☕️ Tips from Paul Tan - how to ensure your RFID works properly

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

RM60 bil worth of property in Malaysia has been left unclaimed, according to Malaysian Syarie Lawyers Association president Musa Awang. More than 90% of the Malay Muslim community in the country has not written a will or hibah, leading to the unclaimed and frozen property.

2,500 people in India lose their lives to lightning annually. India recorded more than 18 million lightning strikes between April 2020 and March 2021. Men working on farms are most vulnerable.

8,000 ETH (USD23.7 mil at the time of purchase) was spent by Deepak Thapliyal, CEO of Chain Protocol, to purchase CryptoPunk 5822.

3. COVID-19 SUMMARY

• The Philippines has approved Malaysian vaccine certs on MySejahtera for travel into the republic after 7 Malaysians were refused entry on Sunday. Diplomatic sources revealed that efforts to mutually recognise each country’s vaccination certificates broke down, leading to this fiasco. The Philippines sent in an official request to Wisma Putra in September last year for a mutual recognition that the republic will recognise MySejahtera but are still awaiting Malaysia to recognise its VaxCertPH.

• Malaysia and Brunei have agreed in principle to implement the air and land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL), but no dates have been given yet.

4. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

1. Outspoken political graphic artist Fahmi Reza will be charged in court this Thursday for the second time in a month. The previous time he was charged on 8 Feb for an alleged obscene online posting last year targeted at a minister. His lawyer declined to disclose the post that got him into trouble again this time. 

2. A 15-year-old teenage girl was charged in Kemaman, Terengganu, with killing her newborn baby, who was found dead, believed to have been stabbed with a sharp object. She was allegedly a rape victim and the police are tracking Mohammad Hazuarie Hassan, 20, who is believed to have escaped the northern region.The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) has voiced their concern over the treatment of the teenage girl as she should be provided with the necessary legal aid and healthcare from the authorities and is “suffering from a horrible mental health condition that led to her circumstances”. Suhakam’s child commissioner Prof Noor Aziah Mohd Awal said the girl should be receiving post-partum and psychological care before being taken to court. 

3. Motor vehicles of Persons with Disabilities (PwD) and electric vehicles will be exempted from the full motor vehicle license fee which was made possible under the government allocations under Budget 2022. For PwD, exemptions are only applicable to motor vehicles that had been specifically modified for their use and those that are not specifically modified. Exemptions will only apply for completely knocked down (CKD) vehicles and national cars.  Application for exemptions begins on Mar 15. For EV, exemptions are applied to battery or fuel cell vehicles and not hybrid models and exemption is effective Jan 1 this year to Dec 31, 2025. Visit the JPJ site here to view the vehicle licensing fee rates. 

4. The MACC’s investigation has found several dubious expenses in allegations of misuse of MARA Corp corporate credit cards by its top management. MACC has asked the management to come to its HQ in Putrajaya to explain its guidelines for the use of its corporate credit card. MACC raided MARA Corp’s HQ on Feb 7 and seized various documents. 

5. Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd has launched Kenanga Digital Investing (KDI) - its fully automated AI-driven robo-adviser designed to make it easy for Malaysians to invest and is expecting a conservative growth of 50 - 75,000 new customers. It offers two core, SC-licensed products:Sign up here (sorry, we ain’t got a referral link)

   1. KDI Save - allows users to earn daily returns on their savings with no lock-in period and zero management fees and is currently offering a promotional rate of 3% fixed interest rate until the end of the year. 

   2. KDI Invest - access to global investment opportunities through US-listed Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) across various geographies and asset classes like bonds, currencies and commodities at a competitive fee. The first RM3k will be free and above that, a management fee of 0.3-0.7% per annum. 

6. Capital A Bhd is raising more than RM400 mil for its engineering arm, which plans to build maintenance, repair and overhaul (RMO) a 380,000 sq ft facilities site in KLIA with construction commencing in mid-2022 and expected to be completed in 2 years. The integrated facilities will be able to provide heavy RMO services for up to 14 commercial planes at a time and will lay the foundation for the company to be one of the largest RMO providers in the region. Tony Fernandes, the CEO of Capital A, said the fundraising would support the growth of this subsidiary, known as Asia Digital Engineering, which will spend about RM250 mil on building these facilities in KLIA and the company plans to open more similar facilities in Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. 

7. Pelaburan Hartanah Bhd (PHB) will take full control of the 12-year-old Empire Shopping Gallery in Subang Jaya by the end of February, after its previous owner Mammoth Empire Holdings Sdn Bhd (MEH) had decided not to exercise the call option to buy back the mall on the 5th anniversary of the sale when MEH sold the property to PHB for RM570 mil in cash. With 350,000 sq feet of net lettable area, MEH had to fork out RM670 mil or pay the market value of the property at the time, whichever is higher. MEH has been under pressure to divest some of its assets to pare down its debts and address the troubled development of its Empire City Mall, PJ. Soon, Empire Shopping Gallery will no longer exist - PHB plans to rename the mall.

8. To reduce textile waste and improve sustainability, a second-hand clothes company has emerged selling something intimate — lingerie. Thriftfitts, operating off Instagram, sells curated and preloved lingerie as lingeries can be really expensive and is making about 50 sales per week. The first thing that comes to mind - is it hygienic? Jessica Lee, the founder of Thriftfitts, says it doesn’t deal with panties and carries out a strict selection process. On a similar note, here’s a list of 11 Malaysian online lingerie brands - channel some of your Victoria’s Secret budget to sapot-ing local businesses! Also, Victoria’s Secret meets the metaverse - more below.

5. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

1. The United Nations (UN) on Tuesday urged Singapore to halt the imminent executions of two men — Pausi Jefridin and Roslan Bakar — held for drug offences. Both were arrested in 2008 and convicted two years later on drug trafficking charges and have been on death row since. UN has also asked Singapore to end its use of the death penalty altogether.

2. Novak Djokovic, the world’s number one men’s tennis player, has finally spoken after the Australian Open ordeal last month. Djokovic said he would rather miss out on tennis trophies than be forced to get a Covid-19 vaccine because he supports an individual’s right to choose. However, he said he is not anti-vax.

3. 54 apps of Chinese origin have been banned in India due to security concerns (not racism). Tensions remain between the two countries are high due to protracted border disputes. Sea Ltd’s marquee game Free Fire, one of the world’s most popular mobile games with more than a billion downloads on Google Play, was also banned. As a result, Sea’s stock sank as much as 19% in New York, losing USD16 bil in value.

4. Russia said it is pulling back some of its troops along the Ukraine borders. While Nato welcomed the move, they have yet to see evidence of de-escalation on the ground. The announcement by Russia's defence ministry was enough for both Ukraine and Russia to claim victory in the stand-off.

5. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken the unprecedented step of invoking the Emergencies Act to control the demonstrations across Canada as they enter their third week. The act allows banks to freeze personal accounts of anyone linked with the protests, with no need for court orders. Will Trudeau’s action deter the protestors? That’s why we are an advocate of Bitcoin - the freedom money. Going the Bitcoin path is the only way we can protect our financial freedom from the tyranny of governments.

6. Another reason iPhones are popular is that they hold their value well compared to their Android counterparts. In fact, it has created another market — refurbishers and resellers. The overall market is expected to grow at an annual rate of 10.23% between 2022 and 2027.iPhone refurbisher Swappie, based in Finland, has raised USD124 mil Series C funding round led by growth equity firm Verdane to expand into new markets in Europe. Swappie takes care of the entire process from refurbishing and selling the devices via its own marketplace, with a 12-month warranty.

7. The Microsoft Activision deal has an unexpected winner: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire owned 14.66 million of Activision Blizzard shares valued at USD975 million as of the end of 2021 before Microsoft announced it would acquire Activision Blizzard for USD95 per share. Berkshire’s filing showed the average acquisition price is USD66.51. If the deal goes through, Berkshire is poised to notch a handsome 42.8% profit — USD417.6 mil if the deal goes through.

8. Another day, another company is going into the metaverse — Victoria’s Secret. Victoria's Secret killed its annual fashion show in 2019, but the lingerie giant filed a trademark application with the US Patent and Trademark Office — to sell virtual goods such as clothing, undergarments, and footwear.

9. Bitcoin FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) ahead — Pakistan’s central bank said that risks posed by cryptocurrencies outweigh its benefits. Reza Baqir, governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, said their speculative nature and decentralised nature could pose a risk to financial and monetary stability for a developing country.

6. FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE 👁👁

1. A bizarre situation when hundreds of yellow-headed blackbirds drop dead in Mexico. This action is known as murmuration - when the birds were trying to avoid predators and hit the ground. It looks like black rain pouring down.

2. A public safety announcement - only in the US

1. How to ensure your RFID works properly by Paul Tan of paultan.org