☕️ GLICs commit to invest RM120 bil in direct domestic investments in the next 5 years

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

King Charles III's monarchy is set to receive a significant increase in funding, with the Sovereign Grant rising by 53% from GBP86 mil in 2024-25 to GBP132 mil (RM748 mil) in 2025-26. This is despite the decrease in funding from the Crown Estate’s profits from 25% to 12%. This pay rise, funded by taxpayers, is due to a surge in profits from the Crown Estate. The grant covers royal duties, official travel, staff, and palace maintenance, and this increase comes amid a cost of living crisis in the UK.

Anti-immigrant sentiment is rising globally, with more than half of Americans now supporting the deportation of all undocumented immigrants, a significant increase from 2016. Similarly, support for increased immigration has plummeted in Australia, with only 10% of the population in favour. This shift follows a massive surge in immigration to wealthy countries, with 15 mil people relocating over the past three years. The influx includes refugees from Ukraine and migrants from India and sub-Saharan Africa, straining political and social landscapes.

A Singapore bus company’s offer of up to SGD5,000 (RM16.86k) per month for bus drivers has drawn over 1,400 applicants, nearly half of whom are Singaporeans or Permanent Residents. Westpoint Transit, a private bus operator in Singapore, launched its recruitment drive in December, offering salaries starting at SGD3,500 for medium-sized bus drivers and SGD5,000 for those driving 45-seater buses. 30 applicants were successful, including five university graduates - that’s an acceptance rate of 2.14%, lower than Harvard University’s class of 2028 acceptance rate of 3.65%!

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Madani housing blocks - yay or nay?
PM Anwar Ibrahim has mandated the Federal Territories Department and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) to build Madani housing blocks in every new residential project. So, what is a Madani housing block? It is still unclear but PM Anwar stated that one or two Madani housing blocks must be included in new projects to benefit the public.

An affordable housing quota for new residential projects is not something new. It has been there since 1981, when the Government through local authority imposed a 30% quota provision of low-cost housing in every residential development built by developers. The definition of a Madani housing block still unclear or just a mere ‘reinventing the wheel exercise’ by the Government, prompted some stakeholders to make noise. The Real Estate and Housing Developers’ Association (Rehda) president Ir Ho Hon Sang said that since developers need to cross-subsidise these affordable units, the cost will be trickled down to the M40 group that is not eligible for the Madani housing blocks but now has to pay more to own a house. Ho urged all parties to play a role including banks where financial institutions should offer subsidised loans to improve purchasing of the middle-income group.

Kerana lidah, badan binasa - 

• Inspector-General of Police Razarudin Husain said that three Malaysiakini journalists will be asked to go to the Dang Wangi district police HQ today, following an article claiming that the Bukit Aman federal police headquarters is planning a major reshuffle of its top leadership. In the article, it was claimed that Deputy Inspector-General of Police Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay will be transferred to another agency under the Home Ministry such as the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency or the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency. This alleged fake news case is being investigated under Section 505(b) of the Penal Code and Section 233 of the Communication and Multimedia Act 1998. What happened to press freedom?

• If you ever make a life-threatening verbal threat, don’t assume you can get away with it simply because it’s just words. The Magistrate’s Court in Penang handed an RM3,000 fine to 44-year-old Kelvin Gun Soon Ming for threatening to burn down his 69-year-old mother’s house when the mother refused to give RM5,000 to his son in order for him to buy a car. The offender was charged and pleaded guilty to an offence under Section 506 of the Penal Code for criminal intimidation.

PETRONAS has mixed feelings in the African continent
Petroliam Nasional Bhd (PETRONAS) officially exited the South Sudan (view on map here) market, 14 years after making the first step there. PETRONAS' presence in South Sudan is based on the joint operating company (JOC) model with three other parties - China National Petroleum Corp, Sinopec, India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, and Nilepet, the national oil company of South Sudan. It is unknown how PETRONAS is going to withdraw from South Sudan as the proposed deal for Savannah Energy to purchase PETRONAS’ entire oil and gas business in South Sudan for RM5.61 bil fell through. Prior to the withdrawal, PETRONAS’ assets in South Sudan produced 0.15 mil barrels of oil per day in 2021, about 7% of PETRONAS’ total production of 2.28 mil barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2021.

Sad day in South Sudan but bright smiles in Suriname (view on map here) as PETRONAS is mulling to extract oil and gas within offshore Block 52, following the success of an appraisal well in the same area in June. An appraisal well is an exploration well drilled to establish the extent and size of a petroleum deposit that has already been discovered by a wildcat well. Wildcat well on the other hand is an exploration well drilled to establish (prove) whether petroleum exists in a potential petroleum deposit.

Shorts

1. Malaysia’s six main government-linked investment companies (GLICs) - Khazanah Nasional Bhd, Employees Provident Fund, Retirement Fund Inc, Permodalan Nasional Bhd, Lembaga Tabung Haji dan the Armed Forces Fund Board have collectively pledged RM120 bil of investments into the domestic market for the next five years. On top of the six ‘whales’ existing RM440 bil investments in the public capital market, this new RM120 bil direct domestic investments (DDI) will be targeted towards high growth-high value industries such as energy transition and advanced manufacturing.

2. The Road Transport Department (JPJ) is replacing its automated awareness safety system (AWAS) cameras in phases with new cameras that have automated number plate recognition technology to ensure better detection. The new camera dubbed Ekin Spotter is a modular device that not only functions as a speed camera but also be outfitted with modules such as a WiFi hotspot and city lighting. One more thing - the new camera looks like a thin black pole (view here) which is very hard to detect with the naked eye - especially when you are driving 180km/h in the right lane.

3. Despite laying off 1,400 jobs globally and relocating another 1,400 jobs to countries with lower labour costs, the German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG is betting all its chips in Malaysia by investing another RM30.1 bil to build the world’s largest 200-millimetre silicon carbide power fabrication plant in Kedah. The additional RM30.1 bil investment is for the second out of two phases of investment into its plant in Kulim High Tech Park. The two phases of development will collectively generate 1,500 jobs in Malaysia. Guess Malaysia is still deemed as a country with low labour costs by the Europeans.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Israel Finance Minister: “Justified and moral” to starve Gaza
The far-right finance minister Bezatel Smotrich sparked international outrage for saying starvation of the 2 mil people in Gaza was “justified and moral” in order to free Israeli hostages (watch here). The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for the minister for the “explicit admission of adopting and bragging about the policy of genocide”. ICC prosecutors are already seeking arrest warrants for Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yaov Gallant. Israeli media outlets have also published footage purporting to show Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting Palestinian detainees from Gaza at the Sde Teiman military detention camp (watch here - warning, graphic).

Taylor Swift Vienna concerts canceled due to terrorist threat
195,000 heartbroken Swifties as the 3 upcoming concerts in the capital of Austria have been cancelled following a terrorist threat. Austrian security officials said they have arrested a 19-year-old who was planning to kill a large crowd of people in a suicide attack at one of Swift’s concerts in Austria. The teen, who had previously pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) group confessed he intended to carry out an attack using explosives and knives. Chemical substances and technical devices were found at the main suspect’s house, showing “concrete preparatory actions”. Another 2 suspects, a 17-year-old and 15-year-old were also arrested. The tragedy was averted with the help of international intelligence as Austrian law does not allow for the legal monitoring of text messages.

Big is the word: Cathay’s capex, Bankers’ bonus

• Cathay Pacific announces USD13 bil investment to "get back on track"
  The Hong Kong-based airline announced that USD13 bil will be spent over the next seven years, paying for new aircraft, aircraft lounges, and cabin revamps in a bid to rebuild its pandemic-damaged reputation and reclaim a place among the global premium airlines. Chairperson Patrick Healy has revealed that the airline will buy 30 Airbus A330 widebody jets, and now has over 100 new aircraft in its delivery pipeline. There are also plans to improve first-class seats in 2025 and offer a new flatbed business-class product in 2026. The airline’s latest quarter saw a profit of USD493.7 mil, a drop attributed to the “normalisation of ticket prices”.

• Bankers to earn bonus 10x annual base salary
  Barclay Plc is removing a European Union-era limit on its top bankers’ and traders’ bonuses, joining Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase. The company’s so-called ‘material risk taker’ (i.e. investment bankers, traders, risk managers, or even compliance personnel) will be allowed now to earn a bonus that’s as much as 10 times their annual base salary, up from a current limit that restricts the bonus to two times their fixed pay. The bonus cap was first introduced in 2014 in the EU in response to public outcry about the financial crisis. 

Shorts

1. Thai reformist party that won election to dissolve by court order
   Thailand’s Constitutional Court has ordered the dissolution of Move Forward party which won the most seats in the election last year but was blocked from forming the government. The ruling also banned the party’s charismatic young leader Pita Limjaroenrat and 10 other senior figures from politics for 10 years. Move Forward’s campaign promise to change the harsh royal defamation (lese majeste) laws was found to be unconstitutional and tantamount to calling for the destruction of the constitutional monarchy. The party’s surviving 143 MPs will be transferred to a newly registered party. Since 2006, Thailand’s Constitutional Court has dissolved 36 parties and has long been the principal guardian of the conservative status quo (i.e. monarchy).

2. A new nightmare for dog-owners as pooch lights house on fire
   Dog plus power bank apparently equals house fire. A dog in Tulsa, Oklahoma was recorded by an indoor monitoring camera to be chewing on a portable lithium-ion battery power bank, which led to sparks that grew into a blaze within minutes (watch here). The family was evacuated safely, with the pets escaping via a dog door. A new reason for students not finishing their homework - their pet dog set their homework on fire. 

3. Popular flight-tracking app can now predict delays using AI
   Flighty has released Flight 4.0 (visit site here), the latest version of its flight-tracking app which uses machine learning and aviation authority data to predict flight delays. By analysing airspace issues and tracking late aircraft, the app is able to provide specific delay reasons up to six hours before airlines, along with live airport performance trends. The company claimed that its predictions are over 95% accurate.

4. Japan issued first ‘megaquake’ warning
   Japan issued the warning after a powerful 7.1 magnitude temblor struck off its southern coast, triggering a tsunami advisory. The “megaquake caution” warns of a higher than usual possibility of a large quake but not one that would definitely occur in the near future. Damage so far has been reported to be relatively light.

Weekend Read: Why Malaysians struggle with healthy diets
On one hand, it’s an individual’s own responsibility for taking care of their health. But on the other hand, social determinants such as income, education and access to nutritious foods are crucial in shaping dietary habits and health outcomes. What can the government, beyond the Health Ministry, can do about this?

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Olympics bonanza today

1. Badminton champion Viktor Axelsen’s POV - how the Paris Olympic gold medal looks like

2. Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines (common denominator - our neighbours) all have won gold medals at the Paris Olympic. Filipino gymnast Carlos Yulo alone took home 2 golds (amongst his reward - free colonoscopies for life). Watch below Indonesia’s Veddriq Leonardo taking home Indonesia’s first gold at the Paris Olympics in the Speed sports climbing.

3. Is the 400m the hardest track and field event?