Morning Brief

Last week, Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Ismail Sabri announced that the government has, in principle, agreed to enact a political funding bill. Civil society groups have long called attention to this issue given that Malaysian politics is infamously opaque on its sources of financing. We discuss what effective legislation on political funding would look like with Dr. Muhammad Mohan of Transparen...

Australia will head to the polls on Saturday, 21 May to elect the next Prime Minister, with the race being between incumbent Scott Morrison and Labour challenger Anthony Albaneze. We discuss the issues at play as voters make their choice with Dr. Zareh Ghazarian of Monash University. Image Credit: EPA-EFE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As the three Cs - Covid-19, climate change and conflict in Ukraine - wreak havoc on global food supply chains, countries are grappling with the consequences of higher food costs. How should Malaysia be responding to the threat of food security amid rising food prices? Policy expert Prof. Datin Paduka Dr. Fatimah Arshad, Research Fellow at UPM's Laboratory of Agricultural and Food Policy Studi...

Daniel Ives, the Managing Director of Wedbush Securities, may have reduced Tesla's price target but long-term, high-growth tech stocks like this and Apple are looking like bargains, following weeks of being routed. Image credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was reported that the National Registration Department has allegedly leaked records containing information of 22 million Malaysians such as their full name, IC, and mobile numbers. Similarly, it was also reported that the Election Commission has a potential data breach involving the personal data of 800,000 Malaysians of electronic Know Your Customer (eKYC) images of people taking selfies while...

The appointment of the MP for Pasir Salak, Dato' Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman as the next Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia has sparked controversy, with MPs, civil society, and the public expressing disbelief over the decision. We speak to former diplomat and G25 member Dato' Noor Farida Ariffin on reactions to the appointment. Image Credit: Shahjehan / Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/list...

Sweden and Finland have ended decades of neutrality after submitting their applications to join NATO, however, in a plot twist, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his disapproval to allow Sweden and Finland to join NATO because of their stances on Kurdish militants. Dr. Bernard Loo, Senior Fellow, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University breaks...

Once again, the High-Speed Rail project is back on the cards, this time from Bangkok. Professor Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd Sadullah, Professor of Transport Engineering at USM addresses its viability and highlighting the all-important demand aspects. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sri Lanka is in a precarious state as foreign reserves have dwindled down to near zero and power cuts have been extended to as long as 15 hours a day. On top of it all, their new prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe warned that the country is down to its last day of petrol supply. Dr. Chulanee Attanayake, Research Fellow Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS), National University of Singapore brea...

Short-term lets of the AirBnB variety have been excellent at mopping up excess supply but have been met with concerns over security and possible impacts on property prices. Chan Ai Cheng, President of the Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents, analyses the issues. Image credit: Unsplash.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following the announcement to setup a Malaysia-US working committee on labour issues, we ask Khor Yu Leng, Political Economist, Segi Enam Advisers whether this committee will help clean up Malaysia’s questionable reputation on labour practices? Image credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, US President Joe Biden played host to ASEAN leaders in Washington D.C. as part of efforts to reaffirm America’s commitment to the Southeast Asian region. But for some observers, the discussions were less persuasive than anticipated. We discuss the outcome of the special summit and the state of play in Malaysia-US bilateral relations with policy analyst Elina Noor. Image credit: EPA...

There has been much hue and cry over the Serba Dinamik saga, which has taken many twists and turns. Last Friday, the Attorney General issued a statement to explain the decision to compound Serba Dinamik officials, instead of pursuing a criminal trial. We discuss reactions to the decision with lawyer Lim Wei Jiet, who argues that the Attorney General has raised more questions than answers in his st...

Malaysia’s first quarter GDP recorded a higher than expected 5% growth, compared to the 3.9% projected by MARC. Firdaos Rosli, Chief Economist at MARC breaks down the data for us and also shares his thoughts on Bank Negara’s monetary policy tightening, as well as his expectations for further rate hikes in the remainder of 2022. Image credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Dr Fauzi Anshar, Respiratory Medicine Physician explains the long term-impacts of long Covid and what needs to be done to manage this concerning phenomenon. Image credit: Pixabay.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Crypto investors have lost a fortune since TerraUSD's collapse this week exacerbated the post-Nov 2021 swoon for the ecosystem. Varun Mittal, author of The Fintech Nation, explains the collapse, including what's in store for the industry. Image credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Presumptive president-elect of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will be inheriting an economy in recovery from the pandemic, with GDP growth coming in at 8.3% in the first quarter compared to a year ago. How is the new government expected to navigate the twin challenges of rising inflation and slowing global growth? We discuss the outlook for the Philippines economy with Dr. Zamros Dzulkafli...

Khairy Jamaluddin announced that all nightlife businesses will be allowed to reopen starting from May 15th onwards. Government guidelines released yesterday state that RTK tests must be conducted on site for all visitors before entry, supervised by the club operators. But how business friendly are the new SOPs and what will be new challenges moving forward? Jeremy Lim, Vice President of Persatuan...

Malaysia preemptively and unexpectedly hiked interest rates by 25bps with three more meetings scheduled for the rest of the year. Julia Goh, Senior Economist at UOB Malaysia, fields questions on the outlook for the local currency, additional rate hikes, inflation, growth and fund flows. Image credit: Shutterstock.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US-ASEAN Summit is taking place in Washington DC, the first in-person engagement between the US President and ASEAN leaders since 2017. We discuss expectations for the meeting amid competing geopolitical interests with Thomas Daniel of ISIS Malaysia. Image credit: Reuters See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How has ESG investing grown in Malaysia and how hard has it been to get investors to go green with their money? And do investors realise that with ESG you can have returns without sacrificing your values? We speak to Andrew Chan, South East Asia Sustainability and Climate Change Leader at PwC to get his thoughts on the progress of ESG and its future.  This conversation was brought to you by S...

Regulators will be stepping in to investigate the flight scheduling disruption during last week's Hari Raya and Labour Day break, that caused flight delays of up to 9 hours and also much inconvenience to many travelers. As a consumer, what recourse can you take in the event of flight delays, cancellations or mishandling of baggage? Pushpalatha Subramaniam, Director of Consumer Affairs with the Mal...

Malaysians continue to make up the largest group of foreign workers in Singapore, particularly given the higher salary as the Singapore dollar continues to appreciate against the Ringgit. But is salary the main cause of talent migration to Singapore and what are the long term policy measures that need to be in place to reverse the brain drain? Thomas Mathew, Group CEO of TalentCorp Malaysia tells...

Hong Kong has a new Chief Executive, John Lee. Who is he and what can we expect from his rule? Michael Frank, Senior Analyst of Public Policy, Economist Impact gives us some clues into this enigma. Image credit: GovHK See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The relationship between Umno and PAS has soured considerably over the past few months, with Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi most recently describing PAS as “two-faced” and indecisive. While he has dismissed any possibility of working with PAS in GE15, PAS leaders have tried to keep Muafakat Nasional alive. We discuss the future of the political alliance and how this impacts...