☕️ Rafizi, Nik Nazmi's next act - Parti Bersama Malaysia

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

USD5.2 tril (RM20.4 tril) of gold – Morgan Stanley estimates that Indian households hold that much of the precious metal in the form of rings, bangles, necklaces, and bars. Considering current international prices, the amount is the equivalent of about 34,600 tonnes of gold. This tracks as India is the world’s second-largest consumer of gold after China, and imports between 600 and 800 tonnes of the precious metal every year.

24.8 mil passengers – China’s railway network moved that many passengers on May 1, setting a new single-day record, according to data from the China State Railway Group. The Labour Day holiday led to more passengers taking the opportunity to travel, leading some lines to add new trains to handle the holiday surge. China’s tourism market remains a bright spot in domestic demand, lending some momentum to a national economy pressured by weak consumption and a prolonged property downturn.

USD135 bil (RM531.3 bil) – Netflix spent that much over the past decade to make its films and TV shows. Over that time, the productions employed over 425,000 people in more than 50 countries, including extras, day labourers, and vendors ranging from caterers to historical advisers. This data was made available on a website called the Netflix Effect, which the company is using to show how it boosts local economies. Check out the website here.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Nicotine is back on the Poisons List
The High Court has decided to overturn the government’s 2023 exemption of liquid and gel nicotine used in vape and e-cigarette products from the Poisons List. Back then, Putrajaya decided on the exemption to allow the products to be taxed. From April 2023 until August 2025, Putrajaya has collected RM209.5 mil from the vape tax. However, the amount is still lower compared to what the government spent on treating patients suffering from e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury (EVALI) in 2024 alone (RM223.5 mil). Before the High Court’s decision, the vape tax was RM0.40 per millilitre, and there is a plan to increase the tax to RM4 per millilitre. The Malaysian Pharmacists Society (MPS) has welcomed the High Court’s decision, and its president, Amrahi Buang, said that the ruling was a major victory for public health and sends a clear signal that public health safeguards should not be sacrificed for administrative convenience or fiscal objectives.

While one PKR MP, Hassan Abdul Karim, urged Putrajaya to adhere to the High Court’s decision, former Health Minister, who is also a PKR MP, Zaliha Mustafa, defended Putrajaya’s decision in 2023 and stated that the Ministry of Health (MOH) would appeal the ruling at the Court of Appeal. Zaliha added that the exemption made in 2023 was done to capitalise (and tax) the vape black market and bring the vape industry into a regulated framework so that the authorities can monitor, tax and control the product.

View MOH’s Poisons List here.

Gearing up for GE16

BN to go solo in Johor
Johor Chief Minister cum Johor BN Chief Onn Hafiz Ghazi, announced that the Barisan Nasional (BN) will contest all 56 seats in the upcoming Johor State Election. Johor will be seen as a litmus test of whether BN want to continue its partnership with Pakatan Harapan (PH) for GE16. Onn Hafiz added that the decision to contest all 56 seats in the next Johor state election is a “clear offer to the people that we are ready to continue to form a stable, strong government and fully serve the development of the state and the welfare of Johor”. For your information, Onn Hafiz’s decision is not a surprise, as while PH and BN collaborate at the federal level as part of the unity government, political dynamics in Johor have completely decoupled, and PH acts as the Opposition in Johor. Johor’s state election is only due by mid-2027, but there is growing talk of Johor UMNO leaders pushing for polls as early as August or September.

Responding to Onn Hafiz’s statement and speaking at the PH Convention at Johor Bahru yesterday, Johor PH chief Aminolhuda Hassan stated that PH will also contest in 56 state constituencies in the upcoming polls. He added that Johor BN lost in the 2018 election, and it is possible that this can happen again in the upcoming state election.

Rafizi and Nik Nazmi to take over Parti Bersama Malaysia (Bersama)
PKR MPs and former ministers, Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, will be taking over Parti Bersama Malaysia (Bersama - Malaysia United Party). Bersama is a Penang-based party registered in 2016. They also revealed a new kancil (mousedeer) logo for the party, replacing the one originally used. Additionally, Rafizi announced that both he and Nik Nazmi will vacate their Parliament seats on Monday, send resignation letters to PKR, and join Bersama as members on Tuesday. Will Rafizi inspire an exodus of PKR? During Rafizi’s announcement in Petaling Jaya, which coincides with the PH Convention in Johor Bahru, six other PKR MPs were in attendance, namely Bakhtiar Wan Chik (Balik Pulau), Wong Chen (Subang), Rodziah Ismail (Ampang), S Kesavan (Sungai Siput), Zahir Hassan (Wangsa Maju) and Lee Chea Chun (Petaling Jaya).

Teacher’s Day Special - 12 new initiatives for teachers
During the 55th national-level Teachers’ Day Celebration in Ipoh, Perak, the Education Minister, Fadhlina Sidek, announced 12 initiatives to empower and strengthen the role of teachers. Below are among the 12 initiatives:

• Google Certified Educator (GCE) Level 1 and Level 2 certification courses would continue to be offered free of charge to all teachers, which costs RM140 per teacher for both certifications;

• The ministry would offer a special federal training award (such as Master’s and PhD programmes) to teachers serving in schools in hardship areas;

• The ministry would also expand the federal teaching scholarship to school leaders pursuing Master’s degrees;

• The introduction of the Network Offline Digital Environment (NODE), aimed at ensuring digital learning could continue even without internet access, with an allocation of RM1 mil;

• RM169 mil had been allocated to provide devices to schools to further strengthen co-curricular activities next year;

• An additional RM100 mil has been allocated for the maintenance and upgrading of teachers’ rooms nationwide, while RM50 mil has been set aside for the maintenance of teachers’ quarters;

• The abolishment of the manual co-curricular recording system, with schools given the autonomy to manage co-curricular records;

• RM10.5 mil had been allocated to provide additional reading materials for all 10,515 preschool classes nationwide;

• RM122.4 mil has been channelled directly to schools to implement STEM, TVET and co-curricular programs;

• Tun Hussein Onn Teacher Foundation would provide RM1,000 assistance to teachers whose children obtained 10As in the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2025 examination;

• 50% discount for the first six months of school canteen rental payments will be enforced to maintain affordable and quality food for the school community.

National Teacher Crisis in the making?
The announcements above come at a crucial time as the country has been losing more than 12,000 teachers per annum, either to optional or compulsory retirement. Among the main factors driving teachers to opt for early retirement, loss of interest was the biggest contributor at 61.98%. Other factors included family-related reasons (19.57%), health issues (8.57%), workload (7.61%) and personal problems (2.27%). The Education Ministry also struggled to recruit more teachers to replace soon-to-retire teachers as the teachers aged 51 to 55 years old, amounting to 67,954 individuals, eclipsed the number of teachers aged 21 to 25 years old (13,968).

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Trump-Xi meet - a nothingburger
US President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing ended on Friday, with no breakthroughs on trade or tangible help from Beijing to end the Iran war. Nevertheless, Trump has heaps of praise for Xi Jinping, who warmly welcomed him to China. In an interview, Trump said that he will decide on a pending arms sale to Taiwan after speaking to Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te. Xi earlier gave Trump a stern warning that any mishandling of the Taiwan issue could lead the US into a conflict. While Trump searched for immediate business wins, such as a deal to sell Boeing jets that did not impress investors, Xi talked up a long-term reset and pact to maintain stable trade ties with Washington, underscoring their differing priorities. Xi pushed the new term to describe the relationship as “constructive strategic stability” — a sharp departure from the framing of “strategic competition” used by former US president Joe Biden, which Beijing disliked.

Thank you, next
Next, President Xi Jinping is set to host President Vladimir Putin in Beijing from May 19 to May 20. Putin’s visit at the invitation of the Chinese leader “is timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty on Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship and Cooperation, which is fundamental for interstate relations”, said the Kremlin. That’s a real fancy name for a treaty. The pact was signed by ex-Chinese president Jiang Zemin and Putin in 2001, committing Russia and China to a long-term strategic partnership and formalised economic cooperation in a number of areas. Following the talks, Russia and China plan to sign a joint statement and several bilateral intergovernmental agreements and other documents.

AI

Anthropic’s Mythos managed to breach Apple’s tight security
Researchers with Calif, a Palo Alto-based security research company has said that they have discovered a new way of bypassing Apple’s state-of-the-art security technology while testing a version of Anthropic’s Mythos AI software. AI models from companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI have improved enough in recent months that many cybersecurity experts are now warning of a Bugmageddon, an unprecedented rash of security vulnerability discoveries that could cause headaches for the technology staffers who must patch them, and also represent an unprecedented cybersecurity risk. Apple, which is deploying and testing frontier AI models to test and patch vulnerabilities, is reviewing the Calif report to validate its findings. To recap, Anthropic limited its release of its Mythos model as it could identify software vulnerabilities autonomously, making it too dangerous for public release.

Elon Musk: “I’m not selling any shares”
SpaceX, a rocket, satellite and artificial intelligence company owned by Elon Musk, has reportedly planned to file for its IPO as soon as Wednesday with an IPO date of June 12, albeit confidentially, and is seeking to raise as much as USD75 bil (RM296.21 bil - 2.2x Maybanks) at a valuation of more than USD2 tril, which would be the largest IPO of all time. However, Elon Musk said that he is not selling any SpaceX shares.

Tragedy

Ebola outbreak in DR Congo kills 80, WHO declares global health emergency
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared an Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo’s eastern Ituri province, a public health emergency of international concern. The location has seen around 246 suspected cases and 80 deaths, but does not meet the criteria of a pandemic emergency. However, WHO warned that it could potentially be “a much larger outbreak” than what is currently being detected and reported, with significant risk of local and regional spread. Countries bordering the DR Congo are considered high risk due to trade and travel. Ebola was first discovered in 1976 in what is now DR Congo, and is thought to have spread from bats - reminds you of anything? There is no cure or vaccine for the viral disease, and it spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids and through broken skin, causing severe bleeding and organ failure.

8 died in fatal train collision in Bangkok
8 people have lost their lives, and 30 others were injured in a terrible collision between a freight train and a bus in bustling Bangkok on Saturday. Images on social media show the train approaching a level crossing at a moderate speed before colliding with the bus, which instantly burst into flames. Investigations were promptly made after the incident, in which the bus driver and the freight train driver were charged with reckless driving causing death. Authorities said that the crash occurred when barrier arms could not be lowered because vehicles had stopped on the level crossing, a violation of road rules prohibiting stopping within five metres of rail crossings.

Watch the incident here. (Viewer discretion advised)

Five Italian divers 1 Maldives rescuer died in the Maldives
Five scuba divers have died while exploring caves at a depth of 50 meters in the Maldives, a tragedy believed to be the worst single diving accident in the tiny Indian Ocean nation. Authorities reported rough weather in the area, but the cause of the accident is still under investigation. The recovery operation was still ongoing at the time of writing, but sadly, one Maldivian military diver has died from decompression sickness in the high-risk operation. The recreational diving limit in the Maldives is 30 metres. Experts warned that diving deeper could cause divers to become disoriented or lost, particularly when sediment clouds reduce visibility.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Sports: Eat, Run, Stack

1. Why are competitive eaters so much fitter than normal people? The science of competitive eating.

2. TIL: Sports stacking (i.e. cup stacking) is a recognised sport in Malaysia. Team Malaysia is amongst the top 3 in the world. The speed is surreal.

3. A National Geographic documentary on Iten, Kenya (aka Home of Champions), where marathon champions are made. The town is roughly 2.4 km above sea level - takes training literally to a next level. View map here.