☕️ Anwar Ibrahim - 24 years of PM 'Tepi', now officially PM10

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

500,000,000 followers — footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has conquered the world of social media, becoming the first person to climb past 500 mil followers on Instagram. In second place is his peer Lionel Messi with 376 mil followers. With such a huge following translates to a vast bank account figure — he charges USD2 mil per social media post, according to a study by BonusFinder. Check out his IG account here.

Game console company Nintendo broke the sales record as it sold 10 mil Switch consoles globally in its first three days thanks to the release of the new versions of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, both released simultaneously. Nintendo has made a cumulative USD59.8 bil in the sales of Switch since its release in Q4 2017.

The Daily Star exclusively broke the news that football club Manchester United, which is now up for sale, has attracted the attention of a tech giant — Apple. The deal is said to be worth GBP5.8 bil. Apple’s Tim Cook plans to build a state-of-the-art stadium through this deal.

“None can destroy iron, but its own rust can. Likewise, none can destroy a person but his own mindset can.”

- Ratan Tata, former chairman of Tata Group, one of India’s largest conglomerates

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Anwar Ibrahim is the 10th Prime Minister of Malaysia, that’s the tweet

After being PM ‘Tepi’ for 24 years since the Reformasi movement in 1998, Anwar Ibrahim, the student-leader turned reformist, is finally appointed as the new prime minister of Malaysia and will lead a unity government that consists of Pakatan Harapan (PH), Barisan Nasional (BN) and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS). His appointment came after the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong chaired the Malay Rulers’ special meeting at Istana Negara. Commendation needs to be given to the King for calmly steering the country steadily for the past few days, who often only perform ceremonial roles in this country.

However, Anwar’s appointment as PM has been refuted by former PM Muhyiddin Yassin, as he insisted that he has the numbers, in the form of statutory declarations, of course. Muhyiddin then challenged Anwar to show evidence that he has the majority support to become PM.

In responding to Muhyiddin, soon after his oath-taking ceremony, Anwar told the media that the Parliament would reconvene on 19 December and the first thing on the docket will be the vote of confidence for his premiership. As the cherry on top of the cake, PM Anwar is announcing Monday (28 November) as a public holiday, in line with his promise to the rakyat.

There is still hope for Malaysia and one phrase capture it perfectly, ‘hujan emas di negeri orang, hujan batu di negeri sendiri, lebih baik negeri sendiri’.

View: Anwar’s Road to Putrajaya infographic

PH Pahang pledges support for a BN-led government in Pahang

Pahang Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Amirudin Shari has told the media that PH Pahang has submitted statutory declarations (SD) to the Regent of Pahang for Pahang Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail to be the next Menteri Besar (MB). This PH-BN cooperation ripples across state governments such as Perak and, of course, at the federal level. For GE15 in Pahang, BN won 16 seats, PH with eight seats and Perikatan Nasional (PN) snapping 17 seats.

Amirudin who is, also the MB for Selangor, is discussing with other states, namely Penang, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan, to hold their state elections together simultaneously next year to save costs.

1MDB: Ex Treasury sec-gen blamed Azlin in urging him to hastily issue a letter of support for the Aabar deal

In Najib Razak’s misappropriation of RM2.28bil 1MDB fund, former Treasury secretary-general Irwan Serigar told the court that the late principal private secretary to Najib, Azlin Alias, urged him and his ministry to hastily issue the letter of support (LoS) for the USD6bil mega-deal between 1MDB and Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments (Aabar). Irwan told Azlin at that time that his ministry did not have the required documents needed to issue the LoS. However, in the end, his ministry still issued the LoS in order to maintain good government-to-government relations with UAE.

Siti Bainun was told to enter defence for allegedly abusing Bella

After reviewing testimonies of 22 prosecution witnesses, including the ones from a group of specialists confirming that the injuries on 13-year-old Down Syndrome girl Bella’s body were not accidental or self-inflicted, the Sessions Court judge Izralizam Sanusi decided that Rumah Bonda founder, Siti Bainun needs to enter defence for two charges of neglect and abuse. Siti Bainun will be trialled under Section 31(1)(a) of the Child Act 2001, which carries a maximum 20-year jail sentence or RM50,000 fine or both.

All things Sarawak:

• After multiple u-turns, Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) finally agreed to support Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition to form the federal government. GPS’s chairman, Abang Johari Openg, stated that this decision is in line with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s wishes for a stable federal government. Abang Johari also said he will leave the Cabinet appointments decision to the PM.

• Wilfried Yap, the state assemblyman for Kota Sentosa, has urged the Sarawak state government to break the monopoly on the manufacture and supply of cement in the state, which has led to the high price of cement and the subsequent soaring price of housing. At the moment, Cahya Mata Sarawak Berhad is the sole cement supplier and manufacturer in Sarawak.

• Proton has set up a new 2601.28 square metres (sqm) regional parts centre in Kuching to better serve its customer base in East Malaysia. The demand in Sabah and Sarawak is increasing, with an expected 20% growth in year-on-year sales.

Business shorts:

• Sime Darby Berhad recorded a lower net profit for 1QFY2023, down 12% to RM207mil from RM236mil in the same period last year. The company blames weakening customer sentiment in China for the dampened performance that has impacted its motors division.

• YTL Corp Berhad is also experiencing the same fate as its net profit fell by a whopping 65.21% to RM36.6mil from RM105.22mil a year before despite revenue jumping by 28% to RM6.4 bil from RM5.06 nil, for the period 1QFY2023. The company pinpoints higher construction and finance cost for this performance.

• Astro Malaysia stated that a landmark decision by the Kuala Lumpur High Court that ruled a local premise is guilty of illegally showing pirated sports and entertainment content broadcasts will create a crucial precedent and discourage others from doing the same, as it will lead to significant financial and legal consequences.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Russia declared “state sponsor of terrorism”

The EU Parliament has overwhelmingly voted to declare Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” over its invasion of Ukraine. Such declarations are usually symbolic in nature with little tangible consequences. However, given the evidence of war crimes since the invasion of Ukraine, this designation sets the stage for legal consequences for Russian leaders like President Putin should war-crimes trial materialise.

Twitter: Twitter Blue subscribers, fleeing top advertisers

An analysis by a software developer in Berlin found that 137,000 people paid USD8 for the Twitter Blue subscription between 10-15 Nov, translating to a monthly revenue of USD1.1 mil. The rollout of this verification feature, however, was chaotic and led to the abuse and impersonation of high-profile figures and companies. Elon Musk has suspended this feature and plans to relaunch it on 29 Nov. 

Research centre Media Matters found that in the 25 days since Elon Musk took over, the platform has lost half of its top 100 advertisers. These companies accounted for nearly USD2 bil in advertising revenue since 2020, and this year alone, spent USD750 mil on Twitter. Brands like Chevrolet, Ford, and Coca-Cola have publicly announced they are stopping advertising on Twitter and there are also “quiet quitters” that have stopped advertising for a significant period of time. See the list of 50 brands identified by Media Matters here. 

Big 4 accounting firms aggressively hiring

Ernst & Young (EY) is on track to hire 220,000 people in the 12 months to July 2023, its highest growth in nearly two decades as the demand continues to grow for professional services, bucking the trend in other industries. As it grows its workforce, the firm is expected to sift through more than 3 million resumes this year. 

Another big 4 PwC is also on its hiring spree, having welcomed 148,000 new joiners in the 2022 financial year, and is targeting to hire a net additional 100,000 professionals by 2026.

Worth knowing:

1. Brazil’s electoral court has rejected a challenge against the presidential election result brought by the far-right party of President Jair Bolsonaro over claims that voting machines were compromised. Not only were they rejected, but was slapped with a USD4.3 mil fine as the complaint was made “in bad faith”. Bolsonaro narrowly lost to Luiz Inacio da Silva by a narrow margin - 50.9% vs 49.1%. 

2. The long-awaited sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water” is getting a big boost as China has approved for release in the world’s biggest film market (2020 and 2021) on 16 Dec, the same day it opens globally. Director James Cameron told GQ that the sequel was “very f**cking” expensive to make and needs to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film ever in history just to break even. It must gross at least USD2.07 bil to recoup all its costs. 

3. The reopening of China’s market is going to stay in our wishlist for a long, long while. The country reported 31,444 cases in the last 24 hours - the largest increase in cases since the pandemic erupted. Zero covid policy is here to stay and the level of restrictions increases as the situation worsens. 

4. The European Space Agency announced the first-ever “Parastronaut”, British Paralympic athlete John McFall. Dr McFall is part of the new generation of 17 recruits picked for the ESA’s astronaut training.

Weekend Read: How much taxes do gaming companies, NFOs and breweries pay?

In the billions in both direct and indirect taxes.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Marvel Studios is releasing a special presentation of the 44 minutes long The Guardians of The Galaxy Holiday Special today on Disney+.

2. Tales of Malaysian PMs by Ernest Ng (IG: @dontlikethatbro), the artist behind CovidBall Z. Support him and buy his merch and comics here.

3. YB Mohd Sany Hamzan (Amanah), a member of Selangor State Legislative Assembly, gave a piece of his mind on religious and racial politics, fitnah and penunggang agama in an impassioned speech. Worth watching.