Top 5 at 5: Why Haven't Women Led ASEAN Yet?

Sharon Seah, Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the ASEAN Studies Centre, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute

06-Jan-25 17:00

Top 5 at 5: Why Haven't Women Led ASEAN Yet?

Pause
Embed

Since its inception, ASEAN has never appointed a female Secretary-General. With current SG Kao Kim Hourn's term coming to an end in 2028, we speak to Sharon Seah, Senior Fellow and Coordinator of the ASEAN Studies Centre and Apichai Suchindah, Former Executive Director of the ASEAN Foundation to discuss the possibility of appointing a female to head on this role in the future.

Other stories we covered:

· Najib succeeds in royal addendum appeal: The court made this decision today, after former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's defence team submitted a letter that proved the validity of a royal addendum to allow him to spend the reminder of his jail term at home. Advocate and solicitor Dato' Vignesh Kumar explains what happens next.

· Malaysian man poisons monkey: This action was captured in a recent video, where the man was feeding poison-laced ice cream to monkeys. He later said that this was to tackle the issue of crop destruction that farmers have been facing. This has sparked renewed conversation on human-life conflicts. Animal rights lawyer Rajesh Nagarajan weighs in on this.

· University Malaysia Medical Centre defends fee hike: The hospital attributes their decision to the rising cost in equipment and operational costs. We hear thoughts from two experts: Former Health Minister, Tan Sri Dr S. Subramaniam and Prof Dr Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, Health Economics professor at the Hospital & Health Management at UKM Medical Centre.

· Suspension of concert permits in Selangor following Pinkfish deaths: The New Years Eve concert organised by Pinkfish saw 4 individuals die due to alleged consumption of ecstasy. Selangor police then announced a temporary suspension on all concert permits until investigations conclude which sparked backlash from music and youth groups.

Image Credit: shutterstock.com

Produced by: Sudais Ferhard, Alia Zefri, Juliet Jacobs, Dashran Yohan

Presented by: Sharaad Kuttan, Tee Shiao Eek

This and more than 60,000 other podcasts in your hand. Download the all new BFM mobile app.

Categories: politics, government, international, Law/Activism, controversies, environment

Tags: asean secretary general, monkey poisoning, animal wildlife conflict, rising medical costs, concert permits, pinkfish concerts, asean, female leadership, najib razak, royal addendum, house arrest, university malaya medical centre, drug use,

Today’s Shows

6:00 AM

The 6AM Stretch

Thought-provoking discussions on ideas, people and events shaping our lives.

7:00 AM

World Market Watch

Kingsley Jones, Chief Investment Officer, Jevons Global tells us where international markets are heading.

7:15 AM

Morning Brief

We recap global and local headlines from today's papers and portals.

7:30 AM

Morning Brief

Chen Zheng of CITIC Securities shares his outlook on China’s economy.

7:45 AM

Morning Brief

Dr. Wong Chin Huat, Political Scientist at Sunway University, weighs in on whether the Madani Government can deliver key reforms with less than 24 months remaining.

8:00 AM

The Breakfast Grille

Hannah Pearson of Pear Anderson, and Nigel Wong, President of MATTA discuss Visit Malaysia Year 2026.

8:30 AM

Morning Brief

Dr. Kathryn Robison of University of Sydney discusses the legality of the US incursion into Venezuela and the plans for interim governance following Maduro’s arrest.

8:45 AM

Morning Brief

Dr Elsa Satkunasingam, Director and Senior Lecturer at Iclif, Asia School of Business, on governance across Malaysia’s sovereign wealth funds.

9:00 AM

Opening Bell

Kingsley Jones, Chief Investment Officer, Jevons Global tells us where international markets are heading.

9:15 AM

Opening Bell

Royce Tan of MBSB Research discusses which companies stand to benefit from Malaysia’s push toward net zero emissions by 2050.

9:35 AM

Pinnacle Perspectives

Andy See, Founder and Managing Director of Perspective Strategies and former President of the Public Relations Global Network, talks about PR trends in 2026 and AI being the new KOL.

10:05 AM

Open For Business

Joseph Chin discusses the rise of AI Tinkerers KL, a community of nearly 2,000 members moving past the "AI hype" to focus on real demos over pitch decks. He also shares his journey bootstrapping DocuAsk to 250,000 users and $40,000 in monthly revenue.

11:05 AM

P&L

The End of Co-Founders? The Rise of AI & Seedstrapping. Indelible Ventures’ Kevin Brockland explores why solo-founded startups spiked to 36% in 2025 & unpacks how AI is powering this trend.

12:00 PM

Enterprise Explores

The Economy: Strong 2025, but Pain in 2026? Pankaj Kumar grades Malaysia’s 2025 GDP performance, explores the realism of Ringgit to 3.80, and the concerns from US & China slowing down.

2:05 PM

Discovery Hour

An eclectic selection of BBC shows, curated with variety in mind.

3:05 PM

Earth Matters

Fireflies in Bukit Kiara signal ecosystem health under urban pressure. We explore why they matter, and how a new intiative called The Glow Campaign is driving collective action.

4:05 PM

Health & Living

Life after cancer treatment means constant vigilance against the possibility of recurrence. A cancer patient talks about how she lives with hope, instead of fear.

5:00 PM

Top 5 at 5

A countdown of the 5 biggest stories of the day, to catch you up on all you need to know!

6:00 PM

Today I Learned

Have we become so disconnected that we've forgotten how to make friends? We start the year with a 101 on friendships.

7:00 PM

Just For Kicks

All the big teams drew, which means it's advantage Arsenal. We look back at the weekend that was on Matchday 20 in the EPL.

8:00 PM

A Bit of Culture

(REPEAT) Dhanya Nair and Sudais Ferhard join Kam Raslan as they talk about protecting your peace, disaster paranoia and movies that are now unbearable!

PROGRAMMES