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Top 5 at 5: Are We Denying Migrant Workers' Rights To A Home?

Adrian Pereira, Executive Director, North-South Initiative

27-Feb-26 17:00

Top 5 at 5: Are We Denying Migrant Workers' Rights To A Home?

Migrant workers in Johor may soon be moved into gated dormitories called Centralised Labour Quarters, away from residential areas. Supporters say this will reduce tension with local communities amidst fears of community safety and cultural differences. But for workers it means losing the right to choose their own homes and being isolated from society. We talk about this with Adrian Pereira. (Starts at 23:51)

• Parents respond to earlier enrollment of Standard 1 kids: There have been high volumes of applications for 6-year-old children to enroll sooner in schools. Though experts have doubts about this transition. We revisit a conversation from Health & Living with consultant paediatrician Dr Rajini Sarvananthan and Shahnaz al-Sadat, Managing Director of Sekolah Anak Malaysia on this matter. (Starts at 15:48)

• Kelana Jaya LRT disruptions: Three times the charm, typically, but not for this LRT line which experienced three incidences of technical failures this week. Commuters have been forced to find other ways to get to work, and the government has instigated a probe into what's happening. We discuss. (Starts at 11:47)

• Caution needed in using DeepSeek, say experts: Cybersecurity experts warn that DeepSeek, an AI platform, is risky for use in sensitive government work after a leak exposed over a million chat logs. Tech lawyer Melissa Lim speaks to us about these security concerns. (Starts at 6:24) *Note: In the podcast we left this out - DeepSeek is open source and can be run locally, not only as a cloud service. This reduces some cross‑border access risks but does not guarantee security or compliance.

• Dangerous rider behaviour on the road: Motorcyclists continue to practice lane-splitting whilst on the road, weaving through traffic despite the risk of causing a collision with cars trying to switch lanes. We talk about why they continue doing this, and what adopting safer road attitudes could look like. (Starts at 0:22)

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Produced by: Sneha Harikannan, Tee Shiao Eek, Sudais Ferhard, Alia Zefri

Presented by: Lee Chwi Lynn, Dashran Yohan


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Categories:  Law/Activismcorruptioneducationcontroversiesgovernmentpolitics

Tags:  Centralised Labour Quarters JohorMigrant workers housing MalaysiaStandard 1 early enrollment MalaysiaSchool readinessKelana Jaya LRT breakdownpublic transport disruptionDeepSeek data leakAI cybersecurityroad safety Malaysiamotorcyclists





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