☕️ PM AI launches AI Buatan Malaysia: ILMU

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

The Hong Kong Security Bureau reported that a total of 169 in-flight thefts were recorded there in the first 10 months of 2024, with valuables worth HKD4.32 mil (RM2.32 mil) involved. This marks a 75% increase from the same period the year before. Thefts can be attempted on short flights as well, considering the case where a Chinese national was arrested by Singapore authorities for attempted theft during a night flight from KL to Singapore. The city-state reported four people were charged for in-flight theft between Jan 2023 to Sept 2024. As for Malaysia, Selangor police revealed that 267 police reports were lodged over missing items on flights at KLIA since 2022, with 146 reported in 2024. However, only 26 investigation papers were opened because some victims were unsure when their items went missing, while others had continued with their journey to their respective destinations.

A UN Security Council report in 2024 showed that secret IT workers generate up to USD600 mil (RM2.5 bil) annually for North Korea. The scheme boomed in the pandemic, when remote working became common, and has been on the rise since. While most are after a steady paycheck to send back to the regime, some had stolen data or hacked their employers and demanded ransoms. An IT worker who defected revealed that he sent 85% of what he earned back to fund the regime. Still, this is nothing new. North Korea has been sending its workers abroad for decades to earn foreign currency for the regime, with up to 100,000 employed abroad as factory or restaurant workers, mostly in China and Russia.

The Fire and Rescue Department of Malaysia attributed 60% of local house fires to electrical issues, with the main causes including unsafe wiring, non-compliant electrical modifications, and excessive use of electrical appliances. According to Director-General Nor Hisham Mohammad, many people take electrical safety at home lightly. Nor Hisham advised homeowners to have their wiring inspected by a licensed electrician every 10 to 15 years to detect possible electrical leaks, especially in older or newly completed homes. Still, property losses from fires in 2023 were estimated at RM1.6 bil, down from RM2.7 bil the previous year, despite the increase in the number of structural fires.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

AirAsia X returns to Europe with Istanbul route after a decade-long hiatus
AirAsia X Bhd will make its long-awaited return to Europe this Nov, launching four weekly non-stop flights between Kuala Lumpur and Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen Airport, a shift that reignites the Malaysian budget carrier’s global ambitions. The long-haul arm of AirAsia last served Europe over a decade ago, flying to London and Paris between 2009 and 2012 before scrapping the routes due to sluggish demand and new carbon levies. The Istanbul service comes just weeks after AirAsia tentatively signed a deal during PMX’s visit to France to acquire up to 70 extended-range Airbus jets, propelling CEO Tony Fernandes’ vision of eventually reaching North America. While recent network expansions have been a mixed bag with new flights to Almaty, Kazakhstan, and the upcoming suspension of its Nairobi service from Sept onwards due to weak demand the Istanbul launch marks a breakthrough moment in AirAsia X’s comeback strategy.

Over RM8 mil for mandatory flag badges in schools
The government set aside RM8.4 mil to supply more than 5.14 mil students from schools, Matriculation Colleges, Form 6 Colleges and teacher training institutes with Jalur Gemilang badges, part of a nationwide push to foster patriotism from a young age. Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said each student receives 2 badges for free, with allocations distributed to state education departments in Feb and procurement handled through the eProcurement system. To speed up distribution, procurement was also split into zones, engaging 91 suppliers nationwide. The initiative, made compulsory from Apr 21 following a Mar 24 directive, requires students to wear a 5cm × 2.5cm national flag badge on the right side of their school uniform. While guidelines have been issued to prevent safety risks and uniform damage, parents are allowed to provide extra badges of the same size and suitable material. RM8.4 mil on flag badges, patriotism or just performative spending?

Crime Watch
Four jailed for RM24.2 mil bank fraud using forged MyKad
The High Court in Kota Kinabalu has sentenced four people - Josepin J. Langkan, 38; Nasir Abdul Rasid, 60; Vireonis Jonok, 35; and Leong Hin Ping, 62 to three and a half years in prison each for helping an organised crime group steal RM24.2 mil from several bank accounts. The group used forged MyKad and other documents to withdraw millions, including from fixed deposits at MBSB Bank in Kota Kinabalu, as well as in separate cases in Manggatal and Tanjung Aru. They pleaded guilty to an alternative charge under Section 130W of the Penal Code, which carries up to 10 years’ jail. Another accused, Mazlani Jenuary, 53, will be sentenced on Sept 22, while two others Irene Chin Nyuk Thien, 38, and Christina @ Caroline Pianus Etip face trial that day on the original charge of being members of an organised crime group under Section 130V(1), which carries a maximum 20-year sentence. The case stems from a police investigation into a syndicate involved in forgery, fraud, and criminal breach of trust, with three other individuals linked to the same case sentenced to five years’ jail on June 13.

Death penalty for trio in 1.48 tonne meth haul
The High Court in Johor Bahru today sentenced Pang Ming Siong, 54; Cheng Foot Leong, 46; and Tok Chun Wei, 41, to death for trafficking 1.48 tonnes of methamphetamine in Malaysia’s largest drug haul at the time. Judge Datuk Abu Bakar Katar said the defence failed to raise reasonable doubt, noting the 1,483,962.98g of drugs worth RM103.2 mil were hidden in 2,000 Chinese Guanyinwang tea packets sewn into gunny sacks and concealed in a disused fish pond in Jalan Tanah Merah, Taman Desa Cemerlang. The Mar 19 2019, offence was described by prosecutors as a “rarest of the rare” case due to its scale. The trio were convicted under Section 39B of the Dangerous Drugs Act 1952, which carries the mandatory death penalty. The record 2.06-tonne seizure was the result of a joint operation involving federal and Johor narcotics police, the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, and Customs.

Malaysia’s AI (artificial intelligence)
Zetrix AI launches world’s first shariah-aligned chatbot NurAI
Zetrix AI Bhd (formerly MyEG) is gearing up to take its newly launched NurAI chatbot beyond consumers and into the daily operations of Islamic financial institutions, fintech firms, halal certification bodies, and shariah authorities. Non-executive director Jimmy Wong Abdullah said the rollout which begins with a free consumer app will be phased, with paid subscription tiers from USD5 (RM21.15) to USD50 offering more advanced features. Built with China’s DeepSeek AI technology, NurAI is touted as the world’s first shariah-aligned large language model, designed to serve around two bil Muslims by providing guidance on everything from healthcare and finance to history and Quranic studies, all within an Islamic framework. Developed under a formal shariah supervisory board, Zetrix AI is working with key religious bodies, including Malaysia’s Islamic Development Department and its Indonesian counterpart, to ensure the model’s advice reflects both Islamic principles and the perspectives of the Global South, a deliberate alternative to existing Western and Chinese AI models.

PM AI launches AI Buatan Malaysia: ILMU
The PM today launched Intelek Luhur Malaysia Untukmu (ILMU), Malaysia’s first fully homegrown multimodal large language model, available for early access via ILMUchat this coming Sept. Anwar said the initiative aims to position Malaysia as an “AI nation” to improve governance, spur innovation and uplift communities at the ASEAN AI Malaysia Summit 2025. Developed by YTL AI Labs with Universiti Malaya, ILMU integrates local languages and culture with world-class performance. Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo called it a breakthrough that safeguards Malaysia’s linguistic and cultural heritage while delivering global-standard AI. Fluent in Bahasa Melayu, Malaysian English (Manglish) and dialects such as Kecek Kelate, it runs on YTL AI Cloud for enterprise-grade performance and local data residency. Benchmark tests place it on par with or ahead of GPT- 4o, DeepSeek and Llama 3.1, with unmatched Malay language understanding. ILMU can process and generate text, voice and images for use in business, education, healthcare and more. Curious how much was spent into building this model.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

China affairs
New tariff extension for China
It appears that China has been granted another 90 days to reach a tariff deal with the US, an extension that was announced by the White House only hours before midnight in Beijing, where the previous pause was set to expire. Earlier this week, Trump had said that negotiations are going “quite nicely”, with both parties feeling positive for a good outcome. Without this new extension, duties on Chinese goods would have returned to where they were in Apr at a staggering 145%. For now, fresh US tariffs on Chinese goods this year stand at 30%, while Beijing’s corresponding levy on US products is at 10%.

Trump Nvidia decisions sparks more concern
In a briefing on Monday, Trump reportedly suggested the idea of selling a “downgraded” version of Nvidia’s “super duper” Blackwell chip to China, in another “deal” that would loosen export restrictions despite deep-seated fears in Washington that Beijing could harness US tech to harm national security. Last month, Nvidia was given the clearance to resume shipments and hoped to start deliveries soon. Nvidia’s chips are a major driver of the AI boom, highly sought after by both China and the US, and the deal sparked alarm among analysts and China hawks in Washington, who fear supplying China with advanced US tech could see it used against them.

Tough day at sea
A Chinese warship has reportedly collided with a vessel from its own coastguard while in pursuit of a Philippine patrol boat in the South China Sea on Monday. It happened near the contested Scarborough Shoal - a triangular chain of reefs and rocks that has been a flashpoint between the countries since China seized it from the Philippines in 2012. In a video released by Manila, the Chinese coastguard ship and a much larger vessel bearing the number 164 on its hull appears to collide with a loud crash in the wake of the Philippine vessel. Ouch. The Chinese were too proud to accept Philippine's ship’s offer for assistance though, and has neither confirmed nor denied the incident, only saying that it “lawfully” took measures to drive away Philippine vessels. The incident is the latest in a series of confrontations between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that the assertion has no legal basis. Watch incident below:

The overlooked atrocities in Sudan
An investigation by The Guardian into the 72-hour attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on North Darfur’s Zamzam camp between 11 to 14 Apr 2025 has revealed that more than 1,500 civilians may have been killed, with repeated testimonies of mass executions and large-scale abductions. Hundreds of civilians still remain unaccounted for. ZamZam is the country’s largest camp for people displaced by a war that erupted between the Arab-led RSF and Sudanese military in Apr 2023. A representative from the committee of ZamZam’s former administration said that many bodies are still not recovered from the camp (now controlled by the RSF), citing bodies lying inside homes, in the fields and on the roads. Those who survived reportedly faced “widespread looting, sexual violence and other attacks while on the road and appalling living conditions in transit displacement sites”, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). The magnitude of likely casualties means the assault by the RSF ranks only behind a similarly heinous ethnic slaughter in West Darfur two years ago. The Sudan war has forced millions from their homes and caused the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, but often overlooked by the world.

Shorts

1. Trading rice grains for golf balls
   As the construction of Trump’s USD1.5 bil (RM6.35 bil) golf resort in Vietnam begins next month, farmers in the province affected by the development are asked to vacate their lands, with mere offerings of compensation between USD12 and USD30 per square metre of farmland and rice provisions in return. Developers are said to be elaborately cutting compensation forecasts from an initial estimate exceeding USD500 mil. Dispossessed farmers fear they will struggle to find alternative livelihoods in Vietnam’s economy, and they are also not in the position to negotiate due to the nature of communist-run farmland.

2. Nippon Paint’s major shareholder passes away at 98 
   Singapore’s billionaire tycoon and philanthropist Goh Cheng Liang has passed away at the age of 98, living behind his legacy of founding Wuthelam Holding, which is also a controlling shareholder of Tokyo-listed Nippon Paint. Forbes this year ranked Goh the 182nd richest person in the world with a net worth of around USD13 bil (RM55 bil). In 2020, Goh acquired more shares in Nippon Paint for JPY1.29 tril (USD16.69 bil), bringing their stake up to just under 60%, up from 39% previously. Goh began his paint business in 1955 and became the main distributor for Nippon Paint in 1962.

3. Jolly jellyfishes threatening nuclear energy operations 
   France’s largest nuclear power station that uses water from the North Sea to cool down its reactors has been forced to shut down due to a massive amount of jellyfish in the filter drums of their pumping stations. Apparently, as climate change continues to warm the North Sea, jellyfish find it the perfect place to reproduce and now, the abundance of the sea creatures are a legit concern for the nuclear energy operations. Similar problems has also been reported before in ports and at nuclear plants in China, Sweden, Japan, and India.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. TIL what the SS in SS2 stands for. The history of SS2:

daddytalks06

198 followers

View more on Instagram

2. What hundreds of luxury goods including Hermes, Chanel, Dior etc. and 58 gold bars up for liquidation by Singapore police looks like. These were seized from Singapore’s largest money laundering case involving more than SGD3 bil (RM9.9 bil) in 2023.

channelnewsasia

1M followers

View more on Instagram

Happy Wednesday! The positive version of WTF, FML, IDGAF, STFU:

iaanthioo

85K followers

View more on Instagram