☕️ Najib Razak received another "anonymous envelope" at his house with documents he claims related to his SRC International trial

Sorry folks — we included a broken link yesterday regarding issues with an ageing population. You can read it here now.

1. MARKET SUMMARY

MYR has hit a 27-month low since March 2020 against the USD, trading at RM4.4443/USD.

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

RM78 bil — the amount of inheritance waiting to be claimed by beneficiaries according to the Malaysia Will and Trust Association. As of 2019, RM8.8 bil in cash and RM70 bil in real property are left unclaimed. Less than 20% of adults in Malaysia have done up their will - best to prepare a will whilst still alive, don’t deprive your next generation unless you want to be like Bill Gates (read on in the ‘Global’ section).

58,000 tennis balls — the number of balls used during Wimbledon. Each of Wimbledon’s 18 courts needs 21 new cans of balls a day (3 balls/can).

44,408 calls — the number of calls Befrienders Kuala Lumpur, an organisation that provides round-the-clock emotional support, received in 2021 (122 calls a day), more than doubling from 2015 (21,256 calls). The top 3 issues raised were mental health (31%), family issues (12%) and relationships (11%). Some 33% of callers have expressed suicidal thoughts — that’s a staggering 14.6k people in 2021. You are not alone. Reach out to Befrienders here for emotional support.

The weekend is here - give yourself a break.

“If you don’t schedule a break, your body will take one for you. And it probably won’t be at a convenient time.”

- A therapist’s advice to @SaraSchon

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. Of cigarettes and cannabis. Two sides of the same ‘smoking coin’:

   1. The Health Ministry will release the framework for the registration of cannabidiol (CBD) products next year. However the health minister, Khairy Jamaluddin, stops short of allowing CBD for self-medicating purposes. He is convinced with the evidence for CBD and will take a cautious approach towards legalising CBD in the country. We are getting closer, let’s go ganja gang!

   2. On the other hand, Khairy told that the Cabinet has approved the draft Tobacco and Smoking Control Bill, which includes provisions to ban all sale of nicotine-based products to those born after 2005 (17 years old teenagers will be the first nicotine-free generation if this bill goes through). However, not all factions are down with this bill, including Syed Saadiq, who has stated three main concerns. But, he will ‘wait and see’ until the bill is tabled soon.

2. Updates Najib Razak and his wife’s ‘family outing’ at the court:

   1. Najib’s 1MDB audit report tampering trial is postponed as the final prosecution witness, investigating officer Haniff Lami, has fallen sick and is reported to suffer from intestinal bleeding. The trial will resume on Aug 12.

   2. Najib Razak is pushing the Federal Court to declare his SRC International trial at High Court as ‘null and voided’ to make way for a retrial as he claimed that he received an anonymous package containing fresh evidence that convinced him that the presiding judge, Judge Mohd Nazlan, had a conflict of interest.

   3. Najib Razak’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, will go to the court soon on Nov 22, as the Court of Appeal has set the date to hear two appeals to recuse High Court Judge Zaini Mazlan from presiding over Rosmah’s money laundering and tax evasion trial. The basis of her appeal is that the judge may be biased, as Judge Zaini had presided over other cases related to her family.

3. We will not become another Sri Lanka - Finance minister Tengku Zafrul brushed away the allegations that the country is about to become a bankrupt nation. As of June, our debt level is at 60.4% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), below the statutory debt limit of government debt of 65%. Moreover, 97% of the federal government’s debt is Ringgit dominated, minimising our foreign exchange risk.On a separate note, the FM’s gift to an unknown location.

4. The ‘Jihad Against Inflation’ special task force has started to show some promising results. According to its chairman, Annuar Musa, the palm oil industry has agreed in principle to make efforts in reducing the price of cooking oil, after an engagement session was held between the government and key industry players. He also said that the task force has received a lot of information on the smuggling of cooking oil to neighbouring countries and the enforcement agencies will act on that. Then again, ‘success’ is subjective when market forces move in your favour - palm oil prices have been falling. So, technically, not doing anything could also lead to success in this case. 

5. ECK Group, the company that is linked to the massive durian plantation at Gunung Inas, which allegedly became one of the main root causes of the massive flood in Baling, is no longer involved in the development of the Kulim International Airport, as per Kedah MB. Kedah MB, Muhammad Sanusi, said that the agreement with ECK was terminated in May after the latter breached the terms of the deal. ECK is supposed to pay 125% of the RM2.1 bil land acquisition cost, but they failed to follow through. The terms seem excessive — paying a deposit in the billions, above and beyond the asset value.

Shorts:

1. Berjaya Corp is planning to list the Singapore Institute of Advanced Medicine Holdings (SIAMH) on the Catalist Board of the Singapore Stock Exchange. Berjaya Corps owns 51.62% of SIAMH.

2. 12 projects worth RM2.13 bil have been approved under the 12th Malaysia Plan to mitigate floods and curb coastal erosion in Pahang. As a state that has been suffering from floods every year and already considered it an ‘annual event’, this news will put a smile on many Pahangites.

3. In a rare feat of regional unity, soon South East Asians can buy goods and services across the region by scanning QR codes, as central banks in the region are aiming to link their payment systems. Local currency settlements will be used, thus, abandoning the need to use US dollars as an intermediary. No more need to go carry around foreign currency.

In collaboration with ZUS Coffee.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. Bill Gates announced that he will be transferring USD20 bil to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as the philanthropic foundation plans to ramp up spending. One of the wealthiest philanthropic organisations in the world, the foundation has received USD70 bil to date with this latest donation. It plans to increase its annual spending by 50% over pre-pandemic levels to USD9 bil by 2026. He won’t be passing his wealth to his children and will give away “virtually” all to his foundation and said that he knocked off the world’s richest list. Bill Gates’s current net worth stands at USD114 bil - USD20 bil done, USD84 bil more to go. Learn more about the foundation here and its initiatives.

2. Revenge travel and pandemic layoffs are coming back to bite airlines and here’s their ‘creative’ solutions to the situation:

   1. During the pandemic, Australian airline Qantas laid off 2,000 workers, causing a shortage of workers with travelling picking up again. A former Qantas worker revealed that passengers’ bags were left in rooms for weeks. The airlines had to get their office workers to work as baggage handlers and security at airports.

   2. US airline Delta chartered an Airbus A330 just to fly back 1,000 delayed bags from London to Detroit.

   3. European airline Icelandair is flying its own luggage handlers to Amsterdam, the worst-hit airport due to labour shortage and surge in passenger volume, to load and unload luggage.

3. TikTok and Instagram are a bigger threat to Google’s parent company, Alphabet, not limited to just YouTube as initially thought. A senior VP of Google shared during Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference that almost 40% of young people (18-24) use TikTok and Instagram to search for places to eat instead of using Google Maps or Search. Gen Z doesn’t tend to type in keywords but rather searches for content in more immersive ways (i.e. videos). Responding to this trend (or threat), Google is negotiating with the video apps’ parents to index their content and feature it in Search.

4. Sir Mo Farah, a British long-distance runner and the most successful male track distance runner ever (4 Olympic gold medals), revealed that he was trafficked to the UK illegally from his home country Somalia when he was a child and forced to work as a domestic servant. He revealed it during a documentary interview with BBC and that his real name is Hussein Abdi Kahin. He was saved by his PE teacher Alan Watkinson after confiding in the teacher about his actual background. Mo Farah was then fostered by another Somali family through the help of social services. Mo Farah was told by a lawyer during the interview that his nationality is at risk as it was “obtained by fraud or misrepresentations”. However, the Home Office announced it will not investigate nor take action against Sir Mo’s nationality as it was assumed a child was not complicit when the citizenship was gained by deception. Watch his revelation below.

Shorts:

1. Buy now pay later (BNPL) giant saw its valuation collapsed to USD6.7 bil from USD45.6 bil just last summer as it raised USD800 mil.

2. Venture capital deals in the US fell in H1 of 2022 to USD144.2 bil from USD158.2 bil over the same period last year hit by shaky macroeconomic conditions and market turmoil. VC dealmaking hit an all-time high in 2021 exceeding USD240 bil.

3. A Brazilian anaesthetist was caught putting his penis in a pregnant woman’s mouth whilst heavily sedated during her Caesarean section. He sedated patients more than usual, raising concerns amongst hospital staff leading to them fitting a secret camera to observe what he was up to. Warning - graphic video below.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Central banks, left and right, are raising rates to battle inflation, with more than 30 of them raising rates by a full point in 2022.

2. Heartwarming — a 9-year old girl gives a cleaner a thank you card. Show gratitude today to 3D (dirty, dangerous, difficult) workers.