Morning Brief

75 years ago last week, India won its independence from the British and split into two. Unfortunately the chaos, confusion and religious violence that followed resulted in the deaths of up to two million people and unleashed one of history’s largest displacements. We speak to Dr Pradeep Taneja, Senior Lecturer in Asian Politics at the University of Melbourne if ties have improved between India, Pa...

Professsor Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah, Professor of Transport Engineering, USM shares his thoughts on the federal government's announcement to allocate 1.8 billion ringgit for maintenance of federal roads throughout Malaysia for 2022, See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can’t grow strawberries in Camerons. But is the picture more dire than we think and how can Malaysia adapt its agricultural policy to these situations? Ameen Kamal, Head of Science and Technology, EMIR Research shares his perspective See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The appeal at the Federal Court by convicted Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak wraps up this week. We speak to Goh Cia Yee, Criminal Lawyer on the many twists and turns that we observed so far and whether the tactic employed to constantly change the defence legal team will work? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following President Jokowi's speech when he tabled Indonesia's 2023 budget, we ask Krystal Tan, Economist, ANZ Bank on the outlook of Indonesia's economy as we dissect their fiscal prudence measures and their hope to shift their economy further downstream See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia continues to languish in Tier 3, the the lowest rank, in the new US Trafficking in Persons Report 2022 for a second consecutive year. Minal Patel Davis, Director, Houston Mayor's Office of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence tells us how we can improve our rankings See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Court of Appeal earlier this month overturned the 2021 landmark decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, which ruled that Malaysian mothers have the same right as Malaysian fathers to confer citizenship by operation of law to children born overseas. We speak to YB Kasthuri Patto, Member of Parliament for Batu Kawan for how we can change the law and why the delay. See omnystudio.com/listener...

Venture capital deal activity soared to a record 20 billion dollars in 2021 in ASEAN which is a 1.6 times increase from 2020. However in an era of rising rates and poor debuts in the public market, is the outlook still as positive? Cameron Joyce, Deputy Head of Research Insights at Preqin tells us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

J Solomon, Secretary General, National Union of Bank Employees (NUBE) makes the case that more needs to be done to improve the Employment Act but strongly advocates that the Government should not delay its implementation this September See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It is accepted that pollution pricing instruments are key in achieving in reducing greenhouse emissions but Asia is struggling to adopt this against a backdrop of soaring inflation, rising energy prices and economic instability. So unsurprisingly, carbon markets and taxes in this region are mostly off to a slow and disappointing start. Arun Pai, Executive-In-Residence at Monk's Hill Ventures tells...

KL City Hall now has a new rule from this year that house owners have 1 year to complete their house renovations starting from the date of approval. If renovations are not completed within a year, permission must be reapplied and a reason must be given to convince the One-Stop Centre committee. David Teoh, Council Member of the Malaysian Institute of Architects, talks about some lack of clarity in...

Starting Sept 1st, 2022, amendments to the Malaysian Employment Act 1955 will take effect. This means employees will get longer maternity leave, paternity leave will be introduced and there will also be a lower cap to how long people can work a week. Datuk Wira Ameer Ali Mydin, advisor to the Federation of Malaysian Business Associations tells us about how receptive and prepared employers are for...

The Royal Malaysian Navy's littoral combat ship scandal would have been swept under the carpet if not for the 250-page Public Accounts Committee that highlighted how more than RM6 billion was spent with no vessel materialising. What does this say about Malaysia's national security as well as corruption at high levels of government? Economist Dr Nungsari A Radhi talks about how these issues can be...

The US corporate earnings' season is winding down with overall results either surpassing or meeting street expectations. This surprised investors who had been bracing for a gloomier outlook on both businesses and the economy. Dave Sekera, the Chief US Market Strategist at Morningstar talks to us about his expectations for the rest of the year and what he sees are sectors to keep an eye on. See omn...

Putrajaya expects to table the Health White Paper in Parliament in November. The aim is to ensure a sustainable and resilient health system that can survive changes in the government. It is also looking to increase health expenditure from the current 2.59% to 5% of GDP. Dr Khor Swee Kheng, co-founder of the Malaysian Health Coalition talks to us about how effective these proposals might be. See om...

Barisan Nasional chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Zahid Hamidi is calling for early elections whilst Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri wants to study the outcome of a BN survey. So when will GE15 be called? Adib Zalkapli, Director at BowerGroupAsia attempts to answer that question whilst telling us the respective issues that both BN and PH will campaign on. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

With the Hong Kong Government cutting its growth forecast, we ask Michael Frank, Senior Analyst of Public Policy, Economist Impact how will China's Covid Zero policy impact its immediate and long term future as well as understand who will benefit from Hong Kong's decline See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, the Federal Court ruled that victims of road accidents should automatically be given compensation without having to sue insurance companies. But what are the actual mechanics of this ruling and does this mean higher premiums for all motorist? Antony Lee, President of the Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia clarifies the law. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Inflation in Australia hit a 21 year high in June at 6.1% which caused the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise rates by 50 basis points to 1.85% in August. However what impact does this have on the property sector and also the consumer? Catherine Birch, Senior Economist at ANZ Research tells us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

All eyes are on the Federal Court today as it hears former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s appeal to quash his conviction and jail sentence in the 42 million ringgit SRC International corruption case. Tom Wright, Co-author of the Billion Dollar Whale and co-founder of Project Brazen, a journalism production studio tell us what he thinks the outcome will be and will this mark the end...

We ask Suhaimi Ilias, Chief Economist at Maybank Investment Bank on whether the Government can afford an expansionary budget following Bank Negara releasing the 2nd quarter GDP figures last Friday that beat consensus expectations with the country’s economy growing by 8.9% See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With reports that more than 21,000 students had quit school between March 2020 and July 2021, there are calls for the Education Act 1996 be amended to make schooling compulsory up to Form 5. Does Malaysia have the infrastructure to do so? What other solutions can be explored? Hema Letchamanan, senior lecturer at Taylor’s University School of Education shares her thoughts on systemic changes that m...

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unleashed a perfect storm that roiled the global energy markets with governments worldwide under enormous pressure to cope with reduced gas flows. So does this crisis impede or catalyze the global energy transition? Evan Ng, Energy Market Analyst tells us. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SMEs are the backbone of the Malaysian economy with Department of Statistics saying the sector's contribution to GDP stands at around 37%. And in conjunction with International Youth Day, we explore the important role young entrepreneurs play in the nation's development. Stefen Cheng, Chairman of the Digitalisation Sub-committee, Small and Medium Enterprises Association (SAMENTA), share his person...

There has been a landmark ruling by the Federal Court that victims of road accidents should automatically be compensated by insurance companies without requiring legal action to do so. The Judge's ruling is that provisions in the Road Transport Act 1987 should be construed to protect all motorists, including victims of road accidents. Transport consultant, Dr Rosli Azad, takes us through the impli...