Evening Edition

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our mini Popek Popek Parlimen, where we bring you updates from parliament, including: improving internet services nationwide, the distribution of essential goods and subsidies, and the proposal of enlisting students and youths who are not enrolled in university in PLKN. 2. ISIS-K launched a terrorist attack near Moscow, which has led to 137 casualties. 3. Vivekananda...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. The United Nations General Assembly has adopted the first global resolution on Artificial Intelligence, to encourage countries to safeguard human rights, protect personal data and monitor AI for risks 2. A look ahead of tomorrow's annual Earth Hour event! 3. The shifting demographic in Chinese vernacular schools, following a Chinese school in Negeri Sembilan seeing mo...

For many Malaysians, student loans are an essential tool for pursuing higher education, and essentially, achieveing their dreams. But many struggle to repay their loans after graduating, due to financial difficulties. In this interview, we speak to Joe Hanni Mohamad, General Manager at PTPTN, about the repayment incentives and services that PTPTN offer, designed to make the the repayment process m...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our mini Popek Popek Parlimen, where we look at talks on hosting the Commonwealth Games, complaints on police personnel, and foundlings' citizenship. 2. Hari Raya is fast approaching and parents are worried that celebrations will be dimmed in the face of rising costs, especially when the school year just started earlier this month. We discuss how families can deal wit...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our mini Popek Popek Parlimen, where we bring you updates from the Dewan Rakyat. Today's main topics: the Progressive Wage Policy, the reparation of potholes and damaged roads, and PADU registrations. 2. Ipoh white coffee is ranked 10th most popular coffee in the world! We dive into the history and cultural significance of our local brew from Ipoh. 3. A proposed react...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our mini Popek Popek Parlimen, where we bring you updates from the Dewan Rakyat. Today's main topics: supply of local white rice, late salary payments and EPF contributions. 2. Food wastage and single-use plastics during Ramadan: how will it affect us, and how we can decrease these practices as consumers. 3. Two kopitiams in Penang going viral for imposing a RM2 fee f...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our mini Popek Popek Parlimen, where we bring you updates from the Dewan Rakyat. Today's main topics: The Kawasan Rukun Tetangga initiatives as well as plans to revert to the pre-covid school calendar. 2. A ruling by the Federal Court of medical negligence, which have raised concerns of practitioners resorting to "defensive medicine". 3. Education Minister Fadhlina Si...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. The Russian presidential elections, and we're spotlighting a few things, including Vladimir Putin's likely win, online voting being a first for the Russians as well as political and cultural interests of Russians (and why it's significant to our region.) 2. The issue of overcrowding in SK Cyberjaya, which has culminated in a relocation of students to nearby schools. 3...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Parliamentary updates, in which the MPs discussed the sale of dates from Israel, hardcore poverty and what it means to "eradicate" it as well as the issue of individuals smoking in prohibited public areas. 2. The Education Ministry's announcement of an initiative to improve students' mastery of Bahasa Malaysia by reading Malay newspapers. 3. Updates from the governmen...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our Mini Popek Popek Parliament, looking at the Parliamentary Services Act, Kampung Baru's development plan, and protecting our children on social media. 2. Concerns surrounding vegetable price hikes due to a production decline in the agriculture sector. This is brought on by the lack of foreign labour, after the government announced that the unused foreign labour quo...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our updates from Dewan Rakyat, where we discuss issues with overcrowding in immigration depots, the Media Accreditation Card, and adaptation measures for climate change. 2. A Mother’s Day photo of British Royal Kate Middleton breaks the internet amidst rumours of her absence from the public eye. 3. Sugar in the workplace? No more! The government is calling for a natio...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. A mini sampler of today's parliament session, which involves discussion on foreign workers "causing unnecessary competition among locals", medicine prices as well as an outlook on our tourism this year. 2. An overview of the Women's March that happened during the weekend, which has culminated in the organisers being summoned by the police, over conduct during the marc...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. A theory that sexist textbooks are contributing to the gender gap. 2. The Kelantan state assembly's reintroduction of 16 provisions to the state's Syariah Criminal Court, freshly after they were struck down by the Federal Court. 3. Goodyear's closure of its Shah Alam factory: what does it indicate about our economy? 4. Remembering MH370, 10 years on. 5. A discussion o...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Our parliament update, and today's include an announcement on the new inclusive bumiputera plan, upgrades on our public transportation as well as a discussion on Menu Rahmah for bazaars. 2. The Auditor General's office report on the financial statements of the federal agencies. 3. Progress on the MA63, with nine demands resolved. 4. Selat Klang assemblyman Abdul Rashi...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. Some updates from the Dewan Rakyat, including discussions on Sabah's water issues, the when's and the what's surrounding the tabling of the Social Work Profession Bill and criticisms on the government's non-pensionable permanent employment scheme. 2. The waters around the Mersing Islands being gazetted to protect our sea cows. 3. Calls to pause changes to our citizens...

Today's top 5 stories are: 1. A bite-sized version of Popek Popek Parlimen, which included discussions to bolster our TVET programs and a suggestion to implement a special salary scheme for graduates. 2. The proposal for home detentions to reduce prison overcrowding, and the ensuing comments about former Prime Minister Najib Razak being "let off the hook." 3. The derogatory use of "Orang Ulu" in P...

We take a look at today's top 5 stories, beginning with Popek Popek Parliament where we recount issues such as OKUs in the public sector, humanitarian aid and online scams. Following close up is the ongoing boycott on Starbucks, as well as the permit issue faced by the Women's March Malaysia. Our top two picks are EPF's announcements on dividends and statistics on people who are covered by this re...

Selangor ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah expressed disappointment with PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang's remarks on the monarchy after the Federal Court struck down several provisions in a Kelantan shariah criminal enactment. In his post, Hadi claims the Constitution has colonial roots meant to weaken Islam. We speak to Azmil Mohd Tayeb about the complex relationship between Islamist politics a...

In today's sitting of parliament, the Ministry of Health explained the of the Madani Medical Scheme due to financial constraints. The Minister of Finance II Datuk Seri also spoke about the reason behind the declining ringgit, and shared the ways we could potentially recover by this year. Image Credit: Shutterstock, Laboo Studio See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wendy's has announced that they are going to be implementing surge pricing in selected locations next year, which has predictably prompted outcry and accusations of predatory pricing. We discuss how this differs from surge pricing in transportation and cinemas, and whether this might be the way of the future. Image Credit: Ralf Liebhold, Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...

On the second day of the Parliamentary sitting, the agenda included labour shortages afflicting the palm oil industry, avoiding presumptions on the impact of abolishing the government servant pension scheme, as well as the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security's efforts to develop home-grown shallots. Then, we get into the chaos that ensued after Tasek Gelugor MP, Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan's cl...

A tweet by @mysteriouskats poses the question: Can an online relationship forged on social media be as meaningful and rich, as the friendships we make in real life? We discuss it from the perspective of shared interests and intellectual connections, and hear from listeners about how they feel! Image Credit: Geralt, Pixabay See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Parliament is back in session, with this sitting set to last all the way until 27th of March 2024. The MPs discussed a bunch of topics, including cost of living issues and how the National Action Council on Cost of Living will help with that, online scams as well as the ruling by the Federal Court that nullified 16 provisions under the Kelantan Syariah Criminal Code Enactment. Toward the end, exci...

Bak Kut Teh, along with 9 other dishes, including nasi ambeng, kuih lapis, mee kolok and burasak, has recently been declared a national heritage object. We discuss what it means to have dishes that tell the story of our country, and its heritage - and why claiming a dish as ours will always be a little tricky (and maybe even a little close-minded). Image: bonchan, Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/l...

Electoral watchdog Bersih has announced a rally in front of Parliament, to pressure the government into carrying out political reforms. We speak to Faisal Aziz, chairperson of Bersih on what the group is calling for, and what they're hoping to get out of this protest. Note: In this interview, our guest referenced Lim Guan Eng's 2018 corruption trial resulting in a DNAA. In fact, the charges at the...