☕️ KJ: The government did not sell MySejahtera app to any private companies

How many MySejahtera app users are there?

1. 19.9 mil

2. 25.5 mil

3. 38 mil

Read on local news for the answer.

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

RM2.7 bil — the amount Sime Darby Plantation Bhd’s (SDP) total procurement involving bumiputera companies in the past five years.

Argentina stretched its unbeaten run to 30 matches, a world record, after beating Venezuela 3-0 in a World Cup qualifying match. Lionel Messi scored on his return to the national team.

MacKenzie Scott is on a donating spree — she donated USD436 mil to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its US affiliates and USD275 mil to the reproductive health care nonprofit Planned Parenthood — the largest-ever gift made to the organisation.

3. COVID-19 SUMMARY

• Health Ministry Khairy Jamaluddin has warned individuals not to falsify antigen rapid test kit results in the MySejahtera application. The Ministry of Health (MoH) can take legal action against them. Employers can report to the MoH should they find their employees have done so.

• The EU’s drug watchdog, European Medicines Agency’s, recommended AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 prevention cocktail for approval. The cocktail is meant for patients with immune system problems or severe reactions to other coronavirus vaccines.

4. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. Weekend controversy - news broke that the MySejahtera app was sold by the government to a private firm, MySJ Sdn Bhd, controlled by Shahril Shamsuddin, formerly the CEO of the embattled Sapura Energy Bhd (read our story towards the end on the fall of SE) and Megat Najmuddin, a senior member of Bersatu, drawing criticisms that trove of sensitive data of Malaysians are being owned by a private firm and could be compromised. The cabinet in Nov 20221 gave permission to the Ministry of Health to appoint MySJ Sdn Bhd through a direct negotiation mechanism to take over the app. However, in Dec 2021, the Public Accounts Committee recommended that the government takes over the operation of the app at no additional costs as the app has grown to be a critical element of the national health system. Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has clarified that the app was not sold to any private companies and it belonged to Putrajaya with the health ministry appointed as the “main owner” of MySejahtera and that the data was handled by the ministry. According to the PAC meeting report, MySejahtera has 38 mil users (in a start-up context, having 38 mil users can easily propel a start-up to unicorn hood!)

2. Updates on the smoking ban bill and anti-hopping bill:

   1. The smoking ban bill, dubbed the Generational Endgame, is currently being finalised and will be tabled in the Dewan Rakyat in July, said KJ. This bill intends to ban smoking, including vaping, for people born from Jan 1, 2005 - those who turned 18 next year would not be allowed to buy cigarettes and vape products legally anymore. A relative of ours was diagnosed with lung cancer last week. He’s in his early fifties only, with a wife and three adult kids. The doctor said at this stage it is pointless to undergo treatment and just ‘be prepared’. Cancer doesn’t run in the family for the past three generations. Only one variable that is highly likely to have contributed to this - he was a heavy smoker before his heart bypass. This could have been prevented a long time ago. Makes no sense ever for smoking to ever be allowed, when there is completely no benefits at all.

   2. A formal notice has been issued to all 220 MPs on a special parliamentary sitting on Apr 11 to table the anti-hopping bill and limit the term of the PM. The government will be meeting PH this Thursday to seek the opposition’s view and ‘fine-tuning’ the bill. 

3. Following the cabinet meeting on Friday, KJ said the cabinet does not deem the defeat of SOSMA in Parliament as a violation of the MoU between the government and PH as it was not perceived as a vote of no confidence against the government. "The MOU states that the Opposition would support or abstain during a vote in Parliament, but this only applies to certain motions such as the Budget or a vote of no confidence.” - Khairy Jamaluddin, Health Minister.UMNO bigwigs, namely Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Muhamad Hassan and Annuar Musa, were fast to call for a general election on the grounds that the opposition breached the MoU, whilst Anwar Ibrahim and Anthony Loke claimed that the opposition did not breach it. Now, the matter is cleared — from the cabinet itself. Unless they u-turn in the coming days. 

4. The embattled oil and gas company Serba Dinamik Bhd takes the spotlight of The Edge Weekly cover story. Some highlights from The Edge Weekly’s ‘What Serba Dinamik Didn’t Want You To Know’ story:

   1. Serba Dinamik (SB)’s former auditor KPMG flagged questionable transactions valued at RM2.32 bil, trade receivables of RM652 mil, and materials on-site balance of RM569 mil. 

   2. Suppliers having similar registered addresses and having small paid-up capitals whilst undertaking transactions of between RM60-96 mil. 

   3. Addresses of customers and suppliers in Bahrain whose office addresses could not be located. 

   4. EY Consulting questioned why SB was in possession of company stamps of its vendors and those of national oil major Petronas, other oil giants and of the company’s many suppliers. 

5. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Russia President Vladimir Putin found a way against the sanctions imposed by the west — pricing gas sold to “unfriendly” countries in roubles. Some European wholesale gas prices are up by 30% higher. The Russian rouble briefly leapt to a three-week high past 95 against the dollar in Moscow before settling close to 100 last Wed. There is another alternative — bitcoin — which the chair of Russia’s Duma Committee on Energy said will be accepted as payment terms when it comes to “friendly” countries such as China or Turkey.

2. Joe Biden’s slip of the tongue saying Moscow needs a regime change has sent the tails of American media wagging. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied calmly and said this was a question for the Russian people, not for outsiders and certainly not for Biden. The timing wasn’t great because Russia is reported to have scaled back its military ambitions in Ukraine. Russia announced its aims were limited to the Donbas region and were nearing completion.

3. The race goes on! Saudi Arabian Grand Prix goes ahead despite a wave of drones and missiles from Yemen’s Houthis hitting targets across Saudi Arabia. The Houthi group has announced a three-day truce and dangled the prospect of a “permanent” ceasefire if Saudi Arabia ends its operations against Yemen.

4. Many Malaysians were disappointed when Tesla Inc. chose Indonesia over Malaysia to build a manufacturing plant for its Energy Storage Systems. Well, the plan fell through as negotiations with the government on the terms related to the supply of raw material to make power generators didn’t go as planned. An e-mail sent to Tesla went unanswered — they should have tried DM-ing Elon Musk’s Twitter. Indonesia wouldn’t lose much sleep over this — South Korea's LG Energy Solution has started building a USD1.1 bil EV battery plant and China's Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) has committed to spending about USD5 billion by 2023.

5. As if the superapp space isn’t already competitive enough, a start-up backed by Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC, Paypal and Sequoia Capital China, Toss, wants to take on Grab and GoTo in Southeast Asia. Toss is one of the most valuable fintech start-ups in South Korea. Capital A’s super app isn’t mentioned as a competitor, though.

6. Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated near the Taal Volcano in the Philippines after it spewed an 800-metre-tall plume followed by one of 400 metres. Authorities have categorised the alert at level 3 on the five-level scale, indicating there could be succeeding eruptions.

7. One of the most convenient inventions in the world is plastic. However, humans are potentially paying a huge price for the convenience — microplastics discovered in human blood in a small study by Dutch researchers. 17 out of 22 participants in the study had plastic particles in their blood. No evidence yet that it is harmful to our body, but it is definitely unsettling.

8. The year is 2030 — you need to subscribe to anything you need to use in your life. How does that feel? That future isn’t far away — Bloomberg reported that Apple is looking at a subscription service for the iPhone and other Apple hardware. Consumers are already getting used to buying things they can’t afford with Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes, so a subscription service is a good way for Apple to disrupt the industry. The service is expected to be launched by the end of 2022.

9. A new exchange-traded fund (ETF) is picking stocks based on the character of their CEOs instead of the conventional way. The Return on Character ETF from ROC Investments ranks its stock holdings based on a character model centred around integrity, responsibility, forgiveness, and compassion. Tesla and Facebook aren’t included in its portfolio — sorry Elon and Mark. Apple's Tim Cook and Microsoft's Satya Nadella made the cut.

6. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. A mockumentary Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile’s launching — except, it isn’t a mockumentary. It was North Korea’s television broadcast.

2. Tune Protect Bhd became the first insurer in Malaysia to get BNM’s approval to host its insurance core system on the public cloud. Learn from its CEO, Rohit Nambiar & his team this coming Wednesday how they are ramping up for economic recovery!

3. Like a scene from an action movie - an actual situation when a skydiver was knocked out halfway getting hit by another skydiver and was fortunately saved by his friend.