Beyond the Ballot Box

 Recently, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim announced that the government will be slashing constituency development funds from RM 3.8 million per constituency to RM 1.3 million. Anwar said the move is meant to better control the country’s finances and would be implemented in stages. But is this a good move? We speak to political scientist, Dr Bridget Welsh. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystud...

Recently, there have been some rumblings that healthcare workers in Malaysia are going to go on strike to demand better wages and fairer working conditions. We hear about strikes from across the globe, as well. For example, rail workers in the US were about to go on strike recently until President Joe Biden signed a bill to block it. In 2020-2021, farmers in India went on strike for weeks against...

On the 7th of February, the Malaysia Madani administration held its first Secretariat meeting. What’s interesting is that the meeting was held at the UMNO HQ and marked the first time Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim stepped into Menara Dato Onn in 25 years. So, what is the significance of this moment and what are the key takeaways from the meeting?  Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/liste...

Forced labour is a massive problem in Malaysia. We’re talking about horrible wages, deplorable working and living conditions – in essence, modern day slavery. But what can we do about it? Recently, Lee Hwok-Aun of ISEAS and Adrian Pereira of the North-South Initiative, wrote a paper for ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute titled Can Malaysia Eliminate Forced Labour by 2030? We unpack this paper with the a...

Last Friday, the UMNO Supreme Council, under the leadership of President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, sacked prominent figures, Khairy Jamaluddin and Selangor Umno liaison committee chairman Tan Sri Noh Omar. It also suspended several other prominent members such as Hishamuddien Hussien and Shahril Hamdan.  But what does this mean for UMNO and our political landscape moving forward? Image Credit: Shut...

Historically speaking, a political party / movement that is considered progressive, is one that manages to unite the masses against the ruling class who owns the means of production, for the purpose of reducing the wealth gap and to build an equitable, egalitarian society. So, why then do we see the working class masses, especially the poorest people in society, in many parts of the world, vote fo...

Why is Najib still so popular? This is a question that has fascinated many Malaysians since UMNO-BN’s defeat in 2018. I mean, how did former Prime Minister Najib Razak rehabilitate his image and preserve his relevance within the political sphere, despite being plagued by numerous corruption scandals and charges?  Recently, Dr Benjamin Loh, Vilashini Somiah & Sarah Ali wrote a paper titled...

First-time MP, YB Syerleena Abdul Rashid recently won the Bukit Bendera Parliamentary seat in Penang with a comfortable 42 000 majority, at GE15. She is also the ADUN of Seri Delima, a seat that she won in 2018. What’s interesting is Syerleena is also a musician – a guitarist and a songwriter with multiple bands, to be specific. On today’s episode, she joins us to have a conversation about why she...

Recently, Dr Lee Hwok-Aun, Senior Fellow, Malaysian Studies Programme, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, wrote: “Pakatan Harapan routinely disavows race-based policies, offering instead the notion of need-based policies. This commitment to need-based assistance has constructively focused attention on low-income households, but its prescription for ‘replacing’ race-based programs is fundamentally flawed...

The 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim has formed his cabinet and things seem to be chugging along relatively smoothly for the mixed coalition government. But at the same time, the survival of this government relies not just on competency but also our fluid and highly volatile political landscape.  Question is, will Anwar survive the vote of confidence on the 19th of Dec...

A look at the results of GE15 tells us that Malaysia is politically polarised. Pakatan Harapan won 37% of the popular vote, followed by PN with 30% and BN with 22%. In fact, Perikatan Nasional (anchored by PAS) managed to win almost the entirety of support deep in the Malay Heartland, namely the Northern and East Coast of the Peninsular. But why are we polarised? What did the progressive block do...

Now that Anwar Ibrahim has been named the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, all eyes are on him to put his cabinet together. So, what should be taken into consideration when choosing the cabinet and will he get to stick to his principles when making his decision?  Image Credit: EPA-EFE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are a few days away from the 15th General Elections (GE15) happening on the 19th of November. So, on the show today, we’re going to be taking a look at where we are at right now – how are political parties doing on the campaign trail, what’s voter sentiment like on the ground and who could possibly emerge victorious on Saturday. Image Credit: Shutterstock and Wikimedia / Creative Commons See om...

 Malaysian politics has largely been centred around racialised narratives, which is bad in and of itself. But what’s particularly interesting is how Indians (almost similar to Orang Asal/Orang Asli) are regularly not featured even in this racialised discourse. The narrative is always Malays vs Chinese. But just how important is the Indian vote and what are the struggles the community faces? I...

People often think that democracy begins and ends at the ballot box. While elections are important -- and everyone should exercise their right to vote -- it's also equally important to understand the power you have beyond voting. On the final episode of ThinkLeft, we discuss the people's power and also how we can make Malaysia's Parliamentary system more democratic. Sivarajan Arumugam, Secretary-G...

GE15 is on the horizon. The Election Commission has announced that it will be held on the 19th of November 2022.  GE15 is going to be very different from GE14, where the narrative was anti-Najib, Anything But UMNO and toppling BN for the first time. Things are different in 2022. The political landscape has changed and so did the sentiment on the ground. So, what could the results of GE15 look...

On the 10th of October, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the dissolution of Parliament. This means that GE15 will be taking place within the next 60 days. While the date has not been announced by the Election Commission yet, many Malaysians have voiced their disgruntlement towards an election being called right smack in what potentially could be a period of heavy floods across the coun...

Marxists believe that there are two classes in society – the owner class (i.e. ultra wealthy, big businesses, etc) and the working class (i.e. bottom 90% masses). But if the struggle is between two classes in society, how does the fight for women’s rights, gender equality and the likes fit into the marxist/socialist framework? We discuss with Christine Gabriel who’s a member of Parti Sosialis Mala...

Road to GE is a show that explores your power in deciding who serves you in government.  Langkah Sheraton came as a shock. Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir lost his majority when a small faction of Parti Keadilan Rakyat, defected from the party, teamed up with Bersatu (which was also part of the Pakatan Harapan coalition) and formed a new coalition with Barisan Nasional, PAS, GPS, etc to form a...

Chico Mendes, Brazilian, rubber tapper, environmentalist, trade union leader, once famously said, “ecology without class struggle is just gardening.” On this episode of ThinkLeft, we discuss capitalism as the root cause of the climate crisis, why poor countries suffer due to rich country’s greed and why class struggle and solidarity among the masses is the best way to overcome this problem. ...

Calls for a political funding/financing act have been growing louder ever since former Prime Minister Najib Razak tried to explain off millions of dollars flowing into his personal bank account as political donations from Saudi’s late king Abdullah. But the fact of the matter is, the need for a political funding act goes beyond Najib and his various corruption charges. It is about strengthening pe...

In July, Fadhlina Siddiq was elected as Ketua Wanita Keadilan (Chief of PKR’s Women’s Wing). Fadhlina is an activist-lawyer who is particularly passionate about issues concerning gender equality and equity. Despite only joining the party two years ago, Fadhlina has been a supporter for a long time now and her dad, Siddiq Fadzil was the former president of ABIM and close confidante of Anwar Ibrahim...

There was a strong leftist movement in Malaysia pre-independence. In fact, leftist parties were integral in the fight against the British and gaining independence. On this episode, we explore what role leftist parties played in the 40s and 50s and how and why they eventually got squashed. What lessons can we learn from the past? Image credit: Wikipedia See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

The High Court has delivered its verdict on Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor’s corruption case involving a 1.25 billion ringgit solar hybrid energy project for rural schools in Sarawak, and found her guilty on all three charges. So, what does this mean for our political landscape moving forward? Joining us to unpack is Dr Oh Ei Sun, Principal Adviser, Pacific Research Center. See omnystudio.com/listener f...

A couple of days ago, the Federal Court upheld the guilty verdict in former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s SRC International case. Najib is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 210 million ringgit. While there may be some narrow escape routes left for Najib, the fact of the matter is this: UMNO’s Kleptocrat poster boy is currently behind bars, as we head towards GE15. So, what does t...