Top 5 at 5: Road to the White House #4 - The Final Stretch

How will double haters shape the U.S. presidential election, and how can candidates mobilise voters to get off their couch? These are some of the questions we explored with political analyst and chief executive officer of APAC Advisors, Steven Okun, in our fourth edition of ‘Road to the White House, where we dive into American politics from now till Election Day on November 5th.

Other stories we covered today:

· Subsidies fuelling the climate crisis: A recent ActionAid report revealed that over 650 billion US dollars of subsidies in the developing world goes to industries fuelling the climate crisis. Ganesha Pillai, a senior research associate at the Asia School of Business, weighs in on the policies that could encourage Malaysia renewable energy projects and how public subsidies are channelled into harmful industries.

· Escalating tensions between Iran and Israel: An Israeli airstrike on Iran has sparked fears of an all-out regional war. We ask James Dorsey, adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies whether de-escalation is possible and what impact the U.S. Presidential election will have on the ongoing conflict.

· No City Councillors for KL: A proposal by Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai to allow the appointment of city councillors for Kuala Lumpur has sparked a fiery debate between the youth wings of the DAP and PAS. PAS fears a shift towards a Chinese-majority representation in the federal territory's government, while the DAP argued that this will give people more representation. We reached out to Iskandar Fareez, Publicity Secretary from the DAP Kuala Lumpur’s youth wing to find out more.

· Popek Popek Parlimen: In Parliament, Bangi MP Syahredzan Johan wanted to know more about funding for local games. MPs also discussed sustainability programmes such as the "Pesan Mak!" campaign. Talks about development in solar energy led the Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul to reveal that the Parliament building has begun using solar energy since October 1, making it among the first in the world to do so.

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