Beyond The Ballot Box BFM Media

Pakatan Harapan retained its Kuala Kubu Bharu state seat at the by-elections which took place over the weekend. Before the elections, many pundits predicted that this would likely be an incredibly tough battle in which either side would win by the slimmest of majorities. Interestingly, Pakatan Harapan’s Pang Sock Tao from the DAP increased their vote share and won relatively comfortably with 57% of the popular vote, while PN’s Khairul Azhari Saut garnered 41% of the vote.
So, what does the KKB by-election result tell us?

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Last Sunday, the Zionist state of Israel voted to shut down Al Jazeera in the country, immediately ordering the closure of its offices and a ban on the company's broadcasts.
Over in the United States of America, peaceful university encampments and protests have been taking place all over the country. The state, the supposed land of the free, has responded to these protests by unleashing armed police officers in riot gear.
So, where does that leave us today?

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In 2020, Malaysia became an ageing society – in other words, people are living longer and having less babies. 
On a separate but related note, women’s participation in the workforce has plateaued at 55%, with most citing “household and care responsibilities” as the primary reason. 
These are big-picture problems that would require comprehensive policy intervention centred around something called the Care Economy. 
But what exactly is the Care Economy? And what can Malaysia learn from other countries with more mature and robust care economies, such as Australia?

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Malaysia dropped 34 places in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom rankings placing us at 107 out of 180 countries listed. For the first time in three years, Malaysia does not top the rankings for ASEAN countries as Thailand attained 87th place.
Nalini Elumalai of Article 19 (Malaysia) joins us to discuss this sharp decline in rankings.

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South Africans celebrate “Freedom Day” every April 27, commemorating the country’s first democratic election in 1994. It also marked the official end of racial segregation and apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid and racial segregation meant that there was a huge inequality and inequity gap between the ethnic groups in South Africa, namely the minority white population and the poorer majority black population. To tackle this, South Africa implemented an affirmative action policy which bears some resemblance to Malaysia’s New Economic Policy. 
So, decades on, what has been the result of the affirmative action policy in Malaysia and South Africa?
Dr Lee Hwok-Aun, who’s a Senior Fellow of the Malaysian Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, has spent many years studying the ethnic majority-favouring affirmative action policy in South Africa and Malaysia. He joins us on the show today to share his insights.

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The Kuala Kubu Bharu by-elections will be held on the 11th of May. This comes at the heels of the unfortunate passing of KKB incumbent ADUN, Lee Kee Hiong from the DAP.
The by-election will see a four-cornered fight between Pang Sock Tao from Pakatan Harapan, Khairul Azhari Saut from Perikatan Nasional, Hafizah Zainuddin from Parti Rakyat Malaysia and Nyau Ke Xin running as an independent.
So, how closely contested will this election be? What can the voting trends of the past decade tell us? We speak to Danesh Prakash Chako of Tindak Malaysia.

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