☕️ Amnesty for corruption, then "shoot to kill" policy - Nazir Razak's approach to addressing corruption inspired by Hong Kong in 1970s

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

More than 1 million people have been displaced in Myanmar since the military coup back in Feb 2021, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).

Massive layoffs among tech startups — 20,514 people have lost their jobs since Apr 2022, a level not seen since the beginning of Covid-19. The fundraising landscape is no longer awash in venture capital money, prompting startups to be more cost-savvy. Elon Musk wants to cut Tesla’s workforce by 10% as he is worried about the state of the economy, as reported by Reuters.

There are as many as 1,300 unicorn companies on the Crunchbase Unicorn Board for the first time, according to Crunchbase. In aggregate, they are valued at USD4.6 trillion (RM20.20 trillion).

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. Tun Mahathir’s Anwar Ibrahim blame game:

   1. The former PM continues blaming PKR president Anwar Ibrahim(AI), saying he would still be the PM if it wasn’t for the latter. Tun M claimed he had 62 votes, and had AI given him his 92 votes, he would still retain the position.

   2. Pejuang will not join the ‘big tent’ if it was led by Anwar Ibrahim or Muhyiddin Yassin, describing both individuals as “tidak lurus”.

   3. PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said the issue with AI not having a majority would have been resolved had Tun M kept his promise to step down after two years and allow AI to assume the PM position.

   4. DAP chairman Lim Guan Eng says PH will not work with Pejuang if Tun M refuses to accept AI as the coalition leader.

2. Nazir Razak, the younger brother of former PM Najib Razak and a prominent corporate figure, said he would introduce amnesty and a “shoot to kill” anti-graft policy if he were in power when asked how he would address the country’s systemic problems like corruption. He pointed to Hong Kong’s rampant corruption in the 1970s. To address the problem, its government offered amnesty to offences pre-1997 but adopted strong enforcement against future violations. Sounds great, but always with all the laws in place, Malaysia stumbles with enforcement. Amnesty granted, subsequent lacklustre enforcement — then, we are back to square one. Read more here about how Hong Kong fought corruption from the perspective of its anti-graft body, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), their MACC-equivalent.

3. As though Pendidikan Moral during school days was effective in character and moral building, the Special Cabinet Committee on Anti-Corruption will make the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Course compulsory in all higher learning institutions in 2023. The course will teach students the impact of corruption. The outcome of the final appeal case of a high-profile convicted former senior government official would be more than enough to serve as a lesson to Malaysians. 

4. Under the current universal petrol subsidies, the T20 disproportionately enjoys the bulk (53%) of the subsidies. The government has proposed to look into targeted subsidies, but even this method itself is beset with implementation challenges (i.e. how to identify the right targeted recipients). There is a third approach — an interesting proposal by Prof Dr Geoffrey Williams at Malaysia University of Science and Technology to implement a tiered pricing system where more subsidies would be applied to low volume purchases. No doubt it has its flaws, but on a cost-benefit basis, the net benefit could be greater than a targeted approach after considering indirect costs.

5. Communications and Multimedia Minister Annuar Musa said the government’s MoU with the opposition has no expiry date and attached several pages of the MoU agreement on his Facebook post to reiterate his point. UMNO supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi called out Annuar that the expiry will happen on Jul 31 and will not be renewed, as decided by UMNO’s top 5 leaders. Not only with this MoU, but there was also disagreement within the party earlier in the early general election. It seems like there is a rift in the party.

6. Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N) has proposed to privatise its 27.7% associate Cocoaland Holdings Bhd by buying the remaining shares it does not own for RM1.50 per share, totalling RM488.2 mil, which will be funded via bank borrowings. This value the company at RM674.9 mil. The co-founding brothers, with a 40% ownership will be walking home and retiring with a cool RM270 mil.

7. Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd has identified two assets it owns to be disposed of that are expected to fetch RM220.08 mil. The proceeds would be used to repay its lenders in the RM1.2 bil term financing it defaulted on. RM1 bil more to go. It has RM6.9 bil of assets (excluding liabilities) on its books as of Mar 31, 2022, that it can sell to settle its debt.

8. An innovative way to combat counterfeit products — MyORI Services Sdn Bhd has launched the MyORI SmartSecure, a secure labelling platform that utilises encryption and Near Field Communication technology to authenticate products that bear MyORI SmartSecure labels, going beyond holograms and safety claims printed on the packaging. How much would it cost per label and how difficult would it labels be to be tampered with?

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Citigroup set off a flash crash across European stock markets after a fat finger incident that would cost the bank USD50 mil in losses. A London-based work from home trader mistakenly added an extra zero to a trade triggering a sell-off that reportedly wiped out UR300 bil at one point. Ironically, the London Stock Exchange was unaffected due to a bank holiday. You may be thin yet still commit a fat finger error - read up more here about it.

2. Monkeypox cases outside Africa rise to 780 in a span of three weeks. Confirmed cases tripled from last week. WHO states that while most cases are largely focused in Europe and North America, other countries are very likely to identify cases and there will be a further spread of the virus.

3. Russian President Vladimir Putin warns the United States against supplying long-range missiles to Ukraine. President Joe Biden recently unveiled a USD700 million weapons package to aid Ukraine’s war efforts. Putin suggests that he plans to attack new targets if the West continues to supply weapons to Ukraine.

4. Singapore names Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, 49, as deputy prime minister in a cabinet reshuffle. Lawrence will be taking over from Heng Swee Keat, 61, who chose to relinquish the opportunity to a younger leader last year. A complete opposite from local politicians where former leaders keep coming back.

5. Indonesia plans to attract digital nomads back to Bali with a 5-year visa. The ministry states that it is now time to relaunch the visa with the country coming out of Covid-19 travel restrictions. Indonesia targets 3.6 million tourists this year and hopes that the initiative will create new jobs and boost post-pandemic economic growth. Finally, digital nomads can now work in Starbucks in Bali.

6. Multi-award singer Mariah Carey is being sued over copyright infringement for more than USD60 mil over her 1994 hit song “All I Want for Christmas is You”. Songwriter Andy Stone from country-pop group Vince Vance & the Valiants says he co-wrote the song with the same title five years earlier. Listen to Stone’s version here. Hardly any similarities. It’s not unusual for songs to have similar titles and copy infringement cases usually are based on similarities in song melodies.

7. 10 mass shootings, 60 injured, and at least a dozen killed in the recent weekend in the US. Wester. Western news editors: your guideline to mass-shooting incident news writing:

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Dear parents, here’s a good guide to teach your kids about unsafe touch and preventing child sexual abuse.

2. Not feeling sorry for those who obstruct traffic. Also, the inside component of Vellfire revealed.