard of English and more about creating a culture of mediocrity.

The Chin Up Project is a multimedia platform for ethnic Chin refugees to voice out their dreams for the year 2020. The community are facing possible forced repatriation to Myanmar due to a policy change by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), who announced that they have determined Myanmar to be safe for ethnic Chin refugees to return to. Therefore, refugee protection for the ethnic Chin will now be reviewed, and the refugee programme for the community will collectively come to an end on 31 Dec 2019. How do the Chin community feel about this? We find out more from Colin Laltanpuia an ethnic Chin refugee in Malaysia and a filmmaker, together with Heidy Quah, the Founder & Director of Refuge For The Refugees.

There seems to be a change in the public persona of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. Previously accused of being out of touch with the lives of ordinary Malaysians, the last few months have seen Najib reinventing himself as a man of the people. He’s been dressing in hoodies, hanging out with young bikers, and trolling the current government on social media. Not to mention, using that phrase that has gone viral, “Malu Apa Bossku?”. So what is behind this political reinvention, and is it actually working? We speak with Dr Mohamed Nawab Mohamed Osman, assistant professor with the Malaysia Program at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, for some insight.