Morning Brief

Turkey's ruling AK Party have won the mayoral seat in Istanbul, widely seen as a bellwether for the rest of the country. But with razor thin margins, could their 16-year rule be in jeopardy? And in Ukraine, comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who once played the president on TV, has won the most votes in the first leg of the country's presidential elections. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

The government is considering bailing out Felda to the tune of 3 billion ringgit. This news comes ahead of the Felda white paper which will be tabled in parliament within the coming weeks. Khor Yu Leng weighs in on this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following news that the government has no plans to release the Council of Eminent Persons' 100-days report, we spoke to Sonia Randhawa, Director of the Centre for Independent Journalism, for her insights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:11 - While bond yields fall around the world, China bucks the curve- two Chinese junk-rated bonds have received orders of over $2 billion each. 03:55 - India has become the fourth country in the world to shoot down a satellite in low Earth orbit with a missile. For insights on the launch, and what it will mean for India's relations with its close neighbours, we spoke to Professor Kanti Bajpai,...

With Malaysia's aerospace industry expected to chart significant growth, the Manufacturing and maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) sector has come into the national spotlight. We spoke to Shukor Yusof, Founder and Analyst at aviation consultancy firm Endau Analytics, for his insights. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

France’s Renault intends to restart merger talks with Japan’s Nissan Motor within 12 months, as well as a possible bid to buy Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Fiat Chrysler is seeking a partnership or merger including Peugeot-maker PSA Group of France. The plans signal a return to the strategies supported by former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn who was ousted as Nissan chair and arrested in Tokyo...

00:15 - Astro announced that its quarter net profit fell 35% on-year to 118 million ringgit due to higher net finance costs and a decrease in Ebitda. Astro is anticipating a challenging operating environment, and review will focus on remaining efficient and agile to serve its customers better. 05:45 - Malaysia is well on its way to become a digital and cashless society given that some 91% of Malay...

00:15 - The European Parliament has passed a controversial set of reforms, aimed at bringing their copyright laws into the 20th century. 04:50 - After British MPs seized control of the Brexit process from embattled PM Theresa May, we spoke to Patrick Diamond, Associate Professor of Public Policy, at the Queen Mary University of London, to get insights into the Brexit options now on the table. See...

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad clarified that Malaysia is not engaging in a trade war with European countries. This comes after the Government started looking for new markets in the Middle East and Africa. We speak to Jean-Marc Roda, economist at The French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), to get clarity on this situation See omnystudio.com/listener for p...

00:20 - In response to the current opposition to PAC Chairperson from the ruling party, 3 opposition members from BN and PAS have resigned from their committee position. This is after Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah resigned from the same position earlier 04:30 - Anwar Ibrahim said that the economic agenda needs to be on a needs based basis, and not race-based as he indicated that the policy will eli...

Malaysians against Pornography (MAP) said that 80% of children between 10 and 17 have intentionally watched pornography, however they later clarified this is based on feedback they received from their advocacy programmes, which have involved more than 20,000 participants nationwide. Nonetheless to get more insights, we spoke to Mariza Abdulkadir, Executive Director of P.S. The Children, to find ou...

00:20 - During this year’s China Development Forum, China’s minister of industry and information technology said the government will gradually reduce its micro-management and direct intervention in its industrial sector. 03:35 - Italy has signed on to be part of China’s Belt and Road initiative during Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s visit to Europe last week by signing an M...

00:18 - Over the weekend Permatang Pauh MP Nurul Izzah Anwar revealed that she will be serving her final term as MP after she announced her withdrawal from the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Nurul Izzah had earlier opposed that Kiandee should remain as PAC chairman. In response, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has agreed to consider replacing Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chai...

Thailand General Election Results is coming to a close, with Palang Pracharat, the pro-military party and the Pheu Thai party, the party linked to Thaksin Shinawatra battling for votes after the coup that overthrew the government nearly 5 years ago. The official results would be announced as late as May this year. We speak to Aiman Afif Affifudin, Analyst, of the think tank, KRA Group on his take...

The Penang state government recently endorsed the 2030 Penang Structure Plan. Activists are speaking out against it, insisting that the state did not take its objections into account. We ask Meena what exactly these objections are. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to Jerald Joseph of Suhakam to discuss the recently released US Embassy report on human rights in Malaysia. We get his thoughts on the key findings in the report and what he thinks of Pakatan Harapan's track record so far 10 months after taking office.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a lot going on in our neighbouring countries. Indonesia's Lion Air is said to be working on the possibility of an IPO of around $1 billion. It would be Indonesia’s third-largest IPO on record. In Thailand, a general election is about to take place five years after a military coup.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Given negative sentiment from both foreign investors and domestic commentors like Dr Lim Teck Ghee of the Centre for Policy Initiatives and Ramon Navaratnam, we check in with Julia Goh on how worried we should be. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sean Lim, Analyst at Hong Leong Investment Bank shares his insights and stock picks based on the market activity related to the oil and gas sector following the recovery of crude oil prices. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

According to a report by Moody’s, Malaysia is one of the countries poised to actually benefit from the ongoing trade tensions.   To talk about this  we have Christian de Guzman, Vice President of Moody’s Sovereign Risk Group.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week, a study conducted by the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (CENT-GPS) found that Malays and Indians are more likely to experience discrimination when applying for jobs in the private sector, especially men of the two ethnicities. We speak to Lee Hwok Aun of  Institute of Southeast Asian Studies to find out more.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...

In an op-ed, Professor James Chin of the University of Tasmania's Asia Institute wrote that Pakatan Harapan is losing ground, in the battle to keep to their reform agenda. We got in touch with him for more details into his argument. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Say goodbye to the Project Delivery Partner model, Turnkey is the way to go. Wong Shou Ning explains the difference between the models. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia has moved up 10 places to 88th on the Economist Intelligence Unit's list of the World's Most Expensive Cities. For more insights, we spoke to Simon Baptist, Global Chief Economist for the EIU, on Malaysia's position and factors influencing the rankings. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tun M voiced concerns about inequality caused by  uneven executive pay. At the same there are calls to institute a minimum wage for interns. Our guests weigh in on these issues. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.