Ramalan.MY

Malaysia’s media has lost trust and viewership. Our platform restores it by letting people publicly stake their views and reputations—creating transparent, accountable news from the ground up.

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Inspiration

Malaysians don’t really trust the news anymore.
Young people don’t watch traditional media, and older people feel it’s biased toward the government.
At the same time, everyone has strong opinions online.

Ramalan.MY was inspired by a simple idea:
What if news included a prediction market, where people literally put their views on the stake?

What it does

Ramalan.MY is a Polymarket-style prediction engine for Malaysian news.

  • For each big news topic, we create a prediction market
    (e.g. “Will X bill pass by 31 Dec?”).
  • People stake on what they think will happen.
  • The odds update in real time to show what Malaysians really believe.
  • We aim to partner with local media (e.g. Media Prima) so they can show these odds next to their content.

We also built a Chrome extension for thestar.com.my:

  • It reads the headlines on the page.
  • It shows the live prediction odds (e.g. “72% YES”) beside the headline.
  • Users can click through to see and join the full market on Ramalan.MY.

How we built it

  • Backend: A simple prediction market engine to handle markets, odds, and results.
  • Web app: A front-end where users can browse topics, stake, and see outcomes.
  • Chrome extension:
    • Injects a script into thestar.com.my
    • Finds news headlines
    • Calls our API to find matching markets
    • Renders a small badge with live odds
  • News mapping: We tag Malaysian news topics and connect them to prediction markets.
  • Media partner concept: Simple widgets and embeds for future partners like Media Prima.

Challenges we ran into

  • Making prediction markets easy to understand for first-time users.
  • Designing questions that fit the Malaysian context without being too sensitive.
  • Matching headlines on thestar.com.my correctly to the right market.
  • Thinking about trust, regulation, and how “staking” is perceived.
  • Imagining how big media partners would actually use this in the real world.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

  • Turned a trust-in-media problem into a working prediction-based prototype.
  • Built a live interface where people can stake on real events, not just answer polls.
  • Shipped a Chrome extension that overlays live odds on actual headlines on thestar.com.my.
  • Showed a new way to consume news:
    not just what happened, but what might happen and what people truly believe.

What we learned

  • Trust can be rebuilt when the audience has skin in the game, not just opinions.
  • Prediction markets can turn messy online comments into clear, measurable signals.
  • Simple UX and plain language are crucial for explaining a new idea like this.
  • Integrations (like the Chrome extension) force us to design for real news sites, not just our own app.

What's next for Ramalan.MY

  • Run a pilot with a local media partner (e.g. Media Prima) on a few key topics.
  • Improve the Chrome extension and support more Malaysian news sites.
  • Build a mobile-first experience for younger users.
  • Add reputation scores so consistently accurate users stand out.
  • Explore non-gambling reward models (points, perks, or sponsorships) to keep it safe and scalable in Malaysia.

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