☕️ PM Anwar Ibrahim: "There can no longer be procurements approvals without tender."

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

-253C — the temperature for hydrogen to turn into liquid. Jet engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is running tests on a small aircraft jet engine to run hydrogen. Why hydrogen? Because it doesn't contain any carbon, it produces no CO2 when it burns. However, aircraft will also need to be redesigned as hydrogen in liquid form takes up about four times as much space as the kerosene required to fly the same distance.

Illegal electricity connections have cost Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) RM16 mil in losses over 11 months this year. The main culprit is — the mining of cryptocurrency. 54 premises identified as making illegal power connections for the activity had been raided by the police in collaboration with SESB.

14 gigawatts (GW) — the output generated by wind power farms in British waters. About 36% of British electricity now comes from wind, most offshore. How many light bulbs can 14GW turn on? Roughly 1.4 billion A19 LEDs. A typical A19 lightbulb consumes about 10 watts.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Police are having a field dayUtilising the power vested under the Penal Code and the Communications and Multimedia Act, the police have begun their investigation over PAS Baling MP Hassan Saad's remarks that accused PM Anwar Ibrahim as an agent of Zionist Israel. Without undermining the seriousness of this accusation, PM Anwar Ibrahim made a joke of Hassan’s remark, stating that given all the allegations regarding him being agent of foreign countries, he must be better than James Bond’s 007.

Post GE15 period is surely a busy period for the police as even last week Twitter user Zulfadzli Halim or also known as @bumilangit was detained and investigated by the police for reposting hate speech or offensive content on his social media. However, most users on Twitterjaya would agree that Zulfadzli was merely trying to highlight an videos containing offensive content, in order for the relevant authorities to remove the videos from social media. Zulfadzli was investigated under the same Communications and Multimedia Act.

Other than that, Perikatan Nasional (PN) candidate for the Pedang Serai parliamentary seat, Azman Nasrudin, has given his statement to police regarding his ‘kerajaan zina’ remarks towards the newly formed unity government. Talking about his remarks, Azman admitted that he was a bit harsh.

No more direct negotiation procurements under my leadership, says PM Anwar IbrahimIn front of the Prime Minister Department’s staff yesterday, PM Anwar Ibrahim told them there can no longer be procurements approvals without tender to avoid any leakages or corruption. PM Anwar also stated that he has no interest in opening Pandora's box of problems from previous governments, insisting on focusing on improving people’s welfare instead.

Has Pakatan finally learned the lesson from the previous 22 months it was in power?

PH to make way for BN in TiomanSomething that is unbelievable just two weeks ago. In strengthening the Pahang and federal unity governments, Pakatan Harapan (PH) will make way and support Barisan Nasional (BN)’s candidate for the upcoming election for the Tioman state seat. However, PH’s candidate, Mohd Fadzli's name, will still be printed on the ballot papers as the status of candidates cannot be changed after their nominations are accepted.

No hanky panky happening concerning the country’s booksIn response to the allegation that a considerable sum of RM620bil went unrecorded between the period of 2020 and 2022, former PM Ismail Sabri denied the claim. He stated that concerning the RM530bil stimulus packages offered by the government, most of them did not involve government spending. The ones that did (RM110bil) were approved by the Parliament and have been recorded in the government’s financial statements.

News from the Borneo states (Unity Government, amirite?)

1. Sarawak Premier Abang Johari stated that the proposed state-owned boutique airline will not be profit-based but instead would be used to facilitate the movement of tourists into Sarawak. Likened the proposed boutique airline to the construction of roads, Abang Johari said that, like roads, the main objective is to provide connectivity and not to get intangible returns (i.e. moolah). For his info, airline biz incinerates cash.

2. Sarawak Metro awarded the RM448mil System Package Two contract for the Kuching Urban Transportation System (KUTS) project phase one to a joint venture between DOM Industries and China’s Railway Electric Engineering Group.

3. Earlier this year, Sarawak Metro appointed EPR Mobilus GR JV Sdn Bhd as the winner for the RM1.425bil contract to supply the rolling stock, namely the hydrogen-powered Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) vehicles, that will be the backbone for KUTS. So, what is an ART? See the video below.

4. Sarawak will export up to 30 megawatts (MW) of electricity to Sabah by 2024, given the completion of the Northern Grid Extension. Sarawak is slowly becoming the energy powerhouse for the region, having supplied an average of 89.6MW to Kalimantan, Indonesia, since September 2016.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Authorities in China going after those who protested over the weekendSeveral people in Beijing said they had been contacted by the police, demanding information about their locations. Yesterday morning, police forces were seen in both Beijing and Shanghai patrolling areas where some groups on the Telegram messaging app had suggested people should gather again. Big brother’s definitely watching.

The goalpost for China to control Covid-19 is moving slowly as the country said it would bolster vaccination among its senior citizens. However, the central government has forbidden the use of mandates. An endless loop of harsh Covid Zero curbs has sparked dissatisfaction among its citizens.

A slight indication of reopening pushed the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index to close 6.2% higher yesterday.

Meanwhile, British PM Rishi Sunak says the ‘golden era’ with China is over. Sunak said his government condemned Beijing after a BBC journalist was beaten while covering protests in Shanghai. Sunak will instead prioritise deepening trade and security ties with Indo-Pacific allies.

Is the end near for cryptocurrency?Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to its substantial exposure to FTX, which created a liquidity crisis. BlockFi’s exposure to FTX came from loans to Alameda, a crypto trading firm affiliated with FTX. Peter Thiel was also caught in this debacle — Valar Ventures, a Thiel-linked venture capital fund, owns 19% of BlockFi equity shares.

Bitfront also shuts down, citing challenges in a “rapidly evolving” industry. However, customers can still withdraw their assets until March 31, 2023, before the crypto exchange suspends withdrawals. Bitfront is backed by Japan’s social media giant Line Corp.

The short answer is: No.

Amazon’s third business exit in IndiaUS e-commerce giant Amazon is exiting its wholesale distribution business in India, following the company shutting down its food delivery and online learning platform in recent weeks. The company is showing signs of scaling down its operations in India after investing more than USD6.5 bil in the country. India is a key overseas market for Amazon, contributing between USD18-20 bil in gross merchandise value in 2021, but is lagging behind Walmart’s Flipkart.

Singapore went against the popular viewDespite a majority of Singaporeans (55% based on a survey) do not support gay marriage, Singapore went on to repeal a longstanding and controversial legal ban on sex between men (Section 377A) while simultaneously amending the constitution to ensure only parliament has the right to define marriage that is currently that between a man and a woman.

Blackbox Research carried out the survey with a sample size of 650 Singapore citizens.

Shorts:

1. The World Health Organization (WHO) will label monkeypox as “mpox” in a bid to avoid racism and stigmatisation stemming from the existing name.

2. Elon Musk said Apple threatened to pull the Twitter app off the App Store. Musk also revealed Apple has stopped almost all advertisements on his newly bought social media platform. According to the Washington Post, Apple spent USD48 mil in Q1 of 2022 advertising on Twitter.

3. Bizarre but true — four monks were dismissed from a small Buddhist temple after they tested positive for methamphetamine in the northern province of Phetchabun. The temple is left empty for now. The local monastic chief promised to assign some new monks to the temple in the Bung Sam Phan region.

4. Recession is near, according to this signal — inverting yield curves. According to Bloomberg Global Aggregate bond sub-indexes, the average yield on sovereign debt maturing in 10 years or more has fallen below that of securities due in one to three years. It means investors switch money to longer-term bonds due to pessimism over the economic outlook.Read: Inverted Yield Curve: Definition, What It Can Tell Investors, and Examples

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Hawaii’s Mauna Loa wakes up after 38 years. The world’s largest active volcano is erupting, painting the skies red.

2. How does Amazon fulfil its orders during the Christmas season? By hiring 150,000 seasonal workers. How does it attract employees? Well, a USD3,000 signing bonus and paying an average of USD18 an hour. Not too shabby.

3. A pitch invader ran across the field during Portugal vs Uruguay’s match, carrying a rainbow flag and wearing a “Save Ukraine” t-shirt.