Talkback

Every festive season, Malaysian shopping malls roll out their decorations, but not every celebration gets the same treatment. Content creator Blake Yap has been grading how malls mark Deepavali through his Deco Mall Review series, and his scorecard has put the spotlight on questions of effort and representation. In the first part of this episode, we speak to Blake and kolam artist Rupa Subramaniam about what they have noticed in public spaces, which malls are getting it right, and what they hope to see from malls and brands going forward. Then, we get into it with our listeners and ask: Do festive decorations in malls matter to you? Why?

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Khairul Aming’s much hyped restaurant Rembayung in Kampung Baru has been struggling with booking system crashes and scalpers snapping up reservations, so this week it switched to a new reservation system with Grab Dine Out to fix the problem. Meanwhile, fans of Ming Chun’s Gepuklah continue to line up for hours to get a plate of ayam gepuk. It makes you wonder how much pull influencer backed food businesses really have, and how far people are willing to go to try them. So we ask our listeners: When you see long lines and hype, does that interest you or turn you off? What influencer-led businesses have you given a shot?

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On Tuesday, Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri said she is open to looking at letting couples share maternity leave, after the idea was raised during the Budget 2027 debate in the Dewan Rakyat. Right now, mothers get 98 days of leave while fathers get just one week, and countries like Sweden and the UK already let parents split their time off in different ways. So we ask our listeners: Should fathers be able to share maternity leave? Or is there a better system for parental leave you’d like to see?

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A recent article from the BBC noted the streaming of current music was dwarfed by old music that was released at least a year ago. That got us thinking about hits on today’s charts that even date back to the 70s and 80s. We hear what listeners are enjoying these days and ask them: When it comes to music, do you listen to favourites or look for new tracks?

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Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced that he does not want civil servants to use Waze anymore due to the app's link to Israel and concerns surrounding security. He is urging Malaysians to switch to local app TuJu. Soon after that, many users reported issues with the app, most prominently the fact that the app sometimes just show a straight line navigation (which many joked would only be possible if they were in a flying car). So we ask our listeners: Would you stop using Waze and try out TuJu? What are the features that are must-haves for navigation apps?

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Lee Zii Jia's recent court dispute with his family over his own company has settled, but the suit raises a question many people quietly wrestle with: if they would go into business with the people they grew up with. From siblings running coffee shops and spouses as co-founders to parents who worked side by side for decades, we ask out listeners: Would you go into business with your family?

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Would you feel safer walking down a street lined with facial-recognition cameras every 50 metres, or would it just feel like being watched? That is the question hosts Lee Chwi Lynn and Susan Tam put to listeners on Talkback, after Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi floated expanding high-definition CCTV with facial recognition in crime hotspots, pointing to China's high-tech policing as inspiration.

Callers and texters weigh in from every angle: the comfort of catching burglars and bag-snatchers, scepticism about Malaysia's maintenance culture and procurement history, fears of data leaks and misuse by authorities, and comparisons with China, Singapore, the UK and the US. Lee and Susan trace the tension between safety and trust, asking what accountability, enforcement and liveable cities would need to look like before more cameras actually make people feel secure.

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With the slew of new technology hitting the market, like the iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max having launched on September 9th, alongside Android rivals like the Google Pixel 11 and Samsung Galaxy S26 FE, we got to thinking about the reasons why some people upgrade and why some hold on to their old tech. So we ask our listeners: How old is your current phone? Are you someone who likes to upgrade their tech frequently?

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Budget 2027 is just around the corner, and we thought it would be the perfect time to talk about what the government should prioritise that will actually benefit everyday Malaysians. So we ask our listeners: What do you want out of Budget 2027, what would actually make a difference to you?

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Following Sepang's grand but one-off return to the Formula 1 calendar this past weekend, conversations have been brewing about the feasibility and possibility of Formula 1 returning to Malaysia for good despite its RM300 million cost. So we ask our listeners: Do you want F1 to return to Malaysia permanently? And, are there other major events you’d like Malaysia to host?


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