Beyond The Ballot Box BFM Media

Recently, the Bajau Laut community in Semporna, Sabah were evicted from their homes by authorities. The Indigenous stateless population saw their stilt and boathouses demolished and burned down, leaving them with nothing and nowhere to go.
So, why was this done? Is it because of national and state security, a reason so often given by the political elites? Well, a few days after the eviction, news broke that a 21-acre Housing and Urban Development Board (LPPB) land in Kampung Air, Semporna will be turned into a RM478 million township, to meet tourist demands.
So, what does peace and justice for the Bajau Laut community look like?
We speak to Wan Shakila Adiela Wan Azmi, Member of Borneo Komrad. Borneo Komrad is an initiative organization of students and young people from Sabah to build social advocacy such as education, culture and human rights. They run a school called 'Sekolah Alternatif' to empower Bajau Laut children and teenagers.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are about 189,340 refugees and asylum-seekers registered with UNHCR in Malaysia. These are only the ones registered under UNHCR, which means the actual figure is likely much, much higher. And it’s only going to go up in the near future, given the ongoing civil war in Myanmar, genocide in Gaza and conflicts on the rise in various parts of the world.
The question is, what can and should we do about it?
We speak to Dr Melati Nungsari, Associate Professor of Economics and the Deputy Dean of Research, Asia School of Business. Dr Melati has done plenty of research on refugee rights. The Asia School of Business & UNHCR also recently held a conference on Refugee Studies and Forced Displacement.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Hindu Supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) faced a shocking setback in the recent general elections. The BJP is still the most popular party in India, winning 240 seats in Parliament. However, they fell short of the 272-seat majority needed to form the government by themselves. This contrasts the past two elections in which BJP won comfortable majorities.
Although the BJP and its allies in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) secured 283 seats collectively, enabling them to form the next government and Modi as the PM once again, the BJP will now depend on coalition partners.
The opposition coalition INDIA alliance, led by the Congress party and includes Tamil Nadu’s DMK, Kerala’s CPI-Marxists and various others, won 223 seats, surpassing expectations. The BJP has also continued to struggle to penetrate states in South India, winning only 1 seat in Kerala and 0 in Tamil Nadu.
So, what does this result mean?
We speak to Subin Dennis, an economist & policy researcher from Tricontinental Research India.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the 10th of June, the Malaysian government officially implemented the Diesel Subsidy reform, moving away from decades-old blanket subsidies. The Prime Minister has stressed that this move will save the government billions of ringgit annually and discourage smuggling and corruption. The government also said that the burden of removing these subsidies will only be felt by the T20 income earners and will not impact the B40 and M40. 

So, what are the potential long-term benefits of this reform and are there potential downsides? And what should the government do with the billions of ringgit they are projected to save from this reform?

Image Credit: Shutterstock
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Israel has continued its destruction of Gaza and refugee camps in Rafah. Around 40 000 Palestinians have been killed, half of whom are children. Besides “weak” statements about “red lines” The United States of America, currently led by Joe Biden, has continued to give their full backing to Israel. 

But a couple of things for Malaysians to ponder. One, are we doing enough to help Palestinians? Two, why is it that in many parts of the world, the struggle for Palestinian liberation has reinvigorated progressive forces, but in polarised Malaysia, even this issue is used to sow division around racial lines?
We have a conversation with YB Nurul Izzah Anwar, Vice President of KEADILAN.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections held the Bersih Congress 2024. Close to 300 highly energetic people packed the Kuala Lumpur Selangor Chinese Assembly Hall to discuss the future of the nation. On top of panel discussions, there were also motions that were debated and passed. These motions will be part of Bersih’s agenda moving forward.
We discuss this with Wong Yan Ke, Deputy Chairperson of Bersih.

Image Credit: Facebook
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.