Live & Learn

With the healthcare industry evolving at a rapid pace, Sunway University’s Sir Jeffrey Cheah Sunway Medical School is aiming to create future-ready doctors equipped with the skills and knowledge to excel in modern medicine. From addressing physician shortages to integrating technology and sustainability into medical education, we explore how this program aims to shape the future of healthcare in Malaysia with Professor Sibrandes Poppema, the President of Sunway University, and Professor Dr Raja Affendi, the Dean of the School of Medical and Life Sciences at Sunway University.

Artist Angelo Chia’s new exhibition, Value. Elements. Prospective. Impromptu, offers a fresh look at the foods we consume, especially the durian, often considered the 'King of Fruits.' Through abstract yet lifelike watercolour paintings, Angelo explores the theme 'we are what we eat,' presenting fruit as a mirror to our identities and shared cultural heritage. Angelo joins us to discuss his creative process, and his personal connection to these works, being exhibited at AweGallery.Image credit: Angelo Chia

What are the key reforms needed to take our education system into the future? In this forum, we gathered policymakers, education experts, and industry leaders to deliberate on curriculum innovation, the integration of technology, strengthening STEM education, and enhancing access to early childhood and vocational training. How can we achieve the country's goal to align Malaysia's education system with global standards, and prepare future generations for the demands of the 21st century, in line with the Malaysia MADANI vision? Our guests, Yang Berusaha Tuan Zainal Abas, Deputy Director General of Education Malaysia (School Operations Sector), Ministry of Education Malaysia and Datin Haryati Binti Mohamed Razali, Deputy Director, Educational Planning and Research, Ministry of Education Malaysia join BFM’s Sharaad Kuttan to outline the priority areas in education transformation, as identified by the Ministry of Education, Malaysia.

We speak to Professor Sibrandes Poppema, the President of Sunway University, to discuss a pivotal year for the university as it hosts its third major academic gathering of 2024, the AppliedHE Xchange - Recognising Excellence, Diversity and Impact. This event follows the Planetary Health Summit, and Times Higher Education Asia Universities Summit, reinforcing Malaysia's prominence on the global education map. Together, we'll explore how hosting such high-profile summits helps advance Malaysia’s standing as an education hub, the impact of global and regional rankings on Sunway’s strategy, and its commitment to lifelong learning and diversity in higher education. Professor Poppema will also share insights into what sets the AppliedHE Xchange apart and how it aims to foster inclusivity, collaboration, and innovation across Southeast Asia’s higher education landscape.

Aishah Zainal is a 27-year-old author from Ipoh. Her novel Hades, which is set in a world of low-cost flats and centers around the relationship between a troubled teen and a single mother, was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award 2024. We speak to her about her novel and her journey.Image Credit: Dublin Literary Award

Singaporean comedian Sharul Channa’s latest performance in Malaysia would’ve been on 18th May, but it was unfortunately cancelled after her work visa was cancelled by the Ministry of Communications just two days before the event. This comes after several police reports were made of a clip of a show from 2018, which allegedly touched on 3R - race, religion, and royalty - issues. This incident has raised much concern among the local arts and comedy scene because of the precedent it could set and the implications it could have for local and foreign artists. Joining me on the show today to delve into that as well as what procedures should be in place to deal with situations like this, is Arief Hamizan, committee member of ReformARTsi.Image credit: Shutterstock

Malaysian-born Paris-based Angeline Teh is a journalism graduate, and (full disclosure!) a former radio producer and presenter from BFM89.9. From her years producing for radio, she developed a keen eye for uncovering the narratives embedded within the everyday. In 2021, she was awarded a full scholarship and graduated with Magna cum Laude honours in 2023 from the prestigious DocNomads Joint Masters Degree programme in Europe, and has four short films to her credit now, which delicately blend visual and auditory elements to capture the essence of ordinary, yet profound stories. Her debut documentary short, "Reading You" is a deeply introspective piece about family, memory, and reconciliation, and made its mark by premiering and competing in the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition at the Singapore International Film Festival in 2023. The film is now heading to Grimstad, Norway, where it's been selected for the 47th Norwegian Shortfilm Festival Competition in June. We catch up with Angeline to find out more about her budding documentary filmmaking career, and how her works balance the intimacy of personal storytelling with universal themes that resonate with audiences from diverse backgrounds.TW: Death by suicideImage Credit: Angeline Teh

Early in May, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim launched the National Anti-Corruption Strategies (NACS) 2024-2028 which focuses on the effectiveness of corruption prevention efforts and improving governance and integrity. The NACS is replacing National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) 2019-2023, and as the name suggests is an important component of the government’s reform agenda.We unpack this with Raymon Ram, Certified Fraud Examiner & Anti-Money Laundering Specialist. Image Credit: Anwar Ibrahim, X

The UNDP's 2023/24 Human Development Report (HDR), titled "Breaking the Gridlock: Reimagining cooperation in a polarised world," tells a troubling tale: that the rebound in the global Human Development Index (HDI) - which encapsulates a nation's Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, education, and life expectancy - has been fragmented, deficient, and marked by disparities. This uneven development progress is leaving the poorest behind, exacerbating inequality, and stoking political polarisation on a global scale. The result is a dangerous gridlock that must be urgently tackled through collective action. So what can be done, with inequality on the rise? We speak to Niloy Banerjee, the Resident Representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam, from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to discuss the issues, and also the solutions towards tackling them.

With the recent Kuala Kubu Baharu state by-elections this past Saturday, also came stories of voters doing all they can to ensure they cast their ballot and exercise their democratic right. From being bedridden to having travel hundreds of kilometres, these stories are commonly reported during election seasons and while they seem inspirational, they can also contribute to the perception that processes and infrastructure don’t need to change to improve accessibility for people with disabilities - whether it’s to do with voting or any other aspect of social participation. To dive into the significance of reasonable accommodation and how we can improve overall accessibility for people with disabilities, we speak to Hasbeemasputra Abu Bakar, a community engagement and lived experience advocate from SIUMAN.Image credit: The Accessible Icon Project

There are currently hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of refugees in Southeast Asia. Malaysia alone is home to around 187 000 UNHCR registered refugees (which means the actual numbers are much higher). Yet, we and many countries in the region do not have a comprehensive refugee rights and protections framework. So, what are the most critical gaps and challenges identified in the existing forced migration architecture within ASEAN?The Centre for Policy Development is an Australian-based, independent policy institute, which together with the Asia Dialogue on Forced Migration (ADFM), published a paper trying to answer exactly that.We speak to Andrew Hudson, CEO, Centre for Policy Development (Australia).Image Credit: Shutterstock

When we think of scuba diving, we’d think of the endless wonders that you could see in the ocean. But scuba diving also opens up different possibilities for people with disabilities, both physical and developmental. Diveheart is an organisation which provides and supports educational scuba diving programmes to children and adults with disabilities. An organisation that started in the US, they also have a Malaysian chapter, and here to tell us more about the work they do is the Malaysia team lead, Syed Abd Rahman. Also joining us in the studio today is Sharifah Nadia Syed Mohd Famy who was part of the programmes that Diveheart Malaysia ran and is now a certified PADI open water diver.

Spearheaded by Marina Tan, Nukilan Lagu Raya, The Lagu Raya Songbook, delves into a comprehensive exploration of 30 'Raya' songs from 1936 to 2022, where she explored both the context and conceptualisation of these songs as a way to explore our nation’s socio-economic history. From the pioneering work of Bangsawan singers in the 1930s to the emergence of iconic Raya songs and film stars like P. Ramlee in the 1950s, the project traces the evolution of Malaysian music, blending pop-rock influences in the 1960s and 1970s. All of this is coming together in a Music, Food, Fashion & Visual Arts Showcase, which offers us all an immersive journey through Malaysia's musical heritage, bridging past, present, and future cultural narratives. We speak to Marina to find out more about her research into the "Lagu Raya Songbook" and also curator Sharmin Parameswaran, who has put together the visual arts component of this project.

Seals offer us a window into the past, even if to some of us they seem largely unimportant compared to the document that it accompanies. For maritime Southeast Asia, Malay seals contain a treasure trove of data through which we can learn so much about the history of the Malay world. Joining us on the show today is Dato’ Dr Annabel Teh Gallop, to share more about her work researching and collecting over 2,000 seals for her book, Malay Seals from the Islamic World of Southeast Asia. She is currently the Lead Curator of the Southeast Asia section at the British Library, and in 2022 she received the Merdeka Award for “Outstanding Contribution to the People of Malaysia”.Image credit: Dr Annabel Teh Gallop

The “State of the World’s Human Rights” report 2023/24, published by Amnesty International, is an annual documentation of human rights conditions globally. According to the report, authorities across the world continue to "assault" universal freedoms, while economic crises, climate change and environmental degradation disproportionately affect already marginalised communities. This is just some of the findings from the report that documents human rights concerns from 2023 in 155 countries, including right here in Malaysia. We speak to Katrina Jorene Maliamauv, the Executive Director of Amnesty International Malaysia, to get a rundown of Malaysia's report card from 2023, and to discuss actions and steps governments and others can take, to do better for everyone.Image Credit: Shutterstock

Recently, the Supreme Court in the US announced that it will not hear the case of McKesson v. Doe. This decision leaves in place a lower court decision that effectively eliminated the right to organize a mass protest in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The implication is that a protest organizer faces potential financial consequences if a single attendee at a mass protest commits an illegal act.Many Americans are worried about what this means for freedom of assembly in the US. So on today’s episode we’re going to be talking a little bit about this case but also more broadly look at whether the US and The West is experiencing democratic backsliding.We speak to Peter Beattie, Political Economist & Political Psychologist, Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK).Image Credit: Shutterstock

Contemporary Malay gamelan group Gangsapura was first established back in October 2016, with the aim of promoting Malaysian culture, developing traditional arts, and instilling a love of the arts to the community at large. Founded by Teuku Umar Ilany and Nur Diyana Nadirah, the group is made up of musicians from various backgrounds, and they recently received six nominations for the upcoming 19th BOH Cameronian Arts Awards. We speak to Umar and Diyana to discuss the Gangsapura story, and to find out more about their brand new studio, which is set to open in late April.

The BOH Cameronian Arts Awards (BCAA) are back for its 19th edition, continuing with its aim to be Malaysia’s premier award for the performing arts, through recognising, rewarding and raising the bar of excellence for Malaysian performing arts practitioners. Organised by arts company Kakiseni since 2002, we catch up with Low Ngai Yuen, the President of Kakiseni, to discuss the efforts the company has taken to keep the awards going through the years, and to get a glimpse into the nominees for this edition, and what's in store at the upcoming awards ceremony.

In a world where news of war, natural disasters, acts of random violence, and more that happen anywhere in the world can reach us in a matter of minutes, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer scale of it all. Some of us have probably chosen to switch off from the news instead, to avoid the distressing feelings that accompany bad news. But is there a way for us to stay informed without feeling numb to what’s happening in the world? We speak to Dr Debbie Ling, compassion researcher and educator; she’s also a lecturer in the Department of Social Work at Monash University. Image credit: Shutterstock

As the current war and genocide in Gaza by Israel continues, life in Gaza is becoming increasingly difficult and impossible, as people struggle to even find food to survive. In fact, what we often see on social media is only a glimpse of the horrors that Palestinians are going through. For Palestinian refugees outside of Gaza, many are attempting to fundraise to help get their loved ones out of the country - one of them is Manal Adlouni. Having been in Malaysia since 2015, she shares her own journey of leaving Gaza and why she’s trying to get her mother and brother’s family out as well. You can contribute to Manal’s fundraiser here.