☕️ Najib gets approval for WFH version of prison sentence

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

JPY40 mil (USD250,000 or RM1.04 mil) – Earlier this year, fast food franchise Burger King launched a social media campaign in Japan promising any owners of competitor franchises that much as a reward for converting to a Burger King. The aim was to raise interest in the brand through this “more aggressive stance”, making it seem like Burger King was on the offensive and going for other franchises, with a goal of having 600 franchise locations in Japan by 2028 from 355 as of Jun 2026. However, there are strict franchise restrictions in Japan that make it difficult for shops to switch over right away. As of May, franchised Burger King restaurants made up about 20% of its Japan locations, a lower proportion than competitors such as McDonald’s at 80% and Mos Burger at 90%.

JPY53.2 mil (USD332,000 or RM1.38 mil) – That’s the cost of a single induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell treatment for heart disease, dubbed RiHEART and developed by University of Osaka startup Cuorips. The treatment involves attaching three thin sheets of cardiac muscle cells derived from iPS cells to the surface of the heart through an opening between the ribs. The sheets then secrete proteins intended to promote tissue repair and improve heart muscle function. This is also the world’s only iPS cell-based product that addresses the needs of patients with severe heart failure, defined as patients who have not benefited from conventional treatments such as medications and surgery.
Learn: What is iPS cell treatment?

1.5% – Tokyo’s office vacancy rate fell to that level in the first quarter of the year as companies increasingly brought employees back to work. This also makes it the lowest among major global cities, compared to 12% in New York, 10.3% in Paris, and 18.5% in Beijing. However, observers noted that slow adoption of AI at workplaces in Tokyo was one of the reasons for the city’s crowded offices. Also noted was that the experience of remote work had led to renewed appreciation among Japanese companies for face-to-face communication and the role of the workplace in training and developing employees. Comparatively, Kuala Lumpur’s office vacancy rate is around 14.8% for the second quarter of 2026.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Najib Razak gets to WFH serving prison sentence
During the 64th meeting of the Federal Territories Pardons Board chaired by the Malaysian King, Sultan Ibrahim decided to allow former PM Najib Razak to serve the remainder of his six-year prison term at home. However, the house detention is contingent on Najib fulfilling all set conditions, including paying a RM50 mil fine (as context, in the SRC International criminal case, former PM Najib Razak was convicted of misappropriating RM42 mil. This specific amount was directly channelled into his personal AmBank accounts between 2014 and 2015).

In a statement via his counsel, Messrs Shafee & Co. stated that the transfer of Najib’s imprisonment to house arrest ‘does not lie in his own hands’ as a significant part of Najib’s assets, bank accounts and properties remained subject to freezing orders and enforcement proceedings by the government and their disposal was not within his sole control. To help Najib meet the conditions of the conditional pardon, UMNO went crowdfunding and launched a solidarity fund and collected RM1 mil by 9:30 AM Saturday.

What PMX has to say: PM Anwar defended Najib’s right to seek a pardon but, at the same time, denied allegations that he has tipped the scales towards Najib’s end, saying every prisoner had the right to submit an appeal for consideration. PM Anwar added that the prime minister and attorney general could provide advice on the matter, while the power to grant a pardon rested with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

What DAP has to say: DAP Secretary-General Anthony Loke will be the only minister from DAP to resign, adding that they are aware of certain parties that are waiting for DAP to leave the government to cause political instability, leading PM Anwar to lose majority in Parliament. Loke said that the party could not accept the decision to allow Najib to complete his sentence in the comfort of his own home.

On related news, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail announced that Malaysia still do not have a house detention law, but the proposed House Arrest Act is in the pipeline, which aims to address prison overcrowding, particularly involving remand detainees, who make up a significant proportion of the prison population while awaiting trial. At the moment, we currently have 41 prisons, but the prison population is 93,000. Our prison capacity is 75,000. How convenient is the timing.

Bersatu x Pakatan Harapan
In politics, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, only permanent interests. PM Anwar said that PH election director Amirudin Shari will lead any discussion about possible political cooperation with Bersatu, especially for the upcoming Melaka state election. Bersatu President Muhyiddin Yassin also confirmed that his party is willing to form electoral pacts with partners who share similar ideals. Previously, Bersatu was a core component party of the PH coalition that won the 14th General Election (GE14) in 2018, helping to oust the long-ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) government. Unfortunately, in February 2020, Bersatu withdrew from PH during a political manoeuvre known as the Sheraton Move, which caused the 22-month-old PH federal government to collapse.

The state of AirAsia, according to Tony Fernandes
AirAsia Group Bhd founder Tony Fernandes denied the rumours that Putrajaya is looking to step in to bail out the low-cost airline and even slammed the allegation as 'most ludicrous statement I’ve seen in 25 years’. Fernandes admitted that AirAsia had a tough 2QFY2026, but the public should look at its third quarter numbers, which will show the amount of cash that AirAsia has, proving that it is far away from facing a liquidity crunch.

AirAsia is taking an unusual step by selling its six newly delivered aircraft since the start of last year, including two in July. For context, Airbus has delivered 10 factory-fresh Airbus A321neos since the start of 2025 to AirAsia. The low-cost carrier has since then sold six of them to lessor BBAM LLC. The six planes have then been purchased or leased by Vietnamese start-up Sun PhuQuoc Airways. While airlines regularly execute sale-and-leaseback deals on new planes to replace large upfront purchase costs with regular lease payments, selling aircraft without ever having put them into service is uncommon. A sale-and-leaseback deal is a financial arrangement where an owner sells an asset to an investor and immediately leases it back to keep using it.

AirAsia Group Bhd owner Capital A is facing its own set of problems. The company is to undertake a court-supervised divestment of its 99.56% stake in its financial technology arm BigPay Pte Ltd, an orderly distribution of its 13.6% stake in Tune Protect Group Bhd and recovery of RM32 mil in receivables. Proceeds from its proposed capital structure optimisation exercise would be distributed to creditors, who are primarily Capital A or Capital A-related companies. On the bright side, once BigPay has been divested away, this would strengthen Capital A’s balance sheet and earnings quality.

Shorts

1. Education Ministry to review the tuition centre Bumiputera equity rule

   The ministry issued a statement that it will propose a review of the ownership structure requirements for tuition centres at the Cabinet meeting next week. Under its Private Education Institutions Policy Book published in 2006, it requires all private tuition centres in Malaysia to comply with a 30% Bumiputera equity requirement or risk losing their operating licences starting in 2027. Why do we still need such rent-seeking policy in modern times now?

2. Game of Thrones: Edisi N9 updates

   The Negeri Sembilan state secretary’s office said it would not gazette or implement the disputed April 19 proclamation recognising Tunku Nadzaruddin Tuanku Ja’afar as the new Yang di-Pertuan Besar. State secretary Zafir Ibrahim said that his office accepted the Attorney-General’s Chambers’ advice that the proclamation concerning the position of Yang di-Pertuan Besar was invalid.

3. Securities Commission plans to ask public-listed companies to submit their El Niño plans

   Securities Commission Chairman Mohammad Faiz Azmi announced that the regulatory body plans to ask public-listed companies to disclose how they are preparing for El Niño amid concerns that the country's businesses may be ill-prepared for the fallout from the weather phenomenon. It was forecast that the country may experience a super El Niño, which will begin in June 2026, and expected to reach peak intensity between October and December 2026, with lingering extreme heat and dry conditions lasting into mid-2027. This situation will negatively impact crop yields and strain water supplies, which is a no-no for key industries such as the palm oil industry.
   Here’s how us as households can prepare:
   

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

The United States of Denmark & Greenland
Dream come true: Trump, in a Truth Social post has said that Washington has entered into an agreement with Denmark and Greenland that gives the US “permanent control over security and all other needs”, and that it is a “dream come true for the United States of America”. Denmark and Greenland also released a joint statement indicating that the deal is set to be signed during next week’s UN General Assembly session. Trump also announced that plans will begin immediately to build a significant US military footprint in suitable areas across Greenland. Currently, the US already holds nearly total overflight and basing rights in Greenland under a 1951 treaty.

The Danish and Greenlanders seem comfortable: Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is optimistic about the deal, saying that the deal strengthens common security in the Arctic and the North Atlantic area, while recognising the sovereignty of the Kingdom. Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen echoes the same sentiment, and that the deal “strengthens” the territory’s security.

Good news for NATO: The alliance say that the deal will indeed help stabilise the region and help advance security, stability and cooperation in this “vital region". Analysts say that while full details remain undisclosed, the deal provides an opening to end a standoff that has dragged on for more than a year and a half, and that the most immediate effect is that it diffuses perhaps the most severe sources of internal tension between the alliance.

Trump signs new Russia sanctions, India and China vulnerable
Trump has signed into law a sweeping sanctions package targeting Russia over its war in Ukraine, marking the first major Ukraine-related bill to clear Congress in more than two years. The key provision gives Trump authority to impose tariffs of up to 100% on the five largest buyers of Russian oil and gas - a measure expected to fall hardest on China and India, the top two importers of Russian crude. The bill separately extends sanctions on Iran’s energy and weapons sectors. Supporters of the new bill say that the aim is to starve the Kremlin of the funds sustaining its war effort and push Putin towards negotiations.

Riyadh attacked by Houthis
Explosions were heard in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, as firefighters scrambled to extinguish flames on a Saudi oil company Aramco fuel tank near the city’s King Khalid international airport. Residents reported that hours after the alert, they heard what sounded like another round of explosions echoing through parts of the Saudi capital. Yemen’s Houthis claimed that the attack was directed at “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital with missiles and drones, as a response to Saudi’s hundreds of airstrikes against it in recent days. The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has developed as a new theatre of conflict in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran at the end of February.

Why does caffeine hit people differently?
Ever wonder why some people can drink coffee before bed and sleep like a baby, while others lie awake staring at the ceiling? Experts say there are a few factors, including how long caffeine stays in the body, and intriguingly, to some extent, ancestry. A study published this year (view here) revealed that Europeans and South Americans tend to break down caffeine more quickly on average. However, lifestyle and health factors also come into play, such as smoking, antibiotics, contraceptive pills and other prescription medicines, as well as being pregnant. 

Last but not least, it is also a question of tolerance, as regular coffee drinkers become less sensitive to caffeine as the body adapts to the presence of the chemical. While caffeine remains as a safe and by far the most used psychoactive substance in the world, sleep researchers often recommend avoiding caffeine for at least six hours before bedtime to not let it interfere with sleep quality. Good news for coffee lovers: that morning coffee ritual could also be linked to better health outcomes.
Fun fact: More than 2 bil cups of coffee drunk each day. Caffeine doesn’t give body the extra energy - it helps to mask tiredness by blocking the action of adenosine, a chemical that builds up in the brain throughout the day and makes us feel sleepy.

The end of an Era - Warren Buffett ends six-decade reign as Berkshire chair
Warren Buffett announced he will step down as its chairman and become emeritus, effective immediately in a shareholder letter (view here) released on Friday. Warren Buffett, 96, has been with Berkshire since 1965, and is credited with transforming the company from a failing textile company into a USD 1.1 trillion conglomerate while building an investment philosophy that influenced generations of investors and executives. The company has named Howard Buffett (his son) - director since 1993 - as the new chairman. Earlier in the year, Buffett stepped down as CEO. He will remain on the board as a director.

“Father Time always wins. He has, however, been generous with me. He has given me the opportunity to see Berkshire reach a point where I am confident than ever about what lies ahead” - Warren Buffett

Timeless advice on kindness from Buffett. “It’s costless, but priceless” and that the “cleaning lady is as much as human being as the Chairman”.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

PSA

1. The emergency numbers you need to know.

2. What plastics can and can’t be recycled. TLDR: Triangle with 1, 2, 4 and 5 - can. No number, and got triangle with no number - throw away.

3. Watching a wingsuit flight is exhilarating enough. Watch this flying so close to the road. Hope this wakes you up.