☕️ Kelantan Deputy MB: Kelantan has 'too much water', no where to store

1. MARKET SUMMARY

Bursa is closed on Monday, 16 May, in conjunction with the replacement holiday for Wesak Day that falls on 15 May.

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

21 million — the number of Switch games consoles Japanese videogame maker expects to sell in 2022, a 9% YoY fall.

60% out of 1,000 firms in America used monitoring software to snoop on their employees. Search queries for monitoring tools rose more than 18-fold during the first weeks of lockdowns when Covid-19 started. Micromanaging to the next level.

USD2 bil — the expected ad revenue of the US podcast advertising industry in 2022, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PwC’s 2021 U.S. Podcast Advertising Revenue Study. The study expects the figure to double by 2024. What is a good one that you’ve listened to lately? My personal favourite in 2022 thus far — Tim Ferriss’s with Morgan Housel. After all, it’s a long weekend. Enjoy!

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. Kelantan, apart from being known as an underdeveloped state under PAS, it is also known for the quality and health of its water supply. After decades of ruling the state, it still could not provide the most basic necessities to its people. Kelantan deputy Menteri Besar Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah said the state has ‘too much water’ but nowhere to store it, justifying a RM7 bil water reservoir project. He said the underground water looks cloudy because of chlorine treatment as iron content is high but assured that the water is clean and safe to drink. To exude confidence, he should do a public demo of drinking this water out of the pipe. Kelantan, under PAS, should also be known as Ibu Kota Alasan Malaysia or The Capital of Excuses of Malaysia. The leaders could always come up with reasons, no matter how ridiculous and never admit to their mistakes. If Kelantan needs a reference, here’s how Singapore built their water infrastructure properly. The RM3.5 mil spent buying Mercedes for Kelantan leaders could have gone to planning their water infrastructure.

2. The High Court has set Jul 7, to deliver its decision in the corruption case of self-proclaimed former First Lady of Malaysia (FLOM) Rosmah Mansor involving the RM1.25 bil solar hybrid project in Sarawak. The trial lasted for 42 days. She is facing one charge of soliciting RM187.5 mi and two charges of accepting bribes of RM6.5 mil from the former managing director of Jepak Holdings Sdn Bhd. 

3. Proton launched the new 2022 Proton Saga powered by a proven 1.3-litre engine. It comes in 4 variants with a price starting from RM34,400. Remember - if you are looking to get a car, do it before Jun 30, 2022, as the sales tax exemption is coming to an end.

4. Serba Dinamik Holdings Bhd confirmed that its top 4 executives have settled their compounds issued by the SC of RM16 mil before the deadline of 12 May 2022. It has been 31 days since the decision was made to issue the maximum compound but not charge them by the Attorney Genera’s Chamber (AGC) — silence, still no explanation given on the decision.

Shorts

1. India defeated Malaysia, 3-2 in the Thomas Cup quarter-finals. A big victory for India as they chase their first medal in 43 years.

2. Malaysia will host the 34th SEA Games in 2027 for the 7th time. Cambodia will host the 32nd SEA Games next year, followed by Thailand for the 33rd edition in 2025.

3. PM Ismail Sabri is on a 4-day work trip in the US for the ASEAN-US Special Summit and will be meeting President Joe Biden and other ASEAN leaders, apart from Myanmar and the Philippines.

4. The dry and hot weather is here to stay — Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) announced that hot and hazy weather is to be expected from July to September as the southwest monsoon kicks in.

5. Night clubs and pub patrons - yes, you can dance in the club now. SOP requires customers to undergo RTK-Antigen test 24 hours before entering the premise. Face masks have to be on except during meals, drinking and dancing — just as good as not wearing one.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Russia is not comfortable with Finland, its neighbour that shares a 1,300 km border, joining NATO. Finland’s president and PM called for the country to apply for Nato membership “without delay.” Sweden has echoed the same. Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the process of granting these two countries membership should happen “quite quickly.” Russia warned it would take retaliatory steps but did not specify the plans.

2. Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp reported a loss of USD 26.2 billion in its Vision Fund investment due to rising interest rates and political instability. The group reported a total annual net loss of USD 13.15 billion. SoftBank is now aiming for a US listing with chip designer Arm following their termination of a transaction with chipmaker Nvidia who planned to acquire Arm.

3. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) bought a total of USD 202 million from the market in order to stop its currency from weakening and breaking its peg to the US dollar. The Hong Kong dollar is pegged between 7.75 and 7.85 against the US dollar. Yesterday, we shared Tun Mahathir’s suggestion to re-peg the MYR to USD. The downside is that deep reserves are needed to maintain the peg — HK had to spend USD202 mil of their reserves in this particular move. 

4. North Korea officially reported its first Covid outbreak in Pyongyang, prompting a strict lockdown in the capital. Its leader, Kim Jong-un, called it a “severe national emergency” and vowed to eradicate the outbreak. North Korea suddenly admitting they have a Covid outbreak despite claiming they had zero cases for over two years implies it is more severe than they are implying it to be.

5. Asset manager BlackRock and hedge fund Citadel Securities denied trading in TerraUSD (UST) and then dumped it which caused the cryptocurrency to collapse. They denied a rumour claiming they had borrowed 100,000 bitcoin (about USD 3 billion) in order to purchase UST.

6. Space is truly both a fascinating and terrifying place. Scientists unveiled an image of Sagittarius A*, a new supermassive black hole that resides at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy. It is located 26,000 light-years (9.5 trillion km) from Earth and had a mass 4 million times greater than our sun. This is only the second time a black hole was ever imaged, with the first one captured in 2019, residing in another galaxy.

Shorts

1. A Tibet Airlines plane caught fire at Chongqing airport after it had veered off the runway. Several of the passengers were injured in the incident.

2. Google announced several new products during its I/O developer conference — Pixel 6a, Pixel Watch and Pixel Buds Pro. The company briefly teased its upcoming flagship smartphones — Pixel 7 and 7 Pro.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. A house in North Carolina, last sold in Nov 2020 for USD275,000, was swept away by the sea.

2. In case one is curious about the average size of a phallus by country

3. A good analogy for the freedom of speech.