☕️ Chaotic Weekend Malaysia - Jemaah Islamiyah, machetes, death threats and submachine gun

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Thailand has reclaimed its title as the most popular destination in Southeast Asia for the first quarter of this year, surpassing Malaysia. Thailand welcomed 9.37 mil foreign visitors between January and March, boosted by tourism promotion policies such as permanent visa waivers for China. Malaysia, last year's regional tourism leader, secured second place with a respectable 5.8 mil arrivals, marking a 32% year-on-year increase, according to the tourism ministry.

UK PM Rishi Sunak and his wife Akshata Murty saw their personal wealth increase by GBP122 million last year, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. Their fortune now stands at GBP651 mil (RM3.8 bil), up from GBP529 mil in 2023, largely thanks to Ms. Murty's shares in Infosys, the Indian IT giant co-founded by her father. This makes them wealthier than the King (GBP610 mil), although estimating a monarch’s personal fortune is complex. The broader wealth of the monarchy, including estates and palaces, is estimated to be in the dozens of billions of pounds.
View: The Sunday Times Rich List 2024 revealed

Queen of Pop Madonna ended her Celebration Tour, celebrating her 40 years in music, with a free concert held at the famous Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with an estimated more than 1.6 mil fans attending the show. 65 years old and yet still going strong, the Rio concert was the final stop made up of 80 shows across Europe and North America. Check out the concert here.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Chaotic weekend in Malaysia

1. In the wee hours of last Friday, the Ulu Tiram Police Station suffered a violent lethal attack, where two officers were killed and the suspect of the attack shot dead. Initially, the police suspected it was linked to a group called Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). After the police interviewed 46 individuals, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution clarified the suspect, a 21-year-old local man, is believed to have acted alone, although he was a member of JI. Five family members of the suspect and two accomplices were arrested following the attack. Why Ulu Tiram? The town, located approximately 20km from Johor Baru, has been a well-known location for (JI) leaders and fighters for a long time. The movement’s Indonesian founder, Abu Bakar Bashir, and his compatriot, Abdullah Sungkar, even established a madrasah in Ulu Tiram (Luqmanul Hakim), according to various reports. JI was responsible for the devastating 2002 Bali bombing that killed 202 people.
   Read: Jemaah Islamiah: A brief (notorious) history.

2. Then, later that noon on Friday, two men tried to enter Istana Negara with a machete in their car. The men told the police officers they wanted to meet the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. First of all, they didn’t book an appointment. Secondly, this is akin to walking into the lion’s den. Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi Mohd Isa said the two suspects have been remanded for four days until May 21 and the case is being investigated under Section 447/511 of the Penal Code, as well as Section 6(1) of the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act 1958.

3. Seputeh MP Teresa Kok received a death threat in the form of a letter with two bullets when she was checking for mail in her residential mailbox. Kuala Lumpur police chief Rusdi Isa said the case is being investigated under Section 507 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation by anonymous communication.

4. Stemming from the lethal attack in Ulu Tiram, police stations across the country have also heightened their security and the police force has enhanced the preparedness of its personnel. However, this didn’t stop a 35-year-old man in Penang from trying to snatch a submachine gun from a policeman on duty at the Dato Keramat police station in Georgetown on Sunday. Penang police chief Hamzah Ahmad said the man was drunk and was shouting obscenities at the policeman on duty at the gate. The man then asked for the policeman to open the gate. As the latter refused to do so, the man then tried to snatch the policeman’s HK MP5 submachine gun. 🤦‍♂️

PMX’s successful trip to Uzbekistan
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim witnessed the exchange of six Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) between Malaysia and Uzbekistan during his three-day official visit to the Central Asian nation Uzbekistan (view map here). The MoUs cover cooperation in various fields between the two countries. Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (Matrade) and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan (CCIU) signed an MoU to strengthen and develop trade promotion cooperation, as well as to exchange trade information. Other MoUs were related to renewable energy and collaboration in the education sector.

The PM added that the two countries can form special strategic partnerships in new areas, including those related to Muslim interests and the new field of digital technology, especially artificial intelligence (AI).

Business

1. The Malaysian economy, measured in gross domestic product (GDP), grew at a faster rate of 4.2% in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1 2024) compared to 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2023 (Q4 2023). This growth was attributed to increased private expenditure and a positive upturn in exports. Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour, the governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), mentioned that household spending rose due to ongoing employment and wage growth.

2. Malayan Flour Mills Bhd (MFLOUR) reported a net profit of RM37.9 mil for the first quarter of 2024, more than tripling from RM10.4 mil a year earlier due to higher margins in its flour and grain segment from lower wheat prices. This was despite revenue declining by 9.1% to RM751.6 mil because of reduced sales volume. The company anticipates that geopolitical tensions and unpredictable weather will continue to affect commodity prices and plans to adjust selling prices and diversify wheat, corn, and soybean meal sources accordingly. Additionally, MFM announced an investment of RM100 mil to install a new flour milling line in Lumut, enhancing its operations in Malaysia and Vietnam. With the great start to the year, MFM expects to turn around for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2024 (FY2024) from a net loss of RM6.68 mil in FY2023.
   View earnings announcement here.

3. After 15 years of sitting on the board of Maxis Bhd, Mokhzani Mahathir (son of Tun Mahathir) will step down as the non-executive chairman of the company, effective June 30, 2024. Independent director Hamidah Naziadin will be appointed as interim chairman on July 1 while the mobile network operator assesses potential candidates to succeed Mokhzani.

Shorts

1. Worried about another potential Covid-19 wave? Fret not, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is closely tracking the situation in Singapore, which had recently reported a twofold increase in Covid-19 cases. Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said the country reported an increase of 14.8% of Covid-19 cases in the week of May 12 to 18 compared to the week prior. Dzulkefly assured that the national health system is prepared for any surge in cases.

2. The Madrid Court of Appeal has upheld the contempt of court conviction of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa in the Sulu claimants' case against Malaysia. Malaysia was notified on May 17 of the decision, which dismissed Stampa’s appeal. Stampa's six-month prison sentence and a one-year ban from practising as an arbitrator were both upheld.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

China home prices plummets drastically, leading to sweeping measures to rescue market
The world’s second-largest economy is suffering from the steepest declines in home prices in a decade, as it fell at a faster pace in April. New home prices in 70 cities, excluding state-subsidised housing, slid 0.58% from March, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Values of existing homes fell 0.94%. From a year earlier (2023), new-home prices fell 3.51% in April, steeper than March’s 2.7% drop. Existing home prices dropped 6.79%. Both were record declines since the bureau began the current method of collecting data in 2011.

Buyers are deterred by worries over residential values, unfinished apartments and job security, prolonging a property slowdown. China has then announced its most drastic moves to date to save the market:

1. Removing the nationwide minimum mortgage interest rate.

2. Cutting the minimum down payment ratio for first-time buyers to 15% and 25% for second homes. The previous ratios were 20% and 30%, respectively.

3. Encouraging local governments to acquire homes to convert them into affordable housing.

Top OpenAI executive quits the company due to company’s shifting priorities from “safe products” to “shiny products”
Jan Leike, leader of OpenAI superalignment group, announced bluntly via X (read below) on Tuesday: “I resigned”. Leike did not leave it hanging. He proceeded to share his decision, mentioning that he had finally reached a breaking point after long disagreeing with OpenAI leadership about the company’s core priorities.

He added that the company should focus most of its attention on issues of "security, monitoring, preparedness, safety, adversarial robustness, super alignment, confidentiality, societal impact, and related topics." He felt that OpenAI was “sailing against the wind” and was long overdue for getting really serious about the implications of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). AGI is thus far a hypothetical version of AI that would be able to think faster than a human. Think Skynet of Terminator.

Leike calls for OpenAI employees to shift the company’s safety culture. Besides Leike, other executives are also leaving OpenAI, including Diane Yoon, the former vice president of people, and Chris Clark, the former head of nonprofit and strategic initiatives. Two other researchers working on safety also have quit the company, stating lost confidence that OpenAI will behave responsibly around the time of AGI.

USD 7 mil sent to North Korea in a massive remote-work scam
Here’s one creative way hermit nation North Korea generates revenue for the government — through remote-work scams. A woman in Arizona, Christina Marie Chapman, was arrested on Wednesday and charged with nine counts, including a conspiracy to defraud the US and allegedly aiding North Koreans in securing remote-work jobs in the US. Prosecutors allege that Chapman facilitated overseas IT workers posing as Americans using the stolen or borrowed identities of US citizens. The scheme began sometime in 2020 and used 60 stolen identities. 300 companies, including those listed in the Fortune 500, were impacted by the scam, which generated more than USD 6.8 mil in revenue, which was then funnelled back to North Korea, a country subjected to US sanctions.

The US has been “punishing” North Korea for its nuclear program since the 1950s.In 2016, the US passed the North Korea Sanctions and Policy Enhancement Act, which aimed to improve the enforcement of sanctions against North Korea. The sanction cuts North Korea from the US financial system, leading to various schemes trying to circumvent it ever since.

Shorts:

1. Vatican comes up with tighter rules to assess supernatural phenomena

   A new guidance document compiled by the Vatican's Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith calls for a more cautious approach to supernatural phenomena such as news of weeping statues or a divine apparition. The Vatican has come up with the guide due to the phenomena soaring in recent years in an era of social media, which sometimes spread through disinformation and rumour. Incidents of phenomena should be carefully assessed to make sure that they are not fraudulent or an attempt to make money. The paper also warns against creating "damage to the unity of the Church" and serious errors that could "cause scandals and undermine the credibility of the Church".
   Read the Vatican’s guidelines here.

2. British Museum reports 626 items lost or stolen have been found

   The British Museum is on the hunt for 2,000 items missing or lost from its storeroom, of which 626 items have been recovered successfully as of Friday. Museum chair George Osborne said the recovery of more than 600 items was a  “remarkable result”, thanks to the relentless team at the British Museum. Most of the missing items were small pieces kept in a storeroom belonging to one of the museum’s collections and never publicly displayed. Some museum personnel are suspected of being involved. The British Museum holds about 8 mil historical artefacts on behalf of its nation, or rather, looted from other nations.
   Read: Refusing to return artefacts, Britain still clings to its colonial past

3. Algerian man missing for 26 years found captive in neighbour’s cellar

   Authorities have confirmed that they have finally found a man who went missing 26 years ago, an Algerian man identified as Omar bin Omran aka Omar B, in his neighbour’s cellar only 200 metres from his old home in Djelfa. He disappeared during the country’s civil war at 19 years old and was long assumed to have been kidnapped or killed. Omar B, now 45, was apparently held captive by his neighbour, allegedly a 61-year-old doorman who attempted to flee. Sadly, as many as 20,000 people were believed to have been kidnapped during the war. According to the Algerian association for those forcibly disappeared during the war, about 8,000 Algerians disappeared between 1992 and 1998 alone.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. The Internet went wild over footage of a fireball that sped through the night skies of Portugal and Spain, which the European Space Agency has confirmed to be a meteor travelling at around 100,000 miles per hour.