☕️ Grab’s services contributed RM9.9 bil to Malaysia’s 2023 GDP

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

The ringgit appreciated 2.7% overall against the USD in 2024, despite falling 8.1% in Q4 2024. The MYR also appreciated against other major currencies, including the SGD (yaey - small win), KRW, and JPY, with an overall appreciation of 7.5%.

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Apart from its neighbor, China, iguanas want a piece of Taiwan too. There are an estimated 200,000 of these reptiles, and the government plans to cull 120,000 of these green iguanas, which have no natural predators in Taiwan. Specially recruited hunting teams killed about 70,000 iguanas last year, with bounties of up to USD15 (RM66.50) each. Mainly native to Central America and the Caribbean, iguanas are not aggressive despite possessing sharp tails and jaws and razor-like teeth.

Iran is believed to own “one of the rarest treasure troves of modern art outside the West”, worth as estimated USD3 bil (RM13.3 bil). For decades, these masterpieces by the likes of Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Andy Warhol and Jackson Pollock have been kept in the basement of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art but have been opened for exhibition since Oct 2024. After the 1979 Iranian revolution, Iran became an Islamic republic as the monarchy was overthrown. Many of the artworks were deemed inappropriate for public display because of nudity, religious sensitivities or political implications.

Terengganu State Prison Department aims to secure employment for 720 inmates this year, comprising of prisoners that set to undergo the parole system. The department plans to place more inmates in the hospitality sector, as it is fast-growing. Last year, 410 inmates were given job opportunities with 72 employers in various fields, with the highest being the services sector, accounting for 60%. How good is the quality of this source of manpower? Pretty good, it seems, with only 4 cases of employment condition violation recorded last year.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Grab’s services contributed RM9.9 bil to Malaysia’s 2023 GDP
The tech giant’s services, including ride-hailing and delivery, contributed to an equivalent of 0.5% of Malaysia’s total GDP in 2023, according to EconWorks, a local economic consultancy firm (it said the research was independently conducted). The research focuses on Grab’s on-demand transport and delivery services. Some findings:

• The breakdown of the RM9.9 bil: RM4 bil in direct effects, RM3.4 bil in indirect effects, and RM2.5 bil in induced effects. Definition in diagram below.

• Grab transactions has a multiplier effect of 1.5x - every RM1 Grab transaction creates an additional RM1.50 of economic activity.

• Grab-related activities created up to 277,237 opportunities for individuals to earn an income. That’s 1 in every 64 individuals in Malaysia’s labour force.

• RM3.7 bil in additional household income were generated for individuals and businesses across the combined supply chains.

View the full report here.

Malaysian job scam victims’ ordeal: electrocution, caning, dark room confinements
The military government of Myanmar is about to hand over the rough estimate of 1k foreign nationals to their home countries, who were rescued from Myanmese cyber scam centres near the Thai border. The estimation of victims rescued totalled to 1,030 in the past 3 weeks; of those, 61 have been sent home, whilst the remainder will return home after their pending verification of personal details. A majority of the victims comprised of Asian nationals, including China and India, whilst some even hailed from East Africa, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Information.

Rescued Malaysians report years of torture. One Johorean man, known as Teo, was lured into Myanmar in 2023 with promises of a salary amounting to RM7k with a trading company in Bangkok as a translator. Once Teo landed at Bangkok airport, however, he was taken to Mae Sot and forced to cross the border into Myanmar. There, he was trained to work in their cyber scam centres.

He reports having been electrocuted more than 10 times during his forced tenure at these centres and tortured almost every week. His job involved sorting through approximately 10k contact numbers daily for the syndicate, with threats of severe punishment looming above his head should he fall behind.

A 19-year-old woman from Penang, known as Ong, was also conned into the syndicate through the allure of a high-paying salary. She was instead taken to Myanmar, lacking travel documents. She describes days of caning, forced push-ups, and confinement in dark rooms for being unable to achieve the quotas set by the syndicate.

Another rescue, a 29-year-old man from KL, instead had the task of ripping phone numbers off of social media. Failure to do so resulted in electrocution and caning.

Locals earn up to RM4.5k per head by smuggling undocumented immigrants into the nation
The Kelantan Immigration Department has revealed information, post-interrogation of undocumented migrants: Smugglers are paid an average fee of RM4.5k per head, the amount varying depending on the nationality of the individual smuggled into Malaysian borders. The price could even increase or decrease per person depending on the final destination and total headcount. Most of these smugglers operate during specific times through illegal border crossings, avoiding detection from the authorities. Their clients are often then housed in transit homes or even hotels before being sent to their next or final destination.

Shorts

1. Government to ban dummy seat belt buckles
   Are you a ‘dummy’ seat belt user? Annoyed by your car’s incessant beeps for not wearing your seatbelt, although you should? Transport Minister Anthony Loke announced that the government intends to ban such items as part of a move to enforce road safety, reduce accidents, and foster more disciplined driving behaviour. The fine can go up to RM2k for the possession or usage of such dummy seat belts, or a jail sentence of up to 6 months.

2. Drones in Malaysia now need a permit to fly

   Any drone in Malaysia, regardless of size or risk level, must now possess a permit to fly. This even includes drones flying below 400 ft for weddings, commercial use, or recreational purposes, according to The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia. The permit fee for drones costs RM250, providing that the drone itself weighs under 20kg. The application must also be submitted at least 14 days in advance. Failure to do so could be penalised by a fine of up to RM50k or three years in jail. Companies could be fined up to RM100k.

3. SJKC school in Perlis enrols 0 Chinese students in Year One this year

   Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina (SJKC) Kong Aik in Mata Ayer in Perlis enrolled a whopping number of 0 students of Chinese ethnicity in their Year One batch this academic year. The new school session for Year 1 includes thirteen Malay, nine Siamese, and one Indian student. The headmistress of the school added that the school consisted mostly of Malay students.

   The Education Ministry has recently reported that the number of bumiputera students enrolling in Chinese national-type primary schools has nearly doubled since 2014, an 18.52% to 2014’s 11.67%.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

US-Russia talks to happen, but where’s Ukraine?
Both countries have confirmed their top delegates will be meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine and to organise a meeting between US President Trump and Russian President Putin. However, missing from the meeting is Ukraine, which President Zelenskyy stated will not take part in the talks or recognise any potential agreement reached in its absence. So far, Russia has already taken a strong stance by ruling out territorial concessions to Ukraine prior to the talks. The Russian foreign minister added that Russia saw no role for Europe at the talks.

Europe on back foot, scrambles for defence money
European officials were left shocked and flat-footed by Trump’s recent moves on Ukraine and Russia, with concerns that a deal between Trump and Putin would result in a weakening of security for Ukraine as well as Europe as a whole. European leaders have declared they will be ramping up military spending and arms production in a bid to maintain the region’s defences. However, this declaration comes with its own worries, as Europe will now have to shoulder the cost of its own defence. By increasing defence spending, the individual budgets of European nations are at risk of coming undone, especially since they are already struggling to fund the public welfare their citizens enjoy.

Still, the UK did step forward as the first to offer peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, with the announcement coming ahead of an emergency leaders’ meeting in Paris to discuss Europe’s role in a Ukraine-Russia ceasefire. Sweden is also considering contributing to post-war peacekeeping troops but will only decide after there is progress in the negotiations.

Taipei updates US update to fact sheet on Taiwan
The US Department of State, in its latest update to its website’s “fact sheet”, changed the wording of its relationship with Taiwan by dropping how “we do not support Taiwan independence” and adding that Taiwan’s dispute with China should be resolved “free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait”. The department has clarified the update as routine, but China has denounced the change, calling it another example of the US’ “stubborn adherence to the erroneous policy of ‘using Taiwan to suppress China’”. A Taiwanese analyst believes the change in wording to be a bold move but does not signify a policy change. Rather, he believes the change is to show that the Trump administration has agency over US-Taiwan and US-China relations.

Across the Causeway

• Singapore opposition leader found guilty of lying to parliament
  Pritam Singh, leader of the opposition Workers’ Party, was found guilty on two counts of lying to parliament. He lied when being questioned by a parliamentary committee probing fellow MP and party member Raeesah Khan, helping her cover up a false witness account. While this may have led to Singh being disqualified from running in the upcoming national elections, he narrowly escaped that fate, walking out of the courtroom with a fine of SGD7,000 (USD5,220 or RM23,000) for each charge. Just to highlight how close it was, Singapore’s constitution states that anyone fined a minimum of SGD10,000 or jailed at least one year on a single charge is disqualified from running for election or being an MP for five years. Each charge levied against Singh carried a fine of up to SGD7,000, up to three years in prison, or both.

• Marina Bay Sands secures USD9 bil loan for expansion purposes
  The SGD12 bil (USD9 bil) multi-tranche loan will go towards a planned expansion of the firm’s casino resort in Singapore and also marks the largest such financing in Singapore. Four banks, including Malayan Banking Bhd, coordinated the loan, which attracted 22 other lenders. The expansion is expected to cost about USD8 bil, a sharp increase from the USD3.9 bil estimate made in pre-pandemic 2019. This comes as Thailand is proposing tough entry requirements for locals in casinos as it plans to build a major gaming industry to boost tourism, requiring locals to have at least 50 mil baht (USD1.5 mil) in fixed deposits for at least six months to even enter casinos. With Thailand on one side and Singapore on the other, what now, Genting?

Another MAJOR French sexual assault and rape case
French former surgeon Joel Le Scouarnec, 74, will be going on trial later this month, charged with the rape or sexual assault of almost 300 former patients, most of whom were children and when many of them were unconscious. This comes on the heels of the case of Dominique Pelicot, who was convicted of enlisting strangers to rape his heavily-sedated then-wife, Gisele Pelicot. Le Scouarnec has “generally acknowledged his involvement” in many of the events and shared his “concealment strategies”, according to the regional prosecutor.

The average age of his victims is 11, but the former surgeon is also accused of raping a one-year-old and sexually assaulting a 70-year-old. 111 rapes, 189 sexual assaults. 256 of the 299 victims were younger than 15. This comes as he is already serving a 15-year sentence for raping and sexually assaulting four children, two of whom are his nieces. He truly is one of the more terrible specimens of humanity. Oh, police only found his records of these crimes when they searched his house after one of the four children, his six-year-old neighbour pointed to him as her rapist.

Shorts

1. Noise-cancelling headphones: Boon or bane?

   Audiologists in England are now calling for more research to be done to see if there is a link between the overuse of noise-cancelling headphones and auditory processing disorder, a neurological condition where the brain finds it difficult to understand sounds and spoken words. The vice-president of the British Academy of Audiology suggests that, by using the headphones to block out everyday sounds, there is a possibility the brain can “forget” how to filter these sounds.

2. Russia fines Google (again)

   The latest fine of 3.8 mil roubles (USD41,530) is due to Google hosting content on Youtube that included videos instructing Russian soldiers how to surrender, according to Russia’s TASS news agency. This marks the latest in a series of fines from Russia on Google, continuing the pattern of Russia ordering foreign tech platforms to remove content it deems illegal, then issuing fines when it sees failures to comply.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. This one financial engineering unlocked Sunway Bhd’s valuation, turning it from an undervalued conglomerate (RM7.8 bil market cap at end of 2020) to its RM28.8 bil market cap today.

2. Drop the hedonistic POV (IYKYK), and swap it out for a cultural one - a lion dance POV.

guanshen.lu

View more on Instagram