☕️ Najib Razak & Rosmah stripped off titles awarded by Sultan Selangor

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

USD4.96 tril (RM22.34 tril) — the size of the global halal economy by 2030, up from USD2.3 tril (RM10.36 tril) in 2020, according to research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, with rising demand coming from both Muslim and non-Muslim nations.

Malaysia’s export of halal products in 2021 increased by 19% to RM36.3 bil from RM30.5 bil in 2020 (Malaysia only had a market share of 0.29% of the global halal market in 2020), according to International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI). The Halal Malaysia Industrial Parks, an initiative between MITI and Halal Development Corp (HDC), has attracted more than RM16 bil in investment.

RM1.25 mil — the interest earned by Najib Razak in his AmIslamic account ending 9694 between March to December 2011. The info was revealed by R. Uma Devi, the 37th prosecution witness in Najib’s trial over the misappropriation of RM2.28 billion of 1Malaysia Development Berhad. That is much more than the average balance of many if not most Malaysians. During the same period, RM15.2 million of funds were transferred out via 71 cheques.

Quick math — BNM’s average overnight interbank rate in 2011 was 2.97%. The bank account is presumably Premier/ Preferred/ Priority Banking — which, let’s assume, earns 4% p.a. To earn RM1.25 mil in 10 months, the account is ought to have an average daily balance of RM37.5 mil. 🤯

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

The pilot of the missing chopper was found dead.

The pilot of the missing Eurocopter EC120B aircraft, Hong Kong citizen Tsz Kin Richard Chan, was found unconscious in the cockpit of his helicopter that crashed in a forest reserve area off Bidor, Perak. The cause of the crash was still unknown and the wreckage of the aircraft was handed to the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) for further action.

Prior to the confirmation of the pilot’s death by the police, transport minister Wee Ka Siong prematurely announced that the pilot was found alive via a Facebook post, then later clarified that the pilot was initially found alive but passed away due to the severity of his injuries. In some countries, this level of miscommunication will lead to a resignation.

Najib Razak and his wife stripped off titles from Selangor

Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has revoked the titles held by Najib Razak and his wife, Rosmah Mansor, due to their conviction of separate crimes in court recently. The withdrawal of the state’s honours was within the Sultan’s powers in accordance with the Selangor state constitution. Below is the list of titles stripped:

• ‘Seri Paduka Mahkota Selangor' (SPMS) first class which carries the title of 'Datuk Seri' awarded to Najib in 2004;

• 'Dato' Paduka Mahkota Selangor' (DPMS) that carries the title of Datuk awarded to Najib in 1992;

• 'Seri Paduka Mahkota Selangor' (SPMS) first class which gives her the title of Datin Paduka Seri that was awarded to Rosmah in 2005.

Lokman Adam was ordered to remove his social media post by the court.

PM Ismail Sabri obtained an interim injunction by the High Court for Lokman Adam to remove all videos that defamed the PM, in particular the video titled ‘Bila Presiden UMNO Panggil Tak Datang! Tapi PM Ada Masa Jumpa Mahathir - Lokman Adam’ that had been posted on multiple social media platforms. This injunction also prohibits Lokman from making similar malicious content on social media against the PM.

‘Not fair to say that we failed’, Annuar Musa cried foul when attacked by MP for the failure of his anti-inflation task force.

Communications minister and chairman of the anti-inflation task force, Annuar Musa, said that it was unfair for the MPs to state that the Jihad Against Inflation has failed to meet its objectives, based on the recent news that the central bank had again increased the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) due to inflationary pressures. Annuar mentioned that the OPR was not decided by the government but by the central bank, which has an excellent record in economic management. Annuar reiterated that the anti-inflation is still relevant to combat inflation.

NGOs are pushing for a royal inquiry into the RM50bil debt-laden Pembinaan PFI Sdn Bhd.

A Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) has been called by Transparency International Malaysia (TI-M) to look into the suspicious private financing initiatives (PFI) conducted by Pembinaan PFI Sdn Bhd, a government-linked company (GLC) created to implement the PFI policy, which helps private companies to secure public contracts, by shouldering the cost to complete the project. In a report by The Centre to Combat Corruption and Cronyism (C4 Centre) – you can read it here - it was found that most of the contracts awarded were to cronies and not PFI-type.

Business news run thru:

1. The group CEO of PN17 designated Perak Corp Berhad, Zainal Iskandar Ismail, has resigned from the company’s board to ‘pursue other interests’. However, it was unclear whether Zainal still holds the CEO position.

2. Malaysia’s biggest bank, Malayan Banking (Maybank), will move its headquarters to PNB-owned Menara Merdeka 118, occupying 33 storeys of the world’s second highest tower. This seems like an act that Maybank was helping its largest shareholder to fill up Merdeka 118. However, Maybank’s CEO stated that the move was made to improve the Maybank brand’s visibility. Huge marketing budget to improve visibility. 

   1. The 33 floors with a space of 650,000 sqft with an initial monthly gross rent of RM10.60 per square foot — RM82.68 mil per annum.

   2. Maybank will lease its tower to none other than PNB — for RM12.1 mil per annum.

3. Bermaz Auto, the country’s distributor for Mazda, Peugeot and Kia brands, recently recorded an outstanding 388.5% jump in net profit to RM50.16mil, from RM10.27mil the year before, for the first quarter ended July 31. The company attributed the positive performance to a surge in vehicle sales prior to the expiry of the sales tax exemption incentive.

4. The scandal-laden company, Boustead Heavy Industries Corp Bhd (BHIC), unsurprisingly secured another RM15.72mil contract from the government to supply guns to the Royal Malaysian Navy.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Bid to remove the Queen as head of state

Despite independence, the Queen is still the head of state of 15 Commonwealth nations, largely in a ceremonial capacity. The passing of the Queen presents the opportunity to push further with this agenda. Antigua and Barbados, the Caribbean nation, plans to carry out a referendum on whether to become a republic within the next three years, effectively removing King Charles III as its head of state. Barbados, another Caribbean nation, became a republic last year as it voted to remove the UK monarchy and its first president sworn in as the head of state.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern said that her government will not be pursuing any moves to change New Zealand to a republic as there are more pressing issues for her government to pursue, though she said it could happen in her lifetime. 

Xinjiang  - UNHRC vs China

China’s Ambassador to the UN Chen Xu said China would not cooperate with the UN human rights office following the release of a long-awaited report on alleged human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang province. The release of the reports has shut doors for cooperation with China on the matter, with the ambassador saying that China cannot be hurt “while in the meantime enjoy cooperation with us”.

Some members of the UN Human Rights Council are planning to bring action against China over its treatment of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang. The new term of the UNHCR starts on Monday and could see a resolution brought on China in the 16-year history of the human rights council. 

China’s lunar mineral discovery

China will be launching three unmanned missions to the moon over the next 10 years after discovering a new lunar mineral that could be an energy source from its retrieved samples in 2020. China becomes the third country to discover this mineral called Changesite-(Y) which contains helium-3 that could be a future source of energy. China and US have ramped up the moon aspirations over the years and this could be the source of new tension between these two superpowers. 

Elon Musk’s third shot to abandon the Twitter deal

Third time the charm? Musk found a third reason to call off his USD44 bil acquisition of Twitter. Last Friday, his legal team sent a letter to Twitter citing Twitter’s severance payment of USD7.75 mil to its former security chief as a breach of contract, as the takeover agreement had a condition where the social network could not pay non-ordinary severance to ex-employees. Twitter and Musk will go on trial on Oct 17. 

Shorts:

1. Europe’s energy crunch is getting real — Eiffel Tower, the Parisian landmark, will have its lights turned off an hour early at 2345 instead of 0100 to preserve and save energy. Lighting the tower at night represents 4% of its annual power consumption. 

2. Ukraine’s lightning-fast counteroffensive move to reclaim its territory from Russia not only got its land back but plenty of weapons and ammunition, so much so that the Ukrainians struggled to handle it all as Russian forces crumbled and quickly fled. Good troll by Ukraine’s defence ministry in the tweet below.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. How do chameleons change their colour?

2. Hacks to fold your clothes efficiently