☕️ Festive toll discount flip-flop - from 100%, to 0% to now 50%

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Over 80% of the world’s poor are projected to be Africans by 2030, a significant rise from 14% in 1990. Despite an initial promising start to the 21st century, with Africa once celebrated for its “Africa Rising” era, the continent’s growth has been weak and short-lived. Even during the 2000-2014 period, when real GDP per person grew by 2.4% per year, other developing regions outpaced Africa in growth and job creation. The gap in Africa won't be closed. African countries need a lot more investment from both Africans and people from other countries.

1.42 mil metric tonnes of production was recorded by the country’s capture fisheries sub-sector last year, valued at RM12.8 bil, according to Fisheries Department (DOF) director-general Datuk Adnan Hussain. Of this, 86.7% came from coastal waters, totaling 1.23 mil metric tonnes, while deep-sea fishing contributed 13.3%, or 189,000 metric tonnes. A fleet of 49,173 vessels supported these activities, involving 112,344 fishermen, including 25,125 foreign crew members. The department aims to increase the country’s fisheries sector production to 1.5 mil metric tonnes this year — through continued efforts and sustainable resource conservation programmes.

EUR1.05 bil (RM4.8 bil) — Real Madrid has become the first football club to surpass a billion euros in revenue in a single season (2023-24 campaign), according to Deloitte. This achievement was largely driven by income from the revamped Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, which helped double matchday revenues to USD258 mil. The gap between Real Madrid and second-place Manchester City is the largest ever recorded by Deloitte, with a difference of EUR219 mil. Paris Saint-Germain ranked third with EUR799 mil.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Labour matters

• Putrajaya decided to shelve the Waktu Bekerja Berlainan (WBB) pilot project, aiming to introduce a staggered working hours system for healthcare workers. Health Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad stated that the decision to cancel the pilot project was not a ‘flip-flop’ decision but instead, it was made to allow more comprehensive engagement with all relevant parties. Previously, when the WBB pilot project’s rumours started to circulate within the public healthcare workers' community, the contract doctors' movement, Hartal Doktor Kontrak (HDK) openly voiced out against the idea, adding that the WBB system imposes exploitative and dangerous 18-hour shifts, including graveyard hours, without on-call allowances, depriving healthcare workers of their just compensation.

  Healthcare workers are humans too and not numbers in a 45-day work week. According to Code Blue, long working hours are one of the factors that lead to male and female doctors having 41% and 130% higher suicide rates respectively, compared to the general population.

• The Malaysian International Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MICCI) and the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) lambasted the new rule that requires all companies to provide internships for college and university students. The new rule, implemented initially in a pilot phase, requires companies to place up to three interns for every expatriate employed. The industry interest groups added that this new rule would increase the cost of business and make Malaysia unattractive to multinational companies and industries that rely on foreign workers. The same thing with the first issue above - did the government consult the industry groups before it announced the new rule? This is Stakeholder Management 101.

All about infrastructures

• After bagging the contract to develop the new Ipoh Sentral previously, Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) now has secured the project to construct a hospital in Melaka with an estimated gross development (GDV) cost of RM520 mil. MRCB will be partnering with Melaka Corp to build the hospital in the Bukit Baru district in Melaka, which will later be leased to Putra Specialist Hospital (Melaka) Sdn Bhd. The new hospital will be ‘300 hospital beds’ big. As a comparison, KPJ Ampang Puteri Specialist Hospital has 230 hospital beds under its premises. Guess life is still good for MRCB after the company pulled out from the Berjaya Group-led HSR consortium.

• Gamuda Bhd is making waves in the land of Aussies after the company’s joint venture (JV) with Ferrovial, inked an agreement to develop Capricornia Energy Hub (CEH)’s hydroelectric storage system (PHES) in Central Queensland, Australia. The JV has signed an early contractor involvement (ECI) agreement, which is a prelude before the full engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract to deliver the PHES. The construction of PHES is expected to begin in 2026.

• After a public scolding by the Transport Minister previously, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) managing director Mohd Izani Ghani has now announced a new date for the resumption of operations for the KLIA aerotrain, slated for 2Q2025, subject to the testing and commission progress. Izani Ghani stated that the previous targeted operational date by the end of this month was ‘overambitious’ and MAHB has revised and ‘humbled down’ the new deadline. Currently, the aerotrain project has reached 85% completion.

Shorts

• And here we have flip-flop news. After announcing a full cancellation of free holiday tolls, Putrajaya has now done a Mahathir and announced that a 50% toll discount will be given to users of Class 1 private vehicles on January 27 and 28 in conjunction with the Chinese New Year. The discount, however, will not apply to vehicles at border crossing points. This 50% toll discount will cost the Government RM20.08 mil to compensate the highway concessionaires involved.

• Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari announced that the Selangor state government will ensure that its land management procedures are air-tight moving forward to prevent further manipulation. This statement was given following cases where illegal land ownership transfers were uncovered at the Klang District and Land Office (PTD). Amirudin revealed that the illegal land transfers did happen as the officials involved capitalised on the opportunities during the transition from manual land management to the digital e-Tanah system. Amirudiin also did not dismiss the possibility that these illegal practices could occur at other PTDs beyond Klang.

• MACC Chief Commissioner Azam Baki spilt more tea on the ongoing investigation into the syndicate that approved RM700 mil loans to unqualified borrowers. According to Azam Baki, the financial consultancy firms that managed loans for the victims pocketed at least 35% of the approved bank loans. This meant that the victims, predominantly civil servants, did not receive the full loan amounts granted by banks. Malaysia, truly the land of the middlemen.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

In Gaza and Lebanon:

Trump makes 2,000-pound bombs available to Israel, amid the holding ceasefire
US President Donald Trump has decided to release the shipment of 2000-pound bombs to Israel, because “they bought them”. It seems that this particular shipment was withheld by previous President Joe Biden, due to concern over the impact they could have on the civilian population, particularly in Gaza's Rafah, during Israel's war in the Palestinian enclave. One 2,000-pound bomb can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius. It might sound that he is only doing a “business delivery”, but it is no secret that the US has always been a close ally to Israel and sent military assistance for Israel worth billions of dollars since the war began.

Israel dishonours ceasefire deals and killed at least 15 people in South Lebanon
In a case of glaring ignorance of the ceasefire deal, the Israeli army killed at least 15 people in southern Lebanon on the day its forces were due to withdraw under the deal. At least 83 people were also wounded as the Israeli army opened fire as people tried to return to their homes. Under the ceasefire deal agreed in November 2024, the Israeli army was supposed to pull back from Lebanon on Sunday, but instead, the Israeli military claims it needs to stay longer because the Lebanese army is not doing its job to ensure Hezbollah is disarmed and its military infrastructure dismantled. However, there is no independent confirmation concerning those claims. Meanwhile, in a joint statement, the UN envoy in Lebanon and the chief of the UN peacekeeping mission to Lebanon (UNIFIL) said conditions are “not yet in place” for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to southern Lebanon.

Tech & AI

• Security researchers discovered that Subaru cars can easily be hacked
  Apparently Subaru cars can be hijacked via its web portal, allowing hackers to hijack car controls and track the driver’s location data via its employee’s web portal. Basically as long as an employee has access to such data, they can weaponise it against anyone. The vulnerability was discovered by two security researchers who then reported it to the Japanese automaker. The researchers noted that this is an industrywide problem - the same web-based flaws also affect other carmakers like Acura, Genesis, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Kia, and Toyota.

• Paul McCartney calls the UK government to protect artists copyrights from AI
  Paul McCartney of The Beatles is calling out on the UK government to protect musicians and artists from the threats of AI, particularly on the copyrights to their creations. The singer has been vocal against the changes to UK copyright law that would allow tech companies to freely train their models on online content unless the copyright holders actively opt out. Although he is not necessarily absolutely opposed to the use of AI in creating music, he suggested that AI (or at least AI with a loose approach to copyright) does pose an economic threat to artists. Hear, hear.

Bank of Japan raises cost of borrowing rates to highest in 17 years
Japan’s central bank, Bank of Japan (BOJ) has announced an increase in the cost of its short-term policy rate to "around 0.5 per cent", the highest in 17 years. It came just hours after the latest economic data showed consumer prices rose last month, at the fastest pace in 16 months. According to official figures released on Friday, core consumer prices in Japan increased by 3% in December from a year earlier. During the election campaign Trump threatened to impose tariffs on all imports into the US, which could have an impact on exporting countries like Japan. By raising rates now the bank will have more scope to cut rates in the future if it needs to boost the economy.

Shorts

1. Covid 'more likely' to have leaked from lab, said CIA

   The CIA has changed its mind about the origins of Covid-19 - now they are saying that the virus was “more likely” leaked from a Chinese lab instead of being transmitted by animals. Newly appointed CIA director, John Ratcliffe, said his "day-one" priority after taking office would be making an assessment on Covid’s origin, hence the shift in stance. US officials said the shift was based on a new analysis of existing intelligence ordered by previous CIA director William Burns, which was completed before Ratcliffe's arrival this week.

2. French cryptocurrency company Ledger co-founder kidnapped

   One of the co-founders of French crypto firm Ledger, David Balland, has been kidnapped early Tuesday morning together with his wife. Thankfully, both were rescued two days later, but Balland suffered mutilations on his hand and had to be treated in the hospital. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of cryptocurrencies, which were given and then frozen and seized later. Ledger raised USD 380 million in a funding round which valued it at USD1.5 bil in 2021.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Balik kampung season. Some safety tips.

1. Former pro-rally driver YS Khong advised why you should never be in front of a heavy truck especially on hilly roads. Overheated brake pads are the issue. Scary - looks like Ghostrider wheels.

2. In the highly unlikely event your car crashes into a river, here’s how to escape a sinking car. Tip #1: Don’t bother opening the door.

3. Now that you have escaped the car and you face the next fear: you do not know how to swim, this is what you need to do to stay afloat.