☕️ JP Morgan will pay RM1.4 bil settlement to Malaysia in relation to 1MDB

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Plantations and Commodities Minister Johari Abdul Ghani reported that Malaysia’s rubber glove exports from January to May surpassed RM6 bil, with the US still the primary market at 46% of the total exports even with a 19% tariff on Malaysia. The minister said that this shows Malaysia remains competitive, with the current conditions actually lending an edge to the nation. Malaysia controls 40% of the rubber glove market and remains the first choice when people intend to buy rubber gloves due to the quality of the product. In 2024, rubber glove exports totalled RM15.4 bil last year, with 40% or RM6.1 bil of it going to the US. The EU came next at 21%, Japan at 6%, and China at 4%. The remainder was exported to over 160 countries worldwide.

According to Deputy International Trade and Industry Minister Liew Chin Tong, the total number of electrified vehicles, hybrid, and battery electric vehicles sold in 2024 was 46,403, up from 35,723 in 2023. The increase in sales is backed by the development of charging facilities across the country, with the PLUS Highway and East Coast Expressway featuring a total of 112 EV charging points. This has surpassed the initial target of 100 charging points by year-end, contributing to the national target of 1,000 fast-charging points by 2025. Liew also said that Malaysia saw new car sales reach 816,747 units sold in 2024, passing the 800,000 mark for the first time and placing Malaysia in second place in Asean for the passenger vehicle market.

UK-based asset management firm LGBT Capital believes that the spending power of the estimated 388 mil LGBTQ people worldwide exceeds USD4.7 tril (RM19.9 tril) annually. The Thai government is looking to capitalise more on the “rainbow economy”, encouraging businesses from tour operators and drag shows to boys’ love drama producers chasing the “pink dollar”. Thailand has always positioned itself as an LGBTQ-friendly country, in stark contrast to most of Southeast Asia. However, 2025 saw an important milestone for the LGBTQ community: Thailand began issuing marriage licenses to LGBTQ couples in January, becoming the first Southeast Asian nation to recognise same-sex unions.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Military jet explosions trigger a key conversation - are we buying the right military hardware?
Last week, an F/A-18D Hornet, based in Kuantan Air Force Base, was engulfed in flames, moments after it took off from the runway (watch incident here). The crash marks the first loss from Malaysia’s fleet of eight American-made Hornets, procured in 1997 for RM1.6 bil. Although all of the Hornets were bought brand-new back then, at the moment, the Hornets are 28 years old and one less due to the accident. Putrajaya has a plan to purchase 33 second-hand F/A-18s from Kuwait to boost our defence, but is buying old airframes akin to purchasing ‘flying coffins’, as the King stated previously?

Interesting fact - both pilots of the downed aircraft in Kuantan survived the crash with minor injuries, marking the 7,796th and 7,797th lives saved by the jet’s ejection seats, made by US-based Martin-Baker Aircraft Company.

Defence Minister Khaled Nordin said that if the procurement of the Kuwaiti jets takes too long, Putrajaya will consider procurement for new fifth-generation (5G) jets to replace the fleet by 2040. Khaled added that Malaysia will only be able to receive these jets once Kuwait receives its new jets from the US. Currently, including the remaining F/A-18D Hornets, Malaysia only has 37 operational fighters, albeit not all are at 100% operational-ready. As a comparison, Singapore has 99 operational fighters. Ini baru the military situation in the air, we belum touch on the state of our naval assets lagi.

In relation to a similar matter, Khalid has also announced that his ministry has issued a fresh tender to lease four helicopters for the Army Air Corps, after cancelling a previous award to a company that failed to deliver the aircraft. Moving forward, during the evaluation process, the Defence Ministry will take into account the views expressed by the King of Malaysia, where His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim criticised the Government’s practice of purchasing second-hand assets.

The Zara Qairina effect

Police to reopen investigation into 2013 death
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail confirmed that the police will reopen the books on the death of tahfiz student Wan Ahmad Faris Wan Abdul Rahman, who is believed to have been murdered at a tahfiz school in Kok Lanas, Kelantan, in December 2013. FYI, there was an inquest on Faris’ death in 2016 that stated that Faris was found hanging, and there was third-party involvement. Despite that, the case was given an NFA - No Further Action.

13 students found guilty of murdering a peer
The Sabah High Court found the 13 male students of Lahad Datu Vocational College who were jointly charged with causing the death of fellow student Mohamad Nazmie Aizzat Mohd Narul Azwan, 17, last year, guilty of the offence. Judge Duncan Sikodol stated that the prosecution had proven the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Sentencing for the accused is fixed on August 28, and the lot is facing the possibilities of the death penalty, or up to 40 years’ imprisonment and not more than 12 strokes of the cane.

$$Money$$

JP Morgan will pay a RM1.4 bil settlement to Malaysia in relation to 1MDB
JPMorganChase will pay RM1.4 bil to Malaysia to resolve existing and potential claims related to the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal. As an outcome of this settlement, each party will withdraw all appeals connected with the lawsuit filed by 1MDB against JPMorgan in the Kuala Lumpur High Court. Malaysia is not a poor country. Personally, we prefer Putrajaya to play the chicken game with JPMorgan because until the day corporates admit their mistake, history is bound to repeat itself.

BYD to set up an assembly plant in Malaysia
The Chinese automotive giant, BYD Company Ltd will set up its first automotive assembly plant in Malaysia in Tanjong Malim, Perak. BYD will be the anchor tenant in KLK Bhd’s new 1,500-acre KLK TechPark, where the former will occupy up to 150 acres. The 1,500-acre integrated industrial hub is a hub for advanced manufacturing and green technology. Few weeks ago, BYD the ship, not the car landed in Malaysia. BYD Zhengzhou, the seventh vessel in BYD’s fleet of purpose-built carriers, docked at North Port in Klang.

Shorts

1. Earthquake in Johor
   A minor earthquake was recorded near Segamat, Johor, yesterday, with a magnitude of 4.1. Three hours later, another minor quake was felt in Kluang, Johor, this time at a lower magnitude of 2.1. Earthquakes in Peninsular Malaysia are rare but possible occurrences. These events, though often of low to moderate magnitude, demonstrate that the region is not entirely immune to seismic activity. The strongest earthquake that originated from areas within Peninsular Malaysia was in 1922, when Johor experienced two earthquakes, measuring at magnitudes of 5.4 and 5.0, respectively.

2. ETS3 is now live

   Electric Train Service 3 (ETS3) for the southern route is now live after the King, Sultan Ibrahim, officiated the southern alignment from Kuala Lumpur to the Kluang Station in Johor. Sultan Ibrahim personally took control of the ETS3 train, which is capable of reaching operating speeds of up to 140 km/h. Do you know that Sultan Ibrahim is the first Sultan in the country to hold a Class 26 High-Powered Locomotive Driving Licence?

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

It’s official: Gaza is in famine
It’s official: The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has reported that three key thresholds for famine had been met in Gaza. The three key thresholds to declare a famine are: At least 20% of households face an extreme lack of food; at least 30% of children suffer from acute malnutrition; and two people for every 10,000 die each day due to “outright starvation”. The report also said that the famine is entirely man-made and it can be halted and reversed, and called for an urgent and immediate response to the famine. Humanitarian aids need to reach everyone in the Gaza Strip, and if essential food supplies and basic health, nutrition and sanitation and water services are not restored immediately, avoidable deaths will increase exponentially.

People in Gaza are still not receiving enough humanitarian aid - aid organisations are facing massive logistical obstacles including widespread looting due to an almost total breakdown of the rule of law, ongoing Israeli combat operations, Israel’s administrative restrictions and bureaucracy and damaged infrastructure within Gaza. The report was labelled an "outright lie" by Israel, which has denied there is starvation in the territory. It continues to claim there was no famine in Gaza and that the findings were based on “Hamas lies laundered through organisations with vested interests”, a direct contradiction to what more than 100 humanitarian groups, witnesses on the ground, multiple UN bodies, and several of Israel's allies, including the UK, have said.

Leaked Israeli intelligence confirms 83% dead in Gaza are civilians
A joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call has discovered a classified Israeli military database that confirms the vast majority of Palestinians killed in Gaza are civilians. As of May 2025, Israeli military intelligence had listed 8,900 fighters from Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) as confirmed or “probably” dead. Over the same period, Gaza’s health authorities recorded at least 53,000 deaths from Israeli attacks, meaning that named fighters accounted for just 17% of those killed, with civilians at about 83% of the total death toll. Conflict researchers say that ratio is almost unparalleled in modern warfare. Only the Rwandan genocide, the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, and Russia’s 2022 siege of Mariupol recorded a higher civilian death rate, the authors noted. Another Hamas-manufactured lies, Bibi & Co would say.

Cracker Barrel rebranding gone amiss
The Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, a 55-year-old Southern American-themed restaurant brand serving traditional Southern comfort food has undergone a brand makeover, and people are not quite happy about it (logo: before vs after here). The company said that it is part of a “strategic transformation” to revitalize the brand where it includes updates to visual elements, restaurant spaces and food and retail offerings, as well as the logo. It also said the refresh will still maintain the brand’s “rich history of country hospitality” but it seems that many, especially in conservative circles, feel like the essence of the American tradition has been stripped away from the makeover. Social media users are calling the new logo “soulless,” “bland” and “generic”. Customers have also complained on social media about the interior redesign of many Cracker Barrel restaurants, saying the new decor favors a more sterile and modern style over its tried-and-true country feel. Shares of the restaurant closed down roughly 7% on Thursday but bounced back slightly on Friday.

AI = Asian Intelligence?
The US is home of AI tech giants like OpenAI and Meta, but there is a pattern going on: the leading researchers are young Chinese scholars with rigorous undergraduate degrees from home who arrive in the US to earn their PhDs and stay on to become the face of American AI. A study of global AI talent by MacroPolo think tank suggests that China is now the biggest producer of AI talent, generating almost half of the world’s top 20% of AI researchers in 2022. It produced less than a third in 2019, the reference year for the study. In 2019, 59% of the top 20% of the world’s AI researchers worked in US companies, compared with 11% in Chinese companies. By 2022, the US share shrank to 42% while the Chinese share had grown to 28%. Although there is not much recent data yet to show exactly how the AI talent is flowing amid the US-China tug of war for AI supremacy, it is believed that most AI talent in the US will continue to be mainly foreign-born - Chinese, or otherwise. Fun fact: The Meta AI team is led by Alexandr Wang, the founder of Scale AI, who is valued at USD5 bil and made him the world’s youngest self-made billionaire at 26.
Interactive chart: The Global AI Talent Tracker 2.0

Shorts

1. Coca-Cola might sell Costa Coffee

   Coca Cola is said to be holding initial talks with a small number of potential bidders for Costa Coffee, a British coffee chain it acquired in 2018 for over USD5 bil. The company is also reported to be working with investment bank Lazard to review its options, including a potential sale. Indicative offers are expected in early autumn. Costa Coffee operates in 50 countries, with more than 2,700 coffee shops across the UK and Ireland and over 1,300 more outlets globally.

2. Typhoon Kajiki batters China and Vietnam

   Typhoon Kajiki, a storm packing winds of up to 149km per hour is expected to make a landfall along southern coast of China before heading toward Vietnam at the time of writing, prompting authorities in Vietnam to evacuate more than more than 586,000 people from the central provinces of Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Hue and Danang. In China, businesses and public transport in the city of Sanya, a renowned seafront tourism destination, were asked to close in anticipation of the mega storm. The Vietnamese government likened the strength of Kajiki to that of Yagi, which battered the country less than a year ago, killing about 300 people and causing property damage of USD3.3 bil (RM14 bil).

3. “Dine and dash” trending in Europe

   “Dine and dash” has become a growing problem in many European countries where diners, often tourists, leave the premises sneakily after dining without paying the bill. In Italy, a pizzeria owner went the extra mile to track down perpetrators using CCTV images and social media, eventually locating them and obtaining payment. She said that such events are happening more often, to the extent she is now able to “tell” which diner is going to leave without paying. A report by BBC said that cases are also rising in the UK and are taking a toll on the employees’ mental and physical health.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. PSA: Now we can report a**holes on the road using e-Aduan JPJ in the JPJ app.

adrian_cdrive

1,317 followers

View more on Instagram

2. Another epic artwork by Ernest Ng. Check out his previous one - ‘which Malaysian fast food are you’?

New week, new day and another need for a new dose of patience. Have a good start folks!

puteris_cafe

1,503 followers

View more on Instagram