Inside Story

Have you ever wondered about insurance? Whether you’re over or under-insured, what type of insurance is the best choice for you, and your financial goals? We cover all this and more in the third episode of Fix Your Finances, our 8 week personal finance journey. Annie Hor, Licensed Financial Planner at Harveston Financial Group and Soh Yan Xin, AIA Unit Manager join us in the studio to tell us more...

Malaysiakini recently released the second part of their Election Simulation Calculator, focusing on the youth vote. We first speak to the folks behind it about major findings and trends, and later, discuss what shapes how young people vote with a political analyst. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The three-day Good Vibes Festival 2023 was brought to an unfortunate halt when singer Matty Healy's (of UK band The 1975) behaviour onstage - smoking and drinking, slamming Malaysia's LGBTQ laws, and kissing a male bandmate - got the event cancelled by the Communications and Digital Ministry. This has then led to a number of converging criticisms and conversations: on the economic impact of all th...

In recent months, politicians including former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohammad, and Kedah Menteri Besar Dato' Seri Muhammad Sanusi bin Md Nor, have referenced history while making statements that many have deemed inflammatory. Why have they been doing this, and more crucially - what does it say about the ways history have been both taught and understood in Malaysia? What can we do to fix t...

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek has announced that Form 6 classes would be rebranded while college heads will have more autonomy in selecting students to be enrolled. Would this work to help Form 6 become more accesible to people? We discussed this with Shashivarmaan Thevaraj, Program Executive at YTAR, who's also a former Form 6 student himself. And then, we heard from our listeners on what the...

A FINAS-funded movie, Vik2ria Secret, bombed at the box office recently, sparking a debate over the use of taxpayer money as well as the role of the agency. Together with Datuk Kamil Othman, Chairman of National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), we discuss the existing funding mechanisms, their ongoing missions to elevate Malaysian cinema, and what it means to achieve international su...

Data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security indicates that our consumption of imported foods has steadily increased over the years, with Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi saying Malaysia cannot be reliant on food imports in the long term. Which begs the question, why are we not harnessing our own potential for agriculture and farming? We speak with an economist about...

An infographic by the Community Communications Department (J-KOM) suggesting a family of four would only need RM391 per month for groceries, sparked a heated discussion about what is costs for Malaysians to feed their households. We look into the real situation on ground, whether people are seeing a rise in their grocery bills, and what we want to see in terms of government policy. Image Credit: 1...

With state elections approaching and PAS a rising power in Malaysian politics, we hear directly from the party on their position, what they have to offer voters, and how they hope to win the support of non-Muslims. We speak with Dr Halimah Ali, Kapar MP and PAS Central Committee member, about her own political journey with PAS, the party's coordinated strategy ahead of the state elections, and how...

Are you a spender or a saver? Perhaps you’re even a money monk, or a money denier? In the second episode of Fix Your Finances, we explore different money personalities, and talk about how that can shape the way we approach important personal finance decisions. Idham Idris of Wealth Vantage Advisory joined us in the studio for this conversation, and we hear from listeners as well! Check out @bfmrad...

We are one month away from state elections for six different states, and all eyes are on social media content as the electoral battlefield. We speak to social media strategists from PKR, PAS and MUDA on their strategies to win voters' hearts, and how they intend to stand out in a crowded field. Image Credit: Pexels See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rakan Muda, the programme aimed to build the identity of the young in the country, is back in the news. After the announcement of it being revamped, Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Adam Adli spoke about the program positively, describing it as one that has produced a generation of capable young people. So first, we talked about how it can shape the Malaysian youth identity and unity. Then, a...

The Election Commission recently announced the dates for the upcoming six state polls and that polling day will fall on August 12th, a Saturday. So first, we spoke to political scientist, Dr Wong Chin Huat about the lay of the land and got his thoughts on the latest headlines around the state elections. After that, we heard from listeners on whether they are ready to vote and what is going to shap...

Meta has officially launched their new app, Threads, which is expected to be a potential rival to Twitter. This comes after Elon Musk announced that the posts readers can view on Twitter would be limited and based on their verification status, which had caused an uproar among users on the platform. We spoke to Amin Ashaari, co-founder and Editor-in-Chief at SoyaCincau.com about whether we need ano...

We can't seem to escape the rise of AI and the fact that it's seemingly out to replace us. Recently, Human Resources Minister V Sivakumar said that as many as 4.5 million Malaysians are likely to lose their jobs by 2030 if they do not improve their skills. So, we spoke to the CEO of the Malaysian HR Forum about his observations and how AI is impacting the local job market. Then, we heard from list...

Combat sports in schools have been around for ages, but have never been given enough opportunity to develop properly. But now with the Education Ministry looking into providing allocations to develop this further, might we see combat sports taking a more significant position in our school syllabus? Are existing school infrastructure, and our talent scope enough to accomodate combat sports within i...

PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang was admitted into the hospital over the weekend, and this sparked some unpleasant comments being posted on social media, including a "prayer" for his death. PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has called for an apology to this. It goes without saying that Hadi is seen as a complicated figure in our political landscape, so we kickstarted the conversation by discussing...

The debate for freedom of speech is not a new topic of conversation, but it's recently bubbled up again after remarks made by Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil made headlines. He told users that comments they made were being watched, and not to be surprised if they received a visit from the cops. He has clarified that the warning was aimed at those who made remarks on 3R (race, reli...

This is the first episode of Fix Your Finances, a 4-part series where we talk about the tools required to gain financial freedom. To kick things off, we learned about how to balance our budget sheet and how to do an honest assessment of our financial health. For this, we spoke to Idham Idris, Director of Corporate Treasury Investment Services at Wealth Vantage Advisory. We then opened the floor fo...

MUDA has announced that its going to be contesting on its own in the state elections. In the announcement, its president Syed Saddiq pressed that the party will no longer be intimidated by fear-mongering that going solo would result in split votes. So first up, we revisited a conversation that Syed Saddiq had with our friends from the Morning Run team. Then, we heard from a political analyst about...

At a recent townhall session in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim drew controversy after he replied to a question posed to him by a Form Six student. In his response to her, he praised her for being articulate and added that he would have asked for her number if he were a younger man. So first, we discussed his remark, which he has been asked to apologise for, with Em...

Verdict day is here, as the civil court issued orders for former PKR vice president Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin to pay RM10 million to the ruling party for defecting after securing the Ampang seat for the third time in the 14th general election. If you all remember, back in the 2018 general elections, all PKR lawmakers signed a pledge that they would be fined this amount should they defect from the p...

Since his ousting from UMNO, there has been nonstop speculation about where Khairy Jamaluddin may head to next. And with the state elections around the corner, and some much-publicised meetings with both the PM Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, and Perikatan Nasional chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, headlines have been a-swirling. We catch up with Dr. James Chin to talk about all this, but also open up...

Kini News Lab's Election Simulation Calculator was launched today, allowing readers to project the results of the upcoming state election, based on data obtained from GE15. Chief among the findings were the closeness of some of the fights, and the importance therefore of voter turnout. So we're basing today's show on that, and exploring firstly, the calculator and some of the main stories that hav...

A recent viral Tiktok video caught a lot of attention for showing a teacher conducting 'spot checks' on her students' bags, commenting on their contents, and in some cases, consuming the food. This is part of a larger trend that's been happening, of teachers posting about their students as content on social media - and not everyone's comfortable with it. We explore what the roots of this behaviour...