Talkback

There has been a lot of heat surrounding the news of the Malaysian couple being held by Swedish authorities for allegedly hitting one of their children. And it's been reported today that both Azizul Raheem Awalludin, who is a Tourism Malaysia officer in Sweden, and his wife, Shalwati Norshal, were charged separately at the Solna district court with multiple counts of assaulting their four children.

The hearing has been fixed for Feb 18 and is expected to last for 10 days. And as in the process in Sweden, there is no bail system in Sweden and those arrested can be held in custody until the trial is completed.

We asked whether or not you agreed with the actions of the Swedes.

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The FMT reported today that a survey was conducted in a national primary school in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan and had shocked parents when the questions posed to the students were about their sexual activities and preferences. Some of the questions asked were if the students engaged in masturbation or if they had sexual desires for their own gender. We asked on Talkback Thursday today: Would you be comfortable with your 10 year old being asked questions about their sexuality and preferences?

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There are multitudes of people that believe in the 'science' of Feng Shui. It's spawned best selling books, global tours and even TV series'. On this edition of Talkback we attepted to improve your Feng Shui via the phone lines. How could Feng Shui help you in the new year? We were joined in the studio by the High Reverend Master Sifu Leong.

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Two Year Four boys from a vernacular school in Sungkai, Perak, were made to wear bells around their neck and “offered” grass to eat as punishment for not doing their homework. After the lesson was over, their class teacher saw the boys and allegedly mocked: “Since when did I have two additional cows in my class?” The boys were also caned twice and then, during recess, the same teacher plucked grass and allegedly told the boys to eat it or get another 10 strokes of the rotan. The boys refused but were spared from further caning. The teacher has since been issued a stern warning and transferred to another school.

Is this appropriate punishment in this day and age? Should sterner action have been taken against the teacher? 

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The government announced today that a special satellite tracking system known as the Centralized Taxi Service System (CTSS) will soon be implemented to keep taxi drivers in check. The move is intended to allow the government to direct a taxi to a waiting customer as well as monitor a driver's habits, amongst other things.

But will this move help improve the current state of taxi services in Malaysia? Our lines were open for a lively debate.

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The National Automotive Policy (NAP) was announced yesterday by the International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed. What exactly is the NAP? How does it affect us, and will we ever get cheaper cars? To help us make sense of the announcement we spoke to Paul Tan,  Managing Editor of Paultan.org and Anthony Lim, Editor of paultan.org. 

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Yesterday, The Malay Mail published a report on how a special foreign worker enclave has been set-up in the Iskandar region, to keep crime rates down. The enclave houses 1,500 foreign nationals from Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Pakistan and Philippines, and consists of refurbished public flats, 650 sq ft in size with eight workers allocated for each unit. 

On Talkback Tuesday today, we asked: Is a special ‘foreign worker enclave’ an acceptable way to manage crime?

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Come 2015, Malaysia will join some 160 countries, which include leading nations and economies, who have implemented GST or VAT (Value Added Tax) systems. And while it has worked for these countries, will it work for ours? But first, do we even understand what this tax system does and what it's pros and cons are?

We asked 'What does GST mean for you? Do you believe that GST is necessary?'

This Talkback was produced in collaboration with the Economic Transformation Programme.

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Malaysia's growth has spawned a labour shortage, paricularly in the plantation, factory and other positions that locals may deem as being menial. These gaps are filled by migrant workers - many of them coming from Bangladesh, India and Vietnam. They are looking for stable empolyment and incomes, just like everybody else. Does Malaysia offer them a safe and stable income? What have you done as a Malaysian citizen to address any of these issues? 

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It was reported that salaries and meeting allowances of Malaysian federal lawmakers are expected to more than double to at least RM16,000 and RM500 respectively under a proposal to be tabled today. We asked if you thought the porposed salary hike was justified, and if we should expect more from our representatives if they received higher wages.

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