☕️ Shocking: 58% of households in Malaysia do not have fire and home insurance policies

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

• Link for ZUS - https://zuscoffee.page.link/RDdt

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

Prime residential prices in Kuala Lumpur saw a modest 0.2% year-on-year increase in Q1 2025, according to Knight Frank’s Prime Global Cities Index. The city ranked 35th out of 45 locations in the index, exhibiting a flat quarterly performance that suggests a pause in growth rather than a contraction. The global average growth of 2.8% was primarily fueled by cities in Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, even as the overall recovery remained modest and inconsistent. Seoul led the index with an 18.4% increase, followed by Dubai (16.4%), Tokyo (15.5%), Bengaluru (8.3%), and Mumbai (7.6%), with Singapore placing 20th with a 2.5% annual gain.

Since 1990, the wealthiest 10% of the world's population have been responsible for two-thirds of global warming, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change. The researchers found that the consumption and investment patterns of the rich have significantly increased the risk of heatwaves and droughts. For example, the wealthiest 1% contributed 26 times more to once-in-a-century heatwaves and 17 times more to droughts in the Amazon compared to the global average. Emissions from the richest 10% in China and the United States, which together account for nearly half of global carbon pollution, each led to a two to threefold increase in extreme heat events.

Ejen Ali The Movie 2 (EATM2) has officially made history by raking in over RM34.2 million in just 11 days, decisively shattering its predecessor's box office record. This remarkable achievement also solidifies EATM2's position as the highest-grossing local animated film in the shortest amount of time. To date, over 2 million viewers have flocked to see EATM2, indicating a significant and positive shift in how local animated films are being received, with their popularity rapidly growing among the general public. Watch the trailer here.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

Court rejects PM Anwar’s civil immunity bid
The Kuala Lumpur High Court, chaired by High Court Judge Roz Mawar Rozain, has decided to bin PM Anwar Ibrahim’s bid to suspend the civil lawsuit brought by Yusoff Rawther, who has accused the PM of sexual assault. The judge stated that the eight constitutional questions brought forward by PM Anwar and his legal team did not meet the required threshold for PM Anwar to be provided immunity from civil suits. The judge added that there is no provision in our Federal Constitution that implies immunity for the PM from civil suits. PM Anwar still can submit an appeal to the Court of Appeal, but in the meantime, the proceedings of the civil suit brought forward against PM Anwar will still continue as scheduled on June 16.

Malaysia Darul Semiconductor

Tata Electronics to enter Malaysia
India-based and semiconductor giant, Tata Electronics, reportedly is looking to dip its toes into Malaysia via the acquisition of a fabrication, or semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) plant. This news, should it materialise, will for sure boost Malaysia’s standing as a leading player in crucial chip packaging, assembly, and testing services. Plus, to those iOS fanboys, Tata Electronics is also a major assembler and component manufacturer for Apple’s iPhone supply chain. India now accounts for 18% of global iPhone production.Who knows one day we will become from buruh, nelayan, dan juga petani into buruh, nelayan dan juga pemasang iPhone.

Kedah may be the epicentre of the new Malaysian-made chip
Kedah-based electronics manufacturing services (EMS) provider Aurelius Technologies Bhd (ATech) may be the key player behind the RM1.1 bil deal announced between the Malaysian Government and UK-based chip architect Arm Holdings plc to build the first ‘Made in Malaysia’ semiconductor chip. However, in a recent exclusive interview with The Edge at ATech’s headquarters in Kulim Hi-Tech Park, ATech CEO Loh Hock Chiang remains tight-lipped on the group’s specific role. Loh was one of the few selected participants in a panel session during the launch of Malaysia’s Silicon Vision initiative at Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur. KVIDIA in the making.

Malaysian playing the real estate game on global stage

IOI Properties buying up mixed development in Singapore
IOI Properties Group Bhd is acquiring the remaining 50.1% stake in Singapore’s South Beach development from City Developments Ltd (CDL) for RM2.75 bil. The underlying development is valued at SGD2.75 bil (RM9.05 bil). South Beach is an integrated development, which comprises South Beach Tower, South Beach Avenue, and the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach. The acquisition will be funded via a combination of internal funds and bank borrowings. Interestingly, the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is a substantial shareholder in IOI Properties with an 8.33% stake.

EPF to sell a few hospitals in the UK in RM8 bil deal
While its investee is making deals in Singapore, the mother, EPF itself, is preparing to sell a portfolio of UK private hospitals, which are now valued at about GBP1.4 bil (RM8.07 bil). The hospitals, a total of 12 of them, were purchased by an EPF-led consortium in 2013 for a price tag of GBP700 mil. In the UK, healthcare property has seen a flurry of interest this year as investors seek out alternative assets with long-term index-linked leases. Additionally, even the UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has been increasingly utilising private hospitals to reduce the overcapacity at state-owned hospitals. In 2024, the NHS spent GBP2.1 bil in private hospitals and another GBP1.5 bil at private clinics. Not surprisingly, EPF is trying to cash out its hospital assets while they are still deemed as hot stuff.

Kelantan x Lynas in new ‘gold’ deal
Australian-based Lynas Rare Earths Ltd has signed an initial pact with the state of Kelantan for the supply of mixed rare earth carbonate as future feedstock for its advanced materials plant in Pahang. Recently, Lynas has commenced its first production of separated heavy rare earths at its facility in Kuantan, Pahang, making the facility the only non-Chinese commercial producer of the materials. At the moment, Lynas’ plant in Kuantan has been exporting products to East Asia, the US, and Europe.

Securing both the supply and processing capacity of rare earth domestically is timely, as at the moment, China still sticks to its guns in enforcing the export ban of seven kinds of rare earth metals since April 4, which has caused increasingly severe shortages that threaten to close many factories in the United States and Europe. Currently, China mines 70% of the world’s rare earths, with the remaining from Myanmar, Australia and the US. But China does the chemical processing for 90% of the world’s rare earths because it refines all of its own ore and also practically all of Myanmar’s and nearly half of the US production. So, basically, when China imposes the rare earth export ban, the whole world is starved of this rare resource. Well, perhaps the whole world except for Malaysia.

Home insurance, anyone?
General Insurance Association of Malaysia (PIAM) has revealed shocking data recently, which is that more than 50% of Malaysian households remain uninsured against structural damage caused by fire, floods or severe weather conditions. Only 43% or 3.87 mil households out of 9.1 mil last year had a fire and home insurance policy.

Considering the Final Destination-ish incident that happened at Putra Heights, we thought the number would be higher. However, the baffling part is that PIAM stated that based on a survey conducted by Zurich Malaysia in 2024, the awareness among Malaysian households of the perils that could affect their homes are quite high, where floods (75%), heatwaves (74%) and landslides (70%) are the top worries, while urban infrastructure risks, for example fallen trees and sinkholes, are becoming an emerging concern (67%), following recent incidents in Kuala Lumpur. As expected, 38% cited financial constraints as a barrier to being adequately protected.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

China-US: A tough Xi, toxic fungi bioweapon, and a critical mineral shortage

Trump says Xi is "hard to make a deal with"
US President Trump turned to social media to talk about how Chinese President Xi is “very tough, and extremely hard to make a deal with”, raising concerns about the longevity of the fragile economic truce between the two countries. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, when questioned, said that China’s principle and position on developing China-US relations is consistent. Still, tensions have been on the rise between the two nations, especially with the US impeding China’s access to chip-design software and critical jet engine parts, while slapping fresh curbs on Huawei chips and revoking visas for Chinese students. This led to Beijing accusing the US of discriminatory restrictions, with vows to retaliate if the US continues this way.

Chinese couple arrested for smuggling agroterrorism weapon into the US
US federal prosecutors have charged two Chinese nationals with smuggling a toxic fungus into the US, which authorities claim could be turned into a “potential agroterrorism weapon”. The two researchers from China, who are also a couple, also face additional charges of conspiracy, visa fraud, and providing false statements to investigators. The allegations are that one of them smuggled the “Fusarium graminearum” fungus into the US so he could carry out research at a University of Michigan lab where his girlfriend worked. The fungus causes head blight, a disease in crops that is responsible for billions of dollars in economic losses globally each year. The fungus is also harmful to livestock, causing vomiting, liver damage, and reproductive defects, while humans would be harmed through contaminated food. Is it really smuggling if it's already in the US?
Learn: What is Fusarium Graminearum?

FBI Director Patel’s announcement on X

Trump to use emergency powers to boost US rare earth production
The US President will be using his emergency powers once more, slashing legal requirements to push a law that lifts US production of critical minerals and weapons, which marks the latest attempt by the White House to effect a change on a China-dominated rare earth minerals industry. China has been using this dominance to shake global supply chains by halting exports of the rare metals. The act that allows these emergency powers, the Defense Production Act, was also invoked by former President Biden during the pandemic to speed up the production of vaccines and medical gear. China’s halt on rare earth mineral exports has already hit Europe’s auto industry, with some auto parts plants suspending output, with Mercedes-Benz mulling rare earth stockpiles as buffers against Chinese dominance over the industry.

Money business

SpaceX commercial revenue to near USD16 bil in 2025
CEO Elon Musk reported that the firm is on track to record another significant revenue increase in 2025, with SpaceX expected to generate about USD15.5 bil in revenue for the year. Its revenue generators are its partially reusable Falcon 9 rocket, frequently contracted by the US government and private satellite operators, and Starlink, SpaceX’s low-Earth-orbit satellite constellation that provides subscribers with high-speed internet connections. According to analysts, Starlink is driving the major part of the recent revenue growth, estimated to contribute USD12.3 bil in revenue this year from USD7.8 bil in 2024. In March, SpaceX announced that it crossed the 5 mil subscriber mark, up from 60,000 since it first launched in 2021.

China hotelier to add 9,000 hotels by 2030
As always, China operates at a different scale, yet never ceases to amaze us. H World Group aims to add said hotels mostly in China, believing that demand for affordable stays will keep growing despite headwinds for the domestic economy. The Shanghai-headquartered hotelier has over 20 hotel brands, and plans to double their current hotel count by 2030 with the addition of 9,000 hotels, of which 2,300 will be in 2025 alone. The group also plans to keep up a similar pace of expansion, in a bid to “cover China with our product offering as much as possible”.

Shorts

1. Bali bomber turns attention to coffee aspirations

   Umar Patek, who was convicted in the deadly 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, has launched his own coffee business after being released on parole in 2022. His release sparked anger in Australia and Indonesia, with Patek understanding why people were still angry. Still, he will be using some of the earnings to help survivors of the attacks. Asal jangan kopi viral meletup sudah.

2. Researchers prefer Anthropic over OpenAI due to AI safety and early equity

   Anthropic is siphoning top talent from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, with its focus on AI safety and coding, along with an early-stage status that can offer more equity upside, catching the eye of more than one engineer. A report noted that it was eight times as likely that an OpenAI engineer will join Anthropic than vice versa, with a ratio of 11:1 for Google DeepMind, with Anthropic winning out as well. Anthropic also boasts a strong retention rate.

3. Over 200 inmates escape Karachi jail after earthquake

   The inmates escaped a jail in Pakistan’s largest city after an earthquake, with thousands of inmates breaking down doors and the locks of their cells as tremors shook the walls of the jail. Of over 200 who escaped, 80 have been recaptured, with police still searching for more than 130 still at large. One prisoner was killed during the operation.

4. Fugitive capybara two months after escape

   In a more light-hearted jailbreak, Doubao, the last member of a group of capybaras that escaped a zoo in eastern China two months ago, has been recaptured by officials. Zoo officials commented that the female rodent had gained weight and that its fur was still “smooth and glossy”.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 📺

1. Cryonics — the business of freezing and storing dead people, with the hopes of reviving them in the future.

2. Protip: If you are lost at sea, never drink salt water. Instead, opt for fish and turtle blood.

3. One helluva Indian confetti dance. The cleaning process is probably just as crazy.

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