☕️ Bersatu info chief Wan Saiful Wan Jan allegedly received RM6.9 mil of bribe

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

42% of Americans are obese, making the U.S. the fattest country in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Life expectancy in the US has decreased by almost three years since 2019. While much of the dip is attributable to Covid-19, obesity also played a role, making many Americans vulnerable to the virus. The situation in Malaysia isn’t looking great either — with 19.7% of adults identified as obese.

People who work in KL could save 104 hours and RM609 in petrol costs a year if they work from home from Tuesdays to Thursdays. In 2022, it took 16 mins and 10 seconds to travel 10km, longer by 1 min and 40 secs compared to 2021. Want to convince your boss to allow you to work from home? Introduce them to The Coffee Break ;) The full report is available here.

USD63,356.40 — the price of a revolution and a first-generation, unopened iPhone from 2007, sold at an auction over the weekend. That’s a whooping 100x more than the original price of USD 599.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

The Jana Wibawa fiasco

1. Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said Segambut Bersatu deputy chief Adam Radlan would be slapped with two more charges this week after he had earlier faced a charge of soliciting and receiving a bribe of RM500,000 in turn for securing a letter of agreement for MIE Infrastructure and Energy Sdn Bhd for a road project in Perlis.

2. Wan Saiful Wan Jan has been charged with two charges at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court — one for allegedly soliciting a bribe and another for allegedly receiving a bribe of RM6.9mil in his company’s account. In reaction to this, Wan Saiful’s freelance researcher posted a TikTok clip claiming that MACC had offered Wan Saiful RM10 mil to pull Muhyiddin Yassin into the mud and frame him in a corruption case. MACC denied the allegations by the freelancer and will be pressing legal charges against the man.

3. Separately, International Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul confirmed that he had been called to the MACC to give his statement regarding the Jana Wibawa program.

More support behind Sabah chief ministerIn a move that solidified Hajiji Noor’s state government after that near-threatening crisis, eight Sabah assemblymen, including five from UMNO, joined Hajiji’s Parti Gagasan Rakyat.

The UMNO members are:

• Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (Sindumin); 

• Datuk James Ratib (Sugut); 

• Datuk Dr Yusof Yacob (Sindumin); 

• Datuk Jasnih Daya (Pantai Dalit); 

• Datuk Arshad Bistari (Tempasuk); and

• Datuk Hamild @ Hamid Awang (Balung)

Prices of chicken and eggs will no longer be controlled after JuneAgriculture minister Mohamad Sabu stated that Putrajaya would no longer control the price of chicken and eggs after June as one of the measures to minimise food shortages. At the moment, his ministry is confident that the supply of chicken and eggs is enough and that the situation will improve in the coming months. Currently, the retail ceiling price in Peninsular Malaysia for standard chicken is RM9.40 per kg and for eggs, it is 45 sen for Grade A, Grade B (43 sen) and Grade C (41 sen), respectively.

The tobacco bill will be tabled again soonThe health ministry will soon re-table the Control of Tobacco Product and Smoking Bill 2022, dubbed as the Generational End Game (GEG), soon so that the ministry can begin enforcement next year. The bill already passed the first and second readings back in August 2022. However, the bill was sent to the special select committee for review. By Oct 2022, the parliament was already dissolved; hence the bill couldn’t be passed.

Malaysia’s proposed Control of Tobacco Products and Smoking Bill 2022, an omnibus law on tobacco control, aims to phase out cigarette smoking and vape products by prohibiting their use and sale to everyone born from 2007 onwards.

Targeted subsidies are not the solutionProminent economist Dr Jomo Kwame Sundram said that targeted subsidies are not a silver bullet to solve the current economic problem for the country, but instead, the government should focus on reducing wasteful spending and expanding the revenue base. The targeted subsidy program is full of a myriad of problems, such as the identification of the target group, which could be costly.

This program was promoted by the World Bank decades ago but had been abandoned by many countries due to its ineffectiveness in helping the targeted groups. The targeted subsidy has been the go-to topic for most, especially the targeted petrol subsidy after it was revealed that the current universal petrol subsidy cost the government RM80 bil last year.

Shorts

1. MMAG Holdings Bhd had suspended the directors of its majority-owned air cargo logistics unit M Jets International Sdn Bhd (MJets), pending the conclusion of the investigation by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC).

2. Netflix had reduced its Basic Plan pricing from RM35 per month to RM28 per month, in a move replicating the whole Rahmah program. First, Menu Rahmah. Now, Netflix Rahmah?

3. AirAsia X Bhd reported a net profit of almost RM33 bil for the 18 months that ended Dec 31, a signal that the company’s debt restructuring was a success. The company is also planning to relaunch flights to destinations such as Hangzhou and Shanghai, supported by the activation of its fleet of 16 aircraft by the end of 2023. axt

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Turkey hit by another earthquakeAs the country is still reeling from the massive quakes on 6 February, a 6.4 magnitude tremor struck near the city of Antakya near the border with Syria. Thus far, six casualties and 294 injuries have been reported. It is believed the death toll has been relatively low this time because the earthquake struck in an area that was largely empty after the quake two weeks ago. Let’s extend prayers to all those affected by the earthquakes, the experience must have been harrowing and traumatising. 

Russia-Ukraine war’s end is nowhere in sight

1. Russian President Vladimir Putin blames the US for forcing him to start the war by threatening Russia. Russia will suspend its participation in its only remaining nuclear arms treaty with the US unless the west agrees to hold comprehensive talks on Ukraine without Kyiv’s participation. The treaty, which limits both countries to having 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear weapons, expires in 2026.

2. The European Commission is drawing up a proposal to use the EU budget to pre-finance purchases of weapons and ammunition to speed up arms supplies to Ukraine. The proposal is unprecedented in the defence industry. Still, it has been done before for Covid-19 when the bloc provided advance payments to pharmaceutical companies to ensure they would have sufficient supplies.

3. China’s Foreign Minister, Qin Gang, warns the west against “adding fuel to the fire”. However, US secretary of state Antony Blinken said Beijing is seriously considering supplying Russia with arms after he met with Beijing’s most senior diplomat Wang Yi.

Landmark ruling for a same-sex couple in South KoreaSouth Korea’s government health insurer, National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), has been found by the Seoul High Court that the firm owes coverage to the spouse of a customer after the firm withdrew it when it found out the pair were gay. The couple had been granted coverage at first but then revoked as the NHIS said they had mistakenly granted it to the same-sex couple. The ruling will be challenged in the Supreme Court. Same-sex marriage is currently not recognised in South Korea.

Four is the new five for one-third of organisations in the UKThe largest-ever trial of the four-day work week — 61 organisations and about 2,900 workers found that most British companies participating are not returning to the five-day working week standard. One-third of the organisations said they would make the arrangement permanent. Employees who participated in the study like what they experienced —  improvements in everything from stress, fatigue and health to their personal life. 15% of the participants went further to say that no amount of extra money would make them return to working a five-day work week.

A quick way to make money — publishing AI-written booksBrett Schickler, a salesman in New York, used ChatGPT to generate a 30-page illustrated children’s e-book in a matter of hours and offered the book for sale on Amazon. Titled “The Wise Little Squirrel: A Tale of Saving and Investing,” the book has netted Schickler less than USD100 but has inspired him to compose more books using the software. Schickler isn’t the only one doing this — as of mid-February, there are over 200 e-books in Amazon’s Kindle Store that list ChatGPT as an author or co-author.

Shorts

1. FTX Japan K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of FTX group, has started allowing customers to withdraw their fiat and crypto funds yesterday. However, the withdrawals will take time if a large number of requests flow in. The subsidiary is also up for sale as part of the US bankruptcy process for group companies.

2. Global consumption is seeing a slowdown — Taiwan’s Pou Chen Corp, the world’s largest manufacturer of branded sports footwear, announced plans to cut 6,000 jobs at its Ho Chi Minh City factory in Vietnam, according to local officials. The plan to cut jobs was due to weak demand.

3. Strikes across Britain’s National Health Service are showing no signs of abating — The British Medical Association announced that 47,600 of its members will withdraw all services, including emergency care, for 72 hours in March. Why are healthcare workers in Britain protesting? The government has insisted it won’t negotiate beyond the raises recommended by pay review bodies last year.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. Charlie Chaplin’s brilliant acting.

2. If you have been following the US-China spy balloon saga

3. The tax season is almost upon us — here’s a guide shared by Suraya from RinggitOhRinggit