☕️ Sabah mining scandal: Albert Tei hands over bribery evidence to Mahathir, hints at bigger conspiracy

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

3,198. That’s the total number of registered childcare centres in 2024, according to the Department of Statistics. However, there are also 2.3 mil children aged four and below in Malaysia, and the number of registered childcare centres falls incredibly short of the 40,000 to 50,000 that industry players estimate Malaysia needs. The Registered Childcare and Development Association of Malaysia noted that operators are facing increasing strain, and many are barely able to cope with steep hikes in rent, utilities, and food prices, as well as the stricter safety and health compliance standards. This has resulted in closures of childcare centres, with Kuala Lumpur seeing 11% of its centres closing. Perak and Putrajaya both saw 21% of their centres closing as well.

41,842. That many girls aged 19 and below were recorded as pregnant at Malaysian government health facilities between 2020 and 2024. According to Women, Family, and Community Development Minister Nancy Shukri, the data came from the Health Ministry and covered both married and unmarried teens. Of those cases, 16,951 involved unmarried girls. The minister also shared that, of the 41,842 teen pregnancies, about 50% are Malay, 11% Iban, 9% Peninsular Orang Asli, 5% Chinese, 3% Indian, with the remainder made up of various other ethnicities.

According to child rights activist Dr Hartini Zainudin, studies have shown that teenage mothers are overwhelmingly more likely to have low educational attainment. She said pregnant adolescents were over 16 times more likely to have only primary-level education compared to adult mothers. They were also 14 times more likely to be single at the time of delivery. She called for fully implemented, properly taught comprehensive sexuality education, rather than the watered-down version currently in schools. The National Health and Morbidity Survey 2022 found that 7.6% of teens admitted to having had sex, 5.7% were sexually active at the time of the survey, and 33% had sex before age 14. 88% also did not use any birth control, while 11% had more than one partner. Shocking numbers.

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3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Albert Tei controversy
Albert Tei hands over bribery evidence to Mahathir, hints at bigger conspiracy
Businessman Albert Tei, who previously released videos alleging he bribed Sabah politicians to secure mineral exploration licences, has handed over 340 pages of evidence and a video to former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad. Tei claims he was “ordered” to record the clips, and PAS information chief Ahmad Fadhli Shaari said the businessman hinted at a wider conspiracy involving a group behind the recordings. The videos implicated 14 Sabah politicians, but only two, Andi Suryady Bandy and Yusof Yacob have been charged. Tei himself faces charges for allegedly paying RM500,000 in bribes. Despite submitting extensive documents to the MACC, PM Anwar Ibrahim has stated that there is still insufficient evidence, though the case remains open.

Tei accuses PM’s aide of taking RM629k; Shamsul resigns amid controversy
Tei has also accused PM Anwar Ibrahim’s senior political secretary, Shamsul Iskandar Akin, of receiving RM629,000 in connection with his mineral exploration licences in Sabah. Tei claims he was assured he could recover funds allegedly channelled to Sabah politicians. He compiled a dossier exceeding 300 pages, including WhatsApp screenshots, receipts, and photographs, detailing payments for renovations, furnishings, appliances, cigars, and tailored suits for properties in Bangsar and Putrajaya. Tei also alleges multiple cash handovers between Nov 2023 and Apr 2024 and says a woman acted as Shamsul’s proxy, arranging their first meeting in Kota Kinabalu on Nov 8, 2023.

Meanwhile, Shamsul Iskandar has resigned as PMX’s senior political secretary following controversy over a 2024 letter endorsing contractors for a hospital project. He said the issue was being used to target him and could harm the government’s image, stating, “Saya mengambil keputusan untuk mempertahankan diri saya daripada serangan ini.” (I’m making this decision to defend myself from these attacks).

New shariah rules to make supporting elderly parents clearer
The Government is working on new shariah laws to make it clearer that Muslim adults must support their elderly or dependent parents. Religious affairs minister Na’im Mokhtar said the proposed bill will give shariah courts the power to order parental maintenance (nafkah) and update the Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) Act 1984. The changes, expected to be tabled in Mar and take effect next year, are meant to spell out duties that Islam already expects, making sure parents who are poor, elderly, or unable to work get the support they need, especially as Malaysia heads towards an ageing population by 2030. Na’im added that the revised law will serve as a model for all states, addressing gaps like the lack of clear rules for salary-deduction orders, which shariah courts currently have to work around.

Gov’t looks at minimum prices for couriers
The government is exploring the idea of setting a minimum price for courier services to keep the industry sustainable without putting too much strain on customers, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil told Parliament. They’re taking a careful approach, reviewing costs, pricing structures, and how it would affect both big and small operators. At the moment, MCMC has licensed 102 courier companies, but just 15 handle almost all parcels, with J&T Express and SPX Xpress controlling around 73.5% of the market. MCMC introduced Reference Price Guidelines in 2022 to prevent predatory pricing and help smaller players stay afloat, but these are just benchmarks as courier tariffs are still mostly set by the industry itself through self-regulation under the Postal Services Act 2012. Fahmi said the government wants any floor price to be fair and practical before moving forward.

Starbucks Malaysia slowly bouncing back after boycott
Starbucks in Malaysia is slowly bouncing back after boycotts linked to the Gaza conflict forced some stores to close and hit profits hard. Starbucks Malaysia operator Berjaya Food Bhd CEO Sydney Lawrance Quays said there are “positive signs” as the company’s first-quarter net loss fell to RM14.8 mil and revenue went up 3.3%, a welcome change after a record RM292 mil loss last year. The company had cut its outlets from 400 to 320 (that’s 20% down), losing its spot as Malaysia’s biggest coffee chain to local rival ZUS Coffee. Quays said the boycott has eased as more people realise Starbucks Malaysia is locally run and not connected to the conflict, with nearly all staff being Muslim. Starbucks Malaysia continues to compete well against cheaper chains, appealing to both the middle class and tourists, while also expanding abroad with a third store planned in Iceland following the first one’s launch in May. View earnings here.

Shorts

1. Journalist attacked in Bangsar, files police report 
   Haresh Deol, deputy president of the National Press Club, was attacked by two men in Bangsar earlier this evening, while a third person reportedly filmed the incident. The 43-year-old journalist, co-founder of Kuala Lumpur-based news outlet Twentytwo13, described the assault on X and confirmed he had filed a police report. Pearl Lee, a colleague, said it was the first time in Deol’s 25-year journalism career that he had experienced such an attack. But why is he targeted? Hmm.

2. Hat Yai floods: tourists and residents stranded as waters keep rising

   Floods in Hat Yai have trapped residents and tourists, including dozens of Malaysians, as rescue helicopters circle overhead. Nearby shophouses are submerged, cars have been swept away, and power, water, and mobile networks are down. Hotel staff are providing basic meals from rooftops, and the Malaysian Consulate-General in Songkhla has been contacted for urgent medical aid. Thailand’s disaster agency says the floods have affected 92 districts and over 4,000 villages, impacting nearly 1.9 mil people.

3. Dolla drops banned music video everywhere, except home 
   Homegrown girl group Dolla has re-uploaded their banned music video in every country except Malaysia. Fans worldwide are sharing clips online, while local viewers are still blocked from watching. The group thanked fans for spreading the video across borders, proving that a home ban can’t stop international fans from enjoying it. You can watch it here - safe for work, btw.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

AI & Tech
Japan’s next-level real-estate hunting
A startup company Where Inc in Japan is gaining traction among real-estate companies as they offer artificial intelligence (AI) service to hunt down abandoned houses around the country that can be put up for sale. The AI is trained on tens of thousands of photos to identify ageing roofs, based on characteristics such as rust and colour. Houses that are likely abandoned are marked on satellite imagery. It became available with the help of technology being developed by an entity affiliated with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency to analyse craters on the Moon. In one case, the buyer paid a price of one yen to buy a house from the owner. It can also assist in finding land that can be used as parking lots or installation sites for solar panels. Where Inc already secured around 50 client companies since the full-scale launch of the service in 2024. Meanwhile, the number of abandoned houses in Japan has been on an uptrend, with government data showing that there were around nine mil in 2023.

Apple cuts jobs across its sales organisation
Despite growing revenue and on track to generate sales of nearly USD140 bil (RM578.83 bil) in the Dec quarter, Apple is making the rare move to lay off employees from sales roles in a bid to streamline the way it offers products to businesses, schools and governments. Employees who lost their jobs have until Jan 20 to secure another position within the company or they will be terminated with a severance package. The affected jobs included account managers serving major businesses, schools and government agencies, and staff who operate Apple’s briefing centres for institutional meetings and product demonstrations for prospective major customers. It includes long-time managers and, in some cases, employees who have been with Apple for 20 or 30 years. This is not the first layoff news in the tech sphere these days - earlier in Nov, Amazon.com said it would cut more than 14,000 employees, while Meta Platforms recently culled several hundred roles in its AI organisation.

Trump signs new executive order for “Genesis Mission” 
Trump moves ahead with his AI plans to “Make “America Great Again” - a new executive order has been signed to launch a government-wide effort to build an integrated artificial intelligence platform to harness federal scientific datasets to train next-generation technologies. Named “Genesis Mission”, it aims to transform scientific research and speed scientific discoveries by using massive government scientific datasets “to train scientific foundation models and create AI agents to test new hypotheses, automate research workflows, and accelerate scientific breakthroughs.” That’s a mouthful. In other words, the mission is to help scientists and researchers shorten discovery timelines from years to days or even hours by using AI.

Corruption grips Pakistan
Pakistan has turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 25 times since 1958 to help deal with the country’s financial crisis, making it one of the fund’s most frequent borrowers. A new report by the IMF however, has revealed that corruption in Pakistan is behind an economic crisis driven by “state capture” – where public policy is manipulated to benefit a narrow circle of political and business elites. According to the 186-page report, corruption in Pakistan is “persistent and corrosive”, distorting markets, eroding public trust and undermining fiscal stability. It argues that Pakistan stands to gain substantial economic benefits if governance improves and accountability is strengthened. Such reforms, it notes, could significantly lift the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), which stood at USD340bil (RM1.4 tril) in 2024. Interestingly, the report was made after a request by the Pakistani government itself. Experts say that the revelations are not new, citing that Pakistan’s economic landscape has long been shaped by politically connected actors who enjoy preferential access to land, credit, tariffs and regulatory exemptions. Real changes require political will and a major overhaul to the system long tainted by corruption. Read the report here.

Shorts 

1. China won’t let Taiwan go 
   Amid the trade war negotiations, China’s president Xi Jinping in a phone call to Trump has reaffirmed the country’s stance on Taiwan citing that Taiwan’s return to China was an “integral part of the postwar international order” forged in the joint US-China fight against “fascism and militarism”. Note that the US does not officially recognise Taiwan’s claim to statehood, but Washington remains the island’s most important partner and arms supplier. Trump’s statement also confirmed that he will visit China in Apr and that Xi will come to Washington later in 2026.
   Learn: What is fascism?

2. Ethiopia’s silent volcano erupts after 12,000 years
   Ethiopia’s volcano Hayli Gubbi (view on map here) has erupted after lying dormant for 12,000 years, sending plumes of ash up to 14km into the sky, across the Red Sea towards Yemen, Oman, India and northern Pakistan. No casualties were reported at the time of writing, but the eruption took people by surprise and also left tourists stranded in an ash-covered area near the Danakil desert. The eruption also could have economic implications for the local community of livestock herders. The volcano, which rises about 500m in altitude, sits within the Rift Valley, a zone of intense geological activity where two tectonic plates meet.

3. Thai woman found alive in coffin 
   A woman who is supposed to be dead “rescued” herself from being cremated as she continually knocked her coffin and was eventually heard by temple workers. Her brother said that has been bedridden for about two years, deteriorated and appeared to stop breathing two days ago. The brother then placed her in a coffin and made a 500km journey to a hospital in Bangkok, in which she was rejected because of no official death certificate and then passed to the temple service for cremation arrangement.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

Organisational stuff today

1. The sad truth of work politics.

2. Power moves to shut down disrespect without losing cool.

3. You are not dumb, you just lack the prerequisites.