The Simon Says Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

CNN poll taken immediately after vice presidential debate shows Vance overtakes Walz with a 12 point shift in Vance’s favour amongst the female voters. How important is vice presidential debate? Tune in to find out more and how US election is really the mother of all elections, affecting even how Malaysia would progress in days ahead.

While much of the voters in the U.S. will be tuning in to watch the vice-presidential debate Tuesday night between Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance (R., Ohio), we discussed how several key swing states will likely to impact the election outcome. Even three term London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, couldn’t missed passing a remark in Politico about US Election as he rightly said, “What happens in America is the metronome … that sets the beat of what happens across the globe. It sets the beat for how other politicians behave in an election campaign.”

Recently, an AI image of “All Eyes on Rafah” surges on social media after what the cable news coined as “deadly Israeli airstrike killing dozens of civilians” based on reporting by Hamas-controlled local officials. Other alternative medias reported verified sources from IDF that strikes were conducted outside of designated humanitarian areas.

Increasingly, we are seeing schism caused by media biased which influence our political worldview. In this episode, we attempt to break down our thought processes and present ways to view news objectively without being overly emotional by the reporting.

Credit: Cartoon by Vitaly Podvitski

As controversial as it may sound, join us as our host Simon Yeo walks us through a deeper understanding of the election process, both in the United States of America and in Malaysia, and then decide for yourself what can People do in order to vote for a government who would be held accountable to upload liberty in the land.

In our very first episode, Simon discussed the lowering of the voting age in Malaysia. Joining us this week are two young people who will be voting for the very first time in the upcoming election. Tune in as they discuss automatic voter registration, possible effects of Covid-19 restrictions on the election, government handouts, and rule of law.

Isn't democracy about the majority? The majority rules? That’s mob rule - it can be for better or for worse. The Founding Fathers of the United States of America drew their decision from the French Revolution (a type of mob rule) and designed the constitution as we know today. America is founded based on a constitutional republic. It is crucial as we begin to understand and appreciate the significance of the quote from Benjamin Franklin on democracy. “Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what they are going to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote.”  The check and balance system ensures accountability from the government of the day (President), the legislature (Senate), and the judiciary (Supreme Court) with a clear separation of power between the three branches of government.

Both Twitter and Facebook recently took extraordinary censorship measures against The New York Post over its exposés about Hunter Biden’s emails. Responding to other mainstream media outlets’ refusal to cover the new details surrounding Hunter Biden’s pursuit of lucrative overseas deals, Glenn Greenwald, a co-founding editor of The Intercept and a former Guardian columnist, tweeted, “The target of my criticism here is the media for so blatantly repudiating its core function.” This brings us to think – what is the role of media in a free society and how has it been repudiating its core function? What can we learn from here? And how could the People in Malaysia then hold the government accountable through the function of the press and news media which holds explicit capacity of advocacy and implicit ability to frame political issues?

In the Supreme Court of the United States of America confirmation hearing, Judge Amy Coney Barrett delivered a powerful opening statement. Judge Barrett said, “Courts have vital responsibility to enforce the rule of law, which is critical to a free society. The policy decision and value judgments of government must be made by the political branches elected by and accountable to the People.”

We have no illusions that the road ahead of us for a free society in Malaysia will be easy either for the short term or the long haul. But with the People's combined efforts through informed strategic decision makings, be it personally or corporately, we can each make a positive difference!

Learn the power of the voice of the youth to redeem the identity of Malaysia, automatic registration and how that impacts Malaysia in this episode. So we need you, youth - you can make a positive impact for Malaysia!

Welcome on board, Simon Sayers! 

"What can Malaysia achieve?" "What can Malaysia show to the entire world?" - If these are questions that you have thought of, this show is for you.