Inside Story

Is it time to unplug children's access to social media? Recently, Suhakam commissioner Prof Datuk Noor Aziah Mohd Awal has called for age restriction of social media for those aged 16 and below. We speak to Associate Professor Dr Sabariah Mohamed Salleh on the pros and cons of enforcing such an age limit, and we hear from listeners about how parents can manage their children's social media usage....

The controversy surrounding UPM's publication of a historically inaccurate paper about Malay maritime history has raised discussions on the lengths that universities and academics will go for a KPI. We speak to Associate Professor Dr. Emma Mohamad, Deputy Dean of Research & Innovation at the Faculty of Social Sciences & Humanities, UKM on the many facets of the issue. From publish-or-peris...

Unity has been the aspiration of Malaysians since independence, and it's been spoken time and time again that Sabah and Sarawak should be seen as beacons of racial unity. We speak to anthropologist, Dr. Vilashini Somiah, to interrogate this idea, and to ask what is the downside to this caricature, and what a better model of unity might look like if it goes beyond assimilation and peaceful co-exist...

What makes you push for change in your life? And is Veganuary the time of year to make that shift? We take a listen to Davina Goh's journey towards veganism through compassion and advocacy. Then, listeners share their thoughts on going vegetarian or vegan, the lifestyle changes they've gone through and the push they needed to take that step towards change. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio...

Professor Emeritus Khoo Boo Teik's newly-published book 'Anwar Ibrahim: Tenacious in Dissent, Hopeful in Power' covers 50 years of Anwar's turbulent life, from nationalist student to persecuted politician and ultimate revitalisation as the Malaysia's 10th Prime Minister. We parse through the ideas that have propelled Anwar across the political domain, how he is navigating the whirlwinds of an unea...

A recent article suggested that overly permissive parents may be making it harder for their children to become independent, resilient adults. So how true is this? And more broadly speaking, how much do our parents (and their parenting styles) shape the people we become? We explore this with clinical psychologist Prakash Ravindran, and open up our phone lines for listeners to share too. Image Credi...

A story about a Malaysian lecturer choosing to work as a cleaner in Singapore for higher pay went viral recently. With stagnant pay and the rising costs of living being in the headlines so often these days, we use this incident as a jumping off point to discuss the trade-offs of taking up a blue-collar job abroad in pursuit of a higher salary. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener...

A couple of recent headlines relating to the gig economy caught our attention. First, about 300 Grab delivery riders held a protest demanding that Grab resolve several issues affecting them. This was followed by deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi saying he was dedicated to developing a gig economy commission. Meanwhile, economy minister Rafizi Ramli said fixing the job market’s...

A student is suing his school for allegedly mishandling his recommendation letters, claiming they had not made sure they were signed by teachers who had personally interacted with him, and that these letters were a copy of a standardised template. This got us wondering about the value of reccommendation letters when it comes to our careers; so we speak to Derek Toh, about exactly this. Later, we d...

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The issue of stranded migrant workers without jobs (despite them being brought in through legal channels) has been reported widely. Recently, Human Resource Minister Steven Sim expressed his disapproval towards employers who refused to pay migrant workers, and said that moving forward, the HR's ministry's policy would be that any worker brought in would be paid whether or not their work had starte...

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Mohamad Safiq Rosli, the first person to be charged for stalking under Section 507A(1) in Malaysia, has been acquitted and discharged by the Shah Alam Magistrates’ Court on the grounds that he was of unsound mind when he committed the offence. We discuss what this verdict means, the landmark nature of the case, and whether Malaysia is getting safer for women now compared to before. Image Credit: B...

Malaysia will soon have its human rights performance reviewed by countries around the world in the United Nations through a process called the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). The Coalition of Malaysian NGOs in the UPR Process (COMANGO) recently organised a media briefing to provide an overview about the UPR process. We speak to Ryan Chua, programme director at Pusat KOMAS about what this process...

The Parent Action Group for Education Malaysia has called for the Education Ministry to expand the dual language programme to more schools throughout the country. So we thought we'd expand the conversation and talk about language, and specifically, how our first language influences the way we learn. Listeners weigh in with their own experiences of growing up in multilingual environments, and how t...

Ideas around what it means to travel and engage with indigenous cultures are evolving, particularly as travellers seek more immersive and meaningful experiences. We look at how this can be translated into a local context; first, we speak with Juvita Tatan Wan, who champions indigenous cultural initiatives; then, we hear from Daniel Teoh, who runs a travel-focused social enterprise in partnership w...

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek joins us live in studio to speak about her plans for the Education Ministry, including what her main priorities will be in the near future and why she firmly believes the future of her ministry shapes the future of the country. Later, our listeners share their visions for the Malaysian education system. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the start of the year, so what better time to plan the year's travel! So we talk about the joys of travelling, and ask our listeners whether they prefer to meticulously plan ahead, or if they prefer the spontaneity of travelling on the fly. Image Credit: Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists have struck a deal with an AI voice generation studio to produce copies of actors’ voices, and this has received quite a bit of pushback from voice actors with concerns that the bulk of their work will be replaced by AI. We expand this to talk about larger questions of ethics and AI, particularly in relation to its use i...

With Sarawak moving towards autonomy over its health and education sectors, we discuss the idea of a more decentralised government and what the pros and cons might be. First, we speak with Dr Tricia Yeoh on how centralised governance has shaped Malaysia, and whether moving away from it might offer some benefits. Then, we hear from our listeners on whether they'd like to see their state governments...

Do you groan at yet another QR code menu? Do you politely nod at the latest indecipherable catchphrase? Do you wonder what all the cool kids are doing these days (and why you're not there)? As the world rapidly changes, it can sometimes feel like we can't keep up, and that we're increasingly being left behind by all these newfangled of doing things - whether that's new technology, new social mores...

There have been some complaints that the PADU registration portal isn't comprehensive enough to accomodate different financial needs, especially for those in the M40 category. We spoke to Dr Geoffrey Williams about how nuanced our subsudies should and can be. Image Credit: Bernama See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the new year, and reports have shown that job vacancies have increased with there being a positive outlook for jobseekers in 2024. So first, we look at the ups and downs of the job industry, and what skills are most in demand. Then we hear from our listeners about what they look for in a job, and whether it is just a reality of the working world to expect employees to wear multiple hats. Imag...

The president of MRSM Malaysia Student Association, Mohd Fadzil Yusof shared that T20 parents send their children to MRSM because they want to teach them the hardships of life by mingling with peers from different socioeconomic backgrounds. We use this as a springboard to discuss the value of young people getting exposure to people poorer or richer than themselves. Image Credit: Wikimedia See omny...

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim launched the Pangkalan Data Utama (PADU) portal yesterday. Besides helping to disseminate targeted subsidies more efficiently in the future, the database will also store Malaysian's socioeconomic data for government policymaking. Since the launch though, a number of issues have been reported, as well as general concerns from the public around data leakage an...