☕️ T20 parents send their kids to MRSM to "teach them the hardships of life"

1. MARKET SUMMARY 📈

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE 🔢

A total of 395,870 candidates have registered for the 2023 SPM examination, which is set to take place in 3,340 examination centres nationwide until March 7. Efforts have been made to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination in light of the recent floods. Additionally, 129,635 examination personnel have been appointed to oversee the management and administration of the examination.

RM1,216 — the price of a cup of coffee, specifically the Paraiso Gold Coffee from South America, paid by a food influencer. Why is it so expensive, though? According to the server, it is one of the rarest coffees in the world, and the coffee beans taste like “great wine.” The influencer was not impressed by the taste, saying it tasted just like other coffees. The Paraiso Gold coffee bean (you can buy it online here) grows best at an altitude of 1,100 meters, where it gets the right amount of rain and heat. These beans have different flavours, like rose, wild berries, green apple, pineapple, passion fruit, banana, wine, and more.

According to Tan Ka Leong, group managing director of CBRE | WTW Malaysia, properties priced between RM500,001 and RM700,000 make up 15% of all the overhang units in Klang Valley. The largest category of overhang units, at 28%, are those priced at RM1 mil and above. Tan reported a 5.0% overall increase in the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the supply of residential properties in the Klang Valley from 2018 to the third quarter of 2023 (3Q2023). The CAGR for non-landed properties, including serviced apartments, apartments, condominiums, and single-family homes, was 8.0%, surpassing the CAGR of landed homes at 2.0%. Better real estate opportunities? Cold storage — read on below.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

The reason why T20 parents send their kids to MRSM — to teach them the hardships of life
Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA) Student Association president Mohd Fadzil Yusof revealed in a video interview on Sinar Harian’s media platform that the main reason why T20 parents send away their kids to MARA Junior Science College (MRSM) is to teach them the hard lessons of life. MRSM, initially founded to provide opportunities to B40 Bumiputera children to elevate their lives through education, has now become a life training ground for rich kids. Fadzil also added that instead of proceeding with the idea of creating an MRSM for the rich, T20 parents can instead contribute to the cost of education at MRSM as an alternative. ‘We can implement paid admission, different from paid schools,’ he said. Perhaps another suggestion to learn ‘hard lessons’ in life — the rich parents should get their kids to work to earn their pocket money whilst concurrently studying, a common hardship to juggle faced by the less fortunate ones.

The infamous J-Kom is finally getting a revamp
Former Special Affairs Department (Jasa) director-general Mohd Puad Zarkashi has urged Putrajaya to overhaul the controversial Community Communications Department (J-Kom) due to the recent Dubai Move expose and previous ‘A&W’ scandal where some of J-Kom’s officers were allegedly linked to a lewd viral clip. J-Kom was previously known as Jasa.

Coincidently, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil also announced to the media that the Government had agreed in principle to revamp J-Kom. However, Fahmi denied that the decision to overhaul the heated government unit was triggered by Puad but instead said it was the Government’s plan all along.

Slow but not so steady, the mantra of government projects

1. MRT3 Project — Transport Minister Anthony Loke stated that the Mass Rapid Transit Line 3 (MRT3) project is unaffected despite MRT Corp having requested the fourth extension since the middle of last year to finalise tenders for the project. According to Loke, Putrajaya had only approved the budget for land acquisition at the end of last year which will involve 1,012 lots of land, covering 842 private lots, 133 government lots, and 37 lots of unknown ownership. The process to secure the land corridor will commence in 2Q2024 and will last for about two years.

2. MMEA OPV — After a three-year delay, years and not months, you read it right ladies and gentlemen, TH Heavy Engineering Bhd finally handed over the first out of three offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) for enforcement and search operations. TH blamed the pandemic and issues with importing the ship’s technical equipment for the delay. The handover dates for the remaining two ships are still one of the mysteries of life and have yet to be announced. The delay of the OPVs had prompted an investigation by the Public Accounts Committee previously in 2022. Consequently, the finance ministry had to take over the project from Tabung Haji subsidiary Destini Sdn Bhd and injected RM152.6 mil to make sure the first OPV is completed. The latest LCS scandal sounds too similar to this OPV saga.

3. PADU — This latest government’s foray is not slow but launched too fast, too messy. Recently, the Government launched the highly anticipated Central Database Hub (Padu), a platform to collate all the personal data held in various agencies to provide a profile of households and their disposable incomes. The main objective of Padu is to become the backbone of a better-targeted subsidy in the future. However, the launch of Padu was mired with various technical issues, including a loophole for a third party to override one password just by using one’s IC number. Fortunately, all the stakeholders behind Padu, including the Economy Ministry, thanked all who highlighted the loopholes.

Shorts

1. Proton’s 2023 was the best year since 2012 — Proton Holdings Bhd recorded a record-breaking sales performance, the best one since 2012, registered a 9.3% increase in units sold, from 141,432 units sold in 2022 to 154,611 units sold in 2023. Proton controls about 19.4% of the market, ranked second in overall sales. Proton CEO Li Chunrong attributed the good performance to the tax-free schemes in 1Q2023 and almost disruption-free car launches.

2. Funding Societies gets new investors — Khazanah Nasional Bhd teamed up with CGC Digital Sdn Bhd to jointly invest in Funding Societies, a unified small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) digital finance platform in Southeast Asia. The investment falls under Khazanah’s Dana Impak mandate, though no deal terms were disclosed. Since its inception in 2015, Funding Societies have disbursed more than RM16 bil to MSMEs across five countries namely Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

3. Ex-judge’s sentence shortened from 6 months to a day — Miracles do happen as what happened to former Sessions Court Judge Azmil Muntapha Abas, convicted of corruption, saw his jail sentence reduced from six months to one day and the fine imposed halved from RM25,000 to RM12,000 by the Shah Alam High Court. However, the High Court decided against putting aside Azmil’s conviction as there was not enough merit to do so.