☕️ PSA: Water cuts in Klang Valley from this Wednesday to Friday

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

MrBeast has now overtaken T-Series as the biggest YouTube channel, with 269 mil subscribers as compared to the latter’s 266 mil. MrBeast, real name Jimmy Donaldson, 25, was already the individual with the largest following. T-Series, a Bollywood channel, originally set the record in 2019 after overtaking PewDiePie. MrBeast also announced that his channel took the record with its largest-ever daily spike in subscribers, which rose by more than 2 mil on Saturday. Amazon Prime Video has offered MrBeast a USD100 mil deal for his first TV series, Beast Games, described as “the biggest reality competition series in television history”.

Senior citizens disproportionately suffered the most losses of RM552.5 mil (20%) of the RM2.7 bil total lost by online scammers from 2021 to 2023, according to Bukit Aman Commerical Crime Investigation Department. There were 86,266 victims recorded during this period, and senior citizens made up 6.4% (5,533) of the victims (RM99.9k per victim on average). This worrying trend is still persisting - 990 senior citizen victims, representing 8.3% of the 11,918 cases reported this year between Jan 1 to May 19, lost RM130.4 mil, or 27.7% of the RM471.5 mil total lost (an even higher average of RM131.7k per victim) to online scams during the same period. Do warn your parents about their susceptibility towards online scams. Even sports champions can fall victim to scams — read on below.

From online, we move to the physical world — land scams. A total of 489 land scam case totalling RM299.6 mill in losses (RM612.7k loss on average) were recorded over the past 3 years. Several factors contributed to land scam or land fraud cases, including the buyer’s lack of knowledge on land sale, not following procedures and laws, shortcomings of land office personnel and mistakes by lawyers.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Medical talent brain drain
Two cardiothoracic surgery grads involved in a lawsuit over their parallel pathway qualifications received job offers from prestigious hospitals in London, according to Dr. Hanafiah Harunarashid, pro-vice chancellor at UKM. One was offered a position at the Royal Brompton Hospital, and the other at the Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital. Dr. Hanafiah expressed concern over the potential "brain drain" if Malaysia does not resolve the recognition issue swiftly. The lawsuit, filed by four graduates against the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC) for rejecting their registration on the National Specialist Register (NSR), highlights the ongoing controversy. The MMC does not recognise their Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (FRCS Ed) qualification.

Malaysia’s population-to-specialist ratio is significantly lower than the OECD average, with only 88 doctors listing cardiothoracic surgery as their speciality – 88 doctors for almost 33 mil people? Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad plans to propose legal amendments to the cabinet to resolve the issue. Low wages, crazy working hours, now no recognition for qualification? Brain drain in healthcare is more imminent than ever. 
Read: Tackling healthcare brain drain in Malaysia.

Former JB mayor charged for bribery totalling RM1.5 mil
Datuk Adib Azhari Daud, former mayor of Johor Baru, has been charged with 12 counts of soliciting and receiving bribes totalling RM1.5 mil. The 64-year-old pleaded not guilty in the Session Court, where he faced charges related to accepting payments between RM10,000 and RM250,000 from a middleman to help contractors secure city council projects during his tenure as mayor between June 2020 and Aug 2021. The involved projects were for sewer pipe replacement, sewage treatment plant maintenance in Sungai Segget, and landscaping. If convicted, Adib faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of RM10,000 or five times the value of the bribes, whichever is higher. That’s one bee found in the backyard of the current YDPA to catch.

Business

• Jakel - another joins the DC party
  Jakel Group announced a partnership with PiDC Holding Bhd to develop a 51MW, RM1.2 bil data centre in Cyberjaya. Jakel will hold a 40% stake in the project, named Pi Data Centre Sdn Bhd, with PiDC holding the remaining 60%. The state-of-the-art Tier III Data Centre will be built on a 7.3-acre site in Cyberjaya, with the first phase to be completed by Q4 2025. Jakel's Managing Director, Datuk Seri Mohamed Faroz (also Jakel’s son), said that this investment marks a significant milestone in diversifying Jakel's portfolio into digital infrastructure. Jakel Capital Sdn Bhd director Muhammad Ashraf noted that the group has committed RM1 bil in capital investments for 2024, with more expected in 2025. The group’s strategic investments also include a major stake in Cypark Resources Bhd, a renewable energy firm. PiDC Holdings Sdn Bhd, co-founded by Ong Chin Seong, a seasoned expert in data centre design and operation, will spearhead the project.
  Data centres in 2024 are like gloves in 2020/21. Let’s just hope the ending will be far better.
  Read: The Jakel family and how it started

• Russia-Malaysia relations: expansion and sanction
  Svetofor Group, a Russian-based operator of budget supermarkets is preparing to enter the Malaysian market, aiming to open stores in Klang Valley and Ipoh. This move comes after the group’s retreat from Europe due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Our lack of sanctions on Russia makes it a favourable location for expansion. The Madani government is expected to decide on their application by the end of May. Svetofor’s entry, if approved, will be the first foreign grocery layer since the exit of Hong Kong’s Dairy Farm International (Giant). Svetofor operates over 2k stores globally and plans to introduce their hard discount model which offers goods for 20-30% cheaper than competitors (potentially challenging 99 Speed Mart and the likes). The company has begun seeking local suppliers and hiring staff – indicating significant investment and job creation in Malaysia.

  KL-based semiconductor maker Jatronics has been sanctioned by the US for allegedly supplying electronic parts to Russia, used in its military operations. This includes shipping microchips, semiconductors, and silicon wafers, which are crucial for advanced Russian weapons systems amid the Ukraine conflict. These sanctions freeze any US assets held by Jatronics and halt dealings with US entities, effectively shutting them out and severely impacting operations.

Shorts

1. National shuttlers Lai Pei Jing & Tan Boon Heong lose savings to scams

   Mixed-doubles badminton player Lai Pei Jing revealed that she lost almost all her savings to a scam on her social media. Though she did not state what scam she was a victim of, she plans to share more details about the scam soon to spread awareness and prevent others from losing their life savings as well. Following her news, former No. 1 shuttler Tan Boon Heong also revealed that he fell victim to an investment scam, losing close to RM2.5 mil. Boon Heong recounted being frauded twice, including by a friend. He emphasised the importance of due diligence and avoiding investment schemes that seem too good to be true.

2. Visa exemptions: China & Thailand

   DPM Zahid Hamidi announced that China has agreed to extend the visa exemption period for Malaysian travellers from 15 to 30 days. The announcement was made during a luncheon with China’s Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang in Beijing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Malaysia-China diplomatic relations. Implementation to come soon. Additionally, Thailand has implemented new measures to facilitate tourism, allowing Malaysian tourists to enter without a visa or obtain a visa on arrival for stays up to 60 days. Effective June 1, tourists from 93 countries (previously only 57) can enter Thailand without visa requirements for up to 60 days. Malaysia is among them, along with Vietnam, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines.
   Fun fact: Bangkok holds the world record for the longest name of a place at 168 letters long. Watch how long it takes to pronounce.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Gaza: A US ceasefire proposal, bans on Israel
After more than 36,000 innocent lives were gone, Israel's main supporter US laid out a 3-phase ceasefire proposal on Friday. The four-and-a-half page plan had been sent to Hamas and a senior US official said it is “almost identical” to an earlier one Hamas had already accepted. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that it backed the plan but insisted there would be no permanent ceasefire until Hamas is wiped out. 

The 3 phases:

• Phase 1: Ceasefire, limited hostage release and Israeli withdrawal

• Phase 2: Release of all hostages, full Israeli withdrawal

• Phase 3: Reconstruction, bodies returned

Bans over the weekend

France: Banned 74 Israeli companies from participating in its annual Eurosatory arms and defence industry exhibition in Paris later in June. 

Maldives, A predominantly Muslim nation, the island paradise, announced that it will ban Israelis from the Indian Ocean archipelago. Maldives attracted about 11,000 Israelis, or about 0.6% of its total tourists. 

Pret A Manger: The British coffee and sandwich chain cancelled a 10-year franchise agreement with Israeli partners to open its first branch of 40 cafes in the country due to the conflict. The company activated a ‘force majeure’ clause to terminate the deal.

Last month, Turkey banned all import and export trade with Israel. Israel, which imports 40% of its concrete from Turkey, has been forced to shop for more expensive concrete in Europe. 

Clean energy - when too much of a good thing is bad
Europe is producing too much of a supply of renewable energy, causing prices to drop below zero. For consumers, this means getting free electricity. For investors, that’s a bad thing as it adversely affects economic returns. Though negative prices aren’t new. Its frequency has been increasing. There was a 12-fold increase in the occurrence of negative prices last year. For example in Germany, Europe’s biggest power market had 300 hours (12.5 days) of negative prices last year, and may double this year. The problem with renewables is their intermittency - the sun ain’t shining at night, and turbines wouldn’t spin without wind. The energy providers are working their way towards a solution by building up more energy storage systems to store this excess renewable energy instead of giving it away for free. 

Trump — the first-ever former US president to be convicted
Donald Trump became the first-ever former US president convicted of a crime. Trump has been found guilty by jurors of all 34 charges. The crime? TLDR version: he was found guilty of illegally influencing the 2016 election through a hush money payment to a porn star who said the 2 had sex. Prosecutors said this scheme to withhold negative information is “to defraud the voting public”, a violation of New York state law. 

In typical Trump fashion, he called the trial a “scam” and “rigged”. He will be sentenced on July 11, days before the Republican National Convention, where Republican leaders will confirm their presidential nominee, which would likely be Trump in the Nov 5 US election. Trump can still run for the presidency as the US constitution sets out a few eligibility requirements for presidential candidates: must be at least 35 years old, a “natural born” US citizen, and have lived in the US for at least 14 years. There are no rules blocking candidates with criminal records. 

Trump said he’s willing to accept a prison sentence but warned that the public “would stand for it” and could be a “breaking point”. Recall the 6 Jan 2021 insurrection after Trump lost the election to Biden. Just like his Southeast Asian former peer, Trump’s legal troubles isn’t over and still faces a list of criminal cases: the Jan 6 riots, election interference in Georgia and removing classified documents. 

Shorts

1. Kylian Mbappe x Real Madrid
   The 25-year-old Paris St-Germain forward will join Real Madrid in the upcoming season on a free transfer as his PSG deal expires on June 30. Mbappe, a 2018 World Cup winner and PSG’s record goalscorer with 256 goals since he joined in 2017, will join Real until 2029, earning EUR15 a season plus a EUR150 mil signing-on bonus paid over 5 years and he will keep a percentage of his image right. 

   Read: Kylian Mbappe: The Meteoric Rise of Football’s Prodigy

2. Roaring Kitty’s roaring $GME position

   Keith Gill (aka Roaring Kitty), who sparked the meme stock frenzy in 2021, returned to Reddit, posting a USD116 mil bet on GameStop, the embattled videogame retailer, sending the stock surging by more than 70% during pre-market trading. Gill bought 1.8% of the company’s outstanding stock and USD65.7 mil worth of call options. The surge cost short-sellers nearly USD1 bil in paper loss. 

3. Moon Race: China 1 - 1 US
   China’s Chang’e-6 uncrewed spacecraft successfully landed on the dark side of the moon on Sunday, a region no other country has ever reached. This side of the moon perpetually faces away from Earth, making communications and landing more challenging. Chang’e-6 lander will retrieve up to 2 kg of lunar material and bring it back to Earth. THe US still has a title it can hold on to — the only country to have landed humans on the moon, starting in 1969. But not for long as China, counting Russia as a partner will attempt to launch its first astronaut on the moon around 2030.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. Guess who’s back, back again? If you are old enough to remember, Eminem released his mega-hit “Without Me” back in 2002. He’s back with “Houdini” from his latest album, putting an end to Eminem’s alter ego, Slim Shady.