Morning Brief

As Malaysia approaches Budget 2027 tabling amid pre-election expectations, the government faces a delicate balancing act between expanding fiscal support and maintaining medium-term discipline. Dr Afzanizam Abdul Rashid, Chief Economist at Bank Muamalat, joins The Morning Run to evaluate the Madani government’s true fiscal room. Dr Afzanizam examines how the Public Finance and Fiscal Responsibilit...

Malaysia's redesigned MyKad hit an immediate snag: digital services including Touch 'n Go eWallet, three digital banks, and MyDigitalID all failed to recognise the new card during verification. Amin Ashaari, CEO and Co-Founder of SoyaCincau, joins The Morning Run to discuss the friction surrounding Malaysia’s updated national ID.  He breaks down what his team's testing uncovered, where accoun...

Malaysia has revamped its Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme, or CRESS, the programme that lets businesses buy green electricity straight from renewable energy developers. The changes include lower grid usage fees, a new 10-year power purchase agreement, and a deadline for plants to start operating by end-2028. That could improve developers' margins and meet the green power demand coming fro...

Prolonged hot and dry weather is putting Malaysia’s poultry farms under growing pressure, with heat stress potentially slowing chicken growth, reducing egg production and increasing the cost of keeping birds cool. While extreme temperatures do not automatically mean shortages, more frequent and prolonged heat could test the resilience of the wider food supply chain. How vulnerable is Malaysia’s po...

Bank Indonesia has kept its benchmark interest rate at 5.75% for a third consecutive meeting, balancing pressure on the rupiah against the need to support domestic growth. With oil above US$100, elevated US Treasury yields and lingering concerns over Indonesia’s policy direction weighing on investor confidence, the central bank faces a difficult external environment. Can it stabilise the rupiah wi...

Melaka's state assembly has been dissolved, setting up Malaysia's third state election this year. Barisan Nasional is defending the state after big wins in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, while Pakatan Harapan, which left the state government in July, is talking to Bersatu about a possible "PH Plus" alliance. We speak to Dr Syaza Shukri, Associate Professor of Political Science at International Islamic...

Plantation stocks have beaten the KLCI by almost 20 per cent this year, helped by higher CPO prices and better June-quarter earnings. But palm oil exports are slowing and El Nino is shaping up to be the strongest on record, so can the rally last? We speak to Nadia Subhan, Research Analyst at Affin Hwang Investment Bank, about the second-quarter results, her CPO price forecasts for 2026 and 2027, a...

Europe’s trade deficit with China has surpassed €1 billion a day, fuelling concerns that growing Chinese competition could accelerate the erosion of Europe’s industrial base. While the pressure is particularly visible in the automotive sector, Brussels argues the challenge is spreading across manufacturing and has promised to use its trade-policy tools to respond. With an October deadline approach...

The Education Ministry’s decision to remove the 30% Bumiputera equity requirement for private educational institutions under its purview has reignited a much broader debate over Malaysia’s Bumiputera economic policies. Dr Lee Hwok-Aun, Senior Fellow with the Malaysian Studies Programme at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, takes a look at this five-decade-old policy. Image Credit: Shutterstock See o...

World leaders have gathered in New York for the UN General Assembly against the backdrop of the US-Iran conflict, the war in Ukraine and deepening divisions between the major powers. Donald Trump has used his address to defend American sovereignty and criticise international institutions, while China’s Xi Jinping is prioritising direct talks with Trump over attending the gathering. Can the UN stil...

US President Donald Trump is set to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House, with trade, Taiwan, artificial intelligence and the war in Iran all adding to an already complex US-China relationship. Chong Ja Ian, Associate Professor of Political Science at the National University of Singapore, shares his insights. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

Negeri Sembilan is caught in a deepening constitutional standoff after Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir revoked the appointments of all state executive councillors, a move Menteri Besar Dato' Ismail Lasim argues should have no legal effect without the Menteri Besar’s advice. The dispute hinges on competing interpretations of Article 38 of the State Constitution, further complicated by unresolved quest...

Malaysia's average monthly salary rose 4% to RM3,803 in 2025, but the headline figure masks a deeper trend: Wage growth is decelerating, the gender pay gap is widening slightly, and youth unemployment sits at 10.2%, more than three times the national rate. Wan Amirah Wan Usamah, Research Associate at the Khazanah Research Institute, joins The Morning Run to unpack the structural fault lines behind...

Convicted felon Dato' Seri Najib Razak's conditional pardon allowing him to serve the remainder of his SRC International sentence under house arrest has exposed fresh tensions within Malaysia's Unity Government. Dr Azmi Hassan, Senior Fellow at Nusantara Academy for Strategic Research, analyses these developments and the implications for Anwar Ibrahim's coalition. Image Credit: Shutterstock See om...

Germany’s political establishment is under growing pressure after another bruising set of state elections for Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s CDU. The far-right AfD emerged strongest in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, while the far-left Die Linke topped the vote in Berlin, highlighting growing fragmentation at both ends of the political spectrum. What is driving voters away from Germany’s mainstream pa...

As global trade fault lines deepen, Europe is quietly doubling down on Southeast Asia to build its economic resilience. With the EU-ASEAN relationship nearing the 50-year mark and Brussels' $10 billion Global Gateway pledge still to be fully deployed, Chris Humphrey, Executive Director of the EU-ASEAN Business Council, joins The Morning Run to preview the 12th EU-ASEAN Business Summit in Manila. C...

Twelve years became six. RM210 million became RM50 million. And now the convicted felon and corrupt criminal Datuk Seri Najib Razak could be going home to serve his sentence. Anand Raj, President of the Malaysian Bar Council, talks to us about what exactly does "house arrest" mean in Malaysia and if this creates a template that other prisoners could use. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.c...

The government has temporarily raised the electricity subsidy threshold from 600kWh to 800kWh as hotter weather and the haze push household consumption higher. Associate Prof Ts Dr Amar Hisham Jaaffar, Programme Coordinator of Master in Energy Management at Universiti Tenaga Nasional, discusses the implications of this development. Image Credit: Shutterstock See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

As Negeri Sembilan's constitutional crisis unfolds, former Minister of Law Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar joins The Morning Run to help answer: who holds the ultimate power to dethrone or appoint a ruler? Syed Hamid establishes three foundational principles for resolving the standoff, unpacks the mandatory inquiry requirements under Article 10 of the State Constitution, and explains why Executive Counci...

The Houthis' capture of the port city of Mokka and key islands along Yemen's Red Sea coast has placed them at Saudi Arabia's strategic back door, threatening oil shipments through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait at a moment when the Strait of Hormuz is already paralysed. Mohd Amirul Asraf Othman, Research Scholar at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at Australian National University (ANU), joins Th...

Following the election of former player and administrator Datuk Abdul Ghani Hassan as President of the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), Haresh Deol, Editor at Twentytwo13, joins The Morning Run to assess the road ahead for Malaysian football. Haresh unpacks questions surrounding the election process following warnings from Asian Football Confederation (AFC) General Secretary Datuk Seri Wind...

Following Grab’s $1.49 billion majority-stake acquisition of Singapore-based BNPL provider Atome Financial, Vincent Fong, Chief Editor and Country Manager of Fintech News Malaysia, joins The Morning Run to break down the strategic implications for Southeast Asia's fintech ecosystem. Vincent analyses how acquiring Atome immediately elevates Grab into a formidable second-place contender against mark...

Apple’s latest iPhone launch put smartphone pricing back in the spotlight, with price hikes extending even to older iPhone models. But rising device costs aren't just an Apple problem. Andrew Chan, Former Executive Director of the Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association (MSIA), joins The Morning Run to examine how the AI boom is restructuring global semiconductor supply chains and pushing smar...

For decades, Kota Kinabalu Central Market has been where locals buy fresh fish and produce, and where tourists go to see the city's market culture up close. Now the Sabah government is thinking about moving it out of the city centre. That could change things for the traders who depend on it and for the tourism it brings in. We speak to Dr. Saizal Pinjaman, Director of the Centre for Economic Devel...

Japan has revised its second-quarter growth figures upwards, with business spending holding up despite high fuel prices. The better numbers have raised expectations that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates on 18th September 2026, a day after the Fed raised its own. That could squeeze household budgets and company profits just as the economy was finding its feet. We speak to Naomi Fink, Chi...