☕️ GISB has never paid any taxes, zakat

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Malaysia’s literacy rate stands at 94.64%, according to UNESCO. Malaysians appear to be reading more. Data from the National Library of Malaysia shows that the average Malaysian now reads about 20 books annually, up from 15 books in 2014. Despite this, there has been a 2.74% decline in literacy between 2010 and 2021, including a 0.4% drop in 2021 alone. Hmm, do Malaysians really read that many books?

Over the past five years, there have been more than 57,000 reports of human-wildlife conflict, marking a 40% increase from the previous five years, according to Ahmad Afandi from the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia. These conflicts involve a variety of species, from small animals to large mammals, leading to losses, injuries, and even fatalities. Human-wildlife conflict disproportionately affects vulnerable communities, with farmers and rural residents suffering RM47 mil in losses as they bear the brunt of livestock and crop losses.

Golfer Scottie Scheffler has had a historic 2024 season, winning seven PGA Tour tournaments and securing Olympic gold in Paris, marking the best performance since Tiger Woods' 2007 dominance. Along with leading in key stats like fewest strokes, fewest putts, and most birdies, Scheffler earned over USD60 mil in prize money, topping the PGA Tour money list for the third consecutive season. On average, Scheffler earned USD819,000 per round, or USD12,041 (RM49.63k) per shot throughout his 76 rounds in 2024. It pays to hit the right balls.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Madani Government won another election again
BN, one of the Madani Government’s coalition parties, retained the Mahkota seat in Johor with a 20,448 majority. The victor, BN’s Syed Hussien Syed Abdullah picked up almost 28,000 votes, where all polling districts chose the ‘dacing’ instead of PN. However, we could not call this a total victory for the Madani Government as the voters’ turnout is low, even for a by-election, where only 54% of the registered voters cast their ballots at the polling stations. The low number of turnout was also attributed to the non-participation of sizable Chinese voters, evidently by looking at the numbers of non-Malay majority polling districts such as Taman Liang Seng, Bandar Tengah and Indah Jaya.

The low Chinese voter turnout has led DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke to sound the alarm bells. Loke added that DAP will continue the efforts to coddle the grassroots level that the Madani Government is a government for all and not just the Malays. Allegedly, there was widespread unhappiness among the Chinese from before the by-election over attacks from UMNO Youth chief Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh against Seputeh MP Teresa Kok over the halal certificate issue. What do you think? Is the Akmal Effect that strong or is there a bigger factor behind the low Chinese turnout?

Spotlight on Sarawak
We are telling you that Sarawak should count their blessings that PM Anwar Ibrahim is the prime minister as no PM in recent history has started to put the Borneon states at the forefront of the country’s development.

• Miri Airport Expansion - PM Anwar has fast-tracked the expansion of Miri Airport. According to Sarawak Transport Minister Lee Kim Shin, the cost of the expansion will be estimated to be RM150 mil, as per the amount submitted to Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB). The project will take two years to complete and work will take flight starting next year. At the moment, Miri Airport which was built at its current location in the 1980s has a capacity of 2 mil passengers annually. However, it has been operating beyond its designed capacity since 2019, when the airport served 2.5 mil passengers that year.

• Green energy hub of Malaysia - PM Anwar hinted that Sarawak could become the catalyst for the country’s future economic growth due to the state’s focus on green energy. PM Anwar highlighted Miri’s 500MW Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (CCGT) power plant as one of the key flagship projects. Is this PM Anwar’s nod on the transfer of Sarawak’s natural gas distribution from PETRONAS to Petros? According to the National Energy Transition Roadmap (NETR), natural gas will play a significant role in the energy transition play as up to 56% of the Total Primary Energy Supply (TPES) will be powered by natural gas by 2050 and about 60% of the domestic gas reserve is in Sarawak.

• Sarawak is officially the largest shareholder in Affin Bank - After being an open secret for quite some time, the Sarawak State Government has announced an increase of its shareholding in Affin Bank, from 4.8% to 31.25%, taking over the stake from LTAT and its subsidiary, Boustead Holdings Bhd, for curiously an undisclosed price. Sarawak Premier Abang Johari Tun Abang Openg stated that the state government could not acquire more of Affin Bank as Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) has put a limit to the amount of shares can be owned by Sarawak. Abang Johari also added that the state will not interfere in the day-to-day of Affin Bank except for the bank’s development in Sarawak. With a market cap of RM7.1 bil, Sarawak’s stake is worth about RM2.22 bil.

Back to GISB — will never escape our spotlight 

• The Selangor Government has set a precedent by ordering all GISB Holdings Sdn Bhd premises in the state to be closed and confiscate all the company's assets. The move by the state government is prompted after the Selangor Sultan, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah called for more expeditious action against GISB.

• The police has revealed that based on its investigation under the Income Tax Act 1967, GISB has never paid taxes. How on freaking earth could GISB with total assets of RM325 mil and RM187 mil of annual revenue missed the radar of LHDN? Apart from not paying taxes, GISB also has never paid zakat. The Selangor Zakat Board stated that over 20 GISB-linked entities never paid any zakat and the amount due is undetermined as the company never disclosed its assets and liabilities.

Shorts

1. The Housing and Local Government Ministry is soon to have an increase in headcount of ‘cleaning workers’ as its minister Nga Kor Ming has announced that the ministry is in the process of amending the 1976 Local Government Act. Among the proposed amendments is the inclusion of community service as a form of punishment for serial litterbugs. Quoting Nga: “Those facing these penalties may be required to wear special uniforms and sweep the streets, or even clean toilets for a minimum of two to four hours”.

2. Apart from sinkholes, Malaysia is also the land of food poisoning as another school canteen in Perak has been ordered to close for 14 days after 101 primary school students succumbed to food poisoning. Perak Health director Dr Feisul Idzwan Mustapha said that including the 101 pupils, a total of 1,054 people were exposed to the food poisoning incident, comprising of teachers and school support staff. Earlier last week, more than 100 students were suspected to suffer from food poisoning at a school in Negeri Sembilan. Do we need to wait for someone to die baru we take it seriously the quality of food we feed to our children?

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Israel claims the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut
The Israeli army had claimed the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday, where he was killed in a massive Israeli air attack on Beirut on Friday evening (NSFW: watch here), as confirmed by the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah. It is a massive setback to Hezbollah, but the organisation pledged to keep up the fight against Israel “in support of Gaza and Palestine, and in defence of Lebanon and its steadfast and honourable people”.

Nasrallah has led Hezbollah for more than 32 years and served as a political and spiritual leader who guided Hezbollah to a place of prominence in Lebanon. His supporters, largely Lebanese Shia, lauded him for standing up to Israel and the US, but to his enemies, he is the head of a terrorist organisation and a proxy for Iran. In the Arab world, Nasrallah gained friends and foes. He is loathed by Syrians who despise him for sending troops to crush the uprising threatening President Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

Nevertheless, Israel continues its attack on Lebanon. Now on its seventh day, the United Nations says the number of those displaced by the conflict from southern Lebanon has more than doubled, with more than 211,000 people now displaced.

Climate change & natural disaster:

1. Rising sea levels threaten coastal communities with catastrophic flooding

   Since the beginning of the 20th century, the global mean sea level has risen faster than in any prior century over the past 3,000 years. Global temperatures have risen about one degree Celsius (1.8F) leading to the increase of sea levels up 160 to 210 mm (six to eight inches) with about half of that amount occurring since 1993. The UN warns that this threatens the future of nearly a billion people living in low-lying coastal areas, making them increasingly vulnerable to storm surges, coastal erosion and flooding. Communities can get swamped, freshwater contaminated, with infrastructure damaged impacting sectors such as fisheries, agriculture and tourism. Ironically, the ocean is the biggest ally in fighting against climate change as it absorbs excess heat. However, it expands as it heats up, leading to a rise in sea levels. The first and most important way to stop rising sea levels now is to curb global greenhouse gas emissions.

2. Nepal floods and landslides death toll climbs to 126, dozens still missing
   Nepal and South Asia face unforgiving monsoon rains every year from June to September, bringing with it widespread death and destruction. However, the number of fatal floods and landslides has risen in recent years. Experts say climate change has worsened the frequency and intensity of the rain in the Himalayan nation. At the time of writing, recovery and cleanup efforts are underway in Nepal as the death toll from flooding and landslides rose to 126, with another 63 still missing, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. This year, more than 170 people have been killed in rain-related disasters in Nepal.

Smart and skilled humans are now training AI to become smarter
Even though AI technology is rapidly evolving, it still needs humans to become smarter. Sophisticated updates to AI models in the fiercely competitive arena are now demanding a rapidly expanding network of human trainers who have specialised knowledge — from historians to scientists, some with doctorate degrees. Now they have licensed physicians teaching the models how to behave in medical environments, or financial analysts or accountants.

Cohere, an AI company specialising in AI for businesses, and one of OpenAI’s main rivals, now works with a startup called Invisible Tech to train its AI model to reduce errors, known as “hallucinations”.

Invisible Tech is the “training provider”, that employs thousands of remotely working trainers and has also become one of the main partners of AI companies ranging from AI21 to Microsoft. Their trainers have PhDs and Master’s Degrees and are specialists at their work. Another similar provider company is ScaleAI, a private start-up last valued at USD14 bil (backed by Nvidia, Amazon) which provides AI companies with sets of training data.

This demand for specialised trainers across dozens of languages is on the rise, creating a well-paid niche where workers from a variety of subjects could become AI trainers without even knowing how to code.

Shorts

1. 900 workers will gain portions from a pool of USD75 mil after KKR sale

   KKR, one of the private equity industry's biggest players is selling its company GeoStabilization International, where it will share USD75 mil of the proceeds with about 900 staff (an average of USD83.3k per person, some will get up to USD325,000), mainly construction workers at the geohazard mitigation and road safety services provider. This could give a more positive light to the industry, which has been facing accusations of greed and elitism. The sale is part of KKR’s commitment to offering equity to staff and advocating an ownership culture for a more engaged workforce. The sale gives KKR a return of five times the equity it invested in Dec 2018 and reflects a near-tripling of revenue and profits in that period. However, the sum given out to staff is less than 10% of the deal’s reported USD1 bil total.

2. Shigeru Ishiba is Japan’s next PM

   Former defence minister, Shigeru Ishiba, has won the leadership election of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and will now become the country’s next prime minister, after winning in a tight contest, defeating Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi. Ishiba’s campaign focused heavily on security issues, and he has indicated he will push for more oversight over the US use of its bases in Japan. He also proposes the establishment of an Asian-style NATO and might be pushing for it as well. Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Beijing wants to improve ties with Japan, because “the long-term, sound and steady development of China-Japan relations serves the fundamental interests of the two people”. Btw, he’s a fan of cosplay and once dressed up as Majin Buu, a Dragon Ball character (view here).

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. One of our favourite YouTubers, MKBHD, released a wallpaper app that requires either a USD49.99 subscription fee or a USD11.99. Let us counter that and share with you a website that gives you wallpapers for free — Basic Apple Guy.

2. The humble wine stopper, corks, has an interesting history. Who would have expected this simple product would generate nearly EUR1 bil in revenue and net profit of EUR89 mil in FY2023 (revenue crossed EUR1 bil mark in FY2022) for the Portugese company, Amorim, that produces half of the world’s supply of corks. Even NASA uses its products for its rockets. View its financials here.