Top 5 at 5: Parliament Passes Controversial Citizenship Amendment Bill

The Citizenship Amendment Bill has reached its conclusion in Parliament today, in a bloc vote with 206 MPs voting for it, and only 1 voting against. This follows huge criticisms over it, from civil society groups and advocates who believe the provisions should be decoupled and voted on in parts. We hear from Maalini Ramalo, Director of Social Protection at the Development of Human Resources for Rural Areas, who shared her thoughts on the proceedings, before the vote commenced. Then, we hear from two MPs on their votes: Muar MP Syed Saddiq Abdul Rahman and also Subang MP Wong Chen.

Other stories we covered today:

· IJN Fee Hike: IJN has announced that they could raise fees by 10 to 40 percent for patients that are referred to them by the government, citing inflation and rising operational costs. We speak to Professor Dato’ Syed Mohamed Aljunid, president of the Malaysian Health Economic Association, about who this hike will impact.

· Sarawak Conservation Project Scrapped: The Sarawak Forest Department called off a 1.4 million US Dollar (approximately RM6 million) flagship project funded by the International Tropical Timber Organisation, just moments before a meeting on the project was set to begin. Celine Lim, the Managing Director of SAVE Rivers, an NGO supporting the Baram Peace Park Project, speaks to us about what went down.

· Budget 2025 Expectations For SMEs: Ahead of the Budget set to be tabled tomorrow, we speak to Chin Chee Seong, the national Secretary-General of the SME Association for what their hopes are in terms of allocations for small and medium enterprises.

· Popek Popek Parlimen: We look at some of the key discussions in parliament today, including clarification on the death of a pathologist in Lahad Datu, back in August, which was alleged to have been a result of bullying. The MPs also discussed the issue of missing children, as well as efforts to tackle increased prostitution in the city.

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