Evening Edition

In conjunction with the 56th Merdeka celebrations and the 50th anniversary of the formation of Malaysia, PETRONAS has embarked on a project to reconnect the current generation of Malaysians with a message for a better society and social cohesion through the works of Malaysia’s National Poet Laureate, the late Dato’ Usman Awang.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an article in The Star dated 11th September 2013, Second Education Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh said that two-thirds of English language teachers in the country were "incapable" or "unfit" to teach the subject in school. And today The Star features an article that has examples from parents about how their children are taught the language in schools. In many of these instances, because English are these children’s mother-tongue or are encouraged to speak the language at home, many innocently correct their teachers in classrooms, the same way their parents would correct them at home. This has caused them to be reprimanded or made fun of, so silence instead of learning the right way is instilled. But what about teachers? Being corrected by a student in a classroom where you’re the authority, can be embarrassing and to some extent. Is reprimanding a student over teaching what is correct, the right thing to do?  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ross Yusof is joined this week by Astrp Arena's Dez Corkhill along with Gogulan Dorairajoo & Jeevan Selvanathan. The guys relive Friday's World Cup qualifiers including Europe, South America, Concacaf & Asia. They discuss one man teams, International friendlies, socialist football and also look at the 41st Merdeka Tournament.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We chat with acclaimed Malaysia singer-songwrite about his upcoming Hari Malaysia video, set to be released on September 16th. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ross Yusof & guests Bob Holmes, Stuart Cavens & Pravin Peraba lookback at the deals done on transfer deadline day and discuss the effect Mesut Ozil, Mouranne Fellainni & Gareth Bale will have at their new clubs. Also a look at business done by Everton, Cardiff & QPR. There's a chat about FA chairman, Greg Dyke's recent speech about England's targets and a preview of the European World Cup qualifiers. There's also a chat with Dez Corkhill (Astro Arena) about the upcoming Merdeka Tournament.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mohsen Kadivar is an Iranian philosopher, University lecturer, cleric and activist. A political dissident, Kadivar has been a vocal critic of the doctrine of clerical rule, also known as Velayat-e Faqih (Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist), and a strong advocate of democratic and liberal reforms in Iran. Kadivar has served time in prison in Iran for his political activism and beliefs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week alone, we’ve seen a 20-sen fuel price hike which had Malaysians packing petrol stations last Tuesday night. The move, together with a 20-sen diesel price hike as well, would save the government RM1.1bil in subsidies for the rest of this year and a further RM3.3 billion annually. And to help offset the hike, the government has promised more cash handouts in the form of BR1M. The Star reported that the Najib administration made the decision as it attempts to introduce immediate remedial measures to reduce its fiscal deficit. The cutting of subsidies has been an unpopular move, with many Malaysians lashing out angrily as seen on social media and online news portals. But some have said that this, though a small move, is a move nonetheless by the government as part of their economic reforms. But at the same time, the average Malaysian out there is hurting in his pocket. So, we’re asking today: Do you think these measures (fuel price hike, increased cash handouts) put forward by the government will help in boosting the Malaysian economy?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rugby is not exactly a game that all Malaysians are familiar with. It’s possible that the closest we’ve paid attention to anything rugby is the couple of hours we spent watching the movie Invictus, where first term South African President, Nelson Mandela, used the game to unite the then apartheid-torn country. But did you know Malaysia has an annual rugby sevens tournament and is the longest-running tournament in Asia? The Jonah Jones Rugby Sevens tournament is now in its 50th year and it seems only right that we get the people involved to tell us more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ross Yusof & his guests Bob Holmes, Craig Morraies & Jeevan Selvanathan discuss the UEFA Champions League & UEFA Europa League draws, Chelsea's goaless draw against Man United on Monday, the Malaysia Cup, Fantasy Football PLUS a preview of the weekend's big games.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's transfer deadline day! Ross Yusof along with guests Matt Bellotti, Kam Raslan & Gogulan Dorairajoo look at the done deals, the deals in the pipelines and of course look back at the weekend's football including the BPL, Championship, Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 & La Liga. There's also a chat with Kelantan coach, Bojan Hodak about the Malaysia Cup as well as Winners & Losers AND a Fantasy Football update!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

British Council’s Young Creative Entrepreneur (YCE) programme has identified and honoured numerous budding innovative and entrepreneurial young leaders from around the world. The programme has successfully paved the way for talented individuals to network and exchange ideas with some of the UK’s top creative minds for commercial and collaborative work. In 2012, YCE focused on selecting the best and brightest stars in the world of international media. The Malaysian edition of the programme saw Fariz Hanapiah, Co-founder and Executive Creative Director of Motiofixo, a new generation motion graphics studio, emerge ahead of four other contestants to receive the YCE media award. Here in the studio to tell us more about the programme is Fariz Hanapiah himself, Co-founder and Executive Creative Director of Motiofixo (Mo-shio-fixo) & winner of the 2012 YCE media award & Grey Yeoh Arts and Programmes Manager for British Council Malaysia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This month of August has been one of celebration. There was Raya early in the month and tomorrow, Malaysians celebrate the country turning 56 years old. Joining in the festivities are other countries within the South East Asia region too; India, Indonesia and Singapore all celebrate their National or Independence Day in August as well. On The Evening Edition today, we speak to various people from these countries to gain a glimpse on what their thoughts are on their National/Independence Day.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This Saturday, Malaysia will be celebrating its 56th National Day. It’s been 56 years since our first Prime Minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaimed Merdeka 7 times amidst thousands in Stadium Merdeka. In his speech, he declares that “Malaya steps forward to take her rightful place as a free and independent partner in the great community of Nations”. The struggle back then that went into gaining independence from the British, will always be something we’ll read about, admire and draw inspiration from. Sadly, those are the only times patriotism kicks in for most of us. Why do we need the past to evoke the feelings of love for our country? On Talkback Thursday today, we’re asking: Do you think Tunku’s dream of a unified Malaysia is realised today, 56 years later?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Reverend Martin Luther King’s legendary “I have a dream...” speech. For five decades his words haven’t just inspired and moved us, but given us food for thought, irrespective of our histories and geographies, and no matter the colour of our skin. The Evening Edition today commemorates the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s speech heard around the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was reported in the news yesterday that "African" tenants at a Bandar Sri Subang condominium have three months to vacate their units after a majority of the residents voted against renting units to foreigners from the continent whom allegedly "cause a lot of nuisance." Today we're asking whether you agree or disagree such a decision? How would you have voted? And why?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ross Yusof & guests, Stuart Cavens, Matt Bellotti & Jeevan Selvanathan discuss Cardiff City's battling win against former champions, Man City. There are also chats about Daniel Sturridge, Lukas Podolski, Roberto Soldado PLUS Matt's theory on why Chelsea signed Willian. ALSO the Championship, La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and a Malaysia Cup update with Dez Corkhill (Astro Arena)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to director, Mark Teh and Azmyl Yunor about "Something I wrote". A documentary-musical that is inspired by local singer-songwriter Azmyl Yunor's musical journey. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ross Yusof & his guests, Bob Holmes, Craig Morraies & Pravin Peraba discuss the midweek action which saw Chelsea controversially defeat Aston Villa 2-1. There's chat about all the British clubs except Celtic sailing through their European playoffs. There's talk about the Malaysia Cup, Fantasy Football where stays at TUNE HOTELS are up for grabs plus the weekend previews.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Now, who would’ve thought sitting in front of a screen for hours on end, headphones intact, deep in concentration while tapping on console buttons or the keypad and mouse would be a good thing? Yes, parents out there, time to take back the usual haughty spiel about how gaming is a waste of time because these days, college and universities are offering gaming development degrees! And joining the bandwagon is MyGameDev2020, an Entry Point Project under PEMANDU’s ETP, launched last year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Endless Possibilities”. That’s Malaysia’s new slogan that is set to be officially launched this September 17th, a day after Malaysia Day on the 16th. Said to complement the 1Malaysia concept, our Prime Minister had said that is part of Malaysia’s national branding. Adding to that is the announcement by the Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek that the national anthem, the Negaraku, will be played in cinemas nationwide before the start of all movies. This will begin next Wednesday and will go on for one week. According to the minister, this move is meant to promote a patriotic spirit in the run-up to the country’s 56th National Day on August 31st. This evening we’re asking: Do Malaysians lack patriotism? Will compulsory slogans and national-anthem singing help build a stronger sense of patriotism among Malaysians? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The plight of the OA is making headlines again because Suhakam handed a National Inquiry into the Land Rights of Indigenous Peoples report recently to Datuk Paul Low. The report’s findings is based on a 2-year research with the OA community throughout Peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak and it centred squarely on the blatant land-grabbing by authorities/developers. 18 recommendations were listed down for the government to look at based on the overwhelmingly 892 statements that were recorded from the community - 407 statements from Sabah, 198 statements from Sarawak and 287 statements from the Peninsula.  Also making headlines is the proposed amendment to the Aboriginals People Act 1954 by the government. Apparently, the amendment would allow government agencies to take over and develop OA native customary land, possibly to the tune of 645,000 hectares of native land in the country being lost. The Peninsular Malaysia Orang Asli Villages Network (JKOASM) has been drumming up support to oppose the amendments.  The last time we spoke about the Orang Asli community on our show, our guests from the Bar Council Committee on Orang Asli’s Rights shared some painfully real stories about what battles the community has had to fight. Land rights and overall basic human rights are just some of the issues to start with. But making the headlines recently, is human rights watch SUHAKAM’s National Inquiry into the Land Right of Indigenous People.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this month's instalment of Cerita-Cerita Rock N Roll, we speak about all things Metallica -- arguably the biggest heavy metal band of all time. Coinciding with their first live appearance in Malaysia for the first time in 30 years, we speak about some key moments of the band's career: the death of their bassist, the Napster showdown, a documentary that captured the band's meltdown and how the metal titans plan to take on Hollywood. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a lot of "Spurs love" in the air as Ross Yusof & his guests Stuart Cavens, Matt Bellotti & Jeevan Selvanathan lookback at the 1st weekend of the BPL. Also discussions about Arsenal, Man Utd, Liverpool, Chelsea & the promoted teams. Producer Andy delivers his 1st Winners & Losers of the season and there are also chats about the Championship, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Italian Super Cup, Big Shouts for the season + your chance to win a stay at an international Tune Hotel via Fantasy Football. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

William Lacy Swing is the Director General of the International Organization for Migration. He is a diplomat and former United States Ambassador, and United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Under Secretary General. It’s no secret that Malaysia is suffering badly from ‘Brain Drain’, as someone who studies the reasons and effects of migration, William Swing may be in a position to help us understand, from a different perspective why this is the case. Who and why do people migrate? What are the forces at play, and what difficulties might people face as they try to migrate. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In a recent report by The Star Online, Malaysia generates about 15,000 tonnes of food and kitchen waste daily – enough to fill 7.5 football fields or to feed 7.5 million people a day. This is a hike from 2011, where about 930 tonnes of unconsumed food were thrown away every day. And that was double the 2009 figure. In Kuala Lumpur alone, the waste comes up to about 3,000 tonnes a day. Omnicom Media Group has come up with a recipe book titled “OMG Can Cook” a one-of-a-kind effort that hopes to ensure fewer less fortunate Malaysians go to bed hungry!  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We’ve been an unhappy lot of late with media reports about people feeling offended or people offending other people. This week alone, we read about the Astro fiasco, where a disclaimer was placed during a documentary about Pope Francis, angering some Christians viewers. Then, there’s the outrage over a resort in Johor for allowing their surau to be used by a group of Buddhist monks to pray in. And all these come hot on the heels of the “seditious” act of a dog trainer who was accused for insulting Islam because she owned 3 dogs and bathed them with a Hari Raya takbir backdrop.  This has made us wonder if maybe we’re the type to offend easily, or maybe we like to offend on purpose. Today on Talkback Thursday, we’re asking: Are Malaysians becoming too sensitive?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Accompanying the recent price hike in cigarettes is a proposed amendment to the Control of Tobaccos Products Regulations - another step the government is taking to try and reduce smoking and related non-communicable diseases. While these steps are necessary in helping curb smoking, quitting this addictive practice is easier said than done. Here in the studio with us today we have Julian Leicester, quit smoking success guru who is also named as the cigarette slayer and Dr Tan Chong Chong, a clinical quit smoking consultant to talk to us about quitting smoking.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Getting old. It’s something that none of us really want to deal with. We don’t want to think that we might be a burden to our family and friends, we don’t want to think that we might be spending time in a hospital. We want to think about growing old gracefully. But what if that’s not the case? Ageing is one of the top challenges our economies face. As the baby-boom generation reaches retirement there will be fewer workers for each pensioner and so, a greater strain on funding. According to some research from the National Statistics Department Malaysia will become an ageing population by 2021 - What do we need to do to help cope with this? Here to shed some light on this we have Professor Nathan Vytialingham and Dr Wong Teck Wee. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's the eve of Raya and The Evening Edition speaks to Norman Halim, formerly of pop group KRU and now Chairman of RIM, about how Raya music has evolved over the years. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today on The Evening Edition, Uma and Ezra talk about the changing face of Hari Raya in light of commercialism, immigration and technology.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s just 3 days to Raya and everyone is in a festive mood. While it’s time for us to come together with family and loved ones, for many, it’s also a time for reflection, a time to count our blessings, and a time to think about those whose stories differ from ours. With Raya being celebrated by folks from all walks of life, today on The Evening Edition, we bring you stories from the folks over at the Malaysian Rohingya Society, who oversee the welfare of the refugees of Rohingya in Malaysia.  Our producers Arleen Webber & Esmee Joseph made the trek over to visit them earlier in the week, and we’ll be playing you clips from their trip over the course of the show this evening.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The folks from TimeOut KL come in and tell us their pick of the top 50 shops in and around the capital.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Evening Edition presents The Real Deal in collaboration with Influence 360 and we’re continuing the conversation we had during Talkback Tuesday yesterday about corruption.  We have with us Datuk Paul Low, Cabinet Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and former President of Transparency International, who will be able to weigh in on the results of Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer, just released this month, and what Malaysia is trying to do to combat corruption.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s Talkback Tuesday and The Evening Edition is presenting The Real Deal, in collaboration with Influence 360. This week we’re looking into the global issue of corruption and what it means in the Malaysian context. While the recent release of Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer showed some degree of overall improvement about what the public thinks of corruption in the country, a strong 39% believe that corruption has increased, that’s up 2% from 37% in 2011. So, how does a country eradicate corruption? Surely not overnight and definitely through a massive mindset change across the board. Which is why we’re asking today: What must Malaysia do to combat corruption? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why do we often hear that Malaysia has some of the highest car prices in the world? Is it because of taxes? Is it because of protectionism of local brands? Or is there something else that contributes to these high car prices? And why are we paying more here for the same car as some of our neighbours? Here to hopefully clear up some of these details is Hans Cheong from LiveLifeDrive.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She’s known for her chanteuse image and unique voice, some might even say -  her attitude. She influenced singers from all genres including, Courtney Love, The Dixie Chicks, Tori Amos, Sheryl Crow and Mary J. Blige - amongst others. Today on Cerita Cerita Rock N Roll, we’ll be talking about Stevie Nicks.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we pick up pace to keep up with being a developed society, many glaring issues and communities that need help are hastily left behind. One of them is the disabled and special needs community. 2012 stats have shown that out of 29.33 million Malaysians, a total of 19.56 millions fall under the working aged group. And in 2012, the GDP stood at RM751,471 million - that’s RM38k GDP per able-bodied person. The government has recently stepped up its efforts, as seen in the Malaysian Education Blueprint 2013 - 2025. But awareness about help for those with special needs remain low while discrimination against them is still evident, both in schools and work places. Are we really doing enough to help them? Today we’re asking:  How serious are we in wanting to help educate children with special needs? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Evening Edition gets live updates from BFM's Keith Kam and Jason Lim, who are in Kuala Besut for the by-election. Tune in for the latest in  the by-election news from Monday, 22 July to polling day on Wednesday, 24 July 2013. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Big Game Hunting is the hunting of large game historically associated with the hunting of Africa's Big Five game-where hunters mainly hunt for 5 main animals (lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros). The sport still exist till today in Africa and many parts of the world. The sport also introduced into Malaya and Borneo during the early 19th century by the British.  Here in the studio to tell us more about it is John Nicholson.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How many of you knew that the worlds largest roundabout is in Putrajaya? Or that the Rainforests of Malaysia, collectively are around 130 million years old? Today’s guest knows all about that and 49 9 other  fascinating facts about Malaysia. He’s an author, publisher, researcher and editor - welcome to the show Venkat Hari.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

He put up a video on Youtube of himself conversing in Malay and thought nothing of it until a month later when he received over 900 new friends requests on Facebook. As a result, he started a Facebook fan page, which he used as a platform  to teach English, and that quickly climbed to 5,000 likes in a short time. Meet Bahasa Melayu-speaking Cikgu Ben Bradshaw, an American student, currently an intern in the Public Affairs department in the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s that time of the month again, the folks from Time Out KL are here to tell us about their latest feature in their July issue.  This time around it’s about bringing Malaysians closer together. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today, the Evening Edition presents The Real Deal in collaboration with Influence 360 and we’re continuing the conversation we had last Talkback Tuesday about building the next generation of teachers. We asked what went wrong between teachers today and teachers then, in terms of the jarring drop in teaching quality, and  you shared some insightful views with us which we want to explore this evening. Joining us in this discussion are educationists, Pn.Zarina Binti Mobarak Ahmad, and Joyce Tagal. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A little over two years ago the long reign of autocrat Hosni Mubarak ended when tidal waves of protests in Cairo swept him from power. Egypt became a police state without any policemen. Mubarak’s democratically elected successor, Mohammed Morsi was dumped from office and arrested by Egypt’s generals just a few days ago. This time it was a presidential democracy without a president. Here to talk to us about exactly what has happened over this short space of time; about how a country can perform a U-turn on such a grand scale,  is Tamir Moustafa -  Associate Professor at the School For International Studies, Simon Fraser University.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rate of women labour participation is a problem not only unique to Malaysia, but the world over. Many countries have recognised that the participation of women in the workforce can boost its economic growth and yet, overlooked labour laws like maternity leave, and demands such as long working hours, have been the reasons why women leave the workforce permanently. Companies are beginning to practice flexible policies that cater to these issues women in the workforce face, and we want to explore if it has worked on every level. What sacrifices must women make to maintain both career and family life?  Can career progression be achieved when women are granted these rights to practice? Who then bears the extra load at work? Is it fair for other workers to be subjected to the extra responsibility? Today we’re asking:  are we pampering women in the workforce? Today’s Talkback Thursday is produced in collaboration with the Economic Transformation Programme and brought to you by BFM.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Judith St. George arrived in Malaysia on April 25, 2013 upon appointment as High Commissioner to Malaysia. She has served in the United States, Philippines, Vietnam, and as Senior Trade Commissioner in London, England. This will be her second tour in Malaysia, having served as First Secretary at the High Commission from 1989 to 1993. Ms. St. George replaces Randolph Mank. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent years, there has been talk about the interest decline in the teaching profession and the questionable quality in teachers today. It’s a sharp contrast to decades ago when teaching was held in high regard; it was the ultimate profession to get into. Teachers were knowledgeable, they had authority, students feared them, and parents left the disciplining of their children to them.  Are teachers adapting to the changing landscape of students and teachings today? What has worked in the past when teachers were so highly regarded? When we look at teachers we had then and the ones we have now, what went wrong along the way?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It’s time for The Real Deal, presented by The Evening Edition, in collaboration with Influence 360 and this evening, we’ll be picking up from where we left off last Talkback Tuesday. We spoke about Malaysians and the increasing cost of living and how cash handout initiatives may or may not be the solution. Moving forward from there, we’ll be speaking today about how Malaysia needs to bridge that gap in making ours an equitable economy Sharing their thoughts with us is Jasmine Andaickalam, consultant with C Codes, which stands for Consultancy on Community Organising Development and Empowerment Solutions, together with Kinibiz founding editor, P.Gunasegaram who joined us earlier this evening for this thoughts. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This weekend marks the 5th anniversary of the inscription of George Town as a UNESCO world heritage site. With that in mind, we speak to Elizabeth Cardosa of Badan Warisan Malaysia a little about George Town & Malacca - and what heritage means for us here in Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tasek Gelugor MP Shabudin Yahya has called for an end to late night eateries, at the back of the recent call to ban smoking of flavoured tobacco, otherwise known as shisha. In his address in Parliament, he says there are now about 3,000 late night eateries in KL itself and that Malaysians need to be educated about their bad eating habits, which, he claims, is the basis for the rising number in chronic diseases today. On Talkback Thursday today, we're asking: Should late night eateries be shut down because they allegedly pose a health risk?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.