Morning Brief

Malaysia saw over 500 people lose their lives to road accidents during the Movement Control Order - more than the total Covid-19 related deaths in the country so far. We speak to Dr, Kulanthayan KC Mani, Executive Director of Safe Kids Malaysia, to get a better understanding of the underlying causes to our road accident problem, and whether harsher penalties will make a difference. See omnystudio....

Former Sabah Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman has been acquitted of some 45 charges, related to kickbacks from 16 logging companies in the state. The discharge amounting to an acquittal was made on the grounds of lack of evidence, as well as upon a sworn statement from former Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail. We reached out to constitutional lawyer Surendra Ananth, for more insight into...

Lockdowns have been horrendous for business and none more so than for commercial real estate. But how bad is bad? And are there rainbows on the horizon? Lim Boon Ping, President, Malaysian Institute of Estate Agents, discusses. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to Fitch Ratings, aggregate direct fiscal stimulus measures for the “Fitch 20” countries, such as the US, UK and Australia, have totalled over $5 trillion, which is 7% of those countries’ 2019 GDP. This outweighs the scale after the global financial crisis, when the advanced economies undertook a fiscal easing of only 3% to 4% of GDP. That said, is the global response e...

The Penjana stimulus plan has been praised by economists. We speak to Distinguished Professor of Economics at University Malaya, Dr Rajah Rasiah on areas that the government really needs to focus on. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been accused by the US of favouring China and slow in responding to the Covid-19 outbreak. Lucie Gadenne, Professor of Economics, University of Warwick discusses if US’ claims are reasonable and possible funding options for WHO. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been accused by the US of favouring China and slow in responding to the Covid-19 outbreak. Lucie Gadenne, Professor of Economics, University of Warwick discusses if US’ claims are reasonable and possible funding options for WHO. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yesterday, Malaysia entered into what’s called the recovery MCO (RMCO) which will go on until August 31st. Both the National Security Council (NSC) and Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) released new social distancing protocols which includes areas like places of worship and funerals, schools, the defence sector as well as open-air markets. That said, is it too early to further open up the econom...

Malaysia has entered a new phase of the movement control order, called the 'Recovery MCO' (RMCO), allowing, among other things, interstate travel between 10 June and August 31, with clear implications for the local hotel industry, both good and bad. Yap Lip Seng, the CEO of the Malaysian Association of Hotels, discusses. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jagdev Singh, Tax Leader, PwC Malaysia weighs in on what else could be covered by Penjana, the government’s recent economic recovery plan. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Year to date, the Jakarta Composite Index has been the worst performing market in this region. We assess the Indonesian equities market and potential investment opportunities with Bharat Joshi, Investment Director at Aberdeen Standard Investments based in Jakarta. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, the government gave childcare centres the green light to resume operations which comes after the tabling of comprehensive SOPs for these centres by the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry. While this should help reduce the burden on parents who have had to skip work to stay home and care for their young children, it was received with mixed reactions. Is it too soon to open...

There’s been rumours of MPs crossing over to support Pakatan Harapan which might trigger another government change. Dr Hamidin Abd Hamid, Research Fellow, Ilham Centre, discusses the likelihood of a government leadership change and his reservations about both coalitions—Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Laurence Todd, Head of Research & Development, IDEAS unpacks the government’s recent economic recovery plan “Penjana” worth RM35 billion. Is this enough? Is it too late? And how does Todd rate Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s performance so far? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With tech stocks hitting record highs, we speak to Dan about his thoughts on the rally and whether it still has legs. We also get into the potential impact of a delay to the iPhone launch to Apple's bottomline. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Global equity markets have recovered from the lows although Singapore has lagged. We ask Thilan Wickramasinghe Aloysius, Singapore Head of Research at Maybank Kim Eng whether the catch up that the STI has been showing is sustainable. We also ask him for his views on 2nd quarter result season and what is the best investment strategy for the island state. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Investing has been a growing trend with assets under management having grown to US 30 trillion. However what is the trend here in Asia and where does Malaysia stand when it comes to ESG investing? Benjamin McCarron, Managing Director, at Asia Research and Engagement gives us the answers while telling us whether ESG investing means less returns? See omnyst...

The impact of Covid-19 on jobless numbers is starting to come to light. SOCSO has reported job losses increased 42% year-on-year in the first quarter, with the trend set to accelerate from April onwards. To get more insight, we reached out to SOCSO's Chief of Employment Insurance Dato' Mohd Sahar Darusman, for his expectations going into the rest of the year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah revealed this week, that one Covid-19 case has been detected within the Sungai Buloh prison population. While the Health Ministry has now commenced screenings of the more than 800 inmates and 700 employees, the case has raised important questions over whether our prison system could potentially withstand a Covid-19 outbreak. For more insight, w...

With Covid-19, are capital markets quiet? Are there any deals in the pipeline? We speak to Alessandro Cannarsi, Partner in the Private Equity Practice at Bain & Company on what to look out for. He also chimes in on why its important for companies to have a long term growth plan before coming to public markets or run the risk of share price under performance. See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...

The International Civil Aviation Organisation has published a series of health recommendations for airlines, including obligatory donning of face masks, but stopping short of leaving every other seat open on planes. To get a sense of whether these recommendations will be enough to restore confidence in the aviation industry amid global pandemic fears, we speak to aviation expert Ron Bishop. See om...

Protests have rocked the US over the past few days, sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer last week. As a result, at least 12 major cities including New York, Washington DC and Los Angeles, have imposed curfews, with President Donald Trump also threatening to deploy the military if state and city officials failed to control the violence. So for a view on what is ha...

Calls have surfaced for university tuition fees to come down, especially since physical classes have largely come to a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The argument is that since most students have returned to their hometowns, university facilities are not being fully utilised during the MCO, and many B40 and M40 families are now suffering from severe economic uncertainty. Both students and acad...

The KL-Singapore High Speed Rail project has been deferred until the end of the year, the second time the project has been put on the back burner after it was shelved in 2018 under the Pakatan Harapan administration. Senior Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali has said that discussions between the two countries will resume in the near future. The question is now, however, does the HSR project still make...

Amidst the unrest in the US, President Donald Trump appears to have escalated his row with social media, signing an executive order which would allow for new regulations on social media content. To help us understand the implications of this order, as well as what it would mean for social media companies, we speak to Alexander Howard, Director of the Digital Democracy Project at Demand Progress, a...