Deputy Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi recently announced that the Aboriginal Peoples Act 1954 will be revised, taking inspiration from Māori rights in New Zealand. However, several Orang Asli leaders have spoken out about how indigenous people are being excluded from these revisions. We reached out to Seira Sacha Abu Bakar, a chairperson on the Malaysian Bar Council on Orang Asli Rights to talk about the situation.

Other stories we covered:

• Major judicial appointments announced: His Majesty Sultan Iskandar Sultan Ibrahim has approved the appointments of three major judicial figures: the Chief Justice of the Federal Court, the President of the Court of Appeal, and the Chief Justice for the High Court of Sabah and Sarawak. We talk to Gregory Das from the Malaysian Bar Council about whether these appointments put an end to the recent judiciary appointment concerns.

• Youth groups call for rejection of Nick Adams: Several Youth Wings of political parties and civil society groups gathered in front of the US embassy today to protest the appointment of Nick Adams as the new ambassador to Malaysia. We speak to Arief Izuadin, PKR Youth Leader in Wangsa Maju, for his thoughts on what could placate these protests and what a potential rejection could mean for bilateral relations.

• Bed bugs, the new forensic scientists?: A research team at Universiti Sains Malaysia recently discovered that the blood that bed bugs consume actually carries the DNA of the people they’ve fed on, making them increasingly useful in forensic investigations. We speak to entomologist Associate Professor Dr Abdul Hafiz Abdul Majid about the methods, limitations, and more of DNA extraction from these insects.

• President Trump’s conspiracy has backfired: After promising his loyal MAGA voter base answers regarding Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged client list and now failing to deliver, President Donald Trump has come under fire. We discuss the unfolding situation and what conspiracy theorist believers are really looking for.

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