The Simon Says Podcast

Malaysia’s halal import restrictions and requirements for bumiputera equity in foreign-owned companies have been flagged by the United States as non-tariff barriers, which is viewed as a lack of reciprocity in the bilateral trade relationships between the two nations. In this episode, we explored various topics, such as “Will the conclave elect a Pope that is different from the late Pope Francis w...

A master class in negotiation, Trump recognised a reality and perhaps predicted Beijing's belligerent approach to Trump's call for fairness in trade deals. In this episode, we discussed the recent trip that President Xi has made to Malaysia, and if Malaysia would remain neutral in trade deals with US and China despite the belligerent approach taken by China against the US.

Since the Liberation Day on 2 April, the world has been thrust into introspection of the unfair “free trade policies”, which is seemingly “without economic sense” as American Enterprise Institute bluntly declared. Ahead of the scheduled visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Malaysia on 15 April, we discussed in this episode if Southeast Asia countries will remain truly neutral in the trade war...

In this episode, we have a guest speaker, Ch’ng Xin Ying, with whom we discussed the nuanced assertions and counter-assertions on group preferences and quotas. Innumerable principles have been used to justify affirmative action programs, but are we able to hope for a better alternative to affirmative action in this rainbow nation of Malaysia?

The recent CEC election results have signaled a generational change with the rise of new crop of party leaders. In this episode, we discussed with our guest speaker, David Tiang, on the directional shift within DAP that would be more palatable to the voters before the next general election.

Ahead of the DAP Central Executive Committee (CEC) Election on 16 March, we have two special guests on this show as we discussed the key question surrounding the election as posed by Professor James Chin. “Will the Lim family remain a dominant force or will a new leadership emerge?”

Many critics have equated Malaysia’s ASEAN chairmanship to a disappointing start, with possibility of supposed “neutrality” in ASEAN-US relations risks Trump’s ire as Anwar cosies up to Gulf nations and China. In this episode, we also discuss Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar’s passive-aggressive stance on class war between the poor vs. the ultra rich” as he continues the position of Robin Hood local...

With the federal protest on 19 February 2025 against Elon Musk’s “takeover” of public service jobs, we explore the dreaded topic by Malaysian politicians of waste and civil service inefficiency. While several political analysts have alluded to the idea of DOGE, will there come a time when implementation of similar “drastic” measures would happen in Malaysia? Credits:Photograph: John Angelillo/UPI/...

Barely 3 weeks into the new American administration, President Donald J. Trump continues to attract and commands the attention of the world. It is not a hyperbole to suggest that every word, official decree issued by Trump (and of course his administration) commanded the attention of the world. Whether you are an aspiring super power like China or a smaller player like Malaysia, Trump is fundament...

In his inaugural address, the 47th President of United States of America proclaims ‘The Golden Age of America Begins Right Now’. In line with the historic start to President Donald Trump’s second term, the President signed more executive orders on his first day in office than any president in history. In this episode, we witnessed the Trump Effect where most importantly, common sense has been rest...

While 2024 was a year many conservative values were upheld, from Labours voters flock to Farage’s Reform Party over mass migration, to Trump’s impressive political comeback, we see in Malaysia, Christian MP was being persecuted on grounds of national security for a book on her faith journey that was released a decade ago. As we conclude 2024, we look forward to new theme for 2025 in this podcast.

As we come to a close of the chapter for 2024, we look at few significant events that took place, from Zelensky’s benefit from domestic corruption and geopolitical conflict with Russia for close to 3 years now, to UK election. Tune in for more on our continual discussion for self determination, small government and pursuit of happiness.

The return to power of Donald Trump has news executive nervous, particularly with the recent ABC’s settlement of a defamation lawsuit brought by the President-elect over an inaccurate statement made by George Stephanopoulos. At home, in Malaysia, Communication Multimedia Act (CMA) has been amended ever so subtly to subject the definition of “grossly offensive” to the whim of the PMX cabinet, who a...

Trudeau visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after Trump threatened to slap a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico unless they cooperated in protecting the U.S. border from illegal migration and fentanyl. While back at home in Malaysia, we see a huge contrast on the response from PMX where it is reported that Anwar Ibrahim’s government will not recognize any unilateral sancti...

Since Trump’s landslide victory, we have seen that many of the once respected corporate media being revealed of its true colours, i.e., “having its unearned influence through a phony front of respectability and professionalism” as described by John Nolte. Paul Logan’s troll on BBC by sending a lookalike for an interview which BBC has been chasing months for would be the beginning of a reversal of...

Veteran journalist Bob Woodward said on MSNBC’s “Inside” after Trump’s re-election as the incoming 47th President of United States that Trump was “giving his middle finger to the American people” with his cabinet picks. In this episode, we discuss the various reactions from world leaders congratulating Trump to NFL players doing the Trump dance.

As both presidential candidate laid out their closing campaign message on Monday, the voters will answer Ben Franklin’s famous demand of the American people: “A republic, if you can keep it.” in the ballot boxes this November 5th. Nate Silver famously titled his article, “There’s more herding in swing state polls than at a sheep farm in the Scottish Highlands.” While we discussed the polling resul...

In days leading up to U.S. Election 2024, more and more Vice President Kamala Harris has backed out from opportunities to discuss economy policies at length, first with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait and Joe Rogan. Trump on the other hand garnered a staggering 34 million views in two days at the impressive marathon interview at The Joe Rogan Experience. In this episode, we discussed T...

The time to pick a side has never been clearer with just less than 3 weeks to go to Election Day on November 5, 2024. Actor Dennis Quaid who is known for his starring role in Far from Heaven has advocated for the crowd in a rally in Coachella, California, to pick a side, particularly when Kamala Harris has not a thing to be done differently even with Biden-Harris administration’s botched withdrawa...

CNN poll taken immediately after vice presidential debate shows Vance overtakes Walz with a 12 point shift in Vance’s favour amongst the female voters. How important is vice presidential debate? Tune in to find out more and how US election is really the mother of all elections, affecting even how Malaysia would progress in days ahead.

While much of the voters in the U.S. will be tuning in to watch the vice-presidential debate Tuesday night between Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio), we discussed how several key swing states will likely to impact the election outcome. Even three term London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, couldn’t missed passing a remark in Politico about US Election as he rightly said, “What hap...

Since the declaration of Malaysia Day as public holiday in 2009 by former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, there has been slow but growing awareness to celebrate Malaysia’s formation and diversity. The likes of Merdeka-themed community arts festival such as Peszta has been held to celebrate Malaysia’s culture and community. In this episode, 3 Malaysians sat down to discuss at length what f...

On a world stage, Malaysia cosies up to Russia with Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s working visit to Russia in early September 2024 to advance Malaysia’s interest by strengthening ties with Russia. While many has lauded Anwar Ibrahim’s explosive statement on the Israel-Palestine conflict, Prime Minister of Malaysia seems to have taken a liking to threatening his fellow Malaysians to use all of his...

What an irony when PMX Anwar Ibrahim kicked off his National Day 2024 themed “Malaysia MADANI: Jiwa Merdeka” address by giving stern warning against any party supposedly sowing disharmony that the government will consider amending related laws if existing provisions are insufficient to snuff out racial tension. Fahmi Fadzil, the Communications Minister, explained that Jiwa Merdeka expresses the fr...

According to Nielsen, the television ratings of the first night of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) sunk 22 percent from 2016. The ratings crash came after the media spent countless hours hyping Biden’s D.E.I. hire, Harris’s “historic” candidacy. It appears that the Democrats are so desperate to even spread a lie through TMZ on “big surprise performer” on the final night of DNC. While many...