Beyond the Ballot Box

Khalsa Aid International is a humanitarian relief organisation based in the UK. It was founded in 1999 by Ravi Singh based on the Sikh principle of Sarbat da Bhala – the wellbeing of all. Today, this cross-border humanitarian agency operates across six continents and have done work in many conflict zones such as Iraq and Ukraine to natural disasters including the Türkiye earthquakes and Pakistan f...

The 27th National Congress of Parti Sosialis Malaysia (PSM) was held in Kuala Kangsar, Perak, from July 25th to 27th. The congress, themed "Kuasa Ketiga, Kuasa Kita" was attended by around 150 delegates. In this episode, we speak with Arveent Kathirchelvan, who’s a Central Committee Member and Coordinator of the Policy Research Bureau of PSM. We discuss some of the key motions they passed at their...

Katrina Leclerc is an award‑winning peacebuilder, researcher, and advocate who specializes in the intersection of Women, Peace & Security (WPS) . She serves as a respected expert advisor to governments, UN agencies, and civil society, supporting inclusive peace policy development and implementation across multiple regions and countries, including in Congo, Kenya, Lebanon, Rwanda and more. She...

It’s been 16 years since Teoh Beng Hock’s passing. Beng Hock was the political aide to an elected representative from the DAP, who was found dead after overnight questioning by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) in 2009, sparking public outrage and ongoing allegations of foul play. Today, justice is yet to be served. Last week, the MACC issued a public apology to Teoh’s family. This w...

Malaysian ethnic Indians make up less than 7% of the country’s population — but this small community is disproportionately represented in some of the country’s most troubling statistics. Indians form a shockingly high percentage of the prison population, face persistent income and wealth gaps—both between ethnic groups and within their own community—and continue to grapple with access to quality e...

It’s been 70 years since the first General Elections in Malaya in 1955, and 61 years since we voted for the first time as a new nation called Malaysia in 1964. From the era of one-party dominance under the Alliance and then Barisan Nasional, to the historic change of government in 2018, our electoral journey has been an incredible one. In that time, we’ve gone from a nation that didn’t think it wa...

In GE15, the surge of Malay youth support for Perikatan Nasional sparked narratives about a rising “green” or “theocratic wave” and urgent questions about the shifting political attitudes of younger Malays. Many were quick to blame the election outcome on the lowering of the voting age and even went as far as calling the constitutional amendment a mistake. But these narratives are simplistic and d...

Tess Ingram is a spokesperson with UNICEF who has been on the frontlines of some of the most urgent crises in North Africa and the Middle East, including the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza due to the ongoing genocide of the Palestinians carried out by the State of Israel. In 2024, while attempting to deliver life-saving aid to the North of Gaza, she was inside a clearly marked UNICEF convoy that...

Dr Peter Slezak is a Jewish Australian academic and outspoken advocate for Palestinian rights. He’s a member of the Council of Advisers at the Hashim Sani Centre for Palestine Studies at Universiti Malaya and the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.  He’s also an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of New South Wales, Australia. For decades, he has used his platform and promi...

Invisible People by Jean Ho is an animated documentary series that shines light on the lives and struggles of people on the margins of society, namely the stateless and refugees. Through short interviews with people from the impacted communities, activists and academics, the series explores themes of identity, belonging, and systemic neglect, while also highlighting the resilience and dignity of t...

Iskandar Fareez is from the Democratic Action Party (DAP), currently serving as the National Vice Chief of DAPSY, which is their youth wing. He’s also served as a Special Functions Officer to the Deputy Minister in two ministries, namely the Ministry of Plantation and Commodities and Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security. Originally from Shah Alam, Iskandar's political journey began while...

Starting 1st of July, Malaysia’s expanded Sales and Service Tax (SST) framework will kick in. Under this expansion, luxury and discretionary items like watches, yachts, and antique artworks will now be taxed at rates of 5% or 10%, while services such as private wellness treatments, construction, fee-based financial services, private schools, among others, will face a 6–8% service tax. There was al...

Temple Tracks: Labour, Piety and Railway Construction in Asia is a fascinating book by Vineeta Sinha, a professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the National University of Singapore. It explores how Indian migrant workers, brought to colonial Malaya and Singapore to build and maintain the railway system, were not just labourers laying down tracks — they were also community-builders and religion-...

Sevan Doraisamy is a veteran Malaysian human rights defender and activist who’s been fighting the good fight for more than 25 years. He also served as the Executive Director of SUARAM, one of the country’s leading human rights organisations for 10 years, before deciding to step aside this year. Over the years, he’s been at the forefront of numerous human rights campaigns, from pushing to abolish I...

Since the 2018 and 2022 elections, there has been renewed national focus on East Malaysia and the long-standing promises of MA63. But often, much of that focus has been on Sarawak — its political stability, development push, and dominant state government. Meanwhile, Sabah’s story is equally complex, shaped by decades of political shifts, unresolved questions of autonomy, persistent development gap...

Protests have spread all across America in solidarity with migrant workers and against US President Donald Trump’s immigration raids. Last Tuesday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made the most arrests in a single day in its history, detaining more than 2,200 people. Even tourists were reportedly questioned and some were temporarily detained. Then on Friday, the federal agency arres...

By November 2025, Kerala is set to become India’s first state to entirely eradicate extreme poverty. One of the key reasons is the highly successful Extreme Poverty Eradication Project that the state government embarked on. But the interesting thing about Kerala is that while this specific project is fairly new, the state has been the benchmark in the country for development and social wellbeing f...

Charles Santiago is a human rights activist, a member of the DAP, former MP for Klang, and a two-time chairman of Malaysia’s National Water Services Commission (SPAN). He first held the SPAN chairmanship from November 2018 until his removal in April 2020 (after Langkah Sheraton), and was reappointed in March 2023, serving until March 2025.  Beyond these roles, Santiago serves as the co-chair...

Sarawak’s Sovereign Wealth Fund was launched in 2022, to “to safeguard and invest the State's funds for the future generations of Sarawak.” But what exactly is a sovereign wealth fund? How does it work?  And if it’s a useful tool or institution, would a state like Selangor—Malaysia’s most populous state with the highest GDP — benefit from one too? We speak to Geoffrey Williams, who’s an econo...

Over the past couple of decades, far-right parties and leaders have moved from the fringes to the forefront of global politics. Figures like Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Giorgia Meloni, and Narendra Modi or parties like the AFD, who were once seen as outliers or shrugged off altogether, now command mass followings, win elections or come close to winning, and shape global political discourse in a b...

Over the past couple of decades, far-right parties and leaders have moved from the fringes to the forefront of global politics. Figures like Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen, Giorgia Meloni, and Narendra Modi or parties like the AFD, who were once seen as outliers or shrugged off altogether, now command mass followings, win elections or come close to winning, and shape global political discourse in a b...

If you're ethnic-Indian—or if you have friends who are—chances are you've experienced first hand, or heard about racism in Malaysia’s rental market. Landlords rejecting tenants based solely on race. Ads that say “No Indians” or “Chinese only.” There are also instances where rental fee/pricing is clearly discriminatory.  But what can you do about it? Right now, the truth is—not much. The renta...

Many countries around the world are starting to become aging societies. In other words, there are more old people AND fewer people having babies. This demographic shift has important implications on the economy and politics of a country. The question is, what do we do about it? The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently published a report titled ‘The Rise of the Silver Economy: Global Implicat...

Raymon Ram has been appointed the new president of Transparency International–Malaysia. He will be serving in this capacity from 2025 - 2027. He succeeds Dr Muhammad Mohan, who stepped down after completing the six-year term limit.  In this episode, we chat with Raymon about battling the culture of corruption in Malaysia and what he hopes to achieve as the new President of Transparency Intern...

The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), is urging the government of Malaysia to take a firm and principled stance against the ongoing human and labour rights violations in Myanmar by supporting the invocation of Article 33 of the ILO Constitution.  The organisation, which consists of 12 million workers across 365 trade unions in 111 countries, stresses that Malaysia—as a Deputy Me...