Beyond the Ballot Box

This week marks 100 days since Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri became the ninth Prime Minister of Malaysia. At the start of his tenure as PM, he mentioned that he has given himself and his cabinet 100 days to prove their worth, particularly when it comes to dealing with the Covid-19 health crisis and the economic fallout. So, how has the Prime Minister and his cabinet performed so far? Dr Bridget Welsh jo...

While many experts predicted that Harapan would lose in the Melaka state elections, most expected it to be a close battle. However, the end result read, Barisan Nasional 21, Perikatan Nasional 2, Pakatan Harapan 5 (out of which, DAP won 4, Amanah 1 and PKR 0). Many also predicted that DAP would retain their 8 seats or at least most of it. But they did not. So, what went wrong? Howard Lee joins us...

 S. Arutchelvan is the deputy chairperson of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM). Arul has been an activist and a human rights defender for more than 30 years, has worked for SUARAM and been a part of and led many people’s movements throughout his years, including the anti-ISA movement. He joins us to share his story. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Farzana Hayani is the youngest candidate that’s competing at the Malacca State Elections this Saturday. Representing PKR/Pakatan Harapan, Farzana will be competing against Perikatan Nasional’s Muhammad Jefri Safry, Barisan Nasional’s Siti Faizah and Nazatul Asyraf from PUTRA for the Sungai Rambai seat. She joins us to discuss her journey so far and her political ideology. Image c...

A few weeks ago, Parti MUDA announced that they’re in the midst of negotiating with Pakatan Harapan and that they will be competing in the Melaka state elections, an announcement that got many young people who are looking for a change in Malaysian politics, excited. MUDA’s discussion with Harapan did not bear fruit and in a press conference they said that they won’t be competing...

The Melaka State Elections is set to take place on the 20th of November. This comes at the heels of 4 members of the PN/BN coalition deciding to pull their support from the Chief Minister of Melaka, Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali of UMNO, causing the government to collapse. Political analyst, Oh Ei Sun joins us to discuss all things Melaka elections. Image credits: pixabay.com & wikimedia.commons....

We often say that we live in a democracy. That people have the power. That the direction of the country can be chosen at the ballot box. But is this true? Does our current election system actually result in a Parliament that is diverse and a proper representation of the people? Or does the system only encourage a binary form of politics that encourages us to hate the other side? Jurleo Jurit &...

Recently, Kamarazaman Yaakob, who is the brother to Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, recently announced that he’s launching a new party called Parti Kuasa Rakyat. Kamarazaman has said that his party will champion the poor and be a BN-friendly party. This announcement, which seemingly came out of nowhere, has got many wondering if Malaysia needs another political party in an already satura...

The Melaka state legislative assembly was dissolved on Tuesday (Oct 5) following the collapse of the state administration, paving the way for snap elections, to be held in a couple of months time. This was the second time the Melaka state assembly collapsed in two years. First up, we speak with Iskandar Fareez of REFSA about the politicking side of things. Following that, Thomas Fann of Bersih 2.0...

As part of the 12th Malaysia Plan, Ismail Sabri recently announced that the sale of Bumiputera shares or companies will only be offered and sold to fellow Bumiputera consortiums, firms, and individuals. The announcement received tremendous backlash from opposition MPs and netizens. In light of this, on today’s show, we’re going to be exploring race-based policies in Malaysia -- yay or...

On the 13th of September the Ismail Sabri administration and the Pakatan Harapan bloc of the opposition bench signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Transformation and Political Stability. Basically the deal will see Pakatan Harapan either support or refrain from voting when it comes to critical votes such as the budget in exchange for certain institutional reforms and policies that could potenti...

 A lot has been said about the largest opposition bloc, Pakatan Harapan, over the past year or so, particularly of its leader, Anwar Ibrahim. Langkah Sheraton happened because members of Pakatan Harapan decided to leave. And since Langkah Sheraton, Harapan hasn’t appeared to be an inspiring united force. Anwar Ibrahim himself hasn’t been successful in cobbling together the numbers...

The Democratic Action Party (DAP) is currently the single party with the most Parliamentary seats -- 42. Despite having the strongest numbers, the party feels almost sidelined when it comes to political maneuverings, particularly when it comes to matters of a PM candidate. And what about race-based politics? DAP has made it clear that they’re not a race-based party/Chinese-based party, but a...

Dato Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob from UMNO has been appointed the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia after commanding the confidence of 114 out of 220 Members of Parliament. But what do we know about Ismail Sabri? Does his history and how he handled the Ministry of Defence portfolio for 18 months under the Muhyiddin administration give us some insight as to the kind of Prime Minister that he might be? Dr...

The Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, has resigned. UMNO’s Ismail Sabri Yaakob is on track to become the 9th Prime Minister of Malaysia, after reportedly commanding the confidence of 114 Members of Parliament, three more than required to form a simple majority government. However, there are some sources that say that it’s the YDPA’s wish, that all parties can unite just f...

It’s been said that Malaysia is a democracy. That the people have the power. But when we look at our political landscape today, it seems like the voters -- the rakyat -- don’t actually have a say in the goings on. In fact, the political maneuvering and durian trading that’s allegedly currently ongoing is in complete contradiction with what the people want -- complete focus on cur...

It’s been a wild week in Malaysian politics and that’s saying something. From Law Minister Takiyuddin Hassan’s blunder in Parliament, PN clashing with the Monarch, Parliament being postponed and then postponed again and later barricaded altogether, to more numbers game. All of this taking place against the backdrop of more than 200 daily COVID-19 deaths. So, it’s a mess. Bu...

There has been a series of protests organised by Youth activist group, Sekretariat Solidariti Rakyat (SSR). You might remember pictures from a few weeks ago of protesters in PPEs, carrying mock dead bodies, waving black flags. This was followed by the Convoy protest last week, where protesters across the nation sat in their cars and drove to dedicated spots, while waving black flags. And this comi...

The 14th General Elections was a historic occasion. After governing the country for more than 60 years, the ruling Barisan Nasional government was voted out by the people of Malaysia. For many Malaysians, this was meant to be the start of the country moving in a completely different direction. But much of PH’s tenure was plagued by infighting between Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim. And fast forw...

Amid the rising number of positive COVID-19 cases, job losses and suicide cases, we’ve got another round of, no, not brilliant policy ideas focused on the people’s welfare, but of course, more elite level political drama. Last evening, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been promoted to Deputy Prime Minister, while Foreign Minister...

Arveent Kathirtchelvan of PSM Youth recently wrote an article exploring why Parliamentary Democracy will not be a solution to a lot of the problems, despite what many think. We have a conversation with him about what he thinks would be a better way to actually give power to the people.   Image source: Shutterstock  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There seems to be quite a lot of noise coming from UMNO over the past week or so, from statutory declarations to the continuous war among factions that seems to be eating the party up from the inside out. So, what’s up with UMNO? Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs joins us to share his insights. Image source: Ahmad Maslan Facebook, Shutterstock, Zahi...

A few days ago, the Kuala Lumpur High Court rejected former Prime Minister Najib Razak’s bid to stop a bankruptcy order, which was slapped onto him in April, for failing to pay a tax bill totalling 1.74 billion ringgit. But what does this all mean for Najib and our political landscape? Constitutional lawyer, Lim Wei Jiet and political commentator, James Chai, joins us to discuss. Image sourc...

It looks like it’s shaping up to be a pretty hectic couple of weeks at the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s palace. His majesty wrapped up his first day of meetings with the head honchos from the opposition bench yesterday, with more meetings scheduled for today. On top of that, the YDPA is also set to convene a special Rulers’ conference next week.  But what exactly is going on? And...

Many analysts and researchers have pointed out that our electoral system is highly flawed. That the British’s First-Past-The-Post system that we still use in Malaysia to this day is not only unfair to the people but also does not encourage diversity in our political space. Think of the seat negotiations that take place among coalition buddies before elections, or how you vote for the party w...