☕️ Ban vaping - Malaysia Medical Association supports Pahang Sultan Abdullah's call

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Bali’s tourism sector has experienced a significant resurgence, attracting nearly three million foreign visitors in the first half of this year, primarily from Australia, China, and India. This influx has led to increased spending, with tourists averaging USD1,625 (RM7.25k) per visit in 2023, up from USD1,145 (RM5.11k) in 2019. In response to concerns over overdevelopment and its impact on local communities and the environment, Indonesian authorities have proposed a two-year moratorium on the construction of hotels, villas, and nightclubs in Bali. However, will the government want to halt the economic boom?

543,086 welfare recipients across Malaysia are being supported by the Department of Social Welfare (JKM), with a total allocation of RM1.73 bil (RM3.19k per recipient on average) as of August 2024. Additionally, 14,937 recipients (2.7% - any good?) have become self-reliant and no longer require assistance. This success (2.7% considered a success?) is attributed to various empowerment and transformation programs, as well as personal financial management training, which have helped these individuals break free from poverty, according to Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri.

USD4 bil (RM17.8 bil) is the annual sales generated by Hello Kitty, the beloved character created by Japanese illustrator Yuko Shimizu 50 years ago. Sanrio, the company that owns Hello Kitty, has made an estimated USD80 bil (RM356.8 bil) over her lifetime. Despite being only five apples tall and celebrating her 50th birthday, Hello Kitty remains a global phenomenon, adored by people of all ages and even celebrities. The character is ranked as the second-highest grossing media franchise in the world behind Pokémon and ahead of Mickey Mouse and Star Wars.
Fun fact: Despite looking like a cat, Hello Kitty isn’t a cat. She’s a British schoolgirl. Our whole life was a lie. Kitty has a twin sister too called Mimmy.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

MMA supports the vape ban
Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) president Dr Kalwinder Singh Khaira seconded Pahang Sultan Abdullah’s call to ban vaping due to its negative health implications. According to Dr Kalwinder, vaping is considered the gateway ‘drugs’ to other more serious narcotics. Dr Kalwinder also added that between 2019 and the end of September 2024, 41 individuals had been hospitalised with Evali in Malaysia (e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury). With an estimated treatment cost of RM150,000 per pax, the Government has forked out more than RM6 mil to remedy the individuals suffering from Evali. If the vaping trend continues to persist, Putrajaya will need to fork out up to RM369 mil per annum to treat Evali patients. Malaysia has the opportunity to ban vaping via the Generational End Game (GEG) bill before this but unfortunately the current leaders do not have the balls to stand up against the tobacco lobbyists.

National Fishy Matters

• Private companies funding publicly-elected officials’ official trip?
  PM Anwar Ibrahim told the Parliament that 70% to 80% of the cost of his recent world tour, visiting five countries was funded by private companies. The companies mentioned were Petronas, Sapura Energy Bhd, Yinson Holdings Bhd, Proton Holdings Bhd and various semiconductor firms. PM Anwar added that these firms have business interests in the countries they are visiting. So, in return for paying the bill for the official visits, Putrajaya will assist these companies. 

• Bestinet again
  The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) revealed that the six-year contract extension given by Putrajaya to Bestinet Sdn Bhd for the Foreign Worker Centralised Management System (FWCMS) would lead to the Government paying up to a minimum of RM3.2 bil over the six-year period. This is because the rate for the issuance of the online temporary work permit dubbed the ePass has more than doubled from RM100 per piece to RM215. The Home Ministry justified the rate hike in order to avoid a legal claim by Bestinet amounting to RM1.572 bil as the company was not allowed to collect charges during the contract period from 2018 to May 31, 2024. How in the world these overly favourable terms are being approved by the Cabinet and what kind of incompetency is happening until a private company can create a case around a multi-billion Ringgit claim in the first place?

• Court order to resolve Teoh Beng Hock's case
  High Court Judge Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh (now a Court of Appeal judge) has instructed the police to complete investigations on the death of Teoh Beng Hock within six months. This order came following Beng Hock's parents made the judicial review application against the police, amongst others. Beng Hock, who was the political secretary to then Selangor state executive councillor Ean Yong Hian Wah, was found sprawled on the fifth-floor landing of Plaza Masalam in Shah Alam on the morning of July 16, 2009, after providing a statement at the MACC office located on the 14th floor of the building.

• HRD Corp CEO has reported back to work
  HR Minister Steven Sim confirmed that HRD Corp CEO Shahul Hameed Dawood, who was on a garden leave since July 18 due to a MACC probe into the agency, has now returned to office. Although the findings of the independent audit into HRD Corp have not been revealed yet, Shahul still can return to work unscathed. As Sim told the Parliament, “Everyone is assumed innocent until proven guilty, and in this case, no HRD Corp personnel have been charged in court.” Previously, HRD Corp was in hot water after it was uncovered that a hefty sum of RM3.77 bil of HRD Corp’s money was involved in risky investments. Just to reiterate, HRD Corp is not an investment entity. Read here to learn what happened at HRD Corp.

Business

1. According to Bloomberg, Dyson Ltd is scaling down its hairdryer-related operations in Malaysia and redeploying some employees to other parts of the facility. Nonetheless, the full exit of Dyson from the country will take some time as it will also depend on whether Dyson can relocate the manufacturing capabilities elsewhere. Downsizing actions by Dyson are not something new as previously it laid off an undisclosed number of workers on short notice in Singapore and eliminated some 1,000 jobs in the UK. Currently, Malaysia is home to Dyson’s second-largest global hub, bolstered by research, design and development teams in the Philippines and Singapore, and more than half of its sales are now in the Asia-Pacific region.

2. Malaysia has been upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership, in its relationship with Vietnam. The status given to Malaysia is the highest level ordained to any state, based on Vietnam’s diplomatic hierarchy. This honour is only bestowed to eight other countries which are China, Russia, India, South Korea, the United States, Japan, Australia, and France. The announcement of the new level of partnership between Malaysia and Vietnam was announced during Vietnamese Party General Secretary To Lam’s official visit to Malaysia yesterday.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

For the first time, US Senate votes down effort to withhold weapons to Israel
In September, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the so-called Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) to oppose a USD20 bil weapons deal approved by the administration of President Joe Biden. Even though the US Senate has recently rejected the bill, rights advocates say it does not reduce the increased pressure to apply conditional aid to Israel. The resolution meant to halt the sale of tank rounds failed to advance in a 79 to 18 vote on Wednesday, with prominent progressives and mainstream Democratic senators backing the effort. This is the first time ever that a weapons sale to Israel was subjected to such a vote. Although support for the bill seems small, it does represent a crack in the bipartisan consensus over unconditional US aid to Israel. Does this mean there’s finally a glimmer of hope for the Palestinian rights movement in the US? Nah, Uncle Sam’s real boss is Israel.

Still on Israel - the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif aka Ibrahim Al-Masri, all for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan announced on May 20 that he was seeking arrest warrants, and it's all out.

Tech news:

1. Perplexity launches AI-powered shopping assistant 

   AI-powered search engine Perplexity has recently launched a "first-of-its-kind AI commerce experience" feature — an AI shopping assistant that will assist users in researching products via conversational prompts and image inputs, checkout with one click, and even get free shipping on purchases. The AI feature will compare products in everyday language, provide "objective" answers, and choose product cards with the most relevant specs and items. Users don’t have to log in, sign up or subscribe to use the feature, but the platform offers a more advanced Buy with Pro option that retails at USD20 per month. The shopping experience is powered by multiple partners including Shopify.

2. Huawei plans to mass-produce its newest AI chip amid US restrictions

   Huawei, which is at the heart of the US-China friction over trade and security, plans to start mass-producing its most advanced artificial intelligence chip in the first quarter of 2025 despite tough US restrictions. Sources told Reuters that the telecoms company had sent samples of its Ascend 910C, its newest chip rivalling US’s Nvidia AI chips, to some technology firms and started taking orders. Restrictions by the US have made it difficult for Huawei to gain enough yield for its advanced AI chips to be commercially viable. The cause is mainly due to a lack of advanced lithography equipment, which is supplied by Dutch manufacturer ASML, which had to stop shipping its most advanced deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) machines to China due to rules imposed by the Biden administration last year.

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani indicted in the US for alleged bribery and fraud
Gautam Adani, one of the world’s richest persons, has been charged in New York over an alleged multibillion-dollar fraud scheme involving bribes to Indian government officials to secure US contracts. Adani and two other executives at Adani Green Energy, his nephew Sagar Adani and Vneet Jaain were charged with agreeing between 2020 and 2024 to pay more than USD250 mil in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain solar energy supply contracts expected to yield USD2 bil in profits. Prosecutors said the renewable energy company also raised more than USD3 bil in loans and bonds during this period based on false and misleading statements.

Following the indictment, shares of Adani Group companies lost about USD28 bil in market value in morning trading on Thursday, and Adani Green Energy cancelled a USD600 mil bond sale. Shares in Adani Green Energy plunged 17% and stocks for several other firms in the conglomerate lost more than 10%. The Adani group denies the charges, stating it as baseless allegations. Forbes magazine says that Gautam Adani is worth USD69.8 bil, making him the world’s 22nd richest and India’s second-richest person. Talk about being filthy rich.

Shorts

1. Australia proposes USD32 mil fine for social media firms who disregard the new law 

   After its landmark bill banning children under 16 from social media, Australia is also planning to enforce a USD32 mil fine for social media firms who fail to bar children from creating accounts on their platforms. Platforms are given one year to work out how to implement the age restriction after the mentioned banning bill. The country plans to trial an age-verification system that may include biometrics or government identification to enforce a social media age cut-off, some of the toughest controls imposed by any country to date.

2. USD2 mil worth of treasure is hidden across the US for a public treasure hunt

   Here’s real life treasure hunt. A Casascius bitcoin (the first physical bitcoin ever made), a green Colombian emerald, a 2002 Shining Charizard Pokémon card, antiques from a shipwreck, and George Washington's jelly glass - these are among the treasures tucked away across the US by Jon Collins-Black, a musician turned entrepreneur. Collins-Black said that he made a tidy sum from early Bitcoin investments and went the extra mile to hide them for the public to find. He even wrote a book with all the clues needed to find the treasures. The total estimated value of the stash at press time was between USD2 mil - USD3 mil.

3. Cute hamsters are not harmless when they escape in a plane

   132 hamsters bound for a pet shop on an Airbus A321neo have escaped from their cages in the cargo hold of the plane, causing the flight to be grounded for several days for maintenance teams to track them down. The plane was operated by Portuguese flag carrier TAP Air Portugal who flew from Lisbon to Ponta Delgada Airport in the Azores. Sounds cute eh, ‘Hamsters on a Plane’? But they can be deadly. Escaped hamsters can pose safety risks as they can chew through electrical cables and wires, hence the grounding of the flight. A similar incident also occurred in 2017, where a cargo plane was grounded due to escaped hamsters. The pilot even managed to record the mischievous hamsters in action.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. Brands these days love crossovers — kind of like fusion dishes. Here’s one we never thought we’d see — Aimé Leon Dore x Porsche. More on this collaboration here.

2. If you are an investor, this is worth a watch and might reshape your understanding of risk. To me personally, it’s profound. Legendary investor Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital deconstructs the concept of ‘risk’. No wonder Warren Buffett said Marks’ memos are the first thing he opens in his mail.

As you enjoy the weekend with your family, keep a good eye on your kids when they are swimming in the pool. Don’t leave them unattended. A drowning child will look no different from a child playing in a pool. Here’s a recent incident (a good ending, fortunately) where a woman was recording her boys swimming but completely unaware a girl was drowning nearby and was saved by a lifeguard.

Happy Weekend!