Morning Brief

The Felda White Paper was tabled in Parliament by the Minister of Economic Affairs Dato’ Sri Azmin Ali yesterday. The White Paper, titled “Towards a Sustainable Felda”, sheds light on Felda’s current financial standing, past acts of malpractice as well as a transformation scheme and a turnaround plan. The recommendation includes the government’s commitment to provide...

00:00 - Despite weak economic data and softening property market in Australia, S&P/ASX 200 recorded its best ever start in almost 3 decades as a result of strong commodity prices and promises of easy monetary policy from central banks. 02:25 - Nomura plans to cut 1 billion US dollar in cost by letting off dozens of staff whilst pulling back from some of its international operations. A total of...

Libyan general Khalifa Haftar has attacked the country's capital of Tripoli with his rebel force, the Libyan National Army at his back. As Libya is a major oil producer, we speak to Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy at Saxo Bank, for how the developments in Libya will affect the global outlook on oil. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 - Johor Mentri Besar Datuk Osman Sapian resigned on Monday, after the shortest amount of time ever spent in the post. 02:35 - Projek Pantau, a report card put out by the Institute of Democracy and Economic Affairs, estimated that the Pakatan Harapan government has fulfilled nearly a third of its economic processes so far. We speak to Laurence Todd, Head of Research and Development at IDEAS,...

00:00 - Bukit Aman is stepping up monitoring of 'lone wolf' and 'wolf pack' terrorist actors. We speak to Akil Yunus, Research Manager at IMAN Research, whose work is focused on preventing violent extremism, for more insights. 06:34 - An attempt to amend the Federal Constitution regarding the status of Sabah and Sarawak has failed to garner the two-thirds majority needed to get it through the Dewa...

00:00 - The US has threatened to levy tariffs on 11 billion dollars worth of EU goods, in retaliation for subsidies on Airbus. 05:34 - Genting's Resorts World Las Vegas is set to open by the end of 2020, signifying another step in the company's diversification outside of Malaysia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 - The government may inject as much as RM6.2 billion into Felda. The Economic Affairs Minister Dato’ Sri Azmin Ali is scheduled to table the White Paper on Felda in Parliament today to explain the reasons behind Felda’s poor financial performance. 04:47 - The government is planning to impose a tax of six percent on foreign digital services from January 1st 2020. With this new rul...

00:10 - The 9th Annual Malaysia-Singapore Leadership Retreat takes place today, with some developments already taking place on the transportation front. 03:52 - Re-negotiations on the East Coast Rail Link project could see its construction cost halved. 05:33 - The Malaysian Palm Oil Council has called for tact and diplomacy, to counter threats from the European Union over palm oil. We spoke to M.R...

00:00 - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to annex the West Bank, if he gets re-elected in the country's national polls. We speak to James Dorsey, Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and its Middle East Institute, for more insights. 07:17 - With 900 million people in India set to go to the polls this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ruling B...

00:00 - The government plans to impose a digital tax of 6 percent on foreign digital services by 1st January 2020 to broaden the government’s tax reach. According to Deputy Finance Minister Amiruddin Hamzah, the digital tax will “provide a level playing field among local and foreign companies.” 06:25 - Rantau by-elections will begin on Saturday, April 13. However, the early votin...

The government will withdraw from the Rome Statute, dealing with prosecution of war crimes and crimes against humanity. To get more insight into the legislative U-turn, we spoke to Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 - Carlos Ghosn is in jail again, just a month after he posted bail of $9 million, this time on charges he channelled Nissan funds to a third party for personal gain. 02:58 - A Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi merger would create one of the largest automobile conglomerates in the world. We spoke to Steve Man, an Automobiles and Industrials Analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, for his insights into h...

00:00 - Lembaga Tabung Haji announced a hibah (dividend) of 1.25% on Friday to it’s 9.3 million depositors, amounting to a payout of RM 913 million for the 2018 financial year. Tabung Haji is not allowed to announce a hibah if their liability is more than its assets. 06:48 - Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be in Malaysia for two days beginning today to meet Prime Minister Tun D...

The Morning Run discusses: 00:00 - The Singaporean government continues to tweak its tourism policy and that means spending big money for Genting Singapore and Las Vegas Sands Corp. 04:04 - Tesla shares plummeted 11% due to a record decline in deliveries in the first quarter of the Model 3. On the note of Tesla, a US judge has given Tesla CEO Elon Musk  and the Securities and Exchange Commiss...

00:00 - The government tabled a bill to amend Article 1(2) of the Federal Constitution, that will return Sabah and Sarawak to their original standing in the federation. Opposition lawmakers have argued that the amendment will be "meaningless" in empowering the positions of Sabah and Sarawak. 04:44 - Malaysia announced plans to develop a ship-to-ship cargo transfer facility off the coast of Johor B...

Brunei's decision to implement sharia law, including penalties such as death by stoning, amputations, and public flogging, have drawn calls for a boycott of luxury hotels linked to the Sultan of Brunei. For more insight into whether this will have an impact on the country's economy, we speak to Shreyans Bhaskar, Research Analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit.  See omnystudio.com/listen...

SUHAKAM's report on the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh and Amri Che Mat concluded that they were victims of enforced disappearance and that members of Bukit Aman's Special Branch were involved. For more insight, we spoke to Dato' Dr Gurdial Nijar Singh, the lawyer representing the family of Pastor Koh. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 - The potentially disastrous Brexit effect on the UK has driven Theresa May to do the unthinkable in getting a helping hand from Labour. 06:40 - Meanwhile, across the Atlantic the US has to think twice about blocking Mexico as it can result in more expensive avocados. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 - The trial of Former Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Najib Razak has begun and he faces seven charges and he pleaded not guilty to these 7 charges. The charges relate to criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering involving RM42 million of SRC International Sdn Bhd’s funds. 2:01 - Genting Malaysia Bhd have agreed to purchase the Equanimity for US$126 million and have...

The Housing and Local Government Minister at the conference on ‘Constructing and Financing Affordable Housing across Asia’ says that Cagamas is working on a shared equity home ownership programme with a blueprint and is anticipated by the end of the year. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 - Singapore has introduced its own version of an 'anti-fake news' bill in Parliament. For more insight into the law, we spoke to James Gomez, Director of the Asia Centre. 11:04 - The Australian government has announced a reelection budget, pledging to deliver A$158 billion in tax relief to Australian citizens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:00 - The trial of former Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak begins today, 10 years after he was appointed as Prime Minister. Najib Razak will be tried for corruption and abuse of power. We speak to criminal lawyer Lim Chi Chau to help us understand the legal process. 06:45 - Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said that the federal government had spent RM 289 billion on operating and developm...

00:00 - Yeo Bee Yin, the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change (MESTECC) and Datuk Seri Mohd Redzuan Md Yusof, Minister of Entrepreneur Development are at odds as to how to deal with the waste from Lynas Plant 4:35 - Former Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib Razak has refuted claims that he owes the Inland Revenue Board RM1.5 billion in taxes as political donati...

00:00 -  Saudi Aramco has unveiled its financial information, revealing the fact that it is the world's most profitable company, with a 2018 net income of $111.1 billion. 4:24 -  Following a spate of local elections in Turkey, we spoke to Alfonso Velasco, Research Analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit, for insight into the significance of the election result. See omnystudio.com/li...

Julian and Lyn discuss the upcoming Rantau by-election, Tun Daim's thoughts on GLCs entering the Malaysian capital markets and Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak's potential RM1.5 billion tax bill. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.