☕️ Namewee feat. YB Syed Saddiq, 5Forty2 & MastaClan - A Song About FROGS in Malaysia

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

8.9% — Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth YoY in the second quarter of 2022, beating market forecasts. The growth is mainly attributed to the reopening of the country and strengthened domestic demand. Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Nor Shamsiah said the Malaysian economy is projected to expand further for the remainder of the year.

July 2022 was one of the three hottest Julys ever recorded — temperatures globally last month were 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72F) above the 1991-2020 average, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). We are quite screwed if the planet warms by 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

Meanwhile, France’s corn production is forecast to drop by 18% this year due to the heat waves. As France continues to suffer its worst drought on record, some parts of the longest river in the country, The Loire, have completely dried up.

62% of Malaysian youth (n = 1,089) have had their 1st sexual experience before the age of 22, according to Durex Malaysia. The study, titled Sexual Health and Intimate Wellness Survey, revealed a shocking statistic — 31% of those surveyed DID NOT know that a woman could get pregnant the first time she engages in sex.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. Remember the incident where bright objects were seen across the night sky around Sarawak last month (July 30) due to the Long March Rocket’s entry into the earth? An object believed to be debris has been found on the roof of a unit at the longhouse in Sibu. The delay in the discovery was due to the house owner’s absence since the incident.

2. About 100 demonstrators ignored the rain in Kuala Lumpur yesterday and gathered outside the Sogo shopping centre in a show of public unhappiness with the much-delayed delivery of the navy’s RM9 billion littoral combat ships (LCS).UMNO deputy president and Barisan Nasional (BN) deputy chairman Mohamad Hasan (a.k.a. Tok Mat) said the BN should not allow the Opposition to leverage on the LCS issue to attack the coalition. Tok Mat said the LCS issue has nothing to do with the party but the company’s administration. Which party the then-Defence Minister was from? 

3. Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities (MPIC) Zuraida Kamaruddin, who changes parties more often than one changes cars, will accept whatever decision that is made by BN with regards to Parti Bangsa Malaysia’s (PBM) application to join the coalition. The decision should be known soon after the BN supreme council meeting, which is happening today. On a separate note, Namewee (feat. Syed Saddiq) released a music video over the weekend dedicated to “katak”.

4. Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Dr Adham Baba said the government is currently studying a suitable approach to implement the end-of-life vehicle (ELV) management policy by 2025. Adham added that the policy needs to focus on sustainability and recycle usable components from old vehicles. The industry is potentially worth RM10 bil as 70% of dismantled items from ELVs could be exported.

5. Healthcare tourism in Malaysia is back! KPJ Healthcare Bhd said it recorded an approximately 40% increase in foreign patient visits from neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Indo-China, and Bangladesh. In June 2022, the number of patient visits almost quadrupled from the same period last year. The company added that Indonesia is the largest contributor to its health tourism business.

6. Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Investigation Branch Senior Supt Haniff Lami told the High Court that Najib Razak and Arul Kanda Kandasamy (ex-CEO of 1MDB) had colluded in giving instructions for the 1MDB audit report to be amended. According to Haniff, the report was amended to protect Najib and Arul from any civil or criminal action related to the operation of 1MDB.

7. The yet-to-be-operational Light Rail Transit Line 3’s (LRT3) track already has defects — pieces of concrete fell off the track onto a trader's tent near Pasar Besar Meru, Klang, yesterday morning. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

A weekend of irrational proposals.

1. The Communications and Multimedia Ministry living in 2050 — the Ministry’s brilliant solution to curb hacking activities is to create an application! The app can be used by all the gadgets registered in the country. However, it could be a paid app. It may just be our golden goose — an “anti-hacking” app.

2. Budget 2023 will see an additional expense that taxpayers (FYI, it’s you) may not be happy about — drag circuits. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the government plans to build a drag racing (not drag queen, tak halal) circuit in each state at a racing event over the weekend. The Prime Minister believes the move can empower the development of motorsports in the country.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. More details emerge on the FBI search of former US President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort as a federal judge unsealed the search warrant and inventory list of items seized during the raid. Federal agents were reported to specifically search for nuclear documents (Trump didn’t deny having possession of such documents) and recovered 11 classified documents, with some marked as “top-secret”. The Justice Department is investigating Trump over a possible violation of three federal laws involving the handling of national security information when he moved government documents from the White House to his private property without clearance.The US has a 3-tier system of classifications (in ascending order of importance and its corresponding colour of file cover): confidential (blue), secret (red) and top-secret (orange).

2. The UN’s humanitarian projects are facing a record funding gap this year as global needs outpace pledges, with only a third (USD15.2 bil) of the required USD48.7 bil secured so far this year, which will help about 204 mil people worldwide. Top donor so far: the US, contributing a little more than USD8 bil and the World Food Programme is the largest recipient.

3. Jay Y.Lee — is so important to the country’s economy to overcome a “national economic crisis” that South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol used this reason to justify pardoning the heir of Samsung’s founding family and Samsung Electronics Vice-Chairman as he was convicted of a bribery scandal that brought down then-President Park Geun-hye in 2017. This reaffirms the popular conception that business leaders are untouchable and beyond the law. In South Korea, giant conglomerates dominate the economy with the top 10 accounting for about 80% of the country’s GDP. Known as “chaebols”, these family-controlled empires include the likes of LG, Hyundai, Lotte and SK. The defence team of politicians on trial — start taking notes. 

China — leaving the US, visiting Arab:

1. 5 of China’s largest state-owned enterprises all on Friday announced their plans to delist from US exchanges as China and the US could not agree on a long-running auditing dispute that has been running for more than a decade over Chinese officials’ reluctance to allow inspections by overseas regulators of local accounting firms because of national security concerns.There are about 300 businesses based in China and Hong Kong, including Alibaba, at risk of being removed from US exchanges with a market value of over USD2.4 tril (RM10.65 tril).

2. Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Saudi Arabia next week and will feature a more grandeur welcome compared to US President Joe Biden’s trip last month. China-Arab ties have been growing closer over the past two decades, whilst US-Arab relations have gone the opposite direction. Key agenda — likely to be on oil, given the upheaval in global energy markets.

Mother Nature is changing:

1. Environmental scientists from the University of Stockholm, in a study that spanned a decade, have found that rainwater is no longer safe to drink anywhere on Earth by US contamination guidelines as the presence of hazardous chemicals known as per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has spread throughout the entire atmosphere. Also called “forever chemicals” as it takes a long time to break down, PFAS can be found in nearly all human-made items and is hazardous to human health as it has been linked to some cancers, decreased fertility, reduced vaccine response and developmental delays in children.

2. Move aside, Jaws. Orcas, or killer whales, attacked a small sailboat off Portugal’s coast, causing it to sink and, a few hours later, rammed into another small vessel nearby. More than 200 attacks by orcas against vessels have been reported along Portugal and Spain’s Iberian Peninsula since 2020. Scientists are investigating the growing number of orca attacks. Orcas are also creating havoc for great white sharks off the coast of South Africa, causing them to flee the area; a study found that eight great white sharks washed ashore with their livers ripped out by orcas. Video below: Discovery’s Shark Week aired a drone footage of orcas feeding on a great white shark.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. All English football fans (except for Manchester United supporters) might appreciate this.

2. Withdraw cash from ATM without your debit card - only with Maybank. Here’s how: