☕️ Najib can now serve sentence at home but can't reveal details

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

60 – That’s how old a woman in China was when she gave birth to a baby girl, capturing attention on social media. The 2.8kg infant was born through caesarean section at Zhumadian Central Hospital in Henan province on Sept 17. The birth comes two years after she welcomed a son. The mother, identified by the surname Zhang, decided to have children at a later stage in life after enduring the loss of her only child four years ago. An obstetrician at the hospital noted that pregnancies at her age were rare, and that the mother also appeared more relaxed than during her previous pregnancy. This also follows news that a 62-year-old woman in northeastern China’s Jilin province also welcomed a baby girl after the death of her only son.

10 pounds (about 4.5 kg) – Shareholders of Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company Lindt who vote at the firm’s annual meeting in Zurich every Apr receive a “Schokoladekoffer” or “chocolate suitcase” – a blue briefcase carrying that much chocolate. Thierry Borgeat, Co-Founder and Chief Investor of Swiss asset manager arvy, called this “a flex, but a very Swiss kind of flex”, where one does not buy a Ferrari or a flashy watch to show people they have money, as is usually the case in the finance world. Instead, they own a registered share in a 180-year-old Swiss chocolate company, attend the annual meeting, and then walk away with a blue suitcase containing chocolate. The briefcase has become an exclusive symbol as Lindt has been an “exceptional long-term investment”, according to Borgeat. Lindt stock climbed from about CHF3,600 (RM17,651.20) in Apr 1995 to CHF132,000 (RM647,210.52) at its peak last Oct, a roughly 37-fold increase. However, it has slumped in recent months to about CHF78,000 as record temperatures have sapped sales while historically high cocoa prices have inflated costs.

74 – Iranian singer Parastoo Ahmadi and eight other musicians have been sentenced to that many lashes each by an Iranian court after they livestreamed a performance on YouTube. The crime? Singing and not covering her hair. Both are crimes in Iran, and the sentence of 74 lashes each was upheld by an appeals court in the province of Qom. The performance was livestreamed in Dec 2024 on Youtube, from Qom and has been viewed more than 3 mil times. Amnesty International has called for Iran to halt any plans to carry out floggings against Ahmadi and the eight musicians, saying that it constitutes cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment that violates the absolute prohibition on torture. The performance can be viewed here.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

UMNO, UMNO and UMNO
Dr Shaik Hussein Mydin - this UMNO politician and Penang Regional Development Authority (Perda) Chairman has been charged with accepting nearly RM850,000 in bribes in return for appointing ATSH Management Sdn Bhd as a subcontractor for a RM23.27 mil project (~3.65% commission rate) to complete an abandoned hostel and other facilities at Perda-Tech in Penang. If he is found guilty, he may face a jail term of up to 20 years and a fine of five times the value of gratification or RM10,000, whichever is higher. Perda is a federal government agency under the purview of the Rural and Regional Development Ministry, where Deputy PM Zahid Hamidi is the current minister.

Najib Razak - the former PM will serve the remainder of his prison sentence for the SRC International Sdn Bhd case under house arrest at his residence in Langgak Duta, Kuala Lumpur, according to his lawyer Muhammad Shafee Abdullah. Najib reportedly has received the house order from the King, Sultan Ibrahim, including the prevailing conditions and implementation mechanism. Shafee said Najib was advised by the Prisons Department not to disclose the details so as to ‘avoid public and media speculation.’ I am very curious if Prisons Department gave that advice.

Previously, it was reported that under his house arrest order, Najib needed to pay a RM50 mil fine to entitle him to be transferred from Kajang Prison to Langgak Duta. I guess he managed to scrape RM50 mil from somewhere?

Nazir Hussin - Former Yayasan Bank Rakyat Chairman and the alleged owner of multiple supercars, Nazir Hussin Akhtar Hussin, refused to accept an asset declaration notice issued by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), which is part of the investigation into an alleged RM10 mil misappropriation case against him. Nazir told reporters that he had filed an injunction application at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday to prevent enforcement of the notice. Also, former UMNO Youth exco member and former Titiwangsa UMNO division youth chief.

A hazy future
Putrajaya raises the threshold for school closures
Came as a surprise to most as Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek announced that her ministry has increased the air quality threshold for school closures, from API readings exceeding 180 (or remaining above 150 for three consecutive days) to 200. Fadhlina added that the new threshold is in line with the country’s National Haze Action Plan.

She added that parents who are concerned about their children’s health and safety during the haze can choose to keep them at home, provided they inform the school authorities. However, she still defended the government’s day-to-day approach to school closures, as she said that advanced closures could unnecessarily cost students learning time if air quality improved.

Calculating the cost of the haze
We know the haze is bad, but what is the actual cost, both to our pockets and to our health? According to Sunway University economics Professor Yeah Kim Leng, the prolonged haze has cost us between RM20 mil - RM50 mil per day due to disruptions to economic activity, rising healthcare costs and lower worker productivity. If we look back at our history, the 1997 haze cost us about RM800 mil, in 2013, it was RM1.57 bil in healthcare and lost income; and in 2019, regional haze cost USD5.2 bil (RM21.23 bil) across affected areas. The hardest-hit sectors are always tourism and aviation. For example, recently Firefly has cancelled all Subang - Singapore flights from Oct 10 - 16, equivalent to 42 flights, just from one airline. At the lower-end estimate of RM20 mil a day, the economic cost could have reached about RM1.38 bil by now and counting.

Health-wise, according to the Health Ministry, cases of upper respiratory tract infections rose 10.43%, while conjunctivitis cases increased 26.47%. The ministry advised that those who need to be outdoors during hazy conditions to wear suitable face masks, such as the N95 respirators.

Killer BYD driver posted bail
The Kuala Lumpur Magistrate Court has released 24-year-old Raeven Goh Wey Haur on RM36,000 bail. He is accused of driving a BYD Seal that was involved in a six-vehicle crash that killed a five-year-old girl. Goh pleaded not guilty to causing the death of Asiah Ahmad Syahir by reckless driving, driving in a manner that endangered other motorists, and failing to stop and report an accident. The court has fixed Nov 19 for mention. The heartbreaking incident here.

In a separate development, the Transport Minister told the Parliament that his ministry is studying the possibility of seizing assets of motorists convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs if they cannot pay court-ordered compensation to road accident victims or their families. His statement came after PM Anwar Ibrahim announced during Budget 2027 reading that for deaths by drivers under the influence of drugs or alcohol, the driver would need to compensate the victim, in addition to existing penalties, including imprisonment and fines. As of Aug 2026, there were already 28 deaths involving drunk or drug-impaired drivers.

Shorts:

1. BYD Malaysia chooses Inokom
   In a different BYD news, after initially planning to build its own manufacturing plant in Tanjung Malim, Perak, BYD Malaysia has appointed Inokom Corporation as its local assembly partner for completely knocked-down vehicles. BYD will now leverage Inokom’s existing facility in Kulim, Kedah to assemble its cars. Inokom currently assembles vehicles for multiple global automotive brands at its plant in Kulim, Kedah, including BMW, MINI, Porsche, Mazda, Hyundai and Chery.

2. Gamuda wins big in Taiwan
   The joint-venture between Gamuda Bhd and its Taiwanese partner, MiTAC Information Technology Corp, has been awarded a RM3.72 bil contract from the Department of Rapid Transit Systems under the New Taipei City Government, to design and build the Keelung Mass Rapid Transit (MRT). The Keelung MRT covers trackwork and systems across a 15.6 km alignment serving 13 stations and spanning Taipei City, New Taipei City and Keelung City. The project will be completed in 7.7 years.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

US might drop the “mother of all bombs” on Iran
The US is reportedly planning to use the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb on Iran, aka "Mother of All Bombs", should Trump decide to renew combat in the war with Iran. The MOAB is supposed to target Iranian energy infrastructure and nuclear sites, but officials have raised doubts over the efficacy of the bomb if it were deployed, particularly its ability to destroy suspected underground nuclear sites in the Islamic Republic.

Trump might just be trying to boost his low approval ratings ahead of Nov’s midterm elections, with polls showing the unpopular war in Iran and fuel and other price rises it has caused are hurting his Republican Party. In 2017, the US military once used the MOAB in Afghanistan to target the Islamic State group hideouts in a complex of tunnels and bunkers, killing more than 90 militants.
Learn: What is the MOAB?

Asian tech sell-off signals investors' lack of confidence in AI
A sharp sell-off in Asian tech stocks sent a chill through global equity markets yesterday (Oct 15) as crowded bets on data centres and other key AI plays were affected by high and rising interest rates. South Korea's Kospi index, whose flock of top chipmakers made it one of the main beneficiaries of AI euphoria, plunged almost 8% in its seventh consecutive drop, while the Nikkei 225 fell 5% to make it six-in-a-row for Tokyo too. Asia's overnight troubles saw Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fall 2%, Samsung Electronics plunge 9.9%, memory chipmakers SK Hynix and Kioxia Holdings plummet more than 11% each, and AI investor SoftBank Group lose more than 9%. Chief investment strategist at Saxo Bank in Singapore said that investors are not questioning whether AI demand exists but are increasingly questioning what price they should pay for that growth when interest rates are high, volatile and potentially moving higher again.

Comments from CEO of 2 tech giants on AI (both happened to have roots from Malaysia):

India: Why are the cockroaches still fighting?
The youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) continues to protest on the streets of India’s capital, New Delhi, fuelled by anger over the “dubious” exercise that has seemed to further taint the democracy in the country: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Since last year, 130 mil names – more than the population of Japan – have been removed from India’s electoral roll through SIR. In the nearly eight decades since India’s independence, never have the voter rolls shrunk by such a huge amount over such a short time.

Narendra Modi’s government has called SIR a legitimate exercise to clean up the electoral rolls. Overseen by the Election Commission and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, tens of millions of dead and duplicate names have been removed but so have the names of millions of living Indian citizens. Opposition and civil society leaders allege that SIR has given the BJP an electoral advantage and the Election Commission has become the authority over Indian citizenship. The CJP has vowed to continue to “fight on” in their protests against SIR, hence the thousands of supporters marching through the capital and presenting a petition to the Supreme Court, demanding Kumar’s resignation.

Shorts:

1. Istanbul battered by heaviest rainfall in over 80 years
   Istanbul is currently grappling with the heaviest rainfall in the city since records began in 1942, causing flash flooding in the heart of the city. The rain began Wednesday morning and intensified throughout the day. It is expected to continue through the weekend. Two people died in the floods, one of them a 14-year-old boy who was electrocuted when he stepped into a puddle in the Balat area. Authorities have established a crisis desk to manage incidents caused by the heavy rainfall, which by nightfall on Wednesday had risen to 1,277 flooding incidents, 15 landslides, 47 people stranded and two roofs blown off.

2. Fuel crisis hits Bali
   Bali has been struggling with a shortage of petrol since Sunday, where motorcycles and cars can be seen queuing in long lines at petrol stations across the island. Officials said that it is caused by domestic distribution problems rather than a lack of fuel supplies or turmoil in global energy markets. State-run energy company Pertamina said that it was closely monitoring supplies after the arrival of a tanker carrying 18 mil litres of Pertalite and 2.5 mil litres of Pertamax, a higher-octane non-subsidized petrol. The shortages came as the country faces broader challenges securing fuel imports amid disruptions to global shipping routes linked to tensions in the Middle East.

3. Air purifiers, face masks sold out in Singapore
   As the worsening Indonesian wildfires continue to envelop Singapore with thick haze, sales of air purifiers and face masks have reportedly surged due to high demand in the country. Several air purifier models from brands including Xiaomi Corp and Dyson Group Plc were sold out, with Xiaomi air purifiers reporting a 19-fold year-on-year sales increase in the first half of Oct. Singapore ranked second on the list of the world’s most polluted major cities, behind Kuala Lumpur and ahead of Indonesia’s Medan and its capital Jakarta, according to data compiled by IQAir.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Weekend activities

1. Drifting experience

2. Ghost Room

3. Hot Wheels Monster Trucks this weekend.

Happy weekend! Keep the lungs safe!