26th June is the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking meant to raise awareness about global drug problems internationally. We speak to Palani Narayanan, director of the Drug Policy Program Malaysia about drug laws, communicating an anti-drug message, and more.

Other stories we covered:

• Pro-Palestinian direct action group to be labelled as terrorists: Britain’s Home Office wants to outlaw Palestine Action under terrorism laws for their recent protest which targeted airplanes at a military base. We talk to Saeed Taji Farouky, member of the group and a Palestinian-British filmmaker about the possible ban as well as the British government’s crackdown on pro-Palestine protests.

• Pahang forest project infringing on Orang Asli land rights: The Pahang Peatland Restoration Project being spearheaded by the private firm Enggang (Pekan) Sdn Bhd, says it is restoring forest reserves while generating carbon credits for the voluntary offset market. The Centre for Orang Asli Concerns (COAC) alleges that the firm's intentsions are misleading and exploitative, considering they had not gotten proper consent from the OA community. We talk to Colin Nicholas, founder of COAC about what changes are needed to resolve this conflict.

• KDN officers seize books from Fixi: Four officers from the Ministry of Home Affairs visited Buku Fixi’s KL store to confiscate Jelik and Jelik 2 by Isma Fa Ismail for further inspection. Unfortunately, book confiscations at independent bookstores aren’t uncommon, so we hear from Fixi founder, Amir Muhammad, about what happened and lawyer Kee Hui Yee about why officers have power to seize books.

• Hadi Awang's son-in-law shares racist FB post: Zaharuddin Muhammad, son-in-law of PAS president, Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, shared a Facebook post about a dystopian future with a Chinese prime minister, after Johnny Lim Eng Seng became the first Chinese-Malaysian lieutenant general in the armed forces. We talk about the controversy surrounding the post.

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Produced by: Juliet Jacobs, Lim Sue Ann, Sudais Ferhard, Alia Zefri, Sneha Harikannan

Presented by: Lee Chwi Lynn, Sharaad Kuttan

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Categories:  controversies,  education,  Law/Activism,  corruption,  environment,  politics,  government,  international,  culture,  History/Heritage

Tags:  tan Sri abdul hadi awang,  KDN,  seizing books,  restoration project,  pro-palestine,  facebook,  pas,  racism,  book,  buku fixi,  pahang,  orang asli,  orang asli rights,  centre for orang asli concerns,  united kingdom,  palestine,  terrorism,  activism,  drug abuse,  international day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking,