Talkback

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The government is considering the possibility of a life-long pension scheme for the private sector.

This is, of course, to counter the problem of poverty amongst retirees and the elderly in this country.

Currently, retirees are able to withdraw their EPF savings upon retirement. However, the problem is that these savings are not enough to sustain them especially those in the lower income brackets.

Ex: Upon retirement, lower income bracket may only have 50k, which will only last for between 3 - 5 years. But the reality is that Malaysians are living longer these days.

Hence, the possibility of introducing a pension scheme!

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Singapore’s Sticker Lady has been making the headlines lately and her story has actually sparked an online campaign after she was arrested for posting stickers. Stickers included messages such as “Press To Time Travel” or “Press To Stop Time”, which she stuck on traffic lights. She also painted messages on roads reading “My Grandfather Road”, which is a Singapore pun for bad driving.

This is her art.

Now, people are condemning her arrest and have started an online petition calling for leniency in the way she is treated.

So basically, there are two camps, on the one hand there are those calling it vandalism and other who say it is harmless and is just another art for.

Which brings us to todays question:
HOW DO YOU DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN ART AND VANDALISM?

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Recently it was announced in the papers that swimming pools would be built for each of the 79 National Service training camps across the country, to be used in lieu of ponds for water activities. This is apparently to combat the threat of water-borne diseases such as leptospirosis, which was suspected to have claimed the life of one NS trainee earlier this year. Caroline, Ezra and Patrick discuss whether this move - or indeed, National Service as a whole - is necessary.

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Datuk Seri Idris Jala, CEO of PEMANDU comes on the show for the finale of the You Are The Government series.

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The Sun Daily reported that Malaysian English Language Teaching Associations (Melta) royal patron Raja Zarith Sofiah Almarhum Sultan Idris Shah said 3 days ago that the deteriorating standard of english aong Malaysians is the result of an assumption that learning the language is unpatriotic. 

She said: "We did not see the problems we are facing today because we were filled wit a sense of patriotism, and so we concentrated on the se of Bhasa Mlaysia."

Raja Zarith, who is also Universiti Teknologi Malaysia chancellor, added that Malaysians had not not foreseen a world driven by technology, and more importantly, that English would become the most spoken language in the aggressive work arena.

Caroline, Ezra & Patrick Teoh discuss wether should English be made the second national language of Malaysia. 

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We all commute to work – except for the lucky few who can work from home. Even homemakers and housewives have to run around town as part of their “job”, to shop, pay bills, pick up kids from school.

There is no doubt we all need to get around all the time as a necessity of life.

But as the population of the Klang Valley increases, the number of vehicles on the road has also increased dramatically. We all gripe about the jams, and the amount of time we spend getting from one
corner of the Klang Valley to another, and the amount of subsidized petrol wasted just getting stuck in traffic jams.

We have to find better ways of getting around in more efficient ways – cheaper, better, faster, and still be relatively comfortable and safe in our daily commute.

This obviously means a good and reliable network of public transportation system.

But what does that picture look like?
How do you imagine your life would change if and when we have the idealised public transportation system?

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An article in the NST on May 23 2012:

The issue of job-hopping among young employees is getting serious, said Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Dr S Subramaniam yesterday. He said this reflected a poor work culture and attitude. He said the ministry had received complaints from employers about the poor work ethics of young employees. 

Caroline, Ezra and Patrick Teoh discuss the job-hopping phenomenon with BFM callers.

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Being poor is hard for anyone any where in the world. In Malaysia where cost of living is rising rapidly, and the economy is rapidly hurtling towards becoming a high-income nation, competing in high tech, knowledge based economy, there is an added time pressure for the poor to lift themselves out of the poverty vicious cycle that could, if we are not careful, span generations.
What do we know of the poor? Other than making do with very little income?

We associate the poor with crime – people resorting to stealing to make ends meet.

We associate the poor with low levels of education, lack of skills – children who have to work and skip school, unintentionally depriving themselves of the chance to escape poverty itself.

We associate the poor with disengagement from society. Although the poor live away from the gaze of society, and most of us tend not to seek them out, we know they are there.

But what is being done to help the poor? What CAN be done to help the poor?

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What makes a good or bad teacher? Caroline, Uma, Patrick and BFM listeners talk about the teachers and mentors in their lives - the good, the bad, and the pure evil.

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