CEOMorningBrief FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2023 ISSUE 671/2023 theedgemalaysia.com IMPROVE INVESTORS’ CONFIDENCE TO STEM RINGGIT WEAKNESS, PUTRAJAYA URGED p4 HOME: Advanced silicon battery firm Enovix to invest RM5.8 bil in M’sia over 15 years p3 Pecca eyes another record year as it kicks off FY2024 on a high p6 WORLD: Biden-Xi meeting delivers small wins and promises of better ties p16 Alibaba tumbles after nixing cloud spinoff on US chip curbs p18 Myanmar orders civil servants, ex-military to prepare for emergencies p20 Report on Page 2. Govt confirms in talks with concessionaires to avoid toll hikes on 19 highways SHAHRILL BASRI/THE EDGE
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 2 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF published by ( 2 6 6 9 8 0 - X ) tel . 603-77218000 Level 3, Menara KLK, 1 Jalan PJU 7/6, Mutiara Damansara, 47810, Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia publisher + ceo . Ho Kay Tat editor-in-chief . Kathy Fong chief commercial officer . Sharon Teh chief operating officer . Lim Shiew Yuin editors . Jenny Ng . Tan Choe Choe Lam Jian Wyn to contact editors: [email protected] to advertise: [email protected] the edge ceo morning brief Read from desktop or mobile device. You can print in A4 to read. Set print mode to fit or shrink oversize page. to get on emailing list [email protected] Govt confirms in talks with concessionaires to avoid toll hikes on 19 highways KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The government has initiated negotiations with toll concessionaires to restructure toll collection on 19 highways as per the Cabinet’s decision on Dec 18, 2020, with the aim of maintaining or reducing toll charges, according to Deputy Works Minister Abdul Rahman Mohamad. The highways concessionaires include Amanat Lebuhraya Rakyat Bhd (ALR), Projek Lintasan Kota Holdings Sdn Bhd (Prolintas), IJM Corp Bhd, ANIH Bhd and PLUS Malaysia Bhd. Negotiations for other highways, including the East Coast Highway Phase 2 (LPT2), are ongoing and will take time to finalise due to the involvement of the government, concession companies and financial institutions, Abdul Rahman said during the oral question and answer session at Dewan Rakyat on Thursday. The minister, however, did not elaborate on the specific highways for which toll restructuring are being negotiated. This confirms a report by The Edge that the government is looking at extending the concession period for all highways in Peninsular Malaysia to avoid toll hikes. The extension could be as long as 30 years, subject to cabinet approval. The LPT2 concession is held by ANIH, which also operates the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway and the East Coast Highway Phase 1 (LPT1). Prolintas holds six concessions including the Ampang-Kuala Lumpur Elevated Highway (AKLEH), Guthrie Corridor Expressway (GCE), Kemuning-Shah Alam Highway (LKSA), Kajang SILK Highway, Sungai Besi-Ulu Kelang Elevated Expressway (SUKE) and Damansara-Shah Alam Elevated Expressway (DASH). IJM holds four concessions in Malaysia namely the Sungai Besi Expressway (Besraya), New Pantai Expressway (NPE), Kajang-Seremban highway (LEHOME BY CHOY NYEN YIAU theedgemalaysia.com KAS) and the West Coast Expressway (WCE) under WCE Holdings Bhd. PLUS, meanwhile, has five highway concessions namely the North-South Expressway, New Klang Valley Expressway (NKVE), Seremban-Port Dickson Highway, the North-South Expressway Central Link and the Butterworth-Kulim Expressway. PLUS also holds concessions for the Malaysia-Singapore Second Link and the Penang Bridge. ALR took over four highway concessionaires in 2022, who hold the concessions for the Damansara-Puchong Expressway (LDP), Sprint Expressway, Kesas Expressway and the SMART Tunnel. Abdul Rahman emphasised that any proposal to restructure concession agreements hinges on discussions with concessionaires and the government, subject to approval from the Ministry of Finance. Decisions regarding toll rates must be made holistically and conclusively, considering their significant financial implications and the need to maintain investor confidence, comply with concession agreement terms, and ensure the concessionaire’s responsibility for highway assets’ management and costs, ultimately alleviating the government’s future financial burden, he said. “However, such proposals require comprehensive studies, and it has been estimated that abolishing tolls nationwide would cost around RM400 billion,” Abdul Rahman said. In 2022, the government absorbed approximately RM435 million in exchange for no toll increases, he added, without providing further details. Meanwhile, Abdul Rahman said the two-day toll-free period nationwide for Deepavali involved a total cost of RM30 million. “I wish to express gratitude to the Prime Minister cum Minister of Finance Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for approving the toll waiver in conjunction with the Deepavali celebration, which involved a cost of RM30 million,” he said. This was in response to Ahmad Fadhli Shaari’s (PN-Pasir Mas) enquiry about the government’s expense for the tollfree days. 14 corporate MALAYSIA MAY 15, 2023 B Y I N TA N FAR H A N A Z AINUL T he government is said to be looking at extending the concession period for all highways in Peninsular Malaysia to avoid toll hikes. Sources say that the government is extending the concession period to as long as 30 years, subject to cabinet approval. “The plan to extend the concession agreements for highway operators is being reviewed. However, it will still need cabinet approval,” a source tells The Edge. The Ministry of Works had not responded at press time. Another source says some highway operators have already been notifi ed of the potential extension of their concession periods. “I was told that the government is looking to raise it up to 30 years for all concessionaires. It is likely to be announced in the second half of the year,” says the source. Meanwhile, a third source who is close to a concessionaire points out that while he had heard about the extension, some highway operators had not received any notice from the government. “It is likely that the government is looking for ways not to increase toll charges on all the highways, without having to pay cash compensation to the highway operators,” he says. Another source says, however, that the longer concession periods could come with a toll reduction. “It is likely that the highway owners would need to reduce their toll rates in exchange for a longer concession period.” Besides cabinet approval, the concessionaires will need to get their creditors, namely bondholders, to consent to the longer concession period without a toll hike. Bondholders might not be in favour of stretching the concession period. In such circumstances, the creditors are likely to demand an early redemption. It is learnt that PLUS Malaysia Bhd (PLUS) signed a supplementary concession agreement with the government last December to extend its toll concessions by another 10 years to 2068. The reason was to maintain the toll rate at current levels. In 2020, the government had extended the concession period for PLUS by 20 years to 2058, which led to an 18% reduction in toll rates. It is worth noting that PLUS’s initial concession was for 30 years from 1998 to 2018, but it was later extended for 12 years until 2030. PLUS, the country’s largest highway concessionaire, holds five concessions — Projek Lebuhraya Utara-Selatan Bhd, Expressway Lingkaran Tengah Sdn Bhd, Linkedua (M) Bhd, Konsortium Lebuhraya Butterworth-Kulim Sdn Bhd and Penang Bridge Sdn Bhd. Khazanah Nasional Bhd and the Employees Provident Fund own 51% and 49% stakes respectively in PLUS. Another highway concessionaire that has been given an extension for its toll concession is Anih Bhd, for the Kuala Lumpur-Karak Highway (KL-Karak) and Phase 1 of the East Coast Expressway (ECE1) by 37 years to 2069, according to MARC Ratings Bhd. Anih inked the supplementary agreement for the extension with the government last November. Its initial 28-year concession for KL-Karak and ECE1 was previously slated to expire in 2032. Anih is 51%-owned by the estate of the late Tan Sri Dr Nik Hussain Abdul Rahman, while the remaining 49% is owned by Tan Sri Azmil Khalili Khalid, who is married to Nik Hussain’s eldest daughter, Nik Fuziah Nik Hussain. Anih obtained the ECE1 and KL-Karak toll concessions in 2011 after it acquired the entire business and undertakings of Metramac Corp Sdn Bhd and MTD Prime Sdn Bhd for RM3.25 billion. Last year, Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof, who was then Works Minister, said the government might extend the concession period for three of four Klang Valley highways involved in a restructuring through Amanat Lebuhraya Rakyat Bhd (ALR) in exchange for no increase in toll charges. Fadillah said an extension of the concession period was not the exclusive right of the concessionaires, and that the renewed concession period will depend on the traffi c fl ow of each highway. “The extension is not automatic. For three highways (Kesas Expressway, Sprint Expressway and Damansara-Puchong Expressway or LDP), the concession will be extended for five to 10 years, while [the concession for] the SMART tunnel may be shortened, depending on the traffic data that will be reviewed from time to time,” he told a press conference in April last year. ALR is a special-purpose vehicle (SPV) set up to acquire four Klang Valley highway concessionaires — Lingkaran Trans Kota Sdn Bhd (Litrak), Sistem Penyuraian Trafik KL Barat Sdn Bhd (Sprint), Kesas Sdn Bhd (Kesas) and Syarikat Mengurus Air Banjir dan Terowong Sdn Bhd (SMART) — last October. Litrak operates the LDP, Sprint operates the Sprint Expressway, Kesas operates the Kesas Expressway, and Smart operates the SMART Tunnel. The government did not need to directly take on debt to acquire the toll concessions, as ALR, the not-for-profi t SPV, was taking over the highway concessions using securitised cash fl ow from the concessions. Fadillah said that under this model, the government would incur no costs, as it would not be required to bear any maintenance or operating costs for the restructuring. “Users of these highways will no longer have to worry about a possible increase in tolls, nor will the government have to use the people’s tax revenues to pay compensation to the concessionaires,” he added. A market observer points out that the extension of the highway concessions would benefi t the mature highways, but not so much the new ones. It remains to be seen whether the government’s move to extend all concession periods will lead to a reduction in toll rates. NEWSBREAK B Y ADELINE PAUL RAJ J P Morgan Malaysia’s Nurjesmi Mohd Nashir is expected to be appointed the new CEO of Affin Bank Bhd’s investment banking arm, Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd (AHIB), industry sources say. It is understood that Bank Negara Malaysia has given the nod for his upcoming appointment. Sources familiar with the matter tell The Edge that Nurjes mi, JP Morgan Chase Bank Bhd’s head of corporate banking and an executive director, recently tendered his resignation to “pursue other opportunities”. The bank declined comment. The Edge understands that Zilhazmir Hamzah, who has been with JP Morgan Chase Bank for almost six years, working for the corporate banking franchise, will take over from Nurjesmi. AHIB has been without a CEO for over seven months. The previous CEO Mona Suraya Kamaruddin — formerly Nomura Holdings Inc’s head of Malaysia — retired in late September last year after just two years on the job. Not much is known about Nurjesmi, but those who know him describe him as having been a “loyal and hardworking” JP Morgan executive. He has been with the bank for over nine years. He is also a board member of Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Bhd (PUNB), a role he took on in September 2018. According to the PUNB website, Nurjesmi had worked at Citibank Bhd prior to JP Morgan Chase Bank, and has over 20 years of experience in the banking industry and capital markets. He began his career as an equity analyst at Maybank Securities in 1995 and shortly after, moved to Arab Malaysian Securities. He then joined Citibank’s SME (small and medium enterprise) division and went on to hold a succession of roles in corporate banking before being appointed the bank’s head of public sector overseeing the Affi n Hwang Investment Bank said to be appointing JP Morgan’s Nurjesmi as its CEO Government to extend all highway concessions in return for no toll hikes, say sources E government-linked-company portfolio right up to 2013. Nurjesmi could not be immediately reached for comment. His move to AHIB comes at a time when Affin Bank is looking to grow its non-interest income more strongly. Last July, the bank sold its entire 63% stake in Affin Hwang Asset Management Bhd — held through AHIB — to private equity firm CVC Capital Partners for RM1.42 billion cash, which helped boost its capital but also left it with a gaping earnings hole that it needs to fill. In an interview with The Edge last October, Affin Bank president and CEO Datuk Wan Razly Abdullah Wan Ali said he expects AHIB to do a lot better than it is. “There is a lot more we can do in terms of the investment banking franchise. We have our plans, and I don’t want to give away too much, but I do feel they can do a lot better — at least twice better from where they are today.” AHIB’s profi t before tax (excluding gains from the divestment of the asset management business) came in at RM60.6 million for the fi nancial year ended Dec 31, 2022 (FY2022), down 40.1% from a year earlier. Affin Bank reported a net profit of RM1.3 billion in FY2022, which was more than double the RM526.93 million it made in the previous year, helped by gains from the divestment of Affin Hwang Asset Management. Revenue expanded 47.1% to RM3.3 billion. Last month, the bank’s controlling shareholder Lembaga Tabung Angkatan Tentera (LTAT) sold a 4.95% stake to a Sarawak government entity for RM221.74 million, or RM1.97 a share, via a direct business transaction. This leaves LTAT with a 28.26% stake in Affi n Bank, while its subsidiary Boustead Holdings Bhd has 20.91% equity interest. Affin Bank’s share price has shed about 2% this year to close at RM1.99 on May 12, giving the company a market capitalisation of about RM4.5 billion. Bloomberg data shows that of the seven analysts who track the stock, four have a “buy” call while three have a “hold”, with the average target price at RM2.23. Nurjesmi has over 20 years of experience in the banking industry and capital markets E PUNB FLASHBACK: The Edge Malaysia May 15, 2023 BERNAMA
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 3 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF HOME SAN FRANCISCO (Nov 16): The Malaysian government and Google on Wednesday announced a strategic collaboration to create inclusive growth opportunities for more Malaysians and home-grown companies in the fast-growing digital economy. The collaboration brings both parties together to help businesses of all sizes advance their digital competitiveness through skilling programmes, investment in digital infrastructure, responsible artificial intelligence (AI) innovation, and cloud-first policies, Google said in a statement here on Wednesday. “This latest commitment by Google, aimed at accelerating local innovation and talent development in the field of AI, will certainly boost the nation’s digital competitiveness, in line with the Madani Economy Framework and the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030),” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday. The Madani Economy Framework aims to increase the size of Malaysia’s economic pie, as well as ensure that all stakeholders — particularly the rakyat and small businesses — will enjoy the ensuing socio-economic benefits, he said. Google said the latest initiatives are built on its investments in Malaysia over the last 12 years. In 2022 alone, the company’s products and programmes supported more than 47,900 jobs and also contributed, directly and indirectly, an estimated US$2.8 billion (RM13.15 billion) in economic benefits to local businesses. “The partnership we are announcing today (Wednesday) with the government of Malaysia aligns Google’s local mission of Advancing Malaysia Together with the government’s goal to create a supportive ecosystem for innovation that includes more meaningful and equitable job opportunities,” said Alphabet and Google president and chief investment officer Ruth Porat. Meanwhile, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz welcomed Google’s continued contributions to the rakyat and home-grown businesses, especially through programmes that nurture skilled talent and help Malaysia’s small businesses scale regionally. “Apart from supporting the achievement of the NIMP 2030’s missions, these will also enhance Malaysia’s overall global competitiveness to foreign investors. The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry and its agency, the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida), will do our utmost to facilitate Google’s planned investments in Malaysia.” Inclusive skilling opportunities for 300,000 Malaysians by 2026 To provide Malaysians from all backgrounds with more digital training opportunities, Google Cloud, CloudMile and Trainocate are making five digital learning paths available at no cost. “Accessible through the GoCloud programme — which aims to upskill 300,000 Malaysians by 2026 — the learning paths consist of online courses to help individuals better apply generative AI, data analytics and cloud-based productivity tools.” Learners who complete the five learning paths will earn digital skills badges that they can share on their resumes and extended 30- day access to more learning paths at no cost. Google said this is built on Gemilang, a digital training programme that has provided 31,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships to less fortunate individuals in partnership with educational institutions and non-profits. “This helps Malaysians earn professional certifications — at no cost — for entry-level jobs in high-demand fields such as data analytics, IT support as well as e-commerce and digital marketing.” Read also: Anwar meets tech giants in San Francisco Political stability, clarity of policies vital for economies to thrive, says Anwar Google, M’sian govt on strategic collaboration, skill opportunities for 300,000 by 2026 SAN FRANCISCO (Nov 16): Nasdaq-listed Enovix Corp, which is an advanced silicon battery company, will invest a total of US$1.2 billion (RM5.8 billion) in Malaysia over a period of 15 years, which includes an RM315 million manufacturing line announced in August. “With more than three decades of personally working closely with the Malaysian government authorities, and having successfully built and run several large factories, choosing Malaysia for our first high-volume manufacturing facility was an easy decision,” its chief operating officer Ajay Marathe said. He said Malaysia’s deep pool of technical talent, business-friendly environment, and close proximity to manufacturing facilities of Enovix’s vendors and customers make it an ideal location to help develop the battery supply chain ecosystem, and manufacture and scale next-generation batteries. The manufacturing line co-partnered with YBS International Bhd will be located in Penang. Enovix Malaysia Sdn Bhd is currently in the process of installing its machinery, and this is projected to be fully operational in 2024, it said in a statement here on Wednesday. The company’s investment plan was disclosed to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim during a one-on-one meeting held at the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Week 2023 here on Wednesday. “We welcome Enovix’s strategic decision to establish its first high-volume manufacturing facility in Malaysia, which signifies our appeal as a preferred investment destination in Southeast Asia for advanced technology companies,” Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Advanced silicon battery firm Enovix to invest RM5.8 bil in M’sia over 15 years Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said. He said Enovix’s establishment of the hi-tech battery technology facility in Malaysia is in perfect alignment with the missions of the New Industrial Master Plan 2030, and promises significant local spillover impact, notably the creation of substantial high-quality job opportunities for Malaysians, and the enhancement of the nation’s industrial landscape. “As Enovix lays down its foundations in Malaysia, we foresee its transformation into a key industry collaborator and contributor to our economic progress and development,” Malaysian Investment Development Authority (Mida) chief executive officer Datuk Arham Abdul Rahman said. “Its investment in Malaysia is a testament to the company’s trust in the country’s capabilities and workforce, and fortifies Malaysia’s research and development ecosystem. “Mida looks forward to a strengthened partnership with Enovix in the years ahead.” Enovix is headquartered in the US, with locations in India, South Korea and Malaysia. Enovix’s battery technology application extends to the Internet of Things, mobile, computing devices and vehicles. BY M SARASWATHI Bernama BY M SARASWATHI Bernama
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 4 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF HOME KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The government will provide further clarity on whether deals involving unlisted shares by private equities (PE) and unit trust funds will be subjected to the 10% capital gains tax (CGT) from March next year, said Treasury secretary general Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican. The matter was raised at the Deloitte TaxMax seminar on Budget 2024 on Thursday, with Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie cautioning that subjecting parties like PE to CGT might dampen Malaysia’s attractiveness as an investment destination. “Certainly, there is no intention to extend capital gain tax to listed shares, it would be very detrimental. [The government] already collects income through stamp duty in every transaction [of listed shares]. The unit trust and PE treatment, I think that needs to be clarified,” said Johan. The government had announced in Budget 2024 that CGT will be imposed on net profit derived from the disposal of local companies’ unlisted shares, with an exemption for initial public offerings, internal restructuring and venture capital companies. Putrajaya will provide further clarity on capital gains tax exemption ahead of implementation, says Treasury sec gen KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): An economist on Thursday urged the government to deliver on its promises of reforms that would eventually strengthen investors’ confidence in the country’s prospects and potentially stem weakness in the local currency. Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie said that while the current weakness in the ringgit is mainly due to a strong US dollar and interest rate differential, capital flow data indicated that confidence also plays a role. “With the widening gap between the US Treasury bonds and Malaysian Government Securities, investors will continue to take money out from here and put money in the US. The gap will continue to cause the capital outflow,” he said at the Deloitte TaxMax seminar on Budget 2024. “The capital outflow has been very significant over the last 10 years. The last two years, we saw a surplus, but in the first half of this year, we continue to suffer a decline. Where did the outflow come from? It can be portfolio decline, lag of massive inflows of long-term capital, and some hidden outflow. A lot of investors or business people or individuals continue to put their money in the form of foreign currencies, in the banking system. “Based on August data, the total amount of the foreign currency deposit — which can be in US dollars, renminbi, or in Japanese yen — was about 10% of the total banking deposit. In ringgit, it was about RM282 billion. And that number is much, much higher compared to pre-pandemic levels. So, it does tell you that there are some elements of confidence [in play],” said Lee. With broad expectation that the ringgit would continue to weaken, Lee said exportImprove investors’ confidence to stem ringgit weakness, Putrajaya urged ers might not dare to convert their export proceeds into local currency even if they have repatriated these monies back into the country. “The government has to continue to improve the country’s fundamentals, so that not only domestic investors will put their money here, but it will attract new foreign direct investment to come, and naturally it will support the ringgit over time,” he said. “Fundamental wise, we are not that bad, but there are certain elements of goodwill that we need. There are structural problems, the reform, fiscal deficit, debt level and current account,” he added. The ringgit is among the weakest-performing currencies in Asia amid the US’ rate hike and strengthening of the greenback. Last month, the local currency weakened to near 4.8000 against the greenback, its weakest since the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997-98. Read also: Ringgit’s weakness not only due to a difference in interest rates BY CHESTER TAY theedgemalaysia.com BY CHESTER TAY theedgemalaysia.com Fundamental wise, we are not that bad, but there are certain elements of goodwill that we need. There are structural problems, the reform, fiscal deficit, debt level and current account,” says Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie. (From left) Socio-Economic Research Centre executive director Lee Heng Guie, Deloitte Malaysia country tax leader Sim Kwong Gek, Treasury secretary general Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican and Mida deputy CEO (Investment promotion and facilitition) Sivasuriyamoorthy Sundara Raja at the Deloitte TaxMax seminar on Budget 2024. CONTINUES ON PAGE 5 SAM FONG/THE EDGE
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 5 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF HOME During the seminar, Lee asserted that while there is a need for the government to broaden its revenue base in its bid to narrow decades of budget deficit, Putrajaya should tax consumption by way of goods and services tax (GST), instead of imposing tax on entrepreneurs’ bid to build successful businesses. Johan, however, explained that the current administration’s priority is to address the blanket subsidies’ disproportionate benefit to the people, before looking into broad-based consumption tax. “You don’t want to create a double whammy to the rakyat, by doing both KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The initial public offering (IPO) market in Malaysia is expected to remain robust in 2024, supported by a strong pipeline of offerings and healthy institutional and retail investors’ appetites for companies with good growth propositions, particularly those in the consumer and tech or tech-related industries, according to Deloitte Malaysia. Deloitte Malaysia disruptive events advisory leader Wong Kar Choon said the capital market initiatives that have been announced by regulators have also boosted market vibrancy and enhanced investors’ access into the market. Wong highlighted some of the latest policies poised to improve fundraising, sustain IPO market vibrancy and trading liquidity, namely government incentives for green technologies, tax deductions for eligible tech-based companies on the ACE and LEAP Markets, and exemptions for IPO approved by Bursa Malaysia from the recently-announced capital gain tax. “What we have seen in the Malaysian IPO market is there has been a steady amount of good IPOs in the pipeline that have already submitted their draft prospectus to the regulators for approval. So that’s a very good start. “Then, we have a very stable government. Also based on the data that we see, there’s a lot of investor support from the retail as well as institutional investors. So all this combination actually provides a very positive outlook for Malaysia’s IPO market in 2024 which I think is quite encouraging,” he said at Deloitte’s Southeast Asia Annual IPO Press Conference on Thursday. During the presentation session, Wong said that Malaysia’s IPO market remained active so far this year, led by quality issuers that sustained or exceeded their market capitalisation upon listing, supported by an active investor participation He reported that there were 28 IPOs as of Nov 15 — against Bursa Malaysia’s target of 31 listings for the whole of 2023 — raising about US$715 million in total. Despite fewer IPOs and total funds raised compared with 2022, which saw 35 listings raising US$801 million, year to date total IPO market capitalisation has already surpassed that of 2022, at US$2.77 billion compared with last year’s US$2.55 billion. It was also noted that the ACE Market dominated this year’s IPO with 21 listings, compared with seven in the Main Market. “The listing requirements for the ACE Market are more accommodating towards companies with good growth propositions, and the lower ticket size of IPO offer shares continues to attract a steady flow of investor participation. “We observed that, generally, IPOs with reasonable valuations generated strong interest from the market and a good majority continue to demonstrate decent post-IPO share price performance,” Wong said. IPO market in Malaysia to remain robust in 2024, especially for consumer, tech-related industries, says Deloitte Malaysia Indonesia leads Southeast Asia’s IPO market As of Nov 15, data by Deloitte showed that the Southeast Asian capital markets, including Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, saw 153 IPOs raising approximately US$5.5 billion, down from US$7.6 billion from 163 IPOs in the full year of 2022. It was also noted that the IPO amount raised was the lowest in eight years. Indonesia saw the highest amount of IPO funds raised among the six Southeast Asian exchanges with a total of US$3.6 billion raised by 77 IPOs. Indonesia made up half of the region’s number of IPOs and 66% of the total IPO amount raised across the six exchanges, making it the fourth strongest stock exchange globally year-to-date in 2023, behind only China, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. Deloitte Southeast Asia and Singapore disruptive events advisory leader Tay Hwee Ling pointed out that there is an observable trend of an increasing number of companies listing on the secondary boards of Southeast Asian bourses. She said listing on the junior boards of the stock exchanges, which cater to highgrowth small and medium enterprises (SMEs), may be seen as a springboard to the Main Board for some IPO aspirants, as the listed-company status may propel the companies toward business growth expansion and further fundraising. “There are many SMEs in Southeast Asia with good growth potential, and a good financial ecosystem can provide these companies with the right environment to thrive and maximise this potential. This year, the Energy, Resources & Industrials and Consumer industries are two of the strongest in the market,” Tay added. BY EMIR ZAINUL theedgemalaysia.com subsidies rationalisation and GST. Ultimately, we have to accept that GST is regressive by nature, they will always have an impact on the people,” he said. “Also, because our GST [if introduced] will not be an additional tax, it will be a replacement of the sales and services tax (SST), so when we do our simulation, say it is 4%, our view is that it is not worth it for the amount of effort you need to go through all those difficulties. “Even 5%, then there is a pool of exemptions, and with more exemptions, it is also complicated and confusing,” he added. During the announcement of Budget 2024, the government made no mention of the reintroduction of GST, bucking market expectations that Putrajaya would at least reveal a timeline for GST’s eventual implementation to broaden tax revenue. Speaking to reporters on the sideline of the seminar on Thursday, Johan reiterated that the government will continue to look at improving its tax base. “There is no decision made on GST, but we continue to study whether we can improve SST or what are the ways to continue to increase tax base,” he said. FROM PAGE 4
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 6 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF HOME Temasek-backed Carsome cutting hundreds of jobs to reach profit Pecca eyes another record year as it kicks off FY2024 on a high BY JUSTIN LIM theedgemalaysia.com BY OLIVIA POH & ANDERS MELIN Bloomberg KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Pecca Group Bhd, which posted record profit and revenue for the past three financial years, is confident of maintaining its earnings momentum with another set of all-time high figures in the upcoming year ending June 30, 2024 (FY2024). The automotive upholstery maker’s chief executive officer Foo Ken Nee said the group expects to do even better than the previous year in FY2024, supported by a strong backlog of orders received from carmakers. “Pecca has three- to six months of [backlog] orders,” he told a press conference after the group’s annual general meeting. “Hence, we strongly believe that in the next financial year (FY2024), we will do much better than in FY2023. Indeed, Pecca is off to a running start for FY2024 when it posted a fifth straight record-breaking quarterly net profit of RM13.01 million for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (1QFY2024). The 55.8% jump in net profit was driven by higher sales of upholstery car seat covers and improved operational efficiency. The sterling results were underpinned by a 16.7% growth in quarterly revenue to RM64.05 million, against RM54.86 million achieved in 1QFY2023. For FY2023, Pecca posted a net profit of RM35.43 million, up from RM22.84 million in FY2022 and RM19.22 million in FY2021. Revenue grew to RM221.26 million in FY2023, from RM164.39 million in FY2022 and 144.75 million in FY2021. (TIV) figure was revised upwards from 650,000 units projected in January, underpinned by a stable economic outlook, new model launches and further improvement in the automotive industry supply chain environment. Second manufacturing plant to be ready by mid-2025 Pecca is constructing its second manufacturing plant in Serendah, Selangor, which is expected to commence operations by mid-2025. The capital expenditure for the new plant is RM45 million to RM50 million, of which RM8 million is for land acquisition, another RM10 million to RM15 million for the installation of machinery, and RM30 million for construction work. Upon completion, the group’s annual capacity will double to between 400,000 and 480,000 seats, Foo noted. As at June 30, 2023, the group had cash holdings of RM111.23 million, while borrowings stood at RM11.87 million. Foo said the group is looking to expand its market by venturing into the luxury car brands market. Currently, Pecca installs leather upholstery car seat covers for Perodua, Proton, Mitsubishi, Toyota and Nissan. Pecca’s share price was down one sen or 0.83% to RM1.20 on Thursday afternoon, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM902 million. Year to date, the stock has risen 45%. The Malaysian Automotive Association (MAA) has projected the country’s total car sales to rise to a new record of 725,000 units in 2023, from 720,658 in 2022. The 2023 total industry volume (Nov 16): Carsome Group, which operates a Southeast Asian used-car online marketplace, is cutting hundreds of jobs to reduce costs as it works to reach profitability ahead of a potential stock-market listing. The company is eliminating positions across Southeast Asia, with Indonesia and Thailand the hardest hit, people familiar with the matter said. Carsome has scaled down its operations significantly in those two markets, which it entered in 2017, the people said, asking not to be identified as the plans aren’t public. It has about 4,000 employees. Malaysia’s most valuable technology startup last year delayed its dual listing plans in Singapore and the US on concerns that deteriorating macroeconomic conditions could dent its valuation. The company expects to break even this year and is set to achieve its first full year of profitability in 2024, chief executive officer Eric Cheng said in July. Carsome is preparing to be ready for an initial public offering, and when there is a window, the company can list quickly, he said at the time. Carsome “makes adjustments to its workforce where necessary,” the company said in an emailed response to questions, declining to comment on specific numbers. “We remain committed to investing in all of our current markets and plan to accelerate profitable growth in 2024,” it said. Higher interest rates combined with slowing economic growth and geopolitical tensions have hurt market sentiment and weighed on first-time share sales. Carsome raised US$290 million (RM1.3 billion) early last year at a valuation of US$1.7 billion in a series E round led by the Qatar Investment Authority as well as 65 Equity Partners and Seatown Private Capital Master Fund, both of which are backed by Singapore’s Temasek Holdings Pte. Founded in 2015, Carsome has expanded into Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore. The company works with more than 13,000 dealers and sold more than 150,000 cars last year, according to its website. BLOOMBERG
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 7 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 8 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF HOME KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Sime Darby Bhd has obtained shareholders’ approval to buy a 61.18% stake in UMW Holdings Bhd for RM3.57 billion cash from Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), and make a mandatory general offer (MGO) to acquire the remaining 38.82% stake for RM2.27 billion or RM5 per share. At Thursday’s extraordinary general meeting, 1,159 shareholders with 1.78 billion shares voted in favour of the deal, while 100 shareholders with 5.56 million shares voted against, according to Sime Darby’s disclosure to Bursa Malaysia. This means shareholders who participated in the voting represented 26% of Sime Darby’s total share capital of 6.82 billion shares. With PNB and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) — who together account for a 62.8% stake in Sime Darby — abstaining from voting, non-interest shareholders who collectively account for the remaining 37.2% stake or 2.54 billion shares were the key determinants on whether to proceed with the transaction. PNB owns a 5.11% stake in Sime Darby and is deemed to have a 37.73% interest via Amanah Saham Bumiputera, as well as a collective 4.37% shareholdings through its other unit trust funds, including Amanah Saham Sime Darby gets shareholders’ approval to buy UMW from PNB KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): United Plantations Bhd (UP) recorded a net profit of RM235.68 million for its third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023), up 19.8% from RM196.72 million in the previous year’s corresponding period, despite lower revenue and share of results from its joint ventures, thanks largely to lower operating and income tax expenses. The group declared an 80 sen dividend for its financial year ending Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023), comprising an interim payout of 40 sen per share and an extraordinary dividend of 40 sen per share. Both dividends will be paid on Dec 14. The group just paid, in May this year, RM1 per share as dividends for FY2022, bringing its total payout for that year to RM1.40 per share. Based on its results filing, the group shaved off 32.2% from its operating expenses, which dropped to RM238.71 million from RM352.16 million, while income tax expense shrank by 34% to RM69.21 million from RM104.89 million previously. At the same time, finance costs dropped 35.2% to RM182,000 from RM281,000. Also helping to boost its bottom line was a near doubling in other operating income to RM3.7 million from RM1.94 million, while interest income grew 85.9% to RM5.92 million from RM3.18 million. These helped to offset the 16.85% drop in the group’s quarterly revenue to RM540.16 million from RM649.62 million amid lower average crude palm oil (CPO) and palm kernel (PK) prices, and the easing of its share of results from JVs to RM2.43 million from RM3.55 million. For the nine months ended Sept 30 (9MFY2023), UP’s net profit rose 14.9% to RM506.79 million from RM441.05 million in 9MFY2022, despite revenue falling by 26.3% to RM1.47 billion from RM1.99 billion, as it reduced its operating expenses by 33.4% to RM920.47 million from RM1.38 billion, while other operating income jumped to RM92.34 million from RM18.74 million, and interest income more than tripled to RM19.5 million from RM5.64 million. Income tax expense for 9MFY2023 was down 20.3% to RM153.96 million from RM193.23 million, despite the higher profit before tax, due to the one-off Prosperity Tax on 33% of chargeable income being imposed by the government last year on those making more than RM100 million profit. UP noted that palm oil prices, which ranged between RM3,637 and RM4,209 per tonne in 3QFY2023, have come under presUnited Plantations pays 80 sen dividend as 3Q profit jumps 20% sure amid the seasonal increase in production in Malaysia and Indonesia, in tandem with stocks rising to its highest in more than a year. This was combined with negative sentiments associated with rising interest rates that has dampeend outlook for the world economy, including demand for general commodities. While prices recovered in September due to drier weather in East Malaysia and vast parts of Kalimantan and southern Sumatra, which resulted in lower-than-expected output of palm oil, it said it is premature to determine the severity and full impact of the ongoing El Nino weather phenomenon on the group’s production in 2024. Other price-making factors to consider are the developments in North and South America in relation to the soybean production and planting season respectively, it noted. As such, UP said is “mindful of the challenges which the final part of 2023 will bring” amid the consequences of higher inflation and recession fears, and the escalation of global conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. In the meantime, the group said it will continue to direct further attention to implementing greater levels of mechanisation, and to complete its replanting programme, to take full advantage of its latest high-yielding planting materials produced by its research department. UP shares, up over 10% since the start of this year, closed at RM16.82 on Thursday, valuing the group at RM7 billion. The stock closed unchanged at RM16.82 for a market capitalisation of RM7 billion. BY SYAFIQAH SALIM theedgemalaysia.com BY CHESTER TAY theedgemalaysia.com Malaysia 2 — Wawasan, Amanah Saham Malaysia and Amanah Saham Malaysia 3. After PNB and EPF, Kumpulan Wang Persaraan Diperbadankan (KWAP) is the third largest shareholder in Sime Darby with a 7.71% stake or 525.68 million shares. The other shareholders, according to Bloomberg data, include Vanguard Group Inc (2.26% stake), BlackRock Inc (1.68%) and State Street Corp (1.16%). The poll on Thursday came after Bursa Malaysia rejected EPF’s request for a waiver from being categorising as “persons connected” with PNB and allowing the provident fund to vote in the EGM. Based on the outcome of the EGM, assuming EPF were to vote against the deal, its 15.55% stake or 1.06 billion shares in Sime Darby is unlikely to have swung the results of the EGM resolution, which requires a simple majority to pass. However, it is unclear what EPF’s stand on the deal is. In UMW, EPF is the second largest shareholder with a 10.3% stake, followed by KWAP with a 9.1% shareholding. In a statement, Sime Darby said that after obtaining shareholders’ approval, it is confident of fulfilling all conditions for the deal. “The support shows that shareholders share our vision in growing our automotive presence in Malaysia. We appreciate our shareholders’ trust and confidence and are committed to continue delivering value for them,” said Sime Darby group chief executive officer Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson. Sime Darby expects to complete the acquisition from PNB by the end of this month, and close the MGO in February next year. Shares of Sime Darby closed unchanged at RM2.40 on Thursday, giving the group a market capitalisation of RM16.36 billion. UMW settled four sen or 0.8% higher at RM4.92, valuing the group at RM5.75 billion.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 9 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF HOME KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Salutica Bhd, which is involved in a legal suit with Apple’s unit in Malaysia for alleged patent infringement, on Thursday filed a similar suit against the US tech giant’s Singapore-based subsidiary, Apple South Asia Pte Ltd. The new suit was filed at the Singapore’s High Court by Salutica’s wholly-owned unit, Salutica Allied Solutions Sdn Bhd (SAS), which manufactures mobile communication products, wireless electronic and lifestyle devices and vertical integration processes covering design and development. SAS is seeking, among others, a declaration that its patent is valid and has been infringed by Apple South Asia, and an injunction to restrain the Apple firm from making, disposing, using, importing or keeping products that infringe the patent. SAS is also seeking an inquiry on damages, or alternatively at SAS’ option, an account of profits made by the Apple unit, arising from the alleged infringement of the patent. “The FOBO Tag and FOBO Tire which are SAS’ own products, incorporates a number of Bluetooth technologies invented and/or developed by SAS. In particular, the pairing information of the FOBO Tag and FOBO Tire (being Bluetooth accessories) can be transferred to a new device and/ or shared across multiple smart devices without the need to reinitiate the pairing process (CrossPair Technology),” said Salutica in a bourse filing. Salutica said SAS had on Nov 6, 2023 — through its Singaporean solicitors Amica Law LLC — issued a letter of demand to Apple South Asia in respect of the alleged infringement of the patent. In Malaysia, SAS had in January 2022 commenced a patent infringement claim relating to the CrossPair Technology in Malaysia “against products sold and/or offered for sale by Apple’s related company that are identical to and/or highly similar to the infringing products”. Salutica said the new suit in Singapore is not expected to have any business and operational impact on the group and SAS. “Apart from the amount claimed by SAS and the corresponding legal costs, the suit is not expected to have any other material financial impact on the company for the financial year ending June 30, 2024,” it said. Salutica accuses Apple of patent infringement, files lawsuit in Singapore KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Siab Holdings Bhd has proposed a private placement, a rights issue with warrants, and the acquisition of 100% of Taghill Projects Sdn Bhd. The company said the private placement would involve 100 million new ordinary shares representing 20.42% of the existing issued shares to independent investors to be identified, and at an issue price to be determined later. The company said In a filing with Bursa Malaysia on Thursday that the issue price will be based on the five-day volume weighted average price of Siab shares immediately preceding the price fixing date, with a discount of not more than 20%, but subject to a minimum issue price of 12 sen per share. It noted that based on the indicative placement price, the proposed private placement will raise gross proceeds of up to RM12 million, intended for the cash consideration for a proposed acquisition. Siab has also proposed a renounceable rights issue of 766.52 million rights shares, together with 383.26 million warrants, on the basis of 13 rights shares for every 10 existing Siab shares held on the entitlement date, together with one warrant for every two rights shares subscribed. The company said the issue price of the rights shares under the proposed rights issue with warrants had been fixed at 12 sen per rights share. Siab said it also intends to acquire two million shares, which is the entire stake in Taghill, which is principally involved in building construction services, from the vendors, namely Chu Yee Hong, Wong Yih Ming And Yap Kek Siung, for RM122 million. The purchase consideration will be satisfied via a combination of RM96 million in cash, and RM26 million through the issuance of 200 million new Siab shares at the issue price of 13 sen per share. The company shared that the rationale for the proposed private placement and the proposed rights issue with warrants will increase the number of Siab shares in circulation, which may potentially enhance the liquidity and marketability of the company’s shares on the ACE Market. Siab proposes private placement, rights issue, acquisition of Taghil for RM122 mil “Proceeds to be raised from the exercise are intended to be utilised mainly for the funding of the proposed acquisition and working capital of the group. “The warrants attached to the rights shares are expected to enhance the attractiveness of the rights shares. The warrants will also provide the company with additional capital when they are exercised, as well as allowing the company to raise fresh proceeds, without incurring additional financing cost, and minimise any potential cash outflow in respect of interest servicing,” it noted. As for the proposed acquisition, Siab said it forms part of the group’s long-term business expansion and growth strategy, as both companies are currently involved in building construction services. Hence, it will enable them to leverage their combined strengths and expertise in the industry, as well as respective business relationships with various industry stakeholders. “The exercise also represents a strategic opportunity for the company to further strengthen its remaining order book to approximately RM1.89 billion, given that Siab’s current unbilled order book stood at RM220.92 million, and Taghill’s at RM1.67 billion,” it said. Siab added that the profit guarantee had also been put in place to mitigate any potential losses or uncertainties associated with the proposed acquisition. Bernama BY SULHI KHALID theedgemalaysia.com SALUTICA.COM
friday november 17, 2023 10 The E dge C E O m o rning brief home Analysts lift Kossan’s target price, earnings outlook, but cite ‘lofty’ valuation by Lee Ming Hui theedgemalaysia.com KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Analysts lifted Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd’s target price (TP) after it beat expectations to swing to profit in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023), on better sales volume expected amid customers’ inventory replenishment activities. However, persistent pricing competition due to an oversupply in the industry will keep average selling prices (ASP) flattish in the near term, the analysts said. Shares of Kossan opened higher and rose as much as 16 sen or 10.8% to an 18-month high of RM1.64 in the morning session as net profit rebounded to RM40.97 million in 3QFY2023, after two consecutive quarters in the red. The counter retreated to close at RM1.58, its highest in 17 months. It was 10 sen or 6.76% higher than its last closing price on Wednesday, and gave it a market capitalisation of RM4.04 billion. Revenue came in at RM403.48 million, up 4.11% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q) but down 28% year-on-year (y-o-y). In a note on Thursday, Kenanga Research raised Kossan’s TP to RM1.34, from RM1.28, as it now projects the group to post a net profit of RM44 million in FY2023, from an earlier forecast of losses amounting to RM76 million. However, it downgraded the counter to “underperform”, citing lofty valuations based on 42-87 times forward price-toearnings ratio and forward return on equity of 1-2%. The research house expects the oversupply situation to persist “at least over the next 12 months”, and excess capacity of 112 billion pieces in 2023 “which is similar to 2022”, despite a 15% increase in demand this year. Separately, Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) pointed out that Kossan’s core profit after tax and minority interest (Patami) of RM32.1 million surpassed both its expectations of RM67.7 million in losses and consensus estimates of RM66.5 million in losses. “The key deviation from our forecast was due to lower-than-expected costs on the back of better cost control management,” said HLIB, which upgraded the counter to “hold” with a higher target price (TP) of RM1.35, from RM1. TA Securities, which has a “buy” call with higher TP of RM1.75 (from RM1.60) also pointed to improved q-o-q performance by Kossan’s technical rubber products and clean room divisions’ performance. However, it highlighted Kossan’s 9MFY2023 profit before tax (PBT) of RM32.4 million reflected a weaker y-o-y performance, mainly due to a 22% decline in ASP, a 25% decline in volume, and increased energy and labour costs. MIDF Research sees ASP for Kossan’s gloves division remaining “flattish in the near term”, it said in a separate note. It pointed to the oversupply amid intense competition from Chinese players. That said, buyers are replenishing their glove inventory following the expiration of pandemic-related stockpiles, it said, which would in turn support utilisation rate, resulting in production costs per unit and improved margins. MIDF upgraded Kossan to “neutral” with a much higher revised TP of RM1.38 from 88 sen. Meanwhile, PublicInvest Research upgraded its call to “neutral” at a higher TP of RM1.38, from RM1.08. It sees lower raw material prices and the strengthening US dollar working in the company’s favour, and increased demand for the technical rubber products segment which could push revenue higher “in tandem with improved infrastructure spending”. At the time of writing, Kossan shares traded up 11 sen or 7.43% at RM1.59, giving it a market capitalisation of RM4.07 billion. The counter is up more than 42.7% this year, Bloomberg data showed. Kossan’s better-than-expected performance spurred some trading activity among glove counters. Others who are yet to announce their results for the quarter ended September include Supermax Corp Bhd, as well as lower-liners Comfort Gloves Bhd, Careplus Group Bhd and Hextar Healthcare Bhd. At the time of writing, shares of Supermax rose two sen or 2.32% to 88 sen, alongside Comfort (up two sen or 5.55% to 38 sen), Careplus (up one sen or 3.63% to 28.5 sen), and Hextar Healthcare (up 2.5 sen or 12.19% to 23 sen). Shares of Top Glove Corp Bhd also rose three sen or 4% to 78 sen, while Hartalega Holdings Bhd shares traded unchanged at RM2.35. Kossan’s improvement was in line with its peer Hartalega Holdings Bhd, which earlier this month also posted a profit after three consecutive quarters in the red. Analysts’ recommendation on Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd FIrm Recommendation Target price (RM) Affin Hwang Investment Bank Bhd Buy 1.75 TA Securities Holdings Bhd Buy 1.75 UOB KayHian Buy 1.63 Maybank Investment Banking Group Hold 1.59 RHB Research Neutral 1.45 MIDF Amanah Investment Bank Bhd Neutral 1.38 Public Investment Bank Bhd Neutral 1.38 Hong Leong Investment Bank Bhd Hold 1.35 AmInvestment Bank Bhd Hold 1.34 BIMB Securities Sdn Bhd Hold 1.33 Kenanga Investment Bank Bhd Underperform 1.30 Nomura Neutral 1.24 Citi Sell 1.23 Macquarie Underperform 1.00 Source: Bloomberg Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd 0 20 40 60 80 100 Oct 26, 2022 Nov 16, 2023 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6 Vol (mil) RM RM1.58 Source: Bloomberg RM1.19
friday november 17, 2023 11 The E dge C E O m o rning brief home Apex Equity to sell Menara Apex for RM55 mil Analysts flag challenging sales outlook for Amway, but lift earnings forecast on lower costs by Syafiqah Salim theedgemalaysia.com by Adam Aziz theedgemalaysia.com KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Analysts revised higher earnings for Amway (M) Holdings Bhd on lower incentive costs for its Amway Business Owners (ABO), but said the same factor suggests sales could face headwinds. In the coming year, the company could also see current elevated profit margins come under pressure, due to higher operating costs associated with the group’s business investments and marketing. In a note, TA Securities Research raised Amway’s earnings forecast for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2023 (FY2023) by 65.2% — 30.5% for FY2024 and 29.3% for FY2025 — to reflect lower costs of goods sold and ABO payout structure. However, the research house trimmed its target price (TP) to RM5.80 from RM5.90 and maintained its “hold” call. Its valuation is based on the dividend discount model (DDM) approach (discount rate: 8.4%; growth rate: 1%), with a higher discount rate of 9.8%. “We maintain our cautious stance on the group’s prospects given the growing concern over the reducing ABO payouts, which could possibly suggest the weakened sales force and deceleration of sales growth momentum,” it said It also flagged saturated multi-level marketing space and rising competition at more affordable price points, although it expects the group to focus on improving ABO-centric programmes to stimulate demand. Meanwhile, BIMB Securities Research raised its TP to RM5.70, from RM5.50, with a “hold” call, based on a new DDM valuation with a weighted average cost capital of 8.7% and lower terminal growth rate of 1%. adjusting its cost assumptions and lowering sales estimates. Sales for Amway is expected to be muted in 4QFY2023, accompanied by slightly higher costs due to year-end sales promotions, it said. “Looking ahead to FY2024, the sales outlook for Amway remains challenging amid inflationary pressures that impact consumers’ ability and willingness to spend, especially on premium-priced products. “Despite the expectation of lower ABO incentives cost, profit margins could be under pressure from current higher level, as we anticipate increased operating costs associated with business investments and marketing,” MIDF said. “That said, Amway remains an attractive dividend play, offering a lucrative dividend yield of 8.1%-9.5% in FY2023-FY2025F],” said the research house. Amway’s net profit for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023) more than doubled to RM46.21 million from RM18.75 million in the previous year’s corresponding quarter, mainly due to lower operating expenditure resulting from significantly reduced ABO incentives payouts, which were aligned with lower sales. The improved profitability came after the group issued a profit warning in August, taking into consideration that inflation would squeeze consumers’ purchasing power and appetite to spend. This was despite its quarterly revenue declining by 10.3% to RM333.47 million from RM371.79 million due to softer demand in health and wellness products and home appliances. At the start of trading, Amway’s share price increased by 5.71% or 30 sen to RM5.55 from Wednesday’s closing price of RM5.25. The stock then pared its gains to RM5.45 at the market close, still up 20 sen or 3.81%, for a market capitalisation of RM856.45 million. The counter has climbed 12.59% this year. KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Apex Equity Holdings Bhd is disposing off the 11-storey Menara Apex in Kajang, together with the land, for RM55 million to Era Edu Sdn Bhd, which operates the New Era University College education arm. Taking into account related expenses and taxes, Apex Equity estimates net proceeds of RM49.95 million, with an actual gain on disposal of RM39 million. The proceeds would be utilised for working capital, it added. Apex Equity said the unaudited net book value of the property stood at RM10.95 million at end-June. The 29-year-old property cost the group RM21.33 million, including subsequent renovations. It is currently underutilized, with three tenants and several telco providers at the roof top. “The proposed disposal is on ‘as-iswhere-is’, ‘lock stock and barrel’ and willing-buyer-willing-seller basis at the disposal price, subject to the property being free from all encumbrances,” said Apex Equity. At the time of writing, shares of Apex Equity rose one sen or 0.94% to RM1.07, giving it a market capitalisation of RM214.8 million. The counter is down 10% this year. This as it revised its FY2023 earnings forecast upward by 49% and FY2024 earnings forecast upward by 35%, after Amway (M) Holdings Bhd 0 50 100 150 200 250 Oct 26, 2022 Nov 16, 2023 4.4 4.8 5.2 5.6 Vol (’000) RM *RM5.45 Source: Bloomberg RM4.50 Analysts’ recommendation on Amway (M) Holdings Bhd FIrm Recommendation Target price (RM) KAF Equities Sdn Bhd Buy 6.50 TA Securities Research Hold 5.80 BIMB Securities Sdn Bhd Hold 5.70 Source: Bloomberg
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 12 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF HOME KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Chung Chee Yang has reemerged as a substantial shareholder in Cypark Resources Bhd, after raising his stake to 41.15 million shares or 5% in the company. Chee Yang ceased to be a substantial shareholder in the renewable energy company back in September, when his shareholding dropped to 37.43 million shares. His reemergence came after he acquired 235,100 shares in the open market on Wednesday. At present, Cypark’s largest shareholder is Mohamed Izani Mohamed Jakel, who owns a 0.99% direct stake and a deemed interest of 21.47% through Jakel Capital Sdn Bhd, part of Jakel Group, based on Cypark’s current share base of 822.83 million shares. KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd has fully redeemed the last two series of issues of its sukuk murabahah programme amounting to RM220.5 million on Nov 15, ahead of the due redemption dates in 2024 and 2025. The company had used internal funds and fresh borrowings for this redemption, Dayang said in a bourse filing on Thursday. Dayang noted that the original amount for the two series was RM313.95 million, but part of this amount was redeemed earlier with funds from a prior private placement exercise and internally generated funds. The sukuk was initially issued in 2019 with a nominal value of RM682.5 million, divided into six series of two tranches each, with a tenure of eight years. The sukuk programme is part of a group-wide debt-restructuring exercise undertaken by Dayang, aimed at restructuring and rescheduling their loans and debt obligations to strengthen the financial position of the group. Others include Cypark’s co-founder and group CEO Datuk Daud Ahmad, who raised his stake to 8.37% through employee share options conversions since September; as well as Chung Dao, who emerged as a substantial shareholder in September, with a 5.24% stake currently. The company is due to deliver two solar power projects in the east coast by end of this year, namely the a 60MWac LSS floating solar project in Danau Tok Uban, Kelantan and a 100MWac LSS solar project in Merchang, Terengganu. Shares of Cypark settled two sen or 1.92% lower to RM1.02 on Thursday, giving it a market capitalisation of RM839.24 million. The counter has risen by 117% this year. Chee Yang reemerges as substantial shareholder in Cypark BY ADAM AZIZ theedgemalaysia.com BY EMIR ZAINUL theedgemalaysia.com MORE ON CORPORATE EARNING Hume Cement posts highest quarterly profit in 20 years, declares dividend of two sen KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Hume Cement Industries Bhd has posted a net profit of RM48.33 million for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (1QFY2024), its highest quarterly earnings since 3QFY2003, thanks to the revision in cement selling price to cushion the increase in energy costs, coupled with higher sales volume amid recovery of construction activities. The group had reported a net loss of RM12.04 million for 1QFY2023. Revenue grew 48.3% to RM306.66 million, from RM206.79 million in 1QFY2023, according to Hume Cement’s stock exchange filing on Thursday. The group has declared an interim dividend of two sen, with Dec 4 as the ex-date. This is its first dividend payout since FY2017. Going forward, Hume Cement, which is 68.5%-controlled by billionaire Tan Sri Quek Leng Chan of the Hong Leong Group, said the construction sector is expected to continue its growth, and demand for cement will benefit from the increased development expenditures in Budget 2024. — by Chester Tay Dayang Enterprise redeems last portion of RM682.5 mil sukuk ahead of due dates Read the full story Bumi Armada’s 3Q net profit rises 19% on higher operating income, lower costs KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Bumi Armada Bhd’s net profit increased by 18.73% to RM177.77 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023) from RM149.72 million a year earlier, on higher operating income and lower finance cost.Revenue declined 19.64% to RM524.8 million from RM653.07 million in 3QFY2022 as cost of sales fell 24.07% to RM283.47 million from RM373.35 million, according to the offshore energy services provider’s bourse filing. Net profit for the first nine months of FY2023 slipped 4.64% to RM497.55 million from RM521.73 million in the previous corresponding period, on lower contribution from its Armada Kraken floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility and foreign exchange losses. Nine-month revenue decreased 16.13% to RM1.51 billion from RM1.8 billion mainly due to the failure of hydraulic submersible pump transformers on the Armada Kraken FPSO facility and lower revenue from subsea construction contract work in the Caspian Sea as the project was near completion. — by Syafiqah Salim Sunway REIT’s NPI rises 7% to RM137 mil KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Sunway Real Estate Investment Trust’s (Sunway REIT) net property income (NPI) increased by 6.6% to RM136.75 million for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (3QFY2023), from RM128.24 million a year earlier in line with higher revenue driven by sharp increase in hotel segment’s earnings. Furthermore, strong performance in both the domestic and international leisure sectors, coupled with full room occupancy at Sunway Resort Hotel since July this year are also other factors contributing to higher earnings for the quarter. Announcing this to Bursa Malaysia, the REIT said its revenue rose 5.8% to RM175.84 million from RM166.24 million. No income distribution was declared for 3QFY2023. NPI for the cumulative nine-month period of FY2023 (9MFY2023) expanded 10.5% to RM391.24 million from RM354.05 million as cumulative nine-month revenue grew 13% to RM525.17 million from RM464.71 million — by Syafiqah Salim
friday november 17, 2023 13 The E dge C E O m o rning brief home KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): Malaysia’s air passenger traffic in the first nine months of 2023 has reached 77.5% of pre-pandemic levels, according to Transport Minister Anthony Loke. In response to Oscar Ling Chai Yew (PH-Sibu) during the minister’s question time at Dewan Rakyat on Thursday, Loke stated that the recovery was highest for domestic passengers at a rate of 84.4%, followed by Asean passengers at 77.5%, and 63.4% for other international destination passengers. Notably, in a statement on Oct 20, Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) had reported that the total local passenger movement in the third quarter of this year reached 21.7 million, with 3.3 million representing international passengers — marking a 79.3% recovery compared to September 2019 — and 3.6 million domestic passengers, an 86.7% increase from September 2019. This brings Malaysia’s overall performance for September to an impressive 83% compared to the corresponding period in 2019. Meanwhile, Loke said the recovery in number of flights between January and October 2023 stood at a rate of 74.1%, totaling 381,475 flights compared to 514,896 flights for the same period in 2019. Loke mentioned that airports in Malaysia have handled a total of 62.8 million passengers up to September 2023. “Airports in Malaysia handled a total of 109.42 million passengers in 2019, while the number of passengers decreased by 50.1% to 54.8 million in 2022,” Loke said. Loke pointed out that the government aims to increase the number of passengers this year by 87.8 million, which is 80.6% compared to the number of passengers recorded in 2019. The number of passengers is expected to return to pre-pandemic levels next year. Malaysia’s air passenger traffic reached 77.5% of pre-pandemic levels in first nine months of 2023 — Loke KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has agreed with the recommendation of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to submit a progress report on the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) littoral combat ship (LCS) second-generation patrol vessel project every three months until the LCS project is completed. by Choy Nyen Yiau theedgemalaysia.com Domestic flights’ on-time performance falls to 79% in 3Q2023 Meanwhile, Loke said that Malaysian airlines’ on-time performance for domestic flights dropped to 79% in 3Q2023, compared to 82% in 2Q2023. Among domestic airlines, SKS Airways achieved the highest on-time performance during the periodwith 95%, followed by MASwings at 93%, Batik Air Malaysia at 82%, FireFly at 77%, Malaysia Airlines at 74%, and AirAsia at 74%. “Mavcom is in the process of determining performance standards for accuracy achievement and flight cancellation rate for Malaysian airlines. This process is estimated to be completed in the first quarter of 2024,” Loke added. Answering supplemental questions from Ling, Loke said that the government, through Mavcom, is looking for an approach to set a target for on-time performance. Failure to meet this target will lead the government to take action against the airlines. “However, there are many factors that result in flight delay, such as weather and air traffic management. We need to take all of these into account. But the government will always monitor the airlines to ensure they can manage their flight schedules better,” Loke added. Read also: Subang Airport regeneration plan will not undermine KLIA, says Loke Deputy Defence Minister Adly Zahari said the ministry has been channelling information based on all committees formed and there is no problem with information being shared with the PAC. “Each committee has its meeting period and during that period, all committees can call any party to get information and the PAC can take note of any information from the respective committee,” he said at a media conference after attending the 2023 Defence Innovation Final Competition here on Thursday. PAC, in a recent report, submitted five improvement recommendations, including the requirement for Mindef to present a progress report on the LCS project every three months until it is completed, including a progress report in line with international project management standards. The report said in addition to the PAC, namely the Technical Committee at the project team level, and the project management review (PMR), which is the project’s technical team at the Mindef level, there is a working committee, chaired by the deputy secretary general (Development) of Mindef, and the Project Monitoring Committee (PMC), jointly chaired by the secretary general of Mindef and the secretary general of the Treasury. The construction of the LCS ships was embroiled in controversy when PAC revealed that not a single ship had been completed, despite the government having paid RM6.08 billion to Boustead Naval Shipyard Sdn Bhd. Mindef ready to submit progress report on LCS project every three months, says deputy minister Bernama
friday november 17, 2023 14 The E dge C E O m o rning brief home KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The testimony of 1Malaysia Development Bhd’s former legal counsel Jasmine Loo Ai Suan will either put a nail in former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak’s coffin or help acquit him of his 21 money laundering charges, his lawyer Tan Sri Shafee Abdullah told the High Court here on Thursday. Shafee made the remarks during Najib’s 1MDB-Tanore trial when he was cross-examining investigating officer (IO) ACP Foo Wei Min about Loo before Justice Datuk Collin Lawrence Sequerah. Foo is the 48th prosecution witness in the trial that is named after 1MDB’s dealings with Tanore Finance Corp, which saw US$681 million (about RM2.28 billion based on the exchange rate then), out of US$3 billion raised by 1MDB through a bond issue to develop the Tun Razak Exchange (TRX), flow into Najib’s personal account in 2013. Foo is part of the team that investigated Loo, who was arrested in July this year, after she returned to Malaysia. He said the scope of his investigations involved the recovery of 1MDB’s assets from Loo. Shafee asked Foo if Loo’s testimony is vital to Najib’s 21 money laundering charges. Foo, was also previously involved in 1MDB investigations, was in charge of looking into 1MDB’s dealings with Tanore, a shell company. The Tanore phase was when Najib received US$681 million from Tanore and then returned the money to the same company. Below is an excerpt of the exchange: Shafee: Do you agree with me that Jasmine Loo will be a vital witness for the 21 charges against Najib to unveil the issue of Tanore? Foo: No, because in her statement she said she didn’t have control over Tanore’s accounts. Shafee then told Foo that Loo had power of attorney over the Tanore bank account registered in Falcon Bank, and repeated his question to him. Shafee: But you didn’t know of her power of attorney over Tanore. You were ignorant of this. My question is now that you know of her power of attorney, she’s a critical witness? Foo: Yes. Shafee: Do you agree with me that Jasmine Loo can put a nail in Najib’s coffin, or acquit him? Foo: I don’t want to answer this question. Shafee: Why? Foo: [Please ask] your question again. Shafee: Jasmine Loo can put a nail in Najib’s coffin, or acquit him. At this point, deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib interjected, saying Shafee shouldn’t ask the witness for his opinion. However, Sequerah allowed the question, which Shafee put to Foo again. Shafee: She is such a critical witness, because she can put all the four nails in Najib’s coffin, and bury him further, or her testimony can tell of his knowledge or lack of knowledge of 1MDB, which will be favourable to Najib. Foo: Yes, I agree. by Timothy Achariam theedgemalaysia.com 1MDB-Tanore: Witness agrees with Shafee that Jasmine Loo’s testimony will ‘nail Najib’s coffin’ or acquit him During the cross-examination, Shafee also asked Foo if Loo had told him about a meeting she had with Jho Low and other 1MDB top brass like Azmi Tahir and Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi in 2019 in China, when she and Jho Low were still wanted by the authorities. Shafee: Are you aware Jasmine Loo met Jho Low in China not long before she was arrested? She met Jho Low in China, with some previous officers in 1MDB. Foo: Yes. According to her statement, she met Jho Low in China, and with her were some other officials. Shafee: Do you know their names? I know their names. [Former 1MDB chief financial officer] Azmi Tahir was there. He came here and pretended to be innocent. Foo: I’m not sure. I was not informed. Shafee: She told you she went to see Jho Low in China. Foo: Yes, she did. In 2019. Shafee then asked Foo about the relationship between Low and Loo. Shafee: You agree with me, that Jasmine Loo was always in contact with Jho Low pertaining to Tanore Finance Corp? Foo: She always had contact with Jho Low when she absconded for five years. But she never informed us that she discussed Tanore with Jho Low. Earlier, Foo agreed with Shafee that Najib had no offshore account, while other players in the 1MDB scandal had offshore accounts. Shafee: Do you agree with me, in your investigation, that Najib has never got an offshore account? Foo: Yes. Shafee: And you made serious efforts to find out if he has an offshore account? Foo: Yes. Shafee: And despite that, did you find any offshore accounts? Foo: No. Najib is on trial over four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving the US$681 million from 1MDB. The trial resumes on Dec 5. She is such a critical witness, because she can put all the four nails in Najib’s coffin, and bury him further, or her testimony can tell of his knowledge or lack of knowledge of 1MDB, which will be favourable to Najib.” — Defence lawyer Tan Sri Muhammad Shafee Abdullah.
friday november 17, 2023 15 The E dge C E O m o rning brief home KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The government is engaged in intensive discussion on the proposal to raise the ceiling price of local white rice, Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said on Thursday. Mohamad said the discussion involved his ministry, the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living. “Of course, (the discussion) also involves the food security committee chaired by the prime minister, as we are trying to gather feedback, including from MPs (Members of Parliament) — especially those from rice-growing areas,” he said during Question Time in Dewan Rakyat. He was responding to Urul Amin Hamid (PN-Padang Terap), who had inquired whether the proposed increase in the ceiling price of local white rice would be implemented gradually, considering the high cost of living. Mohamad noted that the current price of RM26 per 10kg has not changed since 2008, but stressed that any proposal to raise the ceiling price needs to be fair to all parties, including farmers, producers, traders and consumers. “If the proposal is accepted, there is still a need for comprehensive discussions with the Economy Ministry, to assess the impact such changes would have on the people and on rice producers,” he said. Recently, there have been calls for the government to increase the ceiling price of local white rice to RM32 per 10kg, to protect the future of all parties involved in the food production chain, especially rice farmers. Govt discussing proposal to raise local rice price ceiling — Mat Sabu MACC to launch 2024-2029 anti-graft strategy mid-2024 — Azam Baki KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 16): The High Court on Thursday ruled as non-justiciable Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul’s decision on not declaring the casual vacancy of four Sabah parliamentary seats, after the former Bersatu party members switched support to Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS). As a result, judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh dismissed the judicial review application by Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee and the party’s organising secretary Datuk Capt (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya against Johari and the four MPs. “The court is bound by cases in the Federal Court, namely it has no jurisdiction to question the decision by the speaker. Hence, this court dismisses the judicial review, and no order is made as to costs,” Amarjeet said. Court dismisses Bersatu’s challenge against four Sabah MPs who switched support to GRS by Hafiz Yatim theedgemalaysia.com by Choy Nyen Yiau theedgemalaysia.com Bernama Read also: Jeli MP from PN denies being threatened or bribed to support Anwar Read also: Ministry plans to set up certified padi seeds stockpile as safeguard against shortage In the decision, the High Court allowed the preliminary objection by the Attorney General’s Chambers representing the speaker, which objected to the judicial review application in August, on the basis that Johari’s decision is non-justiciable, as it falls within the four walls of the legislature under Article 63 of the Federal Constitution. Ronald, when met after proceedings, said he would discuss with his lawyers on whether to appeal against the High Court decision. The issue before the court centred on the newly constituted Article 49A of the Federal Constitution — the anti-hopping legislation — which was passed during Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun’s time as the speaker. It basically stipulates that a member who has resigned or ceases to be a member of a political party after being elected in the Dewan Rakyat shall cease to be a member of that house, and his seat shall become vacant. The four MPs — Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (Papar), Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Datuk Jonathan Yasin (Ranau) and Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang) — had declared their support for GRS and not Bersatu. Armizan, who is also the minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Sabah, Sarawak affairs and special functions, as well as the acting domestic trade and cost of living minister, was present among the four. JAKARTA (Nov 16): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) will launch the National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2024-2029 (NACS 2024- 2029) mid-2024 to replace the National Anti-Corruption Plan 2019-2023 (NACP 2019-2023) which will conclude at the end of this year. MACC Chief Commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki said NACS will focus more on the effectiveness of preventing corruption and improving governance and integrity in the civil service administration and government-linked companies. He said so far, about 62% of the 115 NACP 2019-2023 initiatives have been implemented and the rest of the initiatives may be included in NACS 2024-2029. “Based on experience, we will reduce the initiatives. Enhancing effectiveness is more critical, and also whether administration and integrity in public services and government-linked companies can be solidified,” he said after delivering the keynote address at the World Anti-Corruption Conference 2023 (WACC 2023) organised by the International Strategy Institute, here on Thursday. bernama
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 16 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD (Nov 16): Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping emerged from their first meeting in a year betting that a handful of small victories will arrest a surge in US-China tensions that has unnerved neighbouring nations and threatened global economic growth. Expectations were low owing to deep-seated differences over trade, Taiwan and human rights, and even the summit’s modest accomplishments were hard-won. Those included deals to try to address the fentanyl crisis and to restore military communications severed after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last year. “We’re in a competitive relationship, China and the United States,” Biden told reporters after more than four hours of talks with Xi. “But my responsibility is to make this rational and manageable so it doesn’t result in conflict. That’s what I’m all about.” For his part, Xi sought to ease concerns that the US and China were on a path towards a military clash, saying China “will not fight a cold war or a hot war with anyone.” “China never bets against the United States and never interferes in its internal affairs,” Xi said in remarks later that evening during a dinner with CEOs including Apple Inc’s Tim Cook and BlackRock Inc’s Larry Fink. “China has no intention to challenge the United States or to unseat it.” In a sign of how much remains to be done, there was no evidence of progress on bigger issues like US curbs on microchip exports, tariffs or tensions in the South China Sea, where Chinese and US ships and planes have had a series of provocative encounters. Xi didn’t get what he needs most — deals to help boost the Chinese economy, which is still struggling to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. “Is this meeting going to improve the relationship? The answer is no, but that’s not the objective — the objective is to frame and contain the risks of it worsening,” said Kurt Tong, a former senior US diplomat in Asia who’s now a managing partner at the Asia Group. He characterised the results as “relatively small” deliverables. The meeting outside San Francisco was the culmination of intense diplomacy to salvage a relationship that had almost completely broken down over trade disputes, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the alleged Chinese spy balloon that drifted over US territory in January. BY IAIN MARLOW Bloomberg Biden-Xi meeting delivers small wins and promises of better ties US President Joe Biden waves as he walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Filoli estate on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, in Woodside, California the US on Nov 15. In a sign of how much remains to be done, there was no evidence of progress on bigger issues like US curbs on microchip exports, tariffs or tensions in the South China Sea, where Chinese and US ships and planes have had a series of provocative encounters. Xi didn’t get what he needs most — deals to help boost the Chinese economy, which is still struggling to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic. REUTERS CONTINUES ON PAGE 17 But it was also marred by what has now become an almost routine event for Biden at gatherings like this. After offering carefully scripted remarks to reporters, Biden couldn’t resist answering a reporter who asked if he still thought Xi was a dictator. “Well look, he is,” Biden said as he was leaving the stage. “I mean, he’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that is based on a form of government totally different than ours.” That remark signalled how domestic pressure in the US continues to weigh on the relationship. Looming for the US president is the 2024 election and criticism from Republicans who accuse him of being too weak on China and allowing Xi to take advantage of him. Republicans have assailed the Biden administration for getting nothing substantial out of the ongoing diplomacy, with polls showing a record number of Americans seeing China’s development as a “critical threat” to vital US interests. Former president Donald Trump, who is emerging as the presumptive Republican 2024 nominee, has needled Biden by drawing contrasts with Xi, portraying Biden as too old and being outwitted by the Chinese leader. “He’s like a piece of steel, strong, smart,” Trump said of Xi during a speech at Mar a Lago on Tuesday. “There’s nobody in Hollywood who could play the role.” The persistent US-China tension only served to highlight the fundamental divisions between the two sides, even as they try to inject stability into their rivalry. It also underscored how China failed to achieve one of its goals from the meeting: drag US-China relations away from the competitive framing Biden keeps using. Chinese leaders hoped to use the meeting “as a way to try and reframe the relationship,” said Martin Chorzempa, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. “And it sounds like the US is emphasising that it’s not going to budge on this point.”
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 17 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD (Nov 16): China home prices fell the most in eight years in October, signalling the property slump is worsening even after the government ramped up efforts to revive demand. New-home prices in 70 cities, excluding state-subsidised housing, declined 0.38% last month from September, when they dropped 0.3%, National Bureau of Statistics figures showed Thursday. The decrease was the steepest since February 2015. The drop adds to evidence of a persistent housing downturn after official figures this week showed a contraction in sales and property investment deepened. Fresh stimulus measures rolled out at major cities since August have done little to turn around the sector, which is dragging on China’s economic recovery. Only tier-2 cities, mostly provincial capitals, saw a narrower price decline amid looser homebuying restrictions. Prices slid 0.35% in tier-1 cities, sharply deteriorating from a 0.05% decrease a month earlier. A brief housing market rebound earlier this year after China’s post-Covid reopening “turned out to be short-lived,” said Chen Wenjing, associate research director at China Index Holdings. “Homebuyers are deterred by squeezed incomes and the uncertain property market outlook.” The second-hand market didn’t fare any better, with prices tumbling 0.58%, the most since October 2014. ‘Are we adversaries or partners?’ Xi echoed that idea in his dinner speech. “The number one question for us is, are we adversaries or partners?” Xi said. “If one sees the other side as a primary competitor, the most consequential geopolitical challenge and the pacing threat, it will only lead to misinformed policy making, misguided actions and unwanted results.” On fentanyl, China has already begun taking action against some Chinese companies that shipped precursor chemicals to third countries where they are used to create the deadly drug that is then shipped into the US, one administration official told reporters after the Biden-Xi meeting concluded. On military communications, China agreed to policy-level discussions between US and Chinese defence chiefs, as well as engagements at senior levels and between lower-level armed forces personnel, the official said. The administration maintains that engaging with China is key to minimising the chance that some inadvertent clash veers into an outright conflict. Many analysts view high-level engagement as particularly necessary given the increasingly centralised power around Xi, who sidelined rivals and captured a third term as Communist Party chief last year. “These areas of cooperation are unlikely to significantly change the direction of the relationship between the US and China,” said Meia Nouwens, a senior fellow for Chinese security and defence policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. “Ultimately, the US sees China as a systemic rival and Beijing is convinced the US is trying to contain China.” China housing gloom worsens as prices fall most in eight years Bloomberg Read also: Xi says China seeks to be friends with US, won’t fight ‘hot war’ Biden calls Xi a dictator after carefully planned summit Xi told Biden Taiwan is biggest, most dangerous issue in bilateral ties — US official Musk-Xi meeting shows tight relationship China has with Tesla FROM PAGE 16 A Bloomberg Intelligence gauge of Chinese property developers fell as much as 1.4% on Thursday morning, extending this year’s decline to 43%. In the latest move to support the real estate sector, Beijing is planning to provide at least one trillion yuan (RM650.2 billion) of low-cost financing to urban village renovation and affordable housing programmes, Bloomberg News reported this week. While details of the new plan remain unclear, some economists say it may be less effective than earlier efforts. The new programs would mostly take place in some of the largest metropolitan areas, outside the low-tier cities where the slump is most severe. Fresh stimulus measures rolled out at major cities since August have done little to turn around the sector, which is dragging on China’s economic recovery. China’s property crisis has engulfed almost all of the largest developers, which have been struggling to repay debts and complete projects since a credit crunch emerged three years ago. China Vanke Co, one of the country’s few remaining investment-grade builders, saw its dollar bonds plunge in recent weeks on the heels of industry giant Country Garden Holdings Co’s default. Vanke later received an unusually strong show of support from the local government. “Property remains the biggest drag amid the rising credit risk among developers,” Larry Hu, head of China economics at Macquarie Group Ltd, wrote in a note this week.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 18 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD (Nov 16): Alibaba Group Holding Ltd tumbled as much as 10% after it called off a spinoff of its giant cloud business as a result of tightened US curbs on advanced chips for China. The announcement stunned investors, sending shares down to a low of US$78.23 (RM365.34) as trading got underway in New York, and casting doubt on a historic overhaul laid out mere months ago. China’s e-commerce leader said it’s “reset” and decided not to pursue a plan to hive off and eventually list its cloud services division. Instead, it will focus on growing the unit organically and dole out its first-ever annual dividend of US$2.5 billion, assuaging shareholders hoping for a big payout from the unit’s debut. The decision comes as Alibaba tries to stage a comeback from Covid and a tech-sector crackdown. China’s online shopping leader is trying to win back merchants and shoppers that gravitated toward PDD Holdings Inc and newer entrants such as ByteDance Ltd’s Douyin, and corporate users that shifted to state-backed cloud services. However, that last effort is complicated by US curbs on artificial intelligence chips, which cloud services need to power datacenters and high-end computing. The Chinese e-commerce leader joins Tencent Holdings Ltd in acknowledging difficulties brought about by the US curbs announced last month. The Biden administration’s efforts to prevent the Chinese government from obtaining cutting-edge chips for military applications are now affecting the country’s private sector in unexpected ways. This “should be a big surprise to the market. This is a big contrast to the previous clear spinoff timetable,” said Willer Chen, research analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia. “Even considering the relatively weak market situation, the suspension still leaves the market scratching its head. The first annual dividend looks like a compensation to shareholders. However, it may not fully offset the shock given the higher value of cloud unit.” On Thursday, Alibaba also confirmed it was suspending an initial public offering (IPO) of grocery arm Freshippo, a lesser but well-known business. The company announced those decisions along with quarterly earnings. It posted an 8.5% rise in sales to 224.79 billion yuan (RM144.86 billion) in the September quarter, slightly exceeding average projections. It swung to a net profit of 27.7 billion yuan from a year-ago loss. Alibaba this year unveiled the most radical corporate overhaul in its history. The Hangzhou-based company announced a breakup into six main units, most of which will eventually go public. That manoeuvre was BY JANE ZHANG Bloomberg Alibaba tumbles after nixing cloud spinoff on US chip curbs designed to grant more autonomy to the separate businesses, hopefully rejuvenate them, and create value on markets. Such a split, however, will likely reduce Alibaba’s heft and erode its position as one of the leaders of the Chinese digital economy. “The recent expansion of US restrictions on export of advanced computing chips has created uncertainties for the prospects of Cloud Intelligence Group,” it said in a statement. “Accordingly, we have decided to not proceed with a full spin-off, and instead we will focus on developing a sustainable growth model for Cloud Intelligence Group under the fluid circumstances.” Even before Thursday’s announcement, the effort had hit a few bumps. The company put a potential Hong Kong IPO of its Freshippo grocery chain on the backburner amid weak sentiment for consumer stocks. Former chief executive officer Daniel Zhang quit just months after agreeing to lead its cloud division. Logistics arm Cainiao filed for a Hong Kong IPO in late September but it remains unclear what sort of valuation it could command. With Zhang’s exit, two of Jack Ma’s longest-standing confidants — Joseph Tsai and Eddie Wu — are now tasked with orchestrating the other spinoffs and revitalising the company as a whole. One of their big bets is in AI, joining major Chinese tech peers and a host of up-and-coming startups. The company has released its own large language model, Tongyi Qianwen, and is also investing in high-flying startups like Zhipu AI and Baichuan. Tsai said last month the cloud unit now hosts half of China’s generative AI firms and serves about 80% of the country’s technology companies. It’s unclear how the US sanctions will affect that effort. The cloud division is at the heart of Alibaba’s AI initiatives, and requires the sort of powerful chips that Nvidia Corp provides to train AI models but that are now mostly barred from Chinese firms. US sanctions are “not the lone reason for Alibaba not to spin off the unit,” said Daniel Tu, founder and managing director at Active Creation Capital. “Perhaps focusing on the Group’s overall operations efficiency and “resetting” its once-competitive advantages are now priorities over the listing plan for its cloud unit.” Read the full story This “should be a big surprise to the market. This is a big contrast to the previous clear spinoff timetable,” said Willer Chen, research analyst at Forsyth Barr Asia.
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 19 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD Ransomware gang LockBit revises its tactics to get more blackmail money (Nov 16): Ant Group Co’s quarterly profit fell by 65%, dented by a one-time fine that signalled the end of China’s yearslong crackdown on the tech industry. The Hangzhou-based company contributed 846 million yuan (RM545.18 million) of profit to its affiliate Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, a filing showed on Thursday. Based on Alibaba’s one-third stake in Ant, that translates to an estimated 2.6 billion yuan in profit for the fintech company’s June quarter. That compares with a 17% rise in Ant’s profit in the previous three months. Its earnings lag a quarter behind Alibaba’s. Ant’s profit would have grown to 9.6 billion yuan, excluding the seven billion yuan fine in July. Ant declined to comment in an emailed statement. Beijing slapped more than US$1 billion (RM4.67 billion) of fines on Ant and Tencent Holdings Ltd in July, reining in its national champions that amass data on hundreds of millions of people. Ant is awaiting a financial holding company licence, which would pave the way for a revival of an initial public offering (IPO). Ant proposed to buy back as much as 7.6% of its shares in July, giving investors a chance to reduce exposure to the firm. Under the repurchase plan, the company’s valuation was trimmed to about US$79 billion, far below its peak of US$280 billion before its IPO was scrapped three years ago. Investors including Warburg Pincus, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Carlyle Group and GIC Pte Ltd are among top foreign shareholders that aren’t participating in the buyback, Bloomberg reported in August. Fidelity and T Rowe Price Group Inc have agreed to sell some shares. Alibaba has decided not to sell any of its stake. Ant is also preparing to break off its international business, along with blockchain and database management services, people familiar with the matter have said. Billionaire Jack Ma, who has largely remained out of public sight in recent years, ceded control of Ant earlier this year amid a broader retreat. Southeast Asia To look for growth, Ant is leveraging the payments network it built for Alipay to collaborate with digital wallets around Asia for transactions outside of their home markets. Initially catering to Chinese tourists travelling outside the country, the company has expanded the service into a backbone for cross-border payments known as Alipay+ Jack Ma-backed Ant’s profit fell 65% due to 7 bil yuan fine that can be used by different wallets. For example, when customers of GCash from the Philippines travel to South Korea, they can pay with GCash when they see the Alipay+ logo displayed at merchants. Another budding source of revenue comes from Alipay+ D-store, which allows businesses to build digital stores across platforms including Chope, AlipayHK and Touch ‘n Go. The company plans to generate income from servicing brands like Burger King that want an online presence in various apps. Ant’s Singapore digital wholesale bank also started offering loans to small and medium-sized businesses in November 2022. Generative AI Ant received approval from the Chinese government to roll out products powered by its large language model Bailing to the public in November. Chinese tech firms from Alibaba to Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc have joined startups Baichuan and Zhipu to release ChatGPT-like products, joining a global race to capitalise on the potential of generative AI. Ant, the owner of Alipay, can leverage the popularity of the mobile payment service to gain more data and insight on user habits. In September, Ant unveiled two applications powered by its financial large language model. One is known as Zhixiaobao, which answers questions for customers; and the other, Zhixiaozhu, is an assistant for financial professionals. BY LULU YILUN CHEN Bloomberg BY JAMIE TARABAY Bloomberg (Nov 16): LockBit, the prolific ransomware gang that has launched attacks recently on Boeing Co and Industrial Commercial Bank of China Ltd, among others, has revised the way it tries to blackmail victims because it’s disappointed with lower-than-expected ransom payments, according to a report published on Thursday by Analyst1. The Russian-linked group has claimed some of this year’s biggest hacks. Its victims have included the UK’s Royal Mail and Japan’s biggest maritime port. But the syndicate’s financial haul has paled in comparison to some rival gangs, said Anastasia Sentsova, a ransomware cybercrime researcher who authored the report for cyber threat-intelligence firm Analyst1. LockBit’s leadership “is unhappy with the revenue they see from ransom payouts,” she said. The problem is that rapid growth of the group, which now has more than 100 affiliates, many of whom are young and inexperienced in negotiations, “has led to inconsistent and often low ransom amounts that decreased overall revenue and set an unfavourable tone for future negotiations”. LockBit, a criminal gang with ties to Russia, specialises in using malicious software known as ransomware to encrypt files on its victims’ computers, then demanding payment to unlock the files. The operation recruits hackers to conduct the ransomware attacks using LockBit’s tools and infrastructure. LockBit gets a cut of any ransom extorted in the attacks. A meeting between the gang’s main leaders culminated in new rules that went into effect on Oct 1, laying out new tactics for hackers to follow when negotiating with the victims of their ransomware attacks. The guidance details exactly how much to ask for in payouts, even as “the final decision on a ransom payment amount is still at the affiliate’s discretion, depending on their assessment of the damage inflicted on the victim”, Sentsova wrote in the report. But attackers were encouraged to stick to recommendations that companies with revenue of as much as US$100 million (RM467 million) pay 3% to 10% of their total sales, those with up to US$1 billion in revenue pay 0.5% to 5%, and those with more than US$1 billion in sales pay 0.1% to 3%, the report noted. “When setting an initial ransom amount, it is suggested to perform an assessment of the probability of payout to determine the amount the victim might be willing to pay,” the group said. Read the full story
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 20 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD HONG KONG/MUMBAI (Nov 16): US investment giant Carlyle Group has lowered the target for its latest pan-Asia private equity fund by at least 30% from its original US$8.5 billion (RM40 billion), three people with knowledge of the matter said, as a slowing global economy and geopolitical tensions dull investors’ appetite. Carlyle, which started raising its sixth Asia-focused fund in mid-2022, has bagged less than US$3 billion so far, two of the sources said. Carlyle did not disclose to investors why it had lowered the target, the sources said, with one of the people adding that the recent poor performance of funds could be a factor. Carlyle is now targeting up to US$6 billion in total, the sources said. The company is aiming for a final close of the fundraising in the third quarter next year, one of the people said. All the sources declined to be named as they were not authorised to speak to the media. A Carlyle spokesperson declined to comment. Carlyle’s downsizing comes as private equity firms struggle to cash out on their assets amid volatility caused by conflicts in the Middle East and Europe, rising inflation and higher interest rates, all factors that are expected to crimp global economic growth next year. It is not immediately clear if Carlyle has already reached first close, which refers to the stage when a private equity firm has secured the bulk of its targeted fundraising amount and can start investing in companies. Investors in private equity companies, known as limited partners, typically reinvest after having booked returns from their previous investments. Asia-focused fundraising has fallen nearly three-fourths this year from 2021, Preqin data shows. While funds raised US$299 billion in 2021, that amount fell to US$154 billion in 2022 and US$73 billion so far this year. Private equity firms have made a total of US$15.6 billion in exits in Asia, down 82% year-on-year, Dealogic data showed. No China-focused buyout fund denominated in US dollars has been raised this year, Preqin data showed, as China’s economic slowdown and Sino-US tensions weighed on investors’ appetite for the world’s second largest economy. Sources told Reuters last year Carlyle was aiming to raise US$8.5 billion in the pan-Asia fund. Read the full story Carlyle cuts Asia fundraising target to US$6 bil in challenging market — sources (Nov 16): Myanmar’s military rulers have ordered all government staff and those with military experience to prepare to serve in case of emergency, an official said on Thursday, after the junta reported “heavy assaults” from insurgents in several places. Myanmar’s military has battled ethnic minority and other insurgencies for decades but a 2021 coup has brought unprecedented coordination between anti-military forces that are mounting the biggest challenge to the army in years. The junta had orders all government staff and former military personnel to form units to respond to emergency situations, said Tin Maung Swe, secretary of an administrative council in the capital, Naypyitaw. “If necessary, such a unit might be required to go out and serve for natural disasters, and security,” the junta’s council said in an order. Tin Maung Swe confirmed the order while stressing that the situation in the capital, in central Myanmar, was calm. “This is the plan to help in the event of an emergency,” he told Reuters. A parallel government formed by pro-democracy politicians to oppose the military, and allied with some insurgent factions, has launched a “Road to Naypyitaw” campaign which it says is aimed at taking control of the capital. Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun said late on Wednesday the military was facing “heavy assaults from a significant number of armed rebel soldiers” in Shan State in the northeast, Kayah State in the east and Rakhine State in the west. Zaw Min Tun said some military positions had been evacuated and the insurgents had been using drones to drop hundreds of bombs on military posts. “We are urgently taking measures to protect against drone bomb attacks effectively,” the junta spokesperson said. UN concern Myanmar has been in turmoil since the 2021 coup, when the military ousted a government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, ending a decade of tentative democratic reform. The military ruled Myanmar with an iron fist for 50 years after seizing power in 1962, insisting it was the only institution capable of holding the diverse country together. The 2021 coup dashed hopes for reform and triggered a groundswell of opposition that has united pro-democracy activists in towns and cities with ethnic minority forces fighting for self-determination in hinterlands. Myanmar orders civil servants, ex-military to prepare for emergencies Clashes have sent refugees into all of Myanmar’s neighbours, including thousands who fled into India in recent days from fighting in Chin State in the northwest. Western governments have re-imposed sanctions on the Myanmar junta in response to the coup and crackdowns on protests and demanded the release of Suu Kyi and other pro-democracy politicians and activists. Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbours have tried to encourage a peace process but the generals have largely ignored their efforts. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned by the “expansion of conflict in Myanmar” and called for all parties to protect civilians, a spokesperson said. “The number of displaced people in Myanmar now exceeds two million,” the spokesperson said. The Arakan Army (AA) rebel group fighting for autonomy in Rakhine State said on Wednesday that dozens of police and military men had surrendered or been captured as its forces advanced. The junta spokesperson denounced the group saying it was “destroying” Rakhine state. Separately, a video posted on social media by anti-military forces in Kayah state, and verified by Reuters, showed wounded junta troops surrendering to insurgents, who were seen offering medical help. “We are ready to shoot you right now but we won’t do that. You raise the white flag and walk out, nothing will happen to you,” a fighter who identified himself as the vice commander-in-chief of the rebel Karenni National Defence Force is heard telling the junta soldiers. Reuters BY KANE WU & M SRIRAM Reuters
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 21 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD (Nov 16): Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on Thursday said it will sell its 99% stake in Indonesian unit PT Bank Commonwealth (PTBC) to Singapore’s OCBC, exiting a non-core business after more than two decades. The A$220 million (RM670.6 million) sale to OCBC’s PT Bank OCBC NISP advances CBA’s strategy of quitting businesses outside of retail banking in Australia, where it has a quarter of the country’s A$2 trillion in mortgages. OCBC intends to acquire the remaining 1% of PTBC from the other shareholders, OCBC said in a separate statement Thursday. CBA and Australia’s other so-called “Big Four” lenders have been trying to sell offshore and non-banking financial services businesses since a regulatory crackdown six years ago. A year and a half of interest rate hikes have put further stress on the sector as their core customers — home loan borrowers — shop around for better deals. OCBC said the acquisition will add scale and deepen its presence in Indonesia. OCBC counts Indonesia as one of its key markets besides Greater China, Singapore and Malaysia. The deal also marks OCBC Group CEO Helen Wong’s first acquisition deal since leading the Southeast Asia’s second largest lender by assets in 2021. Wong told Reuters in an interview in October last year that OCBC, also Singapore’s second biggest bank, is hunting for acquisitions in Indonesia to speed up growth. “As there is little overlap in customer relationships between OCBC Indonesia and PTBC, the proposed acquisition is expected to create synergies and strengthen the franchise value of OCBC Indonesia,” OCBC’s statement said. PTBC focuses on retail and small and medium-sized enterprises segments, providing a range of banking and wealth management products. Its net asset value amounted to 4.1 trillion rupiah while net tangible asset value stood at 3.5 trillion rupiah as at Sept 30, 2023, according to OCBC. CBA expects the sale to be broadly neutral to its common equity tier 1 ratio — a closely watched measure of spare cash — which stands at 11.8%, as at Sept 30. The sale is expected to close in the second or third quarter in 2024, subject to regulatory approvals. Commonwealth Bank of Australia to sell Indonesian unit to Singapore’s OCBC JAKARTA (Nov 16): US oil major Exxon Mobil is planning to invest up to US$15 billion in a petrochemical project and carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities in Indonesia, President Joko Widodo said in a presidential palace statement on Thursday. The planned CCS facilities would be the biggest in Southeast Asia. Jokowi, as the Indonesian president is commonly known, met with Exxon Chairman Darren Woods during a trip to San Francisco for an Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. Earlier this week, Indonesia signed an initial deal with an Exxon unit to explore investment in a petrochemical project in Indonesia to produce polymers. Exxon and Indonesian state energy company Pertamina also agreed to evaluate US$2 billion in investments in CCS facilities using two underground basins in the Java Sea. “These large-scale opportunities could substantially boost industrial growth and decarbonisation in Indonesia, as well as the Asia Pacific region,” said Carole Gall, president of Exxon Mobil Indonesia. The CCS hub would have the potential to store at least 3 gigatons of carbon dioxide emitted by industries in Indonesia and the rest of the region, Pertamina said. Indonesia wants to use its depleted oil and gas reservoirs for carbon storage and is finalising a regulation that would open up storage schemes for carbon from abroad to be stored in the country. The agreements were signed during Jokowi’s visit to Washington to meet with US President Joe Biden, ahead of the APEC summit in San Francisco this week. MANILA (Nov 16): The Philippine central bank kept its policy rate steady at 6.5% on Thursday, as expected, warning that its fight with inflation was not over and it could raise rates again. Risk to the inflation outlook “still leans significantly toward the upside,” the central bank said even as it lowered its “risk-adjusted” inflation forecasts for this year and next, which remain well outside its 2%-4% target range. The central bank raised rates in an off-cycle review last month to the highest since mid-2007. It has raised rates 450 basis points since May 2022. “The Monetary Board continues to deem it necessary to keep monetary policy settings sufficiently tight until a sustained downtrend in inflation becomes fully evident and inflation expectations are firmly anchored,” deputy governor Francisco Dakila told a media briefing. The Bangko Senral ng Pilipinas reiterated it was prepared to “resume policy tightening as necessary to steer inflation towards a target consistent path.” The central bank lowered its inflation estimate for this year to 6.1% (from 6.2%) and for 2024 to 4.4% (from 4.7%), following recent signs of easing price pressures. For 2025, it gave a forecast of 3.4%. Like many countries in the world, the Philippines has been grappling with high inflation which has dampened domestic demand, a key driver of growth, and has forced the central bank to aggressively hike rates. The Philippines peso fell 0.2% to 55.79 against the US dollar, largely unchanged after the central bank’s decision on Thursday, correctly predicted by 16 out of 23 economists in Reuters poll. The rest expected a 25 basis point hike. Read the full story Indonesia says Exxon Mobil plans to invest up to US$15 bil in the country Philippine central bank stays on hold, maintains hawkish tone Reuters BY NEIL JEROME MORALES & MIKHAIL FLORES Reuters BY AADITYA GOVIND RAO, BYRON KAYE & YANTOULTRA NGUI Reuters
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 22 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD SEOUL (Nov 16): South Korea’s financial regulator said on Thursday authorities plan to loosen stock short-selling rules for retail investors, while tightening rules for institutional and foreign investors, to promote a “level playing field” in the market. President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government introduced the controversial ban on short selling in the stock market this month. The Financial Services Commission (FSC) said in a statement it would lower the ratio of cash required as collateral for retail investors to borrow stocks to 105%, down from the current 120%, to match the ratio for institutional investors. For institutional investors, a new cap of a maximum 90 days will be imposed on borrowings of stocks for short selling, in line with retail investors, according to the statement. The FSC announced the measures, along with rules to prevent illegal trades, after a meeting with other financial authorities and the ruling party to prepare regulatory changes for short selling in the stock market. The ban on short selling of stocks will stay until there is enough improvement in regulations, FSC vice-chairman Kim So-young was quoted by local media as saying after the meeting. “Fair rules sound good, but actually, there was a reason why retail investors were under stricter rules — protection,” said Huh Jae-hwan, an analyst at Eugene Investment Securities. “I’m not sure retail investors will really benefit, because short-selling may increase more, after retail investors are allowed to short sell stocks just as institutions do,” Huh said. Retail investors have welcomed the short-selling ban, arguing the practice has only worsened price swings by allowing big players to bet on market declines. However, analysts say the ban has made the market less attractive, denying investors options to hedge their risks and reducing liquidity and price discovery. They also accuse the government of populist economic policies. Retail investors have become a key voting bloc in recent years, with retail stock trading accounts doubling since 2017 to about 14 million, and about one in every five South Koreans holding an account. More than 50,000 South Koreans have signed a petition for a temporary short-selling ban in recent months. The measures proposed on Thursday will be finalised in order to go through the legislative process after more public and parliamentary discussions, the FSC said. South Korea to bring retail short-selling rules in line with institutions (Nov 16): The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks to increase buffers for some consumer loans as it seeks to check a runaway rise in risky debt in Asia’s third-largest economy. Risk weights on consumer credit will be raised by 25 percentage points to 125%, the RBI said in a statement on Thursday. The decision excludes mortgages, loans for education and cars, and debt backed by gold. Governor Shaktikanta Das has been exhorting banks to strengthen internal surveillance after data showed unsecured loans are rising almost twice as fast as overall credit. Unlike China, personal consumption has always been a driver of Indian growth but individual and government spending is currrently disproportionately strong, threatening unsustainable growth and financial instability unless companies start investing too. India central bank tightens rules to contain consumer loan surge “The increase in risk weights for consumer loans is in line with expectations, though an increase in risk weight for lending by banks to non-banks was unexpected,” said Karthik Srinivasan, group head for Financial Sector Ratings at ICRA. Borrowing rates will increase and could also “spill over to corporate bonds by way of higher yields and widening of credit spreads for non-banks,” he said. Indians are borrowing record amounts on their credit cards and loading up on other costly debt, as household savings drop to multi-year lows. Household financial assets, including bank deposits, cash and equity investments, dropped to a 16-year low of 5.1% of gross domestic product in the fiscal year ended March, according to the data from the RBI. Credit growth in unsecured loans has been an outlier in India at about 23%, compared with an average of 12-14% of credit growth in the country, according to the RBI. BY ANUP ROY Bloomberg BY JIHOON LEE Reuters RBI’s actions • Risk weight on consumer credit exposure of commercial banks (including personal loans, but excluding housing loans, education loans, vehicle loans and loans secured by gold) increased by 25 percentage points to 125% • Risk weight on consumer credit exposure of non-bank finance companies (excluding housing loans, educational loans, vehicle loans, loans against gold jewellery and microfinance/SHG loans) raised by 25 percentage points to 125%. • Risk weight of credit card receivables raised by 25 percentage points to 150% for commercial banks and 125% for shadow lenders • Risk weights on bank credit to NBFCs increased by 25 percentage points in cases where the extant risk weight is below 100% • All top-up loans against depreciating movable assets, such as vehicles, shall be treated as unsecured loans A mall in New Delhi, India. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked banks to increase buffers for some consumer loans as it seeks to check a runaway rise in risky debt in Asia’s thirdlargest economy. BLOOMBERG
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 23 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD SINGAPORE (Nov 16): The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has granted in-principle approval under the Payment Services Act to three entities that will issue stablecoins that comply with the central bank’s upcoming stablecoin regulatory framework. The three entities are StraitsX SGD Issuance, StraitsX USD Issuance and Paxos Digital Singapore (for a US dollar-backed stablecoin). These are the entities that can already demonstrate compliance with the MAS’s upcoming regulatory framework, says MAS managing director Ravi Menon in his Singapore Fintech Festival (SFF) annual address. Once the legislative amendments take effect, these stablecoins will be regarded as “MAS-regulated stablecoins”. If well-regulated, stablecoins can potentially play a useful role as digital money, alongside Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and tokenised assets. “It is able to help spur innovative use cases. One example is in purpose bound money (PBM), showcased through Project Orchid. “StraitsX is trialing XSGD-backed PBM to facilitate escrow arrangements in e-commerce transactions. This ensures that funds are released to merchants only when the customer receives the purchased items, providing greater assurance to both parties. This has been tested at SFF in partnership with Amazon and Grab,” says Menon. Meanwhile, Menon also notes that the MAS has conducted many experiments with other central banks and financial industry players since 2016 to explore the use of wholesale CBDCs on distributed ledgers to facilitate real-time cross border payments and settlements. The central bank will take its experiments one step further next year as it plans to pilot the live issuance of wholesale CBDCs to instantaneously settle payments across commercial banks. Previously, the MAS had only stimulated the issuance of wholesale CBDCs within test environments. The regulator will partner with local banks to pilot the use of wholesale CBDCs as a common settlement asset in domestic payments. Retail customers will be able to use tokenised bank liabilities within transactions with merchants, who can in turn credit these tokenised bank liabilities with their respective banks. The outstanding interbank obligations arising from these transactions will be settled via an automatic transfer of wholesale CBDCs to the bank — as such, the clearing and settlement occurs in a single step on the same infrastructure, unlike the current system, Menon explains. Separately, Menon also announces the next phase of Project Greenprint, which aims to harness technology and data to enable a more transparent, trusted and efficient environmental, social and governance (ESG) ecosystem to enable green and sustainable finance. To streamline the connection, access and use of ESG data, the MAS has launched a new integrated platform gprnt.ai. The platform, which aims to unify and synergise current pilots occurring under Project Greenprint, is driven by a new entity dubbed Greenprint Technologies. The entity is supported by MAS together with HSBC, KPMG, MUFG and Microsoft. S’pore grants inprinciple approval to three entities issuing regulated stablecoins (Nov 16): A joint venture between Binance Holdings Ltd and Gulf Energy Development Pcl plans to roll out a crypto exchange in Thailand early next year after winning licences from the nation’s regulator. Gulf Binance Co obtained approval from the Thai Securities and Exchange Commission on Nov 10 to commence operations, according to a stock exchange filing late on Wednesday. The platform will initially be an invitation-only exchange before opening more widely to the general public. The launch is expected in January, according to a Gulf Energy presentation. Previous filings showed (Nov 16): Qantas Airways Ltd illegally suspended a health and safety representative after he instructed colleagues not to clean planes arriving from Covid-19 hotspots at the start of the pandemic, an Australian court ruled in the latest blow to the airline’s battered reputation. The ground worker at Sydney airport targeted by Qantas, Theo Seremetidis, told staff on Feb 2, 2020, that for safety reasons they didn’t have to clean two aircraft arriving from China that morning. Qantas broke the law when it suspended Seremetidis the same day, according to Thursday’s judgment. The case follows a September ruling by Australia’s top court that Qantas illegally sacked almost 1,700 ground workers during the pandemic. The country’s antitrust watchdog is also suing the airline for allegedly continuing to sell tickets on thousands of flights it had already decided to cancel. The reputational damage caused by the scandals, as well as a slump in service levels since the pandemic, have triggered a stock-price slump, the early retirement of former chief executive officer Alan Joyce and a boardroom cleanout. According to Thursday’s judgment, Seremetidis attempted to carry out his duties as a health and safety representative “conscientiously and carefully.” Sentences and costs are yet to be determined. Qantas said it will review the judgment. Binance, Thai billionaire to start crypto exchange next year Qantas illegally targeted safety worker who warned of Covid BY ANUCHIT NGUYEN Bloomberg BY ANGUS WHITLEY Bloomberg BY KHAIRANI AFIFI NOORDIN theedgesingapore.com Gulf Energy owned a 51% stake in the joint venture, while Binance held the remainder. Binance is the largest crypto exchange, but the platform and its founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao have come under increasing regulatory pressure in key jurisdictions, emblematic of a clampdown on the digital-asset sector after a rout last year that triggered major bankruptcies. Gulf Energy is one of Thailand’s largest businesses, whose founder and chief executive officer Sarath Ratanavadi is the country’s second richest person with a net worth of about US$10.6 billion (RM49.95 billion), according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Read the full story Read the full story
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 24 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF WORLD NEWS IN BRIEF EY names Janet Truncale as first female CEO of big four firm (Nov 16): Ernst & Young LLP picked Janet Truncale as its next chief executive officer, placing the first woman atop a Big Four audit firm. She will succeed Carmine Di Sibio on July 1, according to a statement from the London-based accounting giant. Truncale most recently was the regional managing partner for EY’s financial services organization in the Americas, which includes 14,000 professionals, according to the statement. “It will truly be an honour to lead this amazing organisation,” Truncale said in the statement. “I am inspired by the example Carmine has set, instilling an intent to be profession leaders, focusing on staying ahead of the curve in technology and most of all personifying EY values.” The move comes just months after the accounting firm scrapped its intended breakup, which included a plan for the company to spin off its consulting business and much of its tax practice into a stand-alone public company. That was jeopardised after EY’s influential US affiliate balked, while partners squabbled over key issues like how to divide the tax practice. Truncale has spent more than 30 years at EY after first joining the firm as an intern. — Bloomberg Read the full story Meituan explores deal for Delivery Hero’s Southeast Asia Arm (Nov 17): Meituan is exploring a potential acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s business in Southeast Asia as the Chinese delivery giant looks to diversify beyond its domestic market, according to people familiar with the matter. Meituan has held talks with Delivery Hero about buying Southeast Asian operations that run under the Foodpanda brand, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. There’s no certainty the discussions will lead to a transaction, and other bidders could emerge. A representative for Meituan didn’t respond to requests for comment, while a spokesperson for Delivery Hero declined to comment. Delivery Hero shares rose 0.5% to €31.37 (RM159.09) at 4.13pm in Frankfurt. Founded in 2010, Meituan has become the largest food delivery platform in China. It operates in more than 2,800 cities and counties in the world’s secondlargest economy. The tech giant in May started KeeTa, a new food delivery brand, in Hong Kong. — Bloomberg Read the full story US continuing jobless claims rise to highest in almost two years (Nov 16): Continuing applications for US unemployment benefits rose to the highest level in almost two years, underscoring the increasing challenges unemployed workers are facing in finding new jobs. Recurring jobless claims, a proxy for the number of people continuously receiving unemployment benefits, jumped to 1.87 million in the week ended Nov 4, according to Labor Department data out Thursday. That marked an eighth straight week of increases. Initial jobless claims also rose, to 231,000 in the week ending Nov 11. That was the highest since August. While a resilient labour market has been supporting economic growth this year, many economists expect it to lose steam under the weight of higher borrowing costs. Companies are now adding jobs at a slower pace, unemployment is rising and wage growth has decelerated, leading to some pullback in spending ahead of the holiday season. — Bloomberg Hyundai unveils its first high-performance electric car (Nov 16): Hyundai Motor unveiled its first high-performance electric vehicle(EV), an N sport variant of its IONIQ 5 crossover SUV. The South Korean automaker said that the IONIQ 5 N, which will be available at its dealers in March 2024, will be followed by more electrified N models in the future. The N brand is the company’s high-performance brand, akin to AMG for the Mercedes and the M lineup for the BMW. The IONIQ’s N variant will be powered by dual motors producing 641 horsepower, nearly double the output of the most powerful variant of the standard outgoing model. Hyundai unveiled the performance EV in Los Angeles on Wednesday, ahead of the Los Angeles Auto AI could replace four million jobs in South Korea, BOK study says (Nov 16): Artificial intelligence may replace as many as four million, or 14% of South Korea’s jobs, over the next two decades, a central bank study said, adding to a chorus of warnings on the looming disruption to labour markets around the world. Higher-income workers with better academic backgrounds face a greater threat as AI could handle their analytic and cognitive work more easily, said a team led by Oh Sam-il at the Bank of Korea. Chemists, doctors, lawyers, accountants and asset managers are among the most threatened, while people in religious fields, food services, teaching and singing are the least vulnerable, they said Thursday. South Korea already has one of the world’s highest adoption rates for robots, as it tries to reduce the fallout from its aging population. Still, the country ranks among countries with lower AI utilisation. The BOK study reaffirms growing views that, while AI is a game changer causing a productivity boom, it may also throw white-collar jobs around the world into disarray. A Goldman Sachs report this year estimated that 300 million jobs are exposed globally to generative AI such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, although the technology may ultimately raise global economic output by 7% over a decade. A McKinsey & Co report has also given similar predictions of disruption for knowledge workers but accelerated productivity worldwide. — Bloomberg Show opening on Friday. Automakers such as Audi, Porsche and Tesla have been trying to redesign traditionally efficient EVs with sporty design cues and tougher components to woe car enthusiasts who generally gravitate towards higher-performing combustion vehicles. Rival Stellantis’ also revealed a concept electric Dodge Charger last year, banking on the legacy of the almost 60-year muscle car brand pulling in EV-averse gearheads. Hyundai expects the IONIQ 5 N to touch an electronically limited top speed of 162 mph (260.7 kmph) but did not reveal an estimate on the range offered. The company, founded in 1967, launched the IONIQ 5 midsize crossover based on its Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP) in 2021 to cash in on strong EV demand worldwide. — Reuters REUTERS
FRIDAY NOVEMBER 17, 2023 25 THEEDGE CEO MORNING BRIEF MARKETS Top 20 active stocks World equity indices Top gainers (ranked by %) Top losers (ranked by %) Top gainers (ranked by RM) Top losers (ranked by RM) NAME VOLUME CHANGE CLOSE YTD MARKET (MIL) (RM) CHANGE CAP (%) (RM MIL) HONG SENG CONSOLIDATED BHD 294.8 0.000 0.040 -81.82 204.3 KANGER INTERNATIONAL BHD 104.2 0.000 0.065 62.50 42.2 TOP GLOVE CORP BHD 92.1 0.040 0.790 -12.71 6,326.4 SALUTICA BHD 75.7 0.070 0.865 226.42 366.3 LEFORM BHD 67.0 0.000 0.275 33.24 407.3 WIDAD GROUP BHD 59.9 0.000 0.460 6.98 1,424.4 SARAWAK CONSOLIDATED 59.0 0.015 0.615 324.14 393.7 KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES BHD 45.1 0.100 1.580 43.64 4,031.6 RANHILL UTILITIES BHD 36.8 -0.045 0.870 91.21 1,121.9 COMPUTER FORMS MALAYSIA BHD 32.4 -0.015 0.165 -93.45 44.2 MQ TECHNOLOGY BHD 29.5 0.000 0.025 -50.00 34.5 BUMI ARMADA BHD 28.9 0.010 0.545 13.54 3,227.9 SUPERMAX CORP BHD 25.1 0.045 0.905 4.02 2,331.4 CAREPLUS GROUP BHD 24.3 0.015 0.290 -38.95 169.5 UCREST BHD 23.8 -0.005 0.170 36.00 126.1 KINERGY ADVANCEMENT BHD 23.3 -0.005 0.325 -17.72 632.1 KEY ASIC BHD 22.8 0.005 0.085 30.77 118.4 YTL CORP BHD 22.6 0.020 1.580 172.41 17,323.3 EDEN INC BHD 21.0 0.030 0.225 55.17 103.4 PLYTEC HOLDING BHD 20.8 -0.005 0.320 0.00 192.0 Data as compiled on Nov 16, 2023 Source: Bloomberg NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET (%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (RM MIL) AT SYSTEMATIZATION BHD 0.010 100.00 3064.7 -33.33 67.9 ZEN TECH INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.020 33.33 3948.3 0.00 52.6 MAA GROUP BHD 0.445 28.99 11843.3 15.58 117.4 PAN MALAYSIA HOLDINGS BHD 0.060 20.00 4615.6 -14.29 55.7 ALAM MARITIM RESOURCES BHD 0.035 16.67 249.2 40.00 53.6 EDEN INC BHD 0.225 15.38 20954.0 55.17 103.4 HEXTAR HEALTHCARE BHD 0.230 12.20 17633.2 -37.84 230.4 BERTAM ALLIANCE BHD 0.145 11.54 433.8 123.08 36.0 FLEXIDYNAMIC HOLDINGS BHD 0.155 10.71 65.9 -31.11 44.1 ENG KAH CORP BHD 0.420 10.53 1135.4 1.20 49.6 THRIVEN GLOBAL BHD 0.105 10.53 481.3 10.53 57.4 APEX EQUITY HOLDINGS BHD 1.180 10.28 15.7 -0.84 239.1 KPS CONSORTIUM BHD 0.590 10.28 10.1 0.00 95.9 DESTINI BHD 0.110 10.00 4966.9 37.50 183.0 MALAYAN UNITED INDUSTRIES BHD 0.060 9.09 213.7 -20.00 193.5 YBS INTERNATIONAL BHD 0.665 9.02 8207.6 33.00 170.4 SALUTICA BHD 0.865 8.81 75744.4 226.42 366.3 BINA PURI HOLDINGS BHD 0.065 8.33 972.8 62.50 219.0 NETX HOLDINGS BHD 0.130 8.33 4902.4 116.67 121.9 AGESON BHD 0.065 8.33 2778.2 -68.29 20.3 Data as compiled on Nov 16, 2023 Source: Bloomberg NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET (%) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (RM MIL) FINTEC GLOBAL BHD 0.005 -50.00 448.1 -50.00 29.6 EA HOLDINGS BHD 0.005 -50.00 574.2 -66.67 32.3 PEGASUS HEIGHTS BHD 0.005 -50.00 1,970.1 -50.00 54.1 AE MULTI HOLDINGS BHD 0.010 -33.33 1,206.9 -60.00 21.6 CME GROUP BHD 0.025 -28.57 14,913.2 -16.67 25.8 G3 GLOBAL BHD 0.020 -20.00 246.0 -33.33 75.5 XIDELANG HOLDINGS LTD 0.020 -20.00 2,959.2 -20.00 42.3 SANICHI TECHNOLOGY BHD 0.020 -20.00 497.5 -20.00 28.1 ADVANCE INFORMATION 0.170 -17.07 1,243.8 -24.44 16.6 NEXGRAM HOLDINGS BHD 0.025 -16.67 1,705.2 -64.29 16.2 SC ESTATE BUILDER BHD 0.035 -12.50 6,240.6 -22.22 37.6 BSL CORP BHD 0.035 -12.50 438.7 -48.22 67.6 ALDRICH RESOURCES BHD 0.035 -12.50 412.1 16.67 39.0 XOX NETWORKS BHD 0.035 -12.50 297.5 16.67 39.7 VIZIONE HOLDINGS BHD 0.045 -10.00 395.0 -18.18 92.1 CITRA NUSA HOLDINGS BHD 0.045 -10.00 797.0 -30.77 32.4 AVILLION BHD 0.050 -9.09 2,401.8 -37.50 56.7 GRAND CENTRAL ENTERPRISES 0.330 -8.33 1.0 -5.71 65.0 COMPUTER FORMS MALAYSIA BHD 0.165 -8.33 32,356.9 -93.45 44.2 TRIVE PROPERTY GROUP BHD 0.055 -8.33 10.0 -21.43 69.5 Data as compiled on Nov 16, 2023 Source: Bloomberg NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET (RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (RM MIL) NESTLE MALAYSIA BHD 123.200 -0.500 198.6 -12.00 28,890.4 FRASER & NEAVE HOLDINGS BHD 26.900 -0.200 45.5 24.65 9,866.3 AEON CREDIT SERVICE M BHD 11.920 -0.180 379.4 -5.25 3,043.3 MALAYSIAN PACIFIC INDUSTRIES 27.000 -0.180 105.5 -6.12 5,370.2 IMASPRO CORP BHD 5.500 -0.140 1,530.8 -5.98 440.0 BATU KAWAN BHD 20.340 -0.140 2.5 -8.79 8,001.4 NPC RESOURCES BHD 1.820 -0.130 7.0 -2.15 207.0 GENTING PLANTATIONS BHD 5.630 -0.100 655.2 -9.81 5,051.0 PIE INDUSTRIAL BHD 3.030 -0.100 812.0 17.25 1,163.6 PERUSAHAAN SADUR TIMAH 3.320 -0.090 0.1 -24.37 428.6 DUTCH LADY MILK INDUSTRIES 22.520 -0.080 15.0 -25.53 1,441.3 EDARAN BHD 0.855 -0.070 4,998.8 56.88 49.5 OPPSTAR BHD 1.550 -0.070 1,218.2 0.00 986.1 HENGYUAN REFINING CO BHD 3.140 -0.070 714.4 -10.80 942.0 PETRON MALAYSIA REFINING 4.660 -0.060 53.9 7.62 1,258.2 PETRONAS GAS BHD 17.140 -0.060 362.0 0.12 33,915.5 BINTULU PORT HOLDINGS BHD 5.100 -0.060 46.5 6.25 2346 CELCOMDIGI BHD 4.270 -0.060 1,490.2 6.75 50,093.5 CI HOLDINGS BHD 3.030 -0.060 10.4 3.41 490.9 HIL INDUSTRIES BHD 0.930 -0.055 5.2 -13.08 308.7 Data as compiled on Nov 16, 2023 Source: Bloomberg NAME CLOSE CHANGE VOLUME YTD MARKET (RM) (‘000) CHANGE CAP (%) (RM MIL) BLD PLANTATION BHD 10.620 0.300 0.1 3.51 993.0 AMWAY MALAYSIA HOLDINGS BHD 5.450 0.200 233.2 12.59 895.9 RAPID SYNERGY BHD 24.940 0.160 428.9 56.27 2,666.0 KOTRA INDUSTRIES BHD 5.200 0.120 9.5 -21.21 771.2 KLCCP STAPLED GROUP 7.020 0.110 25.6 4.62 12,673.4 APEX EQUITY HOLDINGS BHD 1.180 0.110 15.7 -0.84 239.1 CHIN HIN GROUP BHD 3.910 0.110 164.7 21.05 6,918.4 EUROSPAN HOLDINGS BHD 1.560 0.100 9.3 38.05 69.3 KOSSAN RUBBER INDUSTRIES BHD 1.580 0.100 45,094.6 43.64 4,031.6 MAA GROUP BHD 0.445 0.100 11,843.3 15.58 117.4 MUDA HOLDINGS BHD 1.510 0.090 174.2 -20.53 460.6 HONG LEONG BANK BHD 19.320 0.080 404.6 -6.03 41,880.3 AME ELITE CONSORTIUM BHD 1.550 0.070 463.6 25.00 990.6 YTL POWER INTERNATIONAL BHD 2.360 0.070 19,688.5 230.07 19,121.1 HUME CEMENT INDUSTRIES BHD 1.900 0.070 672.3 102.13 971.4 SALUTICA BHD 0.865 0.070 75744.4 226.42 366.3 TEO GUAN LEE CORP BHD 1.450 0.070 54.2 31.82 121.1 SUNWAY CONSTRUCTION GROUP 1.950 0.070 738.5 25 2514.3 CRESCENDO CORP BHD 1.450 0.060 725.4 25.00 405.2 D&O GREEN TECHNOLOGIES BHD 3.510 0.060 910.8 -17.99 4346.4 Data as compiled on Nov 16, 2023 Source: Bloomberg CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE (%) CLOSE CHANGE CHANGE (%) DJIA * 34,991.21 163.51 0.47 S&P 500 * 4,502.88 7.18 0.16 NASDAQ 100 * 15,817.18 4.71 0.03 FTSE 100 * 7,486.91 -31.65 -0.42 AUSTRALIA 7,058.42 -47.49 -0.67 CHINA 3,050.93 -21.91 -0.71 HONG KONG 17,832.82 -246.18 -1.36 INDIA 65,982.48 306.55 0.47 INDONESIA 6,958.01 -0.20 0.00 JAPAN 33,424.41 -95.29 -0.28 KOREA 2,488.18 1.51 0.06 PHILIPPINES 6,191.48 20.35 0.33 SINGAPORE 3,133.05 0.93 0.03 TAIWAN 17,171.18 42.40 0.25 THAILAND 1,415.34 0.17 0.01 VIETNAM 1,125.53 3.03 0.27 Data as compiled on Nov 16, 2023 * Based on previous day’s closing Source: Bloomberg CPO RM 3,959.00-19.00 OIL US$ 81.10-0.08 RM/USD 4.6880 RM/SGD 3.4762 RM/AUD 3.0452 RM/GBP 5.8132 RM/EUR 5.0867
ceoMorningBrief friday, november 17, 2023 Issue 671/2023 theedgemalaysia.com Thisisthe season of stories yet to be written. Start Yours
Thisisthe season of stories yet to be written. Start Yours
Malaysian Paper www.thesun.my RM1 FRIDAY NOV 17, 2023 SCAN ME No. 8396 PP 2644/12/2012 (031195) PETALING JAYA: Apart from being an economic strategy, supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) is a crucial move that benefits the country, said Universiti Teknologi Mara senior economics lecturer Dr Mohamad Idham Md Razak. “With SME contributing a substantial 38.2% to the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021, their sustained growth becomes integral to overall economic expansion. “Moreover, the significant role SME play in the job market is evident, with 7.3 million individuals employed by them in the same year.” Mohamad Idham said by fostering an environment conducive to SME development, the government contributes to job creation and taps into the innovative potential inherent in such enterprises. He said SME are frequently the source of innovative ideas, and government assistance could enhance their contribution to innovation and economic progress. “Additionally, as SME are commonly situated in underserved and rural areas, government support becomes a strategic tool to reduce inequality and poverty, thus promoting more inclusive economic development.” Mohamad Idham also said the inherent adaptability and flexibility of SME enhance the overall stability of the economy, allowing them to navigate economic shifts, including recessions and unforeseen challenges. He added that the diversification of SME across different industries also acts as a safeguard, mitigating the impact of downturns in specific sectors and fostering resilience in the oWith small and medium-sized enterprises playing key role in GDP and job market, supporting their growth crucial to driving economy: Expert █ BYRAVEEN AINGARAN [email protected] With a work force of 7.3 million as of 2021, it is evident that SME play a crucial role in the job market. – BERNAMAPIC In response to the allocation of loans and financing facilities in Budget 2024, Mohamad Idham said they would influence market dynamics in Malaysia, particularly in terms of competition, innovation and market efficiency. “By providing a wide range of affordable products and services, it also aids in market diversification by pushing larger businesses to innovate to maintain their competitive edge.” Mohamad Idham said the agility of SME allows them to promptly respond to shifting customer demands and market trends, fostering a dynamic business environment. He said by actively addressing market gaps and providing specialised products and services, SME enhance market efficiency, ensuring that even underserved and rural areas have access to the goods and services they need. Turn to — page 3 face of economic uncertainties. In Budget 2024, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim unveiled a substantial financial boost for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSME), with the allocation of loans and financing facilities totalling RM44 billion. This strategic action demonstrates the government’s determination to strengthen the foundation of the economy by giving MSME essential financial support, recognising their important role in promoting resilience and economic growth. To this, SME Association of Malaysia national president Ding Hong Sing said the significant funding options in Budget 2024 show how carefully the government has considered and comprehended industry needs. Ding said he was happy with the budget’s proposals for the SME sector, and expressed hope that the government would remain in power to help SME adopt digitalisation. Help SME to help economy Soaring adoption of drone tech UAVs used for agriculture, disaster management and security applications. Report on — page 3 M’sia, Google forge strategic partnership Govt and tech giant collaborate to create inclusive growth opportunities for Malaysians and homegrown companies. Report on — page 2 Commuting of death penalty, life sentences lauded Lawyers and human rights NGO hail Federal Court decision to allow review applications of convicts. Report on — page 5
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 2 Govt announces Google strategic collaboration SAN FRANCISCO: The government and Google have announced a strategic collaboration to create inclusive growth opportunities for more Malaysians and homegrown companies in the fast-growing digital economy. The collaboration brings both parties together to help businesses of all sizes to advance digital competitiveness through skilling programmes, investment in digital infrastructure, responsible artificial intelligence (AI) innovation and cloud-first policies, Google said in a statement. “This latest commitment by Google, aimed at accelerating local innovation and talent development in the field of AI, will certainly boost the nation’s digital competitiveness, in line with the Madani Economy Framework and the New Industrial Master Plan 2030 (NIMP 2030),” Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said yesterday. The Madani Economy oInitiative aims to upskill 300,000 Malaysians by 2026 and help businesses boost digital competitiveness King attends closed-door flood preparation briefing ROMPIN: The Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin AlMustafa Billah Shah attended a briefing on flood preparedness at the Rompin State Park yesterday. The closed-door briefing, which lasted more than an hour, started at 9.45am and was delivered by Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman. Also in attendance were Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail and state secretary Datuk Seri Zulkifli Yaacob, who is also the State Disaster Management Committee chairman, as well as heads of various relevant agencies. During the briefing, His Majesty instructed all quarters to make the necessary preparations and pay attention to cleanliness aspects at temporary relief centres established to accommodate those affected by floods. Al-Sultan Abdullah was also informed that 763 flood-prone areas have been identified in Pahang, with Temerloh and Jerantut being the most at risk, while 290 locations are at risk of being cut off by floods. This was based on the monthly rainfall forecast by the Meteorological Department, which anticipated that Kuantan, Pekan and Rompin would experience moderate to heavy rainfall this month, followed by exceptionally high levels of rain in December. Other districts are forecasted to receive moderate rainfall throughout the Northeast monsoon season. As such, 159 forward bases have been set up in addition to 856 relief centres, which can accommodate 166,295 people. A total of 264 helicopter landing sites have also been identified for rescue missions and aid delivery if aerial assets are needed. On flood response operations, AlSultan Abdullah was informed that the sub-committee for flood victims evacuation and rescue has 5,770 officers and personnel from 13 agencies, along with 693 ground vehicles and 232 water assets ready for deployment. In terms of healthcare, the Pahang Health Department has identified 24,222 individuals who may require assistance during the flood season, including expectant mothers, individuals with continuous medication needs and bedridden patients. Before the briefing commenced, Al-Sultan Abdullah released 70,000 fish fry comprising kelah, lampam sungai and terbul into the Kincin River within the state park. The freshwater fish fry were obtained from two aquaculture development centres in Pahang, namely in Perlok, Jerantut and Bukit Tinggi in Bentong. – Bernama Framework aims to increase the size of Malaysia’s economic pie, as well as ensure all stakeholders, particularly the rakyat and small businesses, enjoy the ensuing socio-economic benefits. Google said the latest initiatives were built on its investments in Malaysia over the last 12 years, Bernama reported. In 2022 alone, the company’s products and programmes supported more than 47,900 jobs and also contributed, directly and indirectly, an estimated US$2.8 billion (RM13.14 billion) in economic benefits to local businesses. “The partnership we are announcing with the government of Malaysia aligns Google’s local mission of ‘Advancing Malaysia Together’ with the government’s goal to create a supportive ecosystem for innovation that includes more meaningful and equitable job opportunities,” said Alphabet president and chief investment officer, and Google chief financial officer Ruth Porat. To provide Malaysians from all backgrounds with more digital training opportunities, Google Cloud, CloudMile and Trainocate are creating five digital learning paths available at no cost. Accessible through the Go Cloud programme, it aims to upskill 300,000 Malaysians by 2026. The learning paths comprise online courses to help individuals better apply generative AI, data analytics and cloud-based productivity tools. Learners who complete the five learning paths will earn digital skills badges that they can share on their resumes and an extended 30-day access to more learning paths at no cost. Google said this is built on Gemilang, a digital training programme that has provided 31,000 Google Career Certificate scholarships to less fortunate individuals in partnership with educational institutions and nonprofits. “This helps Malaysians earn professional certifications at no cost for entry-level jobs in high-demand fields such as data analytics, IT support as well as e-commerce and digital marketing,” it said. Cold War mindset no longer relevant: Anwar SAN FRANCISCO: Countries such as Malaysia and Asean at large should not be forced to see the world and big powers with a Cold War mindset, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. He added that the post-normal times were more chaotic and complex, which required countries big or small to be able to come together and collaborate, and not otherwise. Anwar said this was the reason the meeting between US President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit was critical. “It should give a clear message that we are able to work together and trust each other to resolve serious problems such as climate change,” he said during a question and answer session at the 30th Apec CEO Summit titled “The Global Economy and State of The World” on Wednesday. Citing the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, Anwar said there were too many contentious issues at hand and engagement was the best way to move forward. “You must try and engage, accepting the fact that you may not achieve all the desired results but this engagement is important to try and establish areas that do work,” he said. Meanwhile, the prime minister reiterated that both the US and China were equally important to Malaysia. “The US has been a traditional ally and a major investor in Malaysia but things are changing, there has been an increase in trade and investment from China. “So, why then put us in a fix, in a zero-sum game? “For the benefit of (our) countries, emerging economies and also for the West and the East, I believe the solution is, of course, greater collaboration,” he said. Anwar, who is also finance minister, arrived here on Monday for the 30th Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting from Nov 14 to 17, marking his maiden visit for the official meeting as prime minister of Malaysia. He is accompanied by his wife Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir, Communications and Digital Minister Fahmi Fadzil as well as other senior government officials. – Bernama Vital for leaders to deliver: PM SAN FRANCISCO: The true test of a leader occurs when they are in power as they must deliver rather than just espouse pious platitudes, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim. “Because finally, you are judged by your actions. People do give you some grace period, but then they will have to see whether you mean business. “It applies to all political leaders, all opposition leaders who attain power by fighting corruption and abuse of power,” Anwar said when asked how leaders can ensure that they are not being hijacked by rhetorics and be able to focus on the real issues while being responsible for the next generation. “The test is when you are in the responsible position, whether you can really deliver. Second, of course, is clear economic policies,” he said during a question and answer session on Wednesday. According to the prime minister, trust deficits happen when leaders don’t deliver. – Bernama Forum on postCovid challenges SEPANG: Some 1,000 local and international delegates from the higher education sector are attending the 8th Global Higher Education Forum to discuss post Covid-19 pandemic dynamics and challenges. The three-day forum, which began on Wednesday, raised the theme “Equity Recovery – Higher Education in the PostPandemic Era”, which focuses on advancing and preserving equality in the higher education sector. On the third day of the forum, the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Symposium themed “Post-Pandemic: Inclusion of People with Disabilities and Equitable Quality Education in the TVET Ecosystem” will be held. Higher Education Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin said the theme was selected because the global pandemic has significantly impacted all segments of society, including the higher education sector. – Bernama Al-Sultan Abdullah releasing an ikan kelah into the Kincin River. – BERNAMAPIC
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 3 SME role as agents of inclusive growth “This dynamic interplay between SME and the market is instrumental in driving economic growth and fostering inclusivity across diverse sectors of the economy.” Mohamad Idham said the substantial growth of SME exerts a significant economic influence on wealth generation and income distribution. “Household disposable income rises as a result, which may encourage consumer spending and economic expansion. “Through tax contributions, SME also play a pivotal role in financing public services and infrastructure enhancements. “Notably, the prevalence of SME in underserved and rural areas positions them as agents of more inclusive economic growth, potentially alleviating poverty and reducing overall inequality on a national scale.” On concerns about the economic inequality that may arise from the promotion of SME, Mohamad Idham said some worry that their expansion may disproportionately concentrate gains among a select few, leaving others marginalised. “Additionally, these fears extend to heightened market competition, potentially impacting wages and working conditions,” he said. Govt aiming for 87 million air passengers this year KUALA LUMPUR: The government is targeting the number of air passengers to reach 87.8 million this year, or 80.6% of the number recorded in 2019, said Transport Minister Anthony Loke. He said the number of passengers is expected to return to pre-Covid-19 levels next year, with the overall recovery of the total number of flight passengers between January and September at a rate of 77.5%, compared with the corresponding period in 2019. “The best recovery is for domestic passengers to be at a rate of 84.4%, followed by Asean passengers at 77% and 63.4% for passengers to other international destinations,” he said during the Minister’s Question Time in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. He was replying to a question from Oscar Ling Chai Yew (PH-Sibu), who wanted to know if the number of flights and passenger operations at airports in Malaysia have returned to pre-Covid levels. Loke also said as of September, airports in the country had handled a total of 62.8 million passengers, adding that the total number of passengers handled by airports in 2019 was 109,428,322 and the number dropped by 50.1%, or 54.8 million passengers, in 2022. Loke said Malaysian airlines recorded an achievement of 79% for the third quarter of 2023, compared with 82% in the second quarter of the year. Regarding on-time performance of individual airlines, he said SKS Airways recorded 95%, MASwings 93%, Batik Air Malaysia 82%, FireFly 77%, Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia each recorded 74%. “In addition, the Malaysian Aviation Commission (Mavcom) is also in the process of determining performance standards for on-time performance and flight cancellation rates for Malaysian airlines. “This process is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024,” he said in reply to Ling, who asked about the on-time performance achievement of domestic flights from 2022 to this year and the action taken against airlines that fail to abide by their schedules. Loke said there were several beyond-control factors that contributed to flight delays, including issues related to bad weather and air traffic management. “It’s not that airlines deliberately delay their flights, but I agree that there are several areas that need to be improved not only by the airlines but also at the airports and the airlines have no control over air traffic management.” He added that the government, through Mavcom, would take stern action against any airline that fails to comply with the Malaysian Aviation Consumer Protection Code. – Bernama BN machinery all-in to back candidate KEMAMAN: Barisan Nasional (BN) will deploy its entire machinery to help the party’s candidate win in the Kemaman by-election on Dec 2, said Terengganu Umno liaison body chairman Datuk Seri Ahmad Said. He said if each division looked after their respective areas and worked hard, it would not be impossible to create an upset. “As party members, we have to be strong and focus on winning because we have put forward the best and most suitable candidate for the people of Kemaman,” he said at an event to introduce the BN candidate and launch the Kemaman Parliamentary by-election machinery on Wednesday. BN chairman Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi earlier announced former defence force chief Tan Sri Jen (Rtd) Raja Mohamed Affandi Raja Mohamed Noor, 66, as the coalition’s direct candidate. The Kemaman Parliamentary by-election is being held following the decision of the Terengganu Election Court on Sept 26 to annul the victory of Che Alias Hamid (PAS), with the Election Commission setting this Saturday for nominations, Nov 28 for early voting and Dec 2 for polling. – Bernama From front page PETALING JAYA: The implementation of drone technology has demonstrated considerable advantages in sectors such as agriculture, asset management and security surveillance, said Malaysian Research Accelerator for Technology and Innovation (Mranti) CEO Datuk Rais Hussin, adding that agriculture stands out as a sector in which drone technology has proven successful. “Drones equipped with advanced imaging sensors and data analytics capabilities are used for crop monitoring, precision farming and yield optimisation. “By providing real-time insights into crop health, irrigation needs and pest infestations, drones contribute to more efficient and sustainable agricultural practices. This ultimately boosts productivity and reduces resource usage.” He said in addition to agriculture, drone technology has found success in the surveillance and security sector. “Drones equipped with high-resolution cameras and thermal imaging are utilised for border patrol, event security and disaster response. “These unmanned aerial vehicles provide dynamic and cost-effective solutions for monitoring large areas, improving situational awareness and enabling swift response to security incidents. “It is effective in supporting authorities with real-time information for enhanced decisionmaking and resource deployment.” Rais said Mranti has a comprehensive roadmap, called the Malaysia Drone Technology Action Plan 2022-2030 (MDTAP30), that aims to foster growth of drone technology in Malaysia. “To address the challenges faced by the agriculture sector, Mranti aims to provide scalable drone solutions. These are tailored to alleviate labour shortage and enhance productivity. “Mranti is also committed to leveraging drone technology to support security and rescue forces during emergencies and disasters.” He also said MDTAP30 is anticipated to make significant economic contributions. “The plan foresees a substantial boost to gross domestic product, projecting an infusion of RM50.71 billion by 2030. “The initiative also aims to create 100,000 high-value jobs, aligning with broader goals of economic prosperity, job creation and talent development.” Rais said despite its advantages in several sectors, limitations on widespread adoption and the challenges of operating drones commercially are still apparent. “As drones are still considered as an emerging technology and industry, there are several factors that need to be taken into consideration. “Cost factors, technological advancements and integration challenges contribute to the complexities of implementing drone technology,” he said, adding that safety was a crucial aspect as drones operate within aviation space. “One of the key challenges lies in the potential for collisions with other aircraft. This poses a risk to both manned and unmanned vehicles. “Untrained operators may lack the necessary skills to navigate drones safely, leading to incidents that compromise public safety. “Additionally, the misuse of drones for unauthorised activities in areas with large gatherings or critical infrastructure also raises security concerns.” He said Mranti was establishing a nationwide Unmanned Traffic Management system that addresses the need for a structured and well-managed drone ecosystem. “This lays the groundwork for a regulatory framework, ensuring the safe and organised operation of drones throughout Malaysia.” Rais also said regulatory bodies such as the Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) are pivotal in establishing and enforcing guidelines that promote responsible drone usage. “Similar to owning a car, drone operators must also register their unmanned aerial vehicles under CAAM. “Drone operators need to go through certified training programmes. This ensures they acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to operate drones safely and in compliance with aviation regulations. “As Malaysia aims to position itself as a global leader in drone technology, addressing these challenges will be crucial to realising the full potential of drone technology and its positive impact on the country’s various sectors,” Rais said. Malaysia currently has over 110,000 drones registered with CAAM. Soaring adoption of drone tech oUnmanned aerial vehicles provide dynamic, cost-effective solutions for agriculture, security and disaster applications █ BY ALLEN WONG [email protected] Rais said agriculture stands out as a sector in which drone technology has proven successful. – MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN
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Muruku Buntong entrepreneur’s Deepavali snack, made from a still a national favourite 60-year-old recipe, is constantly in high demand. Chicken price float benefits consumers A week after subsidies ended, market prices are competitive and lower than subsidised prices, says expert. Full report —on page 3 Full report —on page 6 Full report —on page 4 Citing protection of country’s interests in terms of diplomatic, economic relations and security as reasons for joining meeting, Anwar says he remains steadfast in defending justice and rights of Palestinians. I will show up at Apec Story on page 2 Full story -on page 2 SCAN TO SUBSCRIBE Health concerns raised over popular ‘charcoal coffee’ KUALA LUMPUR: Over the past few weeks, the trend of consuming coffee served with a lump of burning charcoal dunked in it at a restaurant here has sparked a debate on social media. This is because of the claim that charcoal coffee, or “Kopi Joss” as it is known in Indonesia, has its own unique taste and is said to be able to detoxify the body. However, health experts have expressed concern that consuming it could cause adverse effects on the body, including bloating, diarrhoea and appendicitis. Sultanah Aminah Hospital Cardiology and Internal Medicine consultant Dr Ng Kim Fong said in a worst-case scenario, it could also cause cancer or intestinal obstruction if taken regularly over a long period of time. “For patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease who consume charcoal coffee, it could affect the efficacy of their medicine because charcoal is neutral and will absorb all the substances in the stomach, including the medicines taken by the patient, causing it to be ineffective for treatment.” oHygiene factor questionable and regular consumption may cause diarrhoea, cancer: Expert Anti-poverty initiative benefits 4,100 households KUALA LUMPUR: The People’s Income Initiative, which aims to increase the income of the hardcore poor and B40 group, has so far benefited 4,100 households. Economy Minister Rafizi Ramli said the initiative was among government intervention measures this year to eradicate hardcore poverty. “It involves providing a complete ecosystem and support in-kind to participants to assist and encourage them in economic activities to generate additional income in a sustainable manner,” he said during the ministerial reply in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. Rafizi was responding to a question from Datuk Mohd Isam Mohd Isa (BNTampin) on the current development of the government’s plans to make 2023 the year to end hardcore poverty, and the current poverty rate in the country. The initiative, which has been allocated RM750 million in Budget 2023, aims to help about 130,000 people regardless of their background to free themselves from the shackles of poverty. – Bernama According to Ng, who is also Johor Doctors’ Association adviser, putting hot charcoal – that has not been processed or purified – into drinks or food, cannot be compared to “activated charcoal”, which is usually given in the form of medicine to patients suffering from food poisoning. “Activated charcoal has been processed and purified and is safe to use at a permitted dose of about 100gm, while charcoal that is directly added to coffee has not been properly processed and is not safe to eat or drink because there is a possibility of foreign or other toxic elements present. “So, people should not be easily influenced by the latest trends, which may be popular in other countries, without (considering) the side effects on their health. It doesn’t mean that we have to try everything that is new, because the important thing is that it should be safe and germ-free,” he said. Meanwhile, KPJ Tawakkal Kuala Lumpur Specialist Hospital Consultant General and colorectal surgeon Dr Nurhashim Haron said traders who offer such drinks should be more responsible with regard to the safety or health of consumers, Bernama reported. “The general sentiment that charcoal is dusty is correct. So, although the charcoal itself is not a poisonous material, dust is produced when it is burnt. It’s the dust that we are worried about not being safe to digest, because it is a by-product from the burning process. “This becomes more important when we do not know if during the burning process, there could be mixing of impurities such as dirt, as well as the production of smoke or other chemicals such as hydrocarbon, making it more unsafe to digest.” Nurhashim said charcoal itself is not produced for consumption. So, no clinical tests have been done to ensure its cleanliness, especially involving bacteria. “The opinion that the charcoal is only placed in the coffee for a short time of about one or two minutes cannot discount its effects in the long-term if it is consumed regularly. “Therefore, my advice as a medical practitioner is not to drink charcoal coffee. Do not take any risks because no clinical tests have been done on this. Individuals should make informed choices when it comes to putting anything into their bodies. Traders also need to be more responsible from now on, as maybe before they may not be aware of the risks.”
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 5 Farmer database to be established PUTRAJAYA: A database to register farmers will be established to facilitate government efforts in distributing aid and incentives to the group, according to the Agriculture and Food Security Ministry. This follows the approval of a proposal to formulate the Farmers Registration Enactment during a meeting between Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu and state executive councillors in charge of agriculture. “Through the initiative, efforts to ascertain the actual number of farmers involved in the agricultural sector will assist the government in distributing aid and incentives to farmers. “It will also serve as a reference for all quarters, especially in planning the development of the agro-food sector and preventing leakage in the provision of aid to farmers.” The ministry said in a statement yesterday 11 presentations were conducted during the meeting, including a proposal to establish dedicated organic farming areas at state level. The proposal is in line with the National Agrofood Policy 2021-2030, National Food Security Policy Action Plan 2021-2025 and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda. “Organic farming is one of the activities given emphasis in addressing critical global challenges through environmentally friendly and safe practices.” The ministry said the meeting also took note of the initiative to strengthen agricultural and agro-food sector data, which requires data management support from state governments to ensure current and reliable data across time. In a separate statement, the Agriculture Department said deputy director-general (management and regulatory) Datuk Nor Sam Alwi has been appointed as director-general effective Nov 15. It added that Nor Sam, a graduate in Agricultural Science from Universiti Putra Malaysia, was the second woman officer appointed to the post. She replaces Datuk Zahimi Hassan, who went on mandatory retirement on Aug 26. – Bernama Govt approves padi seeds for distribution KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 50,000 bags of certified padi seeds will be approved today, with 31,000 allocated to the Muda Agricultural Development Authority Area Farmers’ Organisation and the remaining to be distributed to Perlis and outside the rice belt of Kedah. Agriculture and Food Security Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Sabu said the ministry earlier approved 532,325 bags for use in Kedah and Perlis, with a production record of 89,723 bags on Oct 18, 151,200 on Oct 26, 79,142 on Nov 3 and 112,260 on Nov 10. “The ministry has been monitoring and controlling the approval and laboratory processes for 12 padi seed producers according to the standard operating procedures set by the departments and agencies before they are sold to farmers,” he said in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday. He was responding to a question from Dr Ahmad Fakhruddin Fakhrurazi (PN-Kuala Kedah) on the immediate measures taken by the ministry to address sales of padi seeds, which are taking a toll on farmers and affecting rice production as well as the country’s self-sufficiency. Mohamad said the current demand for padi seeds is 72,000 tonnes or 3.6 million bags per year, with farmers enjoying an incentive of RM1.03 for every kg of seeds purchased from government appointed producers. He added that the government is considering raising the ceiling price of local white rice to address the issue of supply in the country. “The RM26 price for local white rice has been in place since 2008. If there is to be an increase in the ceiling price, we need to discuss it with the ministries involved. “The discussion will be chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and we will also get the views of MPs involved in the padi cultivation areas,” he said in response to a supplementary question from Nurul Amin Hamid (PN-Padang Terap) on the government’s readiness to raise the ceiling price of local white rice. – Bernama Commuting of death penalty, life sentences lauded PETALING JAYA: Lawyers and human rights NGOs have lauded the Federal Court for commuting the death sentence and natural life imprisonment of several individuals over the past few days. The decision was made under the Revision of Sentence of Death and Imprisonment for Natural Life (Temporary Jurisdiction of the Federal Court) Act 2023. Lawyer Sivaraj Retinasekharan said: “It does not mean all the 1,020 prisoners on death row will immediately have their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment. “The prisoners will have to apply to the court to have their sentences commuted. The court has the right to maintain the death sentence and not commute it if it feels that the oCourts have right to maintain original punishment of prisoners, especially for heinous crimes: Lawyer █ BY JADEN RAUL [email protected] New poultry coop system requirement IPOH: Poultry farmers in Perak have been given three years to switch their current open cage system to an environmental-friendly closed house approach. State Rural Development, Plantation, Agriculture and Food Industry Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Zolkafly Harun said yesterday those who fail to do so within the stipulated period may face action under the Poultry Farming Enactment (Amendment) 2023. “Those who do not comply with the rules face a fine of up to RM50,000 or imprisonment not exceeding three years.” He added that 203 of 507 licensed poultry farms in the state have switched to the closed coop system. “The deadline is Dec 3, 2025. So, there is ample time to do so.” – Bernama RM4.7m for industrial worker scholarships MALACCA: The state government here received RM4.7 million yesterday as a special accreditation development scholarship from Kuala Lumpur International Education Consortium to drive the field of education in the industrial sector. Its Science, Technology, Innovation and Digital Communications Committee chairman Datuk Fairul Nizam Roslan said through the scholarship, 400 industrial workers will be offered free diploma professional courses in various fields. “The initiative is implemented with the cooperation of Invest Melaka to enable workers from various industrial sectors to continue their studies for a Professional Diploma in Education Design. “It would raise the workers’ value and assist the sectors involved to grow.” Fairul Nizam said the scholarship was the first by the consortium and the offer is for short-term courses of a maximum of six months. He added that the courses offered are flexible so that workers could schedule their working hours to suit their programme. – Bernama original sentence is warranted.” He added that judges could also reduce life imprisonment to 20 years. Another lawyer, Jay Moy Wei Jiun, said it is a good thing that the courts now have the discretion to impose life imprisonment or the death penalty. He said the death penalty is still an option in sentencing convicts, especially for heinous crimes, and this is crucial and in public interest. “I believe the current amendments should stand for now and be studied from time to time to determine their effectiveness in reducing the commission of serious and especially violent crimes.” However, Sivaraj said the death penalty should be abolished as it does not have a place in modern society. “The death penalty is an irreversible punishment and takes away life. This is not something the government should partake in. ‘An eye for an eye’ should not be practised in a progressive society.” He said there are inherent flaws in the criminal justice system as people are not infallible and do make mistakes, adding that in his experience as a criminal lawyer, the death penalty did not act as a deterrent as crimes with capital punishment continued to increase. “The death penalty does not address the root cause of an offence. Imposing it is a difficult decision as judges also have a conscience and are well aware that their sentence ends a life.” However, he said it is fair for the death penalty to be lifted depending on the crime. Sivaraj said with the amendments, it is much fairer now as the judge has the discretion to mete out a sentence according to the offender’s mitigation factors and characteristics of the offence. Global Human Rights Federation deputy president Peter John Jaban said the death penalty does not solve the problem, adding that death row inmates whose sentences were commuted to imprisonment have access to rehabilitation programmes and can work and earn an income. ADVENTUROUS PILGRIMS ... Indonesian couple Tulus Suyono, 62, and Nuryah Hasbulah, 40, riding through Nibong Tebal in Penang yesterday on their way to the Holy Land of Mecca. – MASRY CHE ANI/THESUN
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 6 /theSunMedia FOLLOW ON YOUTUBE Malaysian Paper Director freed of CBT charge oJudge rules prosecution failed to prove accused committed acts involving RM9 million KUALA LUMPUR: The Sessions Court yesterday acquitted and discharged a director of a construction company for criminal breach of trust (CBT) and money laundering involving more than RM9 million. Judge Datin Sabariah Othman made the decision after finding that the prosecution had failed to prove a prima facie case against Semenyih Jaya Sdn Bhd director Lau Kok Loon, 80, at the end of the prosecution case. “After examining the testimony of the prosecution witnesses and the documents presented, the court found that the elements of breach of trust failed to be proven, where the evidence presented failed to show that the accused committed breach of trust of the four cheques amounting to RM7,608,167.43 that were entrusted to him. “Overall, the elements of the offence failed to be proven. The court found that a prima facie case has failed to be proven under the offence of criminal breach of trust and money laundering. “Therefore, the accused is acquitted and discharged of both charges without having to enter his defence,” the judge said. In her judgment, Sabariah said the investigation of the case was incomplete and many important pieces of information were not investigated, causing the accused to be denied his right to a fair trial, Bernama reported. “The money was deposited into the account of the accused and another nominee Lau Toon Lai. The failure to call this nominee resulted in some important evidence not being firmly proven. “The court also agreed with the lawyer’s argument that the charges presented were flawed and invalid.” According to the charge, Kok Loon was alleged to have engaged in money laundering by transferring monies allegedly proceeds from unlawful activities through his Hong Leong Bank fixed savings account to his current savings account at the same bank through 34 transactions amounting to RM9,155,644.23. The offence was allegedly committed at Hong Leong Bank, Kuala Lumpur main branch, Floor 1, Wisma Hong Leong, Jalan Perak, here, from Dec 4, 2013 to Sept 19, 2017. The charge was framed under subsection 4(1)(b) of the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act 2001, which carries imprisonment for up to 15 years, and can be fined not less than five times the amount or value of the proceeds from the unlawful activity or RM5 million, whichever is higher. He was also charged as a director of the company with committing CBT of four Hong Leong Bank cheques involving RM7,608,167.43 at Jalan Sungai Besi, Dang Wangi, between Aug 27 and Sept 3, 2013. The charge, framed under Section 409 of the Penal Code, carries a prison sentence of between two and 20 years, whipping and is also liable to a fine. A total of 10 prosecution witnesses testified at the trial, which began on July 27, 2020. HONOURED INDIVIDUALS ... From left: Sgt Razman Ahmad Rozali, Surinder Singh Inder Singh and Ngah Pandak Gia showing the Pingat Jasa Pahlawan Negara awards that they received from Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad at a ceremony in Ipoh yesterday. – BERNAMAPIC Bersatu bid on Sabah seats dropped KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court yesterday dismissed an application by Bersatu for leave to initiate a judicial review against Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul and four MPs from Sabah. Bersatu had filed the action for Johari to declare the seats held by the four MPs as vacant. Judge Datuk Amarjeet Singh said the court was bound by the Federal Court’s ruling that it had no jurisdiction to question the decision of the Dewan Rakyat Speaker on the vacancy of the four seats under Article 63 of the Federal Constitution. “Therefore, the court dismissed the application by the plaintiff (Bersatu), with no order as to costs,” he said. The application for the judicial review was filed by Bersatu vice-president Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee and Datuk Capt (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya as a public officer of the party last April 17. Bersatu named Johari and the four MPs – Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali (Papar), Khairul Firdaus Akbar Khan (Batu Sapi), Datuk Jonathan Yasin (Ranau) and Datuk Matbali Musah (Sipitang) – as the first to fifth respondents. In the application, Bersatu is seeking an order to revoke a decision made by Johari, through a letter dated Jan 16, 2023, which stated that the second to fifth respondents had clarified and confirmed that there was no vacant parliamentary seat based on the interpretation of the constitution of Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Bersatu. Lawyers Tan Sri Azhar Azizan Harun, Chetan Jethwani and Pravin Thangarajoo represented both applicants, while senior federal counsel Farah Shuhada Ramli represented the Attorney General’s Chambers, and lawyers Datuk Firoz Hussein Jamaluddin, Wafiy Azman, Woo J Enn and Choo Shi Jin represented the second to fifth respondents. – Bernama Increase in Kelantan flood evacuees KUALA LUMPUR: Kedah has recorded an increase in the number of flood evacuees, with another relief centre opened in the Kota Setar district, while the situation remained unchanged in Perak yesterday. State civil defence force disaster management secretariat chief Mej (Rtd) Muhammad Suhaimi Mohd Zain said in a statement the third relief centre in the district was opened at Sekolah Kebangsaan (SK) Taman Aman on Wednesday to house five people from two families. “The number of evacuees in the state rose to 231 people from 74 families compared with 210 from 68 families last night,” he said. Among the affected areas in Kota Setar are Kampung Seberang Chegar, Kampung Alor Gunung, Kampung Pulau Kerengga, Kampung Alor Senjaya, Kampung Alor Perang, Kampung Bohor, Kampung Anak Bukit, Kampung Alor Gunong and Kampung Seberang Alor Gunong, he said. Muhammad Suhaimi added that the number of evacuees housed at SK Malau, which has been open since Monday in Kubang Pasu district, remained at 31 from seven families. The areas affected are Kampung Lahar, Kampung Paya Tok Keong, Kampung Paya Tok Teh and Kampung Biak. In Perak, the disaster management committee secretariat said the number of evacuees remained at 178 people from 52 families. They are taking shelter at four relief centres. A total of 89 people from 27 families are at the Padang Tembak multipurpose hall in Hilir Perak, 23 from four families at SK Changkat Lobak in Kerian, and 57 from 19 families at SK Alor Pongsu. Nine people from two families in Taman Meru 2C are taking shelter at Taman Meru 2A community hall. – Bernama RM5m contraband ciggies seized GEORGE TOWN: Penang marine police uncovered a storage facility for contraband cigarettes and seized 490 boxes containing 24,500 cartons valued at RM5.12 million on Tuesday. Its Region One commander ACP Shamsol Kassim said a team conducted a raid during Ops Taring Landai Kontraband in Jalan Choong Lye Hock after 48 hours of monitoring a two-storey house. However, no one was seen entering the premises. During the 6pm raid, the contraband items, estimated to be worth RM5.12 million including taxes, were seized. “This is the largest illicit cigarette haul in Penang this year, and we are tracking down the premises owner to assist in investigations,” he said at the region one headquarters in Batu Uban yesterday. Shamsol said the cigarettes were believed to have been brought in from a neighbouring country and the goods were transferred from one vessel to another while out at sea. “The cigarette boxes are wrapped in plastic to prevent them from getting wet during the transfer process. The goods are later stored at certain premises before being distributed to the local market,” he said, adding that the case was being investigated under Section 135(1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967. – Bernama Two men killed in three-vehicle crash ROMPIN: Two men were killed in a collision involving three vehicles at Km137 Jalan Kuantan-Johor Bahru near here on Wednesday night. Pahang police chief Datuk Seri Yahaya Othman said in the 9.30pm incident, the driver and passenger of a car, Mohd Rahmat Ab Rahim, 34, and Muhammad Amirul Mukmini Mat Daud, 31, suffered head injuries and died at the scene. He added that the victims were heading towards Johor Bahru from Kuantan. The collision was believed to have occurred when a lorry crashed into the rear of the car as it was slowing down to enter a junction. “The driver lost control of his car which veered into the opposite lane before it was hit by a cement mixer truck that was travelling towards Kuantan.” Yahaya said the two lorry drivers escaped with minor injuries. The case is being investigated under Section 41 (1) of the Road Transport Act 1987. – Bernama
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 7 Biden, Xi restore military talks WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at their first summit in a year on Wednesday to restore military communications between the two countries, even as Biden went off script by saying he still considered Xi a “dictator”. The leaders shook hands and strolled around a garden at a historic California estate during four-hour talks aimed at preventing growing tensions between the world’s largest economies from spiraling into conflict. They also agreed that China would crack down on the production of ingredients for fentanyl, responsible for a deadly epidemic of opioid abuse in the US, with Xi saying he “sympathises” with US victims of the deadly drug, which has ravaged communities across the country. But Xi and Biden remained far apart on the wider flashpoint of Taiwan, with the Chinese president telling his US counterpart to stop arming the island and that reunification was “unstoppable”. Beijing claims sovereignty over the self-ruling democracy and has oPlanet big enough for two countries to succeed, says Chinese leader Flights halted as South Koreans sit for key exam SEOUL: More than half a million students in South Korea sat for the crucial national university entrance exam yesterday, with authorities taking extraordinary measures including halting flights to minimise distraction. The nine-hour test, which is being taken by 504,588 pupils this year, is crucial for securing spots in top universities and is considered key to elevated social status, lucrative careers and even marriage prospects. Enormous pressure placed on students in the ultra-competitive education system has been blamed for teenage depression and suicide rates which are among the highest in the world. “I’m nervous and trembling because what I’ve been studying for three years ends with this exam today,” Lee Min-yup, a test-taker, said outside Kyungbock High School. The importance of the test was reflected by the aggressive measures authorities were taking to prevent any disturbance. To reduce noise disruption A mother lighting a candle for her child’s success in the annual College Scholastic Ability Test at a Buddhist temple in Seoul yesterday. – REUTERSPIC B R I E F SMAN HELD AFTER CAR CRASHES NEAR EMBASSY TOKYO: Japanese police arrested a man yesterday after a car crashed through a barrier near the Israeli embassy here. Video footage appeared to show that the car was driven through a temporary barrier and into a fence at an intersection around 100m from the embassy. Media also reported that one police officer was lightly injured in the morning incident in Tokyo. The man arrested on the spot is a member of a right-wing group and in his 50s, the reports said. A fire department spokesman said only that they received “an emergency call (for an ambulance) at 11.57am”. – AFP POLLS OPEN IN MADAGASCAR ELECTION ANTANANARIVO: Polls opened yesterday in Madagascar’s presidential election, with the incumbent betting on re-election and most opposition candidates boycotting the poll over concerns about the vote’s integrity. President Andry Rajoelina has brushed off criticisms and expressed confidence that he will secure re-election in the first round of voting. He is one of 13 candidates on the ballot, but 10 of the others have called on voters to shun the elections. “We appeal to everyone not to vote. Conditions for a transparent presidential election, accepted by all, have not been met,” Roland Ratsiraka, one of the protesting candidates, said. – AFP CAMBODIA OPENS AIRPORT NEAR TEMPLE PHNOM PENH: Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Manet yesterday inaugurated a new Chinese-funded airport near the Angkor Wat temple complex, saying it would boost the vital tourism sector. Hun Manet, who succeeded his father Hun Sen in August, hailed the Siem Reap Angkor International Airport as “modern” as he cut a ribbon to officially open it. He said it was the first Cambodian air facility developed under Beijing’s Belt and Road global investment project, and the US$1.1 billion (RM5.2 billion) hub would stimulate tourism. “It is another new historic event for the air transportation sector,” he said. – AFP LAW FIRM LOOKS TO OPEN N. KOREA OFFICE BEIJING: A Beijing-based law firm has announced plans to become the first from China to open an office in North Korea, in anticipation that an opening up of the reclusive country will draw in interest from Chinese investors. Jingsh Law Firm partner Matthew Kim said the firm had decided to open an office there alongside an expansion into Japan and South Korea, with the aim that all three offices will be open by the first half of next year. The firm hopes to offer legal advice mainly to Chinese investors for foreign direct investment, greenfield investment and mergers and acquisitions, Kim said, adding they would team up with a local partner in Pyongyang. – AFP 26 dead, dozens hospitalised in China building fire BEIJING: Twenty-six people have died and dozens were sent to hospital after a fire tore through a building in northern China’s Shanxi province yesterday, state media reported. The fire started at a four-storey building belonging to the Yongju coal company in Shanxi province’s Luliang city at 6.50am local time. Twenty-six people were confirmed dead, Xinhua news agency reported. Earlier, broadcaster CCTV said 63 people had been evacuated, 51 of whom were hospitalised. The reports did not say if any of those taken to hospital had died. “Rescue work is still in progress and the cause of the fire is under investigation”, CCTV reported. A later update said the fire had “now been brought under control”. Video footage posted on social media site Weibo showed bright flames and thick black smoke billowing from the building, while dozens of people stood in the parking lot watching. The building shown in the video matched images of the coal company’s headquarters posted on its website. Emergency response personnel could be seen in the footage racing to put on protective gear outside a fire truck parked at the building’s entrance. Chinese President Xi Jinping, currently in the United States for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders, said there was an “extremely profound lesson” to be learned from the fire. Local governments must “conduct in-depth investigations of hidden risks in key industries, improve emergency plans and prevention measures”, he said, according to CCTV. – AFP not ruled out seizing it by force. The two leaders had not met in person since they held talks in Bali in November last year, and relations nosedived after the United States shot down an alleged Chinese spy balloon in February this year. But Biden told a press conference at the Filoli estate that his talks with Xi, whom he has known since 2011, were “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had”. The US would compete “vigorously” but “responsibly” with an increasingly assertive China “so it doesn’t veer into conflict or accidental conflict”, Biden said. “He and I agreed that each one of us could pick up the phone, call directly and we’ll be heard immediately.” The separate move to restore high-level America-China military communications, which China severed after then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last year, was “critically important” to avoid possible conflicts, Biden added. The two sides also agreed to hold talks on artificial intelligence and to deepen cooperation on climate change ahead of the COP28 conference in Dubai next month. But a day of painstakingly choreographed diplomacy ended with a not-so-diplomatic remark as Biden walked offstage after his press conference. When a reporter asked if he would still say Xi was a dictator as he had in June, a remark that prompted an angry response from Beijing at the time, Biden replied: “Well look, he is.” “He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who’s running a country, a Communist country, that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours.” Diplomats had spent months trying to get the talks to happen, and then arranging the smallest details at the exclusive estate, which featured in the US television soap opera Dynasty in the 1980s. Xi appeared to brush off the comment, telling an audience hours later that growing US-China ties were vital to both countries. “I believe that once the door to China-US relations is opened, it will not be closed again. “China is ready to be a partner and friend of the United States.” The carefully cultivated symbolism of the day saw red carpet handshakes, delegations sitting on either side of a huge table, and culminating with Biden and Xi taking the air in the grounds. They also shared a working lunch of herbed ricotta ravioli and tarragon chicken with gold rice pilaf. Biden and Xi waved at reporters during their garden walk, and Biden had raised two thumbs up when asked how the talks went. Xi had earlier warned that “turning their back on each other was not an option,” and said that “Planet Earth is big enough for the two countries to succeed”. – AFP during the listening portion of the English test, the Transportation Ministry has announced a nationwide ban on all aircraft takeoffs and landings outside of emergency situations. The ban was in effect for 35 minutes, from 1.05pm to 1.40pm (2.05pm to 2.40pm in Malaysia). With the exception of aircraft in distress, all airborne planes must maintain an altitude higher than 3,000m during the restricted time. More than 90 flights had to be rescheduled because of the exam. Public offices and major businesses were requested to adjust their opening hours to 10 am or later to alleviate traffic congestion and ensure that students arrived on time for the nationwide exam, which commenced at 8.40 am. The stock market also opened an hour later than usual. Police cars and government officials were on standby to help students running late for the exam reach their test sites in time. This year’s test also marks the first time that test-takers are allowed to take the exam without wearing masks since the pandemic began. For this year’s exam, authorities dropped so-called “killer questions” – which cannot be answered by simply studying the curriculum taught at public schools – in a bid to reduce reliance on expensive private cram schools. – AFP
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 8 @thesundaily FOLLOW ON Malaysian Paper INSTAGRAM X launches court fight with Aussie watchdog CANBERRA: Australia’s online safety watchdog said yesterday it was being taken to court by Elon Musk’s X in a fight over the platform’s failure to outline how it combats child sexual abuse content. Last month, eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant slapped an A$610,500 (RM1.8 million) fine on the company formerly known as Twitter for failing to respond to questions sent in February about how it is tackling the issue on its platform. The social media giant missed an extended mid-November deadline to pay the fine, the eSafety commission said this week, adding that it was “considering further steps”. Instead, X has taken the case to Australia’s federal court. “X Corp. has lodged proceedings seeking judicial review of decisions of the eSafety Commissioner in this matter,” an eSafety commission spokesman told AFP. “ESafety continues to consider its options in relation to X Corp’s non-compliance with the reporting notice but cannot comment on legal proceedings.” Documents have been filed with the federal court in Melbourne, and AFP has sought comment from lawyers acting for X in Australia. When contacted by AFP, X responded with an automatic e-mail: “Busy now, please check back later”. Inman Grant – herself a former Twitter employee – last month urged X to show it was taking “tangible action” to clean up the platform. “Twitter/X has stated publicly that tackling child sexual exploitation is the number one priority for the company, but it can’t just be empty talk,” she said at the time. Billionaire Musk has cut more than 80% of X’s global workforce since his takeover in October last year, including many of the content moderators responsible for stamping out abusive content. Proactive detection of child sexual exploitation on X fell from 90% to 75% in the three months after the takeover, Inman Grant said. – AFP B R I E F STWO DEAD, THREE MISSING IN VIETNAM FLOODS HANOI: Two people have died and three are still missing after days of heavy rain flooded streets and thousands of homes in central Vietnam, disaster management authorities said yesterday. Among the hardest hit cities was Hue, Vietnam’s old imperial capital, where 16,000 homes have been partially submerged, according to the National Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control. State media said a 40-year-old woman died and her daughter, 18, was missing after they were swept away by floodwaters when a boat they were travelling in capsized at the world heritage site. In Quang Tri province, the body of a 36-year-old man who had gone fishing on a lake was found on Wednesday. – AFP U.S. OUTLET’S BTS ERROR PROMPTS ONLINE OUTRAGE SEOUL: An American entertainment news site has sparked anger and drawn ridicule after an apparent K-pop blunder, posting a photo of BTS megastar Jimin instead of a Korean actress with the same name. In a post on social media platform X viewed more than 100,000 times, Deadline Hollywood links to its coverage of France’s Cesar Academy’s annual Revelations list, which flags up-and-coming acting talents. This year, the list includes Korean-born, France-based actress Park Ji-min, who has gained recognition for her powerful performance in Return to Seoul. The article and the post on X, however, feature a photograph of BTS star Jimin, whose legal name is Park Ji-min, prompting a torrent of criticism on the platform. – AFP Myanmar junta facing ‘heavy insurgent assault’ YANGON: Myanmar’s junta has reported “heavy assaults” by insurgents and told government staff to get ready for emergencies, an official said yesterday, while media reported a call for those with military experience to prepare to serve. The military has battled ethnic minority and other insurgencies for decades but a 2021 coup has brought unprecedented coordination between anti-military forces that are mounting the biggest challenge to the army in years. Junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun said the military was facing “heavy assaults from a significant number of armed rebel soldiers” in Shan State in the northeast, Kayah State in the east and Rakhine State in the west. oDrones used to drop hundreds of bombs on military posts: Official He said some military positions had been evacuated and the insurgents had been using drones to drop hundreds of bombs on military posts. “We are urgently taking measures to protect against drone bomb attacks effectively.” In the capital Naypyitaw, government staff have been ordered to form units to respond to “emergency” situations, said Tin Maung Swe, secretary of Naypyitaw Council. He denied that the order was in response to the security situation, saying the capital was calm. “This is the plan to help in the event of an emergency, especially natural disasters.” A parallel government formed by pro-democracy politicians to oppose the military, and allied with some insurgent factions, has launched a “Road to Naypyitaw” campaign which it says is aimed at taking control of the capital. Separately, the military’s State Administration Council, in an order on Wednesday, said all those with basic military training should be ready to go and serve. Myanmar’s neighbours have tried to encourage a peace process but the generals have largely ignored their efforts. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was deeply concerned by the “expansion of conflict in Myanmar” and called for all parties to protect civilians, a spokesman said. “The number of displaced people in Myanmar now exceeds two million.” The Arakan Army rebel group fighting for autonomy in Rakhine state said dozens of police and military men had surrendered or been captured as its forces advanced. A junta spokesman denounced the group saying it was “destroying” Rakhine State. A video posted on social media by antimilitary forces in Kayah state showed wounded junta troops surrendering to insurgents, who were seen offering medical help. “You raise the white flag and walk out, nothing will happen to you,” a rebel Karenni National Defence Force commander is heard telling the junta soldiers. – Reuters Indian rescuers drill to rescue tunnel workers NEW DELHI: Indian rescuers said yesterday a powerful new drilling machine had been deployed as efforts to free 40 workers trapped in a collapsed road tunnel entered their fifth day. Excavators have been removing debris since Sunday morning from the site of the collapse in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand to create an escape tunnel for the workers, some of whom have fallen sick. But rescue efforts have been slowed by debris continuing to fall as workers laboured to clear the tunnel, with progress stalled after an earth-boring drill developed problems. The air force flew in a second drilling machine on a C-130 Hercules military plane on Wednesday, with the giant drill bit stretching much the length of the aircraft’s cargo hold. “Drilling is starting soon,” rescue leader Deepak Patil said. Engineers are trying to drive a steel pipe 90cm wide through the debris, wide enough for the trapped men to squeeze through. India has sought advice from the Thai company that rescued children from a flooded cave in 2018 as it races to save the men, as well as from engineering experts in soil and rock mechanics at Norwegian Geotechnical Institute. Rescuers can communicate with the trapped men using radios. Food, water and oxygen have also been sent to the trapped workers via a pipe – too narrow for people to escape through. No details have been given about the condition of the men or how many of them were sick. Dozens of colleagues of the trapped workers protested outside the tunnel on Wednesday, blaming authorities for “slow rescue work”, one of the protesters told AFP. The 4.5km tunnel was being constructed between the towns of Silkyara and Dandalgaon to connect Uttarkashi and Yamunotri, two of the holiest Hindu shrines. The tunnel is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s road project aimed at improving travel conditions between some of the most popular Hindu shrines in the country as well as in areas bordering China. – AFP NO ENTRY ... Police stopping Islami Andolan Bangladesh party activists during a march towards the election commission in Dhaka to protest the announcement of the general election’s date. – AFPPIC
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 9 B R I E F S UN Security Council calls for ‘humanitarian pauses’ oHuman rights chief says disease and hunger inevitable in Gaza NEW YORK: The UN Security Council on Wednesday called for “extended humanitarian pauses” in the Gaza Strip, the first time it has broken its silence since the start of the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas. The resolution, prepared by Malta and adopted with 12 votes in favour, “calls for urgent and extended humanitarian pauses and corridors throughout the Gaza Strip for a sufficient number of days” to allow aid to reach civilians in the besieged territory. The text raises the question of how many days would be considered sufficient. A previous version of the draft seen by AFP called for an initial pause of five consecutive days within 24 hours of the adoption of the resolution. “It needs to be long enough for us to be able to mobilise the resources, once we have enough fuel, for people to get what they need,” said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general. Security Council resolutions are meant to be legally binding, but in practice some members have ignored them. The resolution called on all parties to comply with international humanitarian obligations “notably with regard to the protection of civilians, especially children”. It also called for the “immediate and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups, especially children”. Over 230 hostages are believed to be held by Hamas. Three states abstained – the United States, Britain and Russia. After the Oct 7 attack and Israel’s reprisal bombardment of the Gaza Strip, the council tried multiple times – in vain – to adopt a resolution of some kind. With its 10 nonpermanent members taking the lead, the Security Council launched new talks on a resolution, but those negotiations got bogged down on the wording to be used to call for a stop, however brief, to the fighting. The United States opposed any use of the term “ceasefire”, diplomats said. Other terms floated were “truce” and “pause”. “I know we are all disappointed about the inaction of the Council in the past 40 days,” China’s UN ambassador Jun Zhang said on Wednesday. Malta’s UN envoy Vanessa Frazier said “the Security Council members are united in wanting a voice”. While recognising the “nuances” between their positions, she said all 15 members have “the desire to save life and provide respite” to civilians. Meanwhile, the United Nations human rights chief said yesterday that outbreaks of disease and hunger seemed “inevitable” in Gaza after weeks of Israeli assault. “Massive outbreaks of infectious disease, and hunger, seem inevitable,” Volker Turk said at an informal briefing to states at the UN in Geneva following a visit to the Middle East. – Agencies Displaced Palestinians arriving in a safer zone south of Gaza City after fleeing their homes in the northern Gaza Strip. – AFPPIC US Congress averts chaos of Thanksgiving shutdown WASHINGTON: The US Congress passed a stop-gap funding bill on Wednesday to keep federal agencies running for another two months and avert a painful holiday season government shutdown – although the deal leaves out aid to war-torn Ukraine and Israel requested by President Joe Biden. Three days before the Saturday deadline, the Senate voted to keep the lights on through midJanuary with a resolution that had advanced from the House of Representatives during a week of high-stakes brinkmanship on Capitol Hill. The last-ditch “continuing resolution (CR)” was pitched by new House Speaker Mike Johnson as more than a million public workers looked set to be sent home unpaid ahead of next Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, upending government functions from national parks and air traffic control to federal policymaking. Democrats had pressed for the inclusion of aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan – but each now looks set to be dealt with separately, with a US$61 billion request from the White House for Kyiv looking particularly precarious amid conservative opposition. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the bill was “far from perfect” but achieved Democrats’ aims of keeping the lights on without “cruel cuts or poison pills”. The shutdown crisis was triggered by hardline conservatives in the Republican-led House defying their own party leadership to scupper the bills that normally set the annual federal budget as they pressed for deep spending cuts. House Republicans needed help from Democrats to overcome a rebellion on the right to advance the bill, which essentially puts off budgeting until January of 2024 – a presidential election year. The measure includes none of the policy priorities or drastic cuts the Republican right flank was pushing for, and conservatives put Johnson on notice that they would not accept another stop-gap at current spending levels. “We’re done with the failure theater here in Congress – we’re not just going to pass bills that don’t address the problems that Americans face,” said Scott Perry, chairman of the hard right House Freedom Caucus. Budget votes in Congress regularly turn into a standoff, with one party using the prospect of a shutdown to seek concessions from the other, usually without success. – AFP Mother of boy who shot teacher jailed WASHINGTON: A Virginia woman whose six-year-old son shot and severely wounded his teacher was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Wednesday on gun charges. Deja Taylor’s son brought her gun to school in the southern US state on Jan 6 and shot his elementary school teacher. The teacher was hospitalised for two weeks with injuries to her hand and chest. The 26-year-old Taylor pleaded guilty in June to illegally obtaining the firearm and making a false statement on a government form required to purchase the weapon. Taylor had claimed, falsely, on the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives form that she did not consume illegal drugs. She was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison by a district court judge in the city of Newport News on Wednesday. Prosecutors have also brought charges at the state level against Taylor, charging her with felony child neglect. Amid a huge number of deadly firearms incidents involving young people, pressure has been mounting in the US to punish parents who make it possible for their children to get weapons. Last week, the father of an Illinois man accused of killing seven people during a parade pleaded guilty to “reckless conduct” for helping his son obtain the assault rifle used in the mass shooting. – AFP US$1BIL FAKE LUXURY GOODS SEIZED IN NY WASHINGTON: Anyone who walks the streets of Manhattan can observe sidewalk vendors hawking counterfeit luxury products. It is big business, really big. Just how big became clear on Wednesday when prosecutors announced the “largest ever seizure of counterfeit goods in US history” – a massive haul of about 219,000 fake handbags, shoes, clothing and other items. “The seizures consist of merchandise with over US$1 billion (RM4.7 billion) in estimated retail value,” federal prosecutor Damian Williams said. Adama Sow, 38, and Abdulai Jalloh, 48, who allegedly ran the large-scale knockoff goods ring out of storage facilities in Manhattan, were arrested on Wednesday. – AFP HOSPITAL EVACUATED AMID CLASHES IN HAITI PORT-AU-PRINCE: The main hospital in Port-au-Prince’s largest shantytown was completely evacuated on Wednesday after violent gang clashes broke out at its gates. Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Centre, denied reports that gang members had taken patients hostage. “There was no hostage taking. There was a gang war, but the war is around the hospital. We’ve had neighbouring houses burnt down,“ he said. “We had to call the police to help us evacuate all the people who couldn’t move on their own, among them women who had a Caesarean and couldn’t walk.” – AFP ONE KILLED IN RUSSIAN SHELLING OF KHERSON KYIV: Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson has killed one civilian and injured another, officials said yesterday. Kherson was recaptured by Ukrainian forces last year but has been shelled relentlessly since by Russian forces from the opposite bank of the Dnipro river that adjoins the city. “The Russian army has been hitting the Korabelny district of Kherson,” regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. He said a 68-year-old man died in the shelling while a woman, 54, was taken to the hospital with shrapnel wounds. – AFP
10 FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 Contact theSun's Advertising & Marketing team to book your advertising space. 03-7784 6688 [email protected] Christmas Christmas Special Advertise with us on Christmas Special on Dec 15, 2023 PUBLICATION DATE 15 DECEMBER, 2023 (Friday) BOOKING DEADLINE 1 DECEMBER, 2023 (Friday) When the time comes for you to once again put up the Christmas tree in your living room and go through the family festive recipe books, don't forget to check out our Christmas Special on where, when and how to get the best festive gifts, surprises and promotions for your loved ones, friends and associates. /thesundaily FOLLOW ON FACEBOOK Malaysian Paper Western world must B recognise Gaza genocide ASED on the legally defined criteria of the Genocide Convention, can any human rights advocate witnessing the relentless killing of civilians and children in Gaza deny that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people? Despite this historically defining moment, the Western media has refused to label the events in Gaza as genocide, citing a lack of evidence for such a term. Have broadcasting companies, such as the BBC and CNN as well as other Western media, forgotten that they were, until recently, regularly reporting on an alleged “genocide in Xinjiang” without providing any evidence of such killings to support their repeated accusations against the Chinese government? One week into Israel’s conflict in Gaza, 800 eminent scholars and legal practitioners sounded the alarm about an imminent genocide in the territory. This is a grave assertion. Since the release of that letter, the death toll in Gaza has exceeded 11,000, and approximately 2,650 individuals, including 1,400 children, are reportedly missing. The humanitarian crisis has reached alarming proportions, evident to all through daily broadcasts, compounded by severe shortages of food, water, fuel and electricity. Definition of genocide The United Nations (UN) General Assembly first recognised genocide as a crime under international law in 1946. It was codified as an independent crime in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, commonly known as the Genocide Convention. Regardless of whether states have ratified the Genocide Convention, they are all legally bound by the principle that genocide is a crime prohibited under international law. Article 6 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Article 2 of the Genocide Convention define genocide as “acts committed with the specific intent to destroy, either in whole or in part, a national, the ongoing situation in Gaza. This is precisely the concern expressed by experts in the field, including the esteemed economist and Columbia University professor, Jeffrey Sachs, who cautioned that any accusation of genocide in Xinjiang must be made responsibly. Unfortunately, this is an aspect the US and the West have overlooked. Asserting that genocide has occurred places emphasis on fatalities. The US State Department’s report on China stated “numerous reports” of killings but noted that “few or no details were available”. Despite this, the US and its Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) allies have intensified their claim that China is engaged in a genocide against the Uighur people in the Xinjiang region, yet they have not provided any evidence to substantiate this statement. Accusations of human rights abuses against Uighurs exist, but these alone do not inherently amount to genocide. This must be considered within the context of China’s efforts to combat militant terrorist groups in Xinjiang, a situation with which the US and the West are familiar with from their involvements in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan. Many may not be aware that until late 2020, the US classified the Uighur East Turkestan Islamic Movement as a terrorist group, battled Uighur fighters in Afghanistan and Syria, and detained many Uighurs as prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Sachs has cautioned that: “Unless the State Department can substantiate the genocide accusation, it should withdraw the charge. It should also support a UN-led investigation of the situation in Xinjiang. “The work of the UN, and notably of UN Human Rights Special Rapporteurs, is essential to promote the letter and spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Israel’s assaults on Gaza This latest carnage in Gaza did not originate on Oct 7. Israel had launched four protracted military assaults on Gaza: in 2008, 2012, 2014 and 2021, killing thousands of Palestinians including children, and destroying tens of thousands of homes, schools and office buildings. From the daily broadcasts, it is evident that a significant portion of Gaza has been reduced to rubble. Therefore, the global community must push for an immediate ceasefire and cessation of the genocide in Palestine, reinstating the Palestinian people’s right to their homeland, where they can access fundamental civil liberties and human rights, including food, shelter, health facilities and other necessities. The writer is a former member of Parliament and director of (Suaram) Suara Rakyat Malaysia). Comments: [email protected] Thousands of children continue to face violence in Gaza amid Israeli bombing. – REUTERSPIC COMMENT by Kua Kia Soong ethnic, racial or religious group.” These acts include killing members of the group, inflicting serious harm upon them, and imposing conditions of life with the aim of physically destroying the group, among other underlying acts. The actions of the Israeli state in Gaza mirror the characteristics of genocide. Despite claiming to target only Hamas, Israel is engaged in an all-out assault on the entire population of Gaza, including women and children. In the initial week of its relentless assault, Israel dropped over 6,000 bombs on the Gaza Strip – nearly as many employed by the US in Afghanistan over an entire year. Besides the mass killing of Palestinian civilians, Israel has imposed a complete siege on Gaza, with “no electricity, food, water and gas”, as declared by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Israel’s targetting of hospitals and the obstruction of fuel deliveries suggest an intention to hinder Palestinians from accessing crucial healthcare services. On Nov 5, Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu said one of Israel’s potential actions in Gaza is to deploy a nuclear bomb. He also argued against providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian civilians, asserting that “there is no such thing as uninvolved civilians in Gaza”. Israel and the West have tried to decontextualise and “dehistoricise” the situation in Gaza, portraying it as self-defence, purportedly provoked by Hamas’ Oct 7 attack. The accusation of genocide should never be made lightly. Incorrect usage of the term may escalate geopolitical and military tensions and diminish the historical significance of genocides, such as the Holocaust, hindering efforts to prevent genuine genocides, such as “The accusation of genocide should never be made lightly. Incorrect usage of the term can escalate geopolitical and military tensions and diminish the historical significance of genocides.
11 FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 DO secondary school students have an adequate understanding of local and global matters to make well-informed judgements? Are there components in the school curriculum designed to keep students abreast of current events domestically and internationally? According to surveys conducted by news agencies in 2015 and 2018, Malaysian students exhibit a limited grasp of general knowledge and a lack of interest in international affairs. Many of them do not follow the news or read the newspapers as they are often engrossed in social media platforms. Consequently, these students will grow up without exposure to reliable information, relying instead on gossip and unverified news, leading to a lack of awareness regarding global issues. Ultimately, they will assimilate into a “herd” mentality, following without critical thought. The initiation of Palestinian Solidarity Week by the Education Ministry caught many parents and educators off guard. Until now, schools had not organised similar events addressing international causes. Throughout the years, the world has witnessed numerous instances of inhumanity and social injustice. However, such concerns have rarely found their way into schools. Examples include the Rohingya conflict in Myanmar, the recent war between Russia and Ukraine, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam conflict in Sri Lanka and initiatives such as “We Are the World” aimed at alleviating poverty in Africa – all representing global social welfare issues. The move by the Education Ministry is a positive step, setting a precedent for other humanitarian and social causes worldwide. Despite initial challenges, such as the flag burning incidents and the display of toy guns during its implementation, the issues were promptly addressed and rectified. We need to create awareness of social injustice among our children and educate them on human values, human rights and compassion. Our students should be imbued with empathy and a sense of concern for the pain, loss and suffering experienced by others, irrespective of their race, religion or beliefs. We must remind them of the privilege and blessings we enjoy as Malaysians and enlighten them on the futility of war, which only leads to suffering and hardship. Teachers play a pivotal role in providing students with appropriate reading materials and reliable sources to comprehend international conflicts and wars. Lessons can be transformed into projects and cultural experiences, with newspapers serving as dependable and authentic resources for current and global affairs in the classroom. The incorporation of critical thinking and inquiry-based learning is essential in schools. Students should be encouraged to pose questions freely. We should be mindful of the ideas we instil in young minds as the consequences we face will be a direct result of the values we impart. The statement found in Dorothy Law Nolte’s “Children learn what they live” serves as a guiding principle. Samuel Yesuiah Seremban LETTERS [email protected] Weighing in to tackle childhood obesity Q: Our pre-teen son is extremely overweight. I want to help him trim down and learn better habits while he’s young. Please advise. Focus on the Family Malaysia: Statistics show that childhood obesity is a serious problem. Children who are clinically obese are at risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke, vascular disease, arthritis and even early death. This excludes the toll it usually puts on their self-esteem. So, we strongly suggest you start by discussing this issue with your child’s doctor. Meanwhile, it is important to make this a family project. Focus on the following as a household: 0 Improve nutritional choices; 0 Increase physical activity; 0 Eat meals together as a family; 0 Get more rest; 0 Increase recreational habits 0 Make wise media choices One of the easiest solutions is to power down the television and other electronic devices, and take evening walks together. This will ensure your son does not feel isolated, making it more probable for him to adopt the necessary lifestyle changes. Consider speaking with your son’s teacher. They may be able to promote and integrate healthy habits into the curriculum, benefiting the entire class. You can exert control over his caloric intake during school hours by preparing a nutritious lunch for him. Additionally, limit the money he has access to, preventing the purchase of unhealthy snacks from vending machines and convenience stores. Most importantly, remember that your child needs an abundance of your love and acceptance throughout this process. Do everything you can to help him lose weight. However, make it clear that your affections are not contingent on his weight loss. Q: What can I do to prevent my pre-teen from using profanity? Despite addressing the issue multiple times, it seems to be worsening. Please help. Focus on the Family Malaysia: If you or your spouse do not use profanity at home, there are several external sources where your pre-teen may have picked up this undesirable habit. The most common influences are often entertainment media and friends at school. While you cannot shield him from every negative influence, it is important to monitor and regulate his media habits and delve into his social interactions. Your goal should be to understand, respond and guide. 0 Understand: Instead of just confronting him, inquire to understand why he is choosing to swear. Is it to appear or sound cool? Is it a way to assert independence or distance himself from your family’s values? Could it be an expression of anger or a reaction to feelings of rejection? Or is it driven by a desire for power and control? 0 Respond: Take time to discuss how his motivations align with the values in your home. Emphasise the significance of selfcontrol in communication. Words hold the power to either enrich relationships or cause harm. They also provide insights into a person’s thoughts. Be patient and compassionate as you respond to your child’s internal world, which may be surfacing through inappropriate language. 0 Guide: Explore alternative words that can be used instead of the language he is currently choosing. Establish goals and set clear rules with consequences regarding the ongoing use of swear words. Teaching him to control his language is part of learning to show kindness towards others, as opposed to being self-focused or offensive. Lastly, take the time to acknowledge and celebrate positive steps as he endeavours to overcome this challenging habit. Remember that your aim is to build a relationship, foster growth and encourage freedom – not solely to ensure your child’s immediate happiness. The article is contributed by Focus on the Family Malaysia, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting and strengthening the family unit. For more information, visit family.org.my. Unlock the secrets to building a resilient and enduring marriage by joining the Journey to Us Marriage Conference on Nov 25, featuring Dr Greg and Erin Smalley from Focus on the Family US. Register at family.org.my/JTUMC. Comments: [email protected] Importance of exposing students to world affairs UNDER ONE ROOF LET us be honest. When we envision braces, we often picture an awkward teenager sporting a mouthful of metal and colourful bands coordinating with their shoes. However, what about us adults? Is it possible for adults to wear braces too? While braces are more commonly used by youngsters, an increasing number of adults are choosing to straighten their teeth. This is partly due to adults retaining their teeth longer into old age, thanks to increased dental awareness and access to dental care. As adults, there are moments in life when we achieve financial stability and may encounter a newfound freedom as our children spread their wings and leave the nest. It is during this time that we can redirect our focus back to ourselves. You may have missed the opportunity for braces treatment during your childhood or experienced relapse issues after previous treatment. There is no need to feel guilty about wanting more for yourself now. In the age of selfies, where the camera is held just inches away from the face, many adults are eager to enhance their smile. Sometimes, braces are recommended to complement other dental treatments, such as aligning teeth before receiving implants or dentures. This type of treatment usually requires a multidisciplinary approach as it involves input from various dental disciplines, not just orthodontics. So, is there an age limit for braces? The answer is “No”. You are never too old for braces, although some individuals may not be able to have braces for other reasons, such as poor oral health and specific medical conditions. However, the principles of tooth movement are the same for younger individuals and adults. Force is transmitted from the brace to the tooth up to its roots. The force then leads to cellular activity around the tooth, which eventually causes the tooth to move. It has been argued that tooth movement can be slower and more painful in adults, however, the research on this is equivocal. Some adults avoid getting braces because they feel self-conscious and are reluctant to be seen wearing them. Fortunately, there are many alternatives to conventional metal braces when it comes to moving teeth. Ceramic braces are made from clear or toothcoloured material, which makes them less visible than traditional metal braces. Another alternative is the clear aligners. It is a type of removable brace that is made from a clear-coloured plastic material. It looks almost like a retainer but is different. Retainers are passive and designed to “retain” teeth, whereas clear aligners are active appliances designed to move teeth. With all these aesthetic options available, braces in adulthood can be trendy too. However, it is important to understand that braces treatment in adults can be challenging for clinicians. Adults are more likely to have other dental problems such as missing teeth, gum disease, fillings, crowns or previous history of orthodontic treatment. Nevertheless, this should not deter adults from seeking treatment as, despite these challenges, adult orthodontic treatment can be successful if planned correctly from the start with an experienced orthodontist. Adult patients who are motivated to complete their treatment and follow their orthodontist’s recommendations can have beautiful and healthy teeth. Remember, it is never too late to seek the help of braces, whether you are young or old. The writers are lecturers from the Faculty of Dentistry at Universiti Malaya. Comments: [email protected] COMMENT by Dr Yasmin Kamarudin and Assoc Prof Dr Saritha Sivarajan Are you too old for braces? Work out together with your child to help him embrace a healthier lifestyle.
COMMUNITY COMMUNITY 12 FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 McMillan Woods Global shows gratitude KUALA LUMPUR: The McMillan Woods Global (MCMWG) held an “Appreciation Night” at a hotel here on Nov 11 to show its gratitude to the attendees of its MCMWG Awards 2023 for their contribution to its charity drives. At the event, MCMWG presented a mock cheque for RM300,000, which was raised at the MCMWG Awards 2023 earlier, to the National Stroke Association of Malaysia (Nasam). The MCMWG Awards 2023, which took place on Oct 10, is a global event that celebrated excellence in various industries, and it honoured 30 business visionaries worldwide. Among the honourees were Malaysian actor and singer Alvin Chong, Malaysian supermodel and business mogul Amber Chia, Hong Kong actress and influencer Gine Lin Siu Kiu, award-winning Hong Kong actress Wiyona Yeung; celebrity drummer Eric Lau and Australian billionaire mining magnate Georgina Hope Rinehart. The global event was officiated by Tunku Datuk Mu’tamir Tunku Tan Sri Mohamed of Negeri Sembilan. It brought together more than 600 Tunku Datuk Mu’tamir (centre, behind mock cheque), Liew (front, second from right) and Hsu (front, third from right) at the McMillanWoods Global Awards Appreciation Night. – AMIRUL SYAFIQ/THESUN oWhile it fetes guests and donors, MCMWG presents RM300,000 donation to Nasam █ BY JADEN RAUL [email protected] Kiwanis Malaysia marks special day with Green Generation Project Together with Kiwanis Clubs of Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur and Klang Club, they ventured to Garden Spring in Cheras to impart knowledge to special children about soil, tree planting and herb cultivation. “Kiwanis has steadfastly dedicated itself to servicing, striving to create a positive influence on the lives of children,” Chew said. “In a world where environmental challenges are becoming ever more pressing, we consider it our duty to proactively engage in educating children on green initiatives, initiating a positive change to make the planet a better place for our youth. “The Green Generation Project is a bold step towards this goal. It is an allencompassing initiative that incorporates a range of activities and programmes aimed at making our communities ecofriendlier. “From tree-planting events to educational workshops on sustainability, we are working tirelessly to ensure our young children inherit a world that is thriving and sustainable.” The expansive Kiwanis Malaysia District comprised over 60 clubs in the country. They are organised into five divisions. Meanwhile, the Kiwanis Club of Penang Central dedicated its efforts at Pusat Jagaan Suria, collaborating with Oaktree Resources to educate special children about soil and plants. Division Five, comprising clubs from Damansara, Kota Kemuning, Bangsar and Puncak Tropicana, united for a free-market recycling project in Petaling Jaya. Other Kiwanis clubs, namely Penang, Johor Jaya, Taman Desa and Mahkota Cheras, also had their green generation projects activities done concurrently. The pivotal element of the Kiwanis One Day “Green Generation Project” involves tree-planting initiatives aiming at countering deforestation and enriching the natural environment. Kiwanis also hopes to establish diverse programmes where children and the community will be enlightened about the significance of sustainability, recycling, and responsible resource management. This education will unfold through engaging workshops, informative seminars and integrated school programme. Additionally, Kiwanis is exploring projects such as community clean-ups, where members and volunteers join hands with local authorities to rejuvenate parks, streets and public spaces. PETALING JAYA: Kiwanis recently unveiled its Green Generation Project during its annual signature celebration called Kiwanis One Day. The international service club hosted its Green Generation initiatives with Malaysia Governor Michael Chiew and Mama Kiwanis Puan Sri Khir Johari leading several projects at SJK (C) Pandan to champion green initiatives. industry leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, artistes and philanthropists. “We ensure that a minimum of RM100,000 is given to charity every year and multiple charity drives leading up to the awards night,” MCMWG president and founder Datuk Seri Dr Raymond Liew said. He said the MCMWG Awards 2023 is a celebration of excellence and a reminder that success is not just about personal achievement but also about leaving a positive mark on the world. “We’ve reached our 10th anniversary this year, which is a testament to the enduring impact of the McMillan Global Awards,” Liew added. The categories included McM Icons, awarded to outstanding personalities globally and locally; McM Masters, to honour established business entrepreneurs and global leaders; and McM Rising Stars, awarded to young talents, offering them a platform to excel in their careers. “Our nomination and evaluation process were designed to be thorough and objective. “We take pride in our awardees being selected based on their merit and the transformative nature of their contributions,” said MCMWG Awards 2023 organising chairman Rachel Hsu Xin. McMillan Global Woods Awards 2023 was organised by McMillan Woods Worldwide, with GV Corporate Advisory Sdn Bhd as the platinum sponsor, Gintell (M) Sdn Bhd and QSolve under POS2U Sdn Bhd as the gold sponsors and Sphere Corporation Sdn Bhd and Anand Foundation as the silver sponsors. Kiwanis stages the Green Generation Project during its annual signature celebration called Kiwanis One Day. Kiwanis helps to impart knowledge to special children about soil, tree planting and herb cultivation.
LYFE LYFE FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 14 Safe and appropriate toys Pets, especially puppies and kittens, are naturally curious and full of energy. Channelling that energy into appropriate outlets is essential for both their mental and physical development. Invest in a variety of toys that cater to y o u r p e t ’ s instincts and preferences. Chew toys, interactive puzzles and feather wands are excellent choices for keeping your pet engaged and entertained. Regular playtime not only strengthens the bond between you and your pet but also provides valuable exercise. Collar and identification tags Safety should always be a top priority when it comes to your pet. A well-fitted collar with an identification tag is a must-have, especially if your pet spends time outdoors. The tag should include your contact information, making it easier for others to return your pet if they happen to wander off. Additionally, consider having your pet microchipped for an added layer of security. These simple measures can greatly increase the chances of a safe reunion if your pet ever gets lost. Grooming supplies Regular grooming is vital for your pet’s health and appearance. The specific grooming needs will vary based on the type of pet you have, but basic supplies include a brush, nail clippers and pet-friendly shampoo. Brushing your pet’s fur helps prevent matting and reduces shedding, while nail trimming prevents discomfort and potential injury. Introduce grooming routines early on to make them a positive and stress-free experience for your pet. Quality leash and harness For dog owners, a sturdy leash and well-fitting harness are indispensable tools, especially during walks and outdoor adventures. Choose a leash that is appropriate for your dog’s size and strength and opt for a harness that distributes pressure evenly across their body. Training your dog to walk on a leash from an early age promotes good behaviour and ensures their safety during outings. Additionally, consider a reflective leash for added visibility during evening walks. Veterinary care essentials Regular veterinary care is a fundamental aspect of responsible pet ownership. Stock up on essentials like pet-friendly toothpaste and toothbrushes, as dental health is often overlooked but crucial for your pet’s overall wellbeing. Flea and tick prevention, as well as any specific medications prescribed by your veterinarian, should also be readily available. Establishing a relationship with a trusted veterinarian and scheduling routine check-ups will contribute to your pet’s long and healthy life. Welcoming a new pet into your home is a joyful experience that comes with the responsibility of providing proper care and attention. By investing in these seven must-have pet supplies, you not only ensure your pet’s wellbeing but also lay the foundation for a strong and lasting bond. Remember that each pet is unique, so tailor your choices to their specific needs and preferences. With the right supplies and a commitment to love and care, you and your new companion can embark on a journey filled with happiness, health and shared adventures. BRINGING a new pet into your home is an exciting and rewarding experience, but it also comes with its fair share of responsibilities. To ensure a smooth transition for both you and your furry friend, it is crucial to be well-prepared with the right supplies. Whether you are welcoming a playful puppy, a curious kitten or any other companion animal, having the essential pet supplies on hand will set the foundation for a happy and healthy life together. Explore the seven must-have pet supplies that every new pet owner should consider in this article. Nutritious food and water bowls The cornerstone of your pet’s well-being is a balanced and nutritious diet. Invest in highquality pet food that is suitable for your pet’s age, size and specific dietary needs. Alongside this, a set of durable and easily cleanable food and water bowls is essential. Stainless steel or ceramic bowls are recommended, as they are not only durable but also resistant to bacteria buildup. Regularly cleaning and refilling these bowls will help maintain your pet’s health and hygiene. Comfortable bedding Just like humans, pets need a cosy and comfortable place to rest. Provide your new companion with a soft and supportive bed tailored to their size and breed. Cats may prefer enclosed spaces, while dogs might enjoy a plush bed with raised edges for added security. Comfortable bedding is crucial for your pet’s physical health and emotional well-being, ensuring they have a dedicated space to relax and unwind. Pets, whether dogs, cats or other animals, need consistent care, attention and love throughout their lives. – PICS BY PEXELS Understanding the financial responsibilities associated with pet ownership ensures that you can provide a comfortable life for your furry friend. Matching your living situation and time availability with the right pet contributes to a harmonious relationship. Being well-prepared with pet essentials creates a welcoming environment for your new companion. █ BY THASHINE SELVAKUMARAN Pawsome essentials oSeven must-have pet supplies for new pet owners
LYFE LYFE 16 FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 Flavour fusion I N the heart of Petaling Jaya, there lies a culinary gem that boldly brings together the vibrant flavours of Malaysian and Mexican cuisines. This place is known as the Undisclosed Location. Intrigued by the fusion of these two rich culinary traditions, my colleagues and I embarked on a gastronomic adventure, uncovering a unique blend of tastes that left us craving for more. Behind the scenes with owner Mervin Chin The restaurant’s journey traces back to the roots of a small cafe in Bandar Sri Damansara named Rinse KL, where owner Mervin Chin honed his understanding of Asian and local cuisines. It was here that the concept of combining Malaysian and Mexican flavours began to take shape. Mervin’s inspiration stemmed from a genuine love for fusion food and a noticeable gap in the market for Malaysian-Mexican options. His vision was to create a space where patrons could embark on a culinary adventure, exploring the spicy richness of Malaysia alongside the bold zest of Mexico. However, the path to success was not without its challenges. Finding the delicate balance that appealed to both local and international palates posed a significant hurdle. Additionally, authentic Mexican ingredients were not readily available, leading to creative adaptations using oMalaysian-Mexican palate adventure █ BY THASHINE SELVAKUMARAN Undisclosed Location is famous for its cocktails. Tijuana fish, salsa and chips. Undisclosed Location is located in Petaling Jaya. Strawberry frozen margarita. locally sourced Malaysian alternatives. In the world of culinary inspiration, figures like Anthony Bourdain and the innovative approach of Chef Enrique Olvera played pivotal roles in shaping the restaurant’s fusion style. The restaurant’s biggest accomplishment lies in successfully introducing this unique fusion cuisine to Kuala Lumpur, becoming a haven for adventurous food enthusiasts and mezcal lovers alike. Reflecting on the journey, Chin acknowledges that understanding the business side, including financial management and marketing strategies, is crucial from the outset. Yet, despite the challenges, Undisclosed Location has flourished, establishing itself as a go-to spot in Kuala Lumpur. Culinary exploration - a symphony of Malaysian-Mexican flavours Our culinary journey at Undisclosed Location commenced with the Tijuana fish, salsa and chips with tartar sauce. The unanimous verdict among my colleagues was that it was the highlight of the night. The magic unfolded with a satisfying crunch, a prelude to the culinary masterpiece that awaited us. The amalgamation of textures and tastes was nothing short of exquisite, leaving us in a state of culinary awe. This seemingly simple dish transcended its apparent simplicity to become a work of culinary art. Words, no matter how eloquent, pale in comparison to the sensory delight experienced with each mouthful. The dish not only showcased the chef’s mastery in the kitchen but also underscored the restaurant’s commitment to transforming even the most straightforward ingredients into a gastronomic revelation. Moving on to the Malacca asam fish taco, featuring crispy dory fish fingers, Malacca-inspired asam sauce, guacamole, lime crema, mozzarella cheese, salsa fresca and a side of
LYFE LYFE 17 FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 A delightful table of delectable dishes. nachos, the explosion of flavours continued. Bursting with a unique combination of Malaysian and Mexican elements, this dish was a testament to culinary creativity. For the main course, the Oaxacan lamb shoulders, grilled to perfection, stood out. The aroma alone was enough to awaken the senses, promising a symphony of tastes that would unfold with each succulent bite. The tenderness of the lamb, a testament to the chef’s culinary finesse, created a textural masterpiece that invited us to savour the dish slowly, allowing the intricate flavours to unfold gradually. Every component worked in harmony, contributing to a melody of flavours that lingered on the palate, leaving an enduring impression that extended beyond the dining moment. The carne asada ribeye fajitas, accompanied by roasted tortillas, fresh guacamole, tangy salsa, nam jim jaew sauce and a dollop of lime crema, won the heart of one colleague, who declared it his favourite dish of the night. Its commitment to adapting and innovating with its menu was evident, catering to diverse dietary preferences. A word of caution to spice enthusiasts: the dishes at Undisclosed Location tend to carry a fiery kick. However, fear not, as there are options catering to milder preferences, ensuring a delightful experience for all patrons. Refreshing libations - a toast to fusion drinks The soursop margarita, a tropical delight, offered a unique blend of tangy soursop with the classic notes of a margarita, creating a refreshing and invigorating sip that set the tone for the evening. This innovative take on a traditional cocktail served as an enticing Owner of Undisclosed Location, Chin. – PICS BY HAZIQUE ZAIRILL/THESUN prelude to the gastronomic journey that awaited us. Next in line was the strawberry frozen margarita, a true star that stole the show. In this concoction, the sweetness of ripe strawberries harmonises with the bold kick of the margarita, creating a delightful and visually appealing drink. The frozen texture added a layer of sophistication, making it not just a beverage but a refreshing experience that elevated our taste buds to new heights. The mezcal margarita, a nod to the Mexican influence in Undisclosed Location’s fusion concept, presented a twist to the classic margarita. The mezcal’s distinctive character intertwined seamlessly, delivering a drink that was both complex and utterly satisfying. It served as a testament to the meticulous attention given to every detail in crafting a wellbalanced and memorable beverage selection. Beyond the plate The attentive and friendly staff contribute to a warm and inviting atmosphere, making it an ideal spot for a date night or a casual gathering with friends. Engaging with the local community, this place hosts monthly cultural events, featuring music and dance from both Malaysia and Mexico. The restaurant actively participates in local food festivals and collaborates with other businesses, creating a community-focused experience that goes beyond the dining table. Chin’s passion for Malaysian-Mexican cuisine has created a space where flavours collide, resulting in a dining experience that transcends borders. As you step into Undisclosed Location, prepare to embark on a journey of tastes and cultures where every dish tells a story and every bite is a celebration of culinary ingenuity. UNDISCLOSED LOCATION Address: 1, Jalan SS 4c/5, Taman Rasa Sayang, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Opening Hours: Mondays to Thursdays (12pm10pm), Fridays to Sundays (11am-11pm) Off on Tuesdays.
SCAN ME powered by Contributing Editor Keshy Dhillon / [email protected] Editorial T: 03-7784 6688 F: 03-7785 2624/5 E: [email protected] Advertising T: 03-7784 8888 F: 03-7784 4424 E: [email protected] FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 THE world of tyres is a dynamic one and probably more fiercely contested than the automotive industry it operates within. Tyre manufacturers rely on multitudes of platforms to prove the worthiness of their product. Motorsports is one of the best and most commonly used platforms to showcase the abilities of any tyre. But every once in a while, a tyre maker will organise a mega event and invite customers, dealers, business partners and members of the press to try out their products. This is exactly what happened recently when American tyre maker BFGoodrich invited guests from far and wide for a rare “familiarisation” event in Thailand – aptly called the BFGoodrich Day. The inaugural event saw visitors from eight countries congregate to experience the abilities of BFGoodrich tyres at Khao Yai National Park, which is about a three hour drive north-east of Bangkok. BFGoodrich has been around since the 1870s and marks several notable achievements. Online research revealed that the company supplied tyres to the first car to cross the United States in 1903, and was also the tyre of choice for the Columbia space shuttle which flew 28 missions to space. BFGoodrich was later bought by French rubber conglomerate Michelin, and thrived. It made a name for itself in motorsports exploits where it competed and won in several series – such as the prestigious Indianapolis 500, the Baja 1000, the iconic Paris-Dakar rally, several world rally championships – as well as the legendary 24 hours of Le Mans. However, BFGoodrich is probably most well-known for its off-road tyres, making some of the toughest known tyres for the most demanding terrains whether to be used by the general public or professionally in a race. Closer to home though, the company is well known but has not been very active in recent years. Due to taxation, high cost of transportation and other related factors, BFGoodrich has operated in the background of the Malaysian tyre scene, until now. The company is making a resurgence of sorts, not only in Malaysia but in neighboring markets as well, and the recent BFGoodrich Days was one of their first big projects. The event allowed members of the press to experience four tyres from the current range in the BFGoodrich stable. █ BY KESHY DHILLON Pushing tyres to breaking point to see what happens Tried & tested To try out the Trail Terrain tyres, pick-up trucks like the Ranger and the Hilux were made available. No tyre was left untested on that day.
MOTORING MOTORING FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 19 BFGoodrich Mud Terrain The ultimate off-road tyre in the BFGoodrich product range, the Mud Terrain tyre has a notable achievement – it was the same tyre that won the grueling Baja 1000 off-road race which takes place annually at the Mexico-California peninsular and is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious off-road races in the world. Our day at the BFGoodrich Days started off with this tyre that were fitted to a purpose-built off-road buggies that looked like they belong in a mission to the moon. The Mud Terrain tyres feature has an aggressive tread-design that allows the vehicle fitted with it to power through just about any type of soil. It features some purpose-built technologies such as Mud-Phobic bars that can off-load compacted mud for better traction. The compound used to make the tyre is also unique. Called the Krawl-Tech compound, it is specially designed to crawl over rock and slippery surfaces. We experienced this firsthand on a specially designed track that featured timber that looked like it had been soaked in water for a week and mud that had not seen sunshine for a month. It was heaven for dirt-lovers, for us it was the perfect place to get dirty with the buggies. BFGoodrich expected us to get dirty too and handed us ponchos to wear during the drive stint. Try as we could to get stuck but the buggy simply did not relent and would roll, climb and dig itself out of everything that the track threw at it. At some points, the sideways incline was so steep that our heads were just about two feet off the mud, but the buggy kept going as the tyres worked like shovels to pull us through. These specially made off-road tyres are available in Malaysia and range in price from RM1,662 to RM3,827 depending on size. BFGoodrich Trail Terrain A tyre specially built for on and off-roading, the Trail Terrain is said to be excellent on soft and hard surfaces including light off-road use. The Trail Terrain offers a robust sidewall, staggered shoulder blocks and a tread design that focuses on durability over long periods of time. This extends the life of the tyre but also ensures that it can perform at its most optimum for a longer time. We tried these tyres on a different track, one that was longer but not as hardcore as the first one. The tyres were fitted to familiar pick-up trucks such as the Ford Ranger Wildtrak and the Toyota Hilux. There were even a few Ford Everests and Toyota Fortuners fitted with these dual-purpose tyres. Even thought it was a sun-kissed morning, it had been raining the night before so there were pockets of mud and puddles that threatened to break traction if a corner was taken too fast or if anyone misjudged the braking point. But it was a tyre test, so we deliberately accelerated and braked where we should not have. What’s the point of a slow drive when testing a tyre? But just like the Mud Terrain, the Trail Terrain too offers technology to maximise traction and longevity. For these tyres, BFGoodrich developed 3D sipes that create traction on and off-road and also resist chipping and tearing, thus increasing the life of the tyre. So, during the test, there was little to no sliding around except when deliberately accelerating out of a corner, where the rear broke loose from the sudden surge of power. No tyre tech will save you from that, some drivers call it drifting out of a corner and do it for fun. The Trail Terrain is in Malaysia and priced from RM984 to RM1690. All-Terrain KO2 This was the hardest challenge of all and was specially designed to rip a tyre off an unsuspecting driver. It involved driving about 30km on some of Thailand’s famous concrete surfaced highways and then uphill to a scenic mountain lookout. But this involved crawling over jagged rocks that would break an axle should the tyre lose grip or worse. But BFGoodrich was keen to show off the noise suppression of the tyre, hence the highway drive. We were in a Hilux which is not exactly known for its interior comfort compared to a Ranger. We were not allowed to drive on the highway, which turned out to be a good thing because our assigned Thai driver knew the roads and the local driving culture. To put it politely, he put some of the other Thai drivers to shame with his antics. We suspect he was told to drive hard because it was a good opportunity to show off the road noise levels of the KO2, which was impressive for an allterrain tyre which tends to hum and drone when on regular roads. Then came the crawling part and we took over the wheel. And though it was one of the most stressful drives – since the driver turned instructor kept barking orders at every given opportunity which was every other second – it was also great to feel the tyre cling on to rock and not break grip. BFGoodrich says the KO2’s are the toughest all-terrain tyres ever made and offer aggressive traction for on and off-road adventures. The KO2’s also have tougher than usual sidewalls that are designed to resists splitting. After what we experienced up on that mountain, we believe these claims. The All-Terrain KO2’s are also available in Malaysia and are priced at RM930 to RM2,398. G-Force Phenom To test out these tyres, our drive took us to a small race track that allowed us to try out high speed cornering. The G-Force Phenom tyres are BFGoodrich’s ultra-high performance that are specially designed for acceleration, tight cornering and hard braking. We were handed a BMW 330i to test the claim and told to speed into corners, not brake and steer towards some cones and then stand on the brakes to come to a complete stop. As you probably would expect, there was no drama. There may be better high-performance tyres out there which we will never know about without a proper tyre test, but for what they can do, the G-Force Phenom’s are remarkable. To achieve this, BFGoodrich uses Performance Racing Core construction that reduces flex in corners so the tyres respond immediately to every turn of the steering wheel. And there is also the Ulti-Grip Technology that evacuates water from the tyre to improve wet weather grip. The G-Force Phenom’s are priced at RM438 to RM1,241. In the near two decades of writing about cars, motorcycles and everything related to it, this was the first time this writer experienced BFGoodrich tyres and their capabilities. Every tyre maker will say their product is the best, but few will let you push them to breaking point, and that no tyre was permanently destroyed that day is a proper testament to BFGoodrich tyres. Off road buggies were perfect for the Mud Terrain tyres. The Mud Terrain tyres have a racing pedigree and have won the Baja 1000 race in Mexico. The Trail Terrain is designed for longevity in all conditions and is perfect for light off-road use. The BFGoodrich G-Force Phenom respond to steering input almost immediately. Some of the sports cars that were available to try out the high-performance tyres.
MOTORING MOTORING FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 20 Performance & efficiency MERCEDES-BENZ Malaysia has introduced the all-new Mercedes-Benz GLC 300 4MATIC Coupe. As the sporty counterpart of the GLC SUV, it completes the lineup of best-selling Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The GLC Coupe strikes a harmonious balance between sporty performance and high efficiency. It incorporates mild hybrid technology with 48V systems and an integrated starter-generator, providing an additional boost and energy recuperation. Off-road capabilities are enhanced with the 4MATIC all-wheel drive, while features like the off-road screen and the “transparent bonnet” as part of the 360° camera system improve driving comfort, aiding drivers in confidently navigating obstacles. The distinct feature of the all-new GLC Coupe is its sporty silhouette, immediately identifiable as a member of the Mercedes-Benz SUV family, featuring the iconic Mercedes-Benz grille pattern. The AMG Line with Chrome package includes 20” AMG multi-spoke lightalloy wheels, wheel arch liners in its colour, and an enlarged and perforated brake system on the front axle, emphasising the sporty design. The SUV’s width is emphasised by two-part tail lights with black-coloured and dark red connecting elements, finished with a simulated chrome underguard. Equipped with DIGITAL LIGHT, the Coupe uses a matrix of LEDs to create light that can be individually controlled, allowing targeted and dynamic light distribution. Safety is a top priority, with the allnew SUV featuring the PRE-SAFE® system, Blind Spot Assist, Active Lane Keeping Assist, and Active Brake Assist. The GUARD 360° vehicle protection offers comprehensive monitoring of its surroundings, including a break-in and anti-theft alarm system with tow-away protection. The Parking Package with 360° camera and Active Parking Assist with PARKTRONIC ensures effortless parking. The interior of the all-new Coupe is equipped with the sporty AMG Line interior, featuring a multifunction sports steering wheel in nappa leather. The 12.3” high-resolution LCD screen in front of the driver appears to float above the wing profile and trim surface. The 11.9” central display rises from the centre console and is similarly designed to appear as if it is floating above the trim surface, slightly angled towards the driver. The all-new SUV is equipped with the latest generation of the MBUX (Mercedes-Benz User Experience) infotainment system. The SUV is equipped with a 2.0 engine, delivering a robust performance with a rated output of 258hp at 5,800 rpm and a torque of 400Nm between 2,000 and 3,200 rpm. Additionally, it features an electric motor that contributes a rated output of 23hp and a torque of 205Nm. This combination provides the SUV with impressive acceleration, capable of going from 0 to 100kph in just 6.3 seconds, and a top speed of 246kph. The recommended retail price with a 10% sales tax stands at RM469,888. This SUV offers a powerful and dynamic driving experience with its performance and features, making it an attractive choice for those seeking a blend of luxury and power. █ BY TIMOTHY PRAKASH All-new Tucson unveiled HYUNDAI-SIME DARBY Motors (HSDM) has officially launched the fourth-generation Tucson in Malaysia, introducing a key contender in the competitive CSUV segment. After opening the order books and presenting the model publicly, the Tucson aims to build on its legacy as Hyundai’s bestselling SUV, with over seven million units sold globally since 2004. The Tucson’s design, centred around “Sensuous Sportines”, features a Parametric Jewel grille with concealed daytime running lights, full-width tail lamps, angular wheel arches, and refined surfaces. The interior showcases a modern, wrap-around design with an eight-inch infotainment touchscreen supporting wireless Android Auto/Apple CarPlay and voice recognition. The three fully imported (CBU) Tucson models from South Korea – the 2.0 Lite, 1.6T Plus, and 1.6T Max—are all front-wheel drive. While the other two variants combine a turbocharged Smartstream 1.6 TGDi engine that develops 180PS and 265Nm of torque with a seven-speed wet dual-clutch gearbox (DCT) that features push-button gear selection, the 2.0 Lite’s Smartstream MPI engine produces 156PS and 192Nm of torque and is paired with a six-speed automatic. Standard safety features across variants include seven airbags, Blind Spot Collision Warning and Safe Exit Warning. The range-topping 1.6T Max boasts additional amenities, including powered and heated/ventilated seats, a 10.25” digital instrument panel, power tailgate, auto wipers, wireless phone charging, and Hyundai SmartSense safety suite. The Tucson is offered in Amazon Gray Metallic, Phantom Black Pearl, Creamy White Pearl, Crimson Red Pearl, and Silky Bronze Metallic. Pricing, on-the-road before insurance, starts at RM158,888 for the 2.0 Lite, RM178,888 for the 1.6T Plus, and RM195,888 for the 1.6T Max. The first 100 customers who book by Dec 31, 2023, receive a complimentary extended warranty (five years/300,000km) and free service package (three years/50,000km), with the option available at RM10,000 thereafter. Elevating sportiness and luxury MERCEDES-BENZ MALAYSIA has unveiled the new Mercedes-AMG GLE 53 4MATIC+ Coupe, enhancing the sporty aesthetics and interior luxury of this already successful model. The GLE 53 4MATIC+ Coupe offers a thrilling driving experience thanks to its 3.0L inline-six-cylinder engine with a Twin-scroll turbocharger. Through a software update and a larger turbocharger, the AMG development team has boosted the engine’s maximum torque from 520Nm to 560Nm, resulting in a more dynamic acceleration of 0-100kph in just 5.0 seconds, down from 5.3 seconds. The engine benefits from electrification through an Integrated Starter Generator (ISG) and a 48-volt electrical system. It combines the roles of a starter and an alternator into a single, powerful electric motor located between the engine and the transmission. The new AMG GLE Coupe features redesigned daytime running lights and advanced Multibeam LED headlamps for exceptional illumination. The front apron has been restyled with jet-wing-designed side air intakes, while the AMG radiator grille and the bonnet’s AMG emblem underscore its power. The rear showcases revised LED tail lamps and a two-pipe exhaust system, along with the presence of an AMG spoiler lip that enhances high-speed performance. The exterior boasts 22” AMG crossspoke forged wheels, illuminated aluminium-look running boards with rubber studs, and a panoramic sliding sunroof. The AMG Night package incorporates high-gloss black finishes on selected exterior elements. The Ambient lighting features an animated projection of the AMG logo when the doors are opened. Safety is paramount in the new AMG GLE. It includes the Driving Assistance Package Plus, which offers features like Active Distance Assist DISTRONIC, Extended automatic Re-start in traffic jams, Exit warning function, Active Steering Assist, and PRE-SAFE® Impulse Side. It is equipped with a 3.0L engine and boasts an impressive rated output for the combustion engine, delivering 435hp at 5,800-6,100 rpm. Its rated torque for the combustion engine is equally remarkable, with 560Nm available at 2,200 – 5,000 rpm. Additionally, the electric motor contributes with a rated output of 15kW and a torque of 200Nm. The recommended retail price for this impressive beast, with a 10% sales tax, stands at RM873,888. Malaysia’s first fully electric MPV THE new Maxus MIFA 9, which was presented by Weststar Maxus, is the first entirely electric MPV to be sold in Malaysia. The standard Luxury model and the top-spec Premium variation are the two fully imported (CBU) MIFA 9 variants that are available. Standard features across both models include dual power-sliding doors, 19” alloy wheels, LED headlights and DRLs, LED rear fog lamps, LED taillights, heated side mirrors, front and rear-operated sunroofs, and a powered tailgate. Inside, the MIFA 9 features a 2- 2-3 seat configuration, with the second row comprising individual captain chairs with Ottoman functions, ventilation, heating, and massage. The front passenger and driver seats offer eight different adjustment options and lumbar support. The black-themed interior includes a microfiber/leather steering wheel, automatic air conditioning, a 64-color ambient lighting system, a 7” digital instrument cluster, and a 12.3” touchscreen infotainment system supporting Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Both Luxury and Premium variants share the same electric powertrain, with the Luxury model having a slightly higher WLTPrated range. The electric motor delivers 241hp and 350Nm, with a 0- 100kph acceleration time of 9.2 seconds and a top speed of 180kph. The 90 kWh ternary lithium-ion battery provides a WLTP range of 435km for the Luxury variant and 430 km for the Premium. As part of the launch campaign, the first 100 MIFA 9 buyers will receive a complimentary 22-kW AC home charger. The on-the-road price is RM269,888 for the Luxury and RM289,888 for the Premium, excluding insurance. Every purchase comes with a five-year, 100,000km vehicle warranty and an eight-year, 200,000km battery guarantee. The MIFA 9 is available in six exterior colours, Pearl Lustre White, Dynasty Red, Mica Blue, Concrete Grey, Snow Cyan, and Black.
FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 Editorial T: 03-7784 6688 F: 03-7785 2624/5 E: [email protected] Advertising T: 03-7784 8888 F: 03-7784 4424 SCAN ME E: [email protected] Local gas industry remains robust and resilient KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s gas industry has remained robust and resilient and is not adversely impacted by the global energy crisis, as the industry is steered by the right policies, business-friendly incentives and infrastructure readiness, said the Ministry of Economy deputy secretary-general Datuk Yatimah Sarjiman. Yatimah said the government, along with other key stakeholders, such as Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB), is constantly taking appropriate measures to ensure continuous energy security for the country. “With multiple sources and an extensive network of gas delivery infrastructures with reliability exceeding 99%, natural gas plays a significant role in fueling the economy, especially the power generation sector, thus ensuring energy security and accessibility for the country. oGovt and other stakeholders constantly taking measures to ensure continuous energy security for country: Ministry deputy sec-gen Malaysia voices concern over West’s protracted tight money policy SAN FRANCISCO: Malaysia and other developing economies raised concern on the protracted tight monetary policy in the West that has an adverse impact on emerging nations, the Finance Ministry’s secretary-general Datuk Johan Mahmood Merican said. “At the global level there is still this – stubborn inflation, which translates into the West having a tight monetary policy, which emerging economies such as Malaysia and Indonesia has highlighted.” “As the large developed nations continued to maintain a tight monetary policy for a longer period of time, it obviously has an impact on the growth outlook for countries like Malaysia,” he told Bernama after representing Malaysia at the Apec Finance Ministers’ Meeting. “The risk of escalating conflicts in both Ukraine and the Middle East poses a major downside risk for global growth, inflation and supply chain disruptions,” he added. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), global inflation is forecast at 6.5% in 2023 and at 4.1% by 2024. “Hence, the discussion also highlighted the need to minimise supply chain disruption which would help tackle inflation. “There were broad affirmation of the importance in having a multilateral platform like Apec, maintaining free flow of trade and investments, which would help minimise the risk associated with supply chain disruption,” he said. “We also took the opportunity to highlight some of the priorities and targets set under the Madani Economy, among which is increasing the labour share of income to over 40% and increasing the female labour force participation rate up to 60%.” It is interesting that many Apec member economies were also giving similar attention to facilitating the female work force, he said, adding that as an example, Canada’s focus was on bringing down the cost of childcare. “Like the Philippines and Singapore, in Budget 2024, Malaysia announced its own incentives for childcare and to encourage women to come back to work after a career break. It seems to be a common area of emphasis for Apec member economies,” he said. – Bernama “The Malaysian gas industry has been contributing to the country’s overall socio-economic well-being via the creation of quality job opportunities, supporting economic output, boosting our external trade and nurturing local industries and companies into becoming global players. “The petroleum and gas industry contributed more than RM144 billion in gross output in 2021,” she said in her keynote address at the Malaysian Gas Symposium organised by the Malaysian Gas Association (MGA) yesterday. Yatimah noted that in the National Energy Transition Roadmap, natural gas is set to be the transitional fuel, constituting 56% of the total primary energy supply (TPES) mix in 2050. This is followed by renewables which include solar, hydro and bioenergy contributing 23% of the TPES in 2050 from a mere 4% in 2023. By comparison, natural gas is currently the single largest fuel in the total primary energy mix, comprising 43%. She said that based on the outlook, natural gas would continue to play a pivotal role in Malaysia’s energy transition pathway as the nation moves towards a low-carbon economy. Meanwhile, MGA president Abdul Aziz Othman said while the country aims for ambitious goals, it is crucial to approach the transition with a realistic mindset. He said the industry and the ecosystem as a whole must be equipped and geared up to move towards the right pathways. “As the nation’s lead advocate for the gas industry, MGA is committed to playing its role as the bridge between policymakers and industry players as effectively as possible,” he said. On ongoing decarbonisation efforts, Abdul Aziz said the industry has embarked on many collaborations to manage carbon emissions through carbon capture and storage technology throughout the whole gas value chain. “Attracting financial investment is crucial as the carbon capture utilisation and storage technology currently has the potential to remove about 90% of carbon dioxide from gas combustion in power plants,” he said in a statement in conjunction with the event. He said the move towards full liberalisation of the energy market, including gas and electricity, is required for a vibrant and sustainable gas industry, attracting investors and thirdparty players that ensure the nation’s long-term energy security and reliability. Abdul Aziz opined that the natural gas roadmap, which is expected to be released by the government next year, must be realistic and pragmatic. He said the gas industry expects the roadmap to outline a clear path for the industry, promoting sustainable growth and ensuring a reliable supply of gas to meet the increasing energy demand. – Bernama ‘Economic corridors vital to boost business activities’ SERI ISKANDAR: Economic corridors such as the Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) serve as important bridges connecting urban and rural areas, fostering economic activity and facilitating rural development and equitable resources in each region. Deputy Economy Minister Datuk Hanifah Hajar Taib said as the implementing agency for the NCER development, the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) has implemented strategic infrastructure and human capital development to attract quality investment that has a great impact on NCER’s growth. The strategy basically focuses on the sustainable development goal (SDG) objectives, she added. “For example, the redevelopment project of the EkoRimba Lata Kinjang Tourism Centre, Perak has successfully raised the socioeconomic status of the orang asli community in nearby villages through the offer of job and business opportunities. “The Lata Kinjang development model that has proven to be successful will be expanded to other projects such as community development in underdeveloped areas and border area development projects in NCER,“ she said at the Malaysia Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Summit 2023: Northern Region yesterday. Hanifah Hajar said the Economy Ministry responded to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s call to integrate the SDGs into the national development policy. The National SDG Centre established under the Economy Ministry has recently been given the responsibility to enhance SDG coordination actions at the national level, she added. “This includes improving the country’s SDG achievement and increasing awareness in its implementation, in addition to adapting environmental, social and governance principles or better known as environment, social and governance (ESG),“ said Hanifah Hajar. She added that this planning is very important in determining the country’s direction towards achieving the SDG goals more effectively and efficiently. “Our journey in expanding SDG awareness throughout the country requires us to be prepared to face various challenges that arise. “We need a different approach in localising the SDGs at the grassroots level,“ she added. The one-day summit was organised by the NCIA together with the Economy Ministry. It aimed to support the federal government’s efforts to promote SDG implementation and achievements at state and local levels while raising awareness and understanding of the SDGs among Malaysians. The summit highlighted the importance of economic corridors and their integration into the National SDG Framework and emphasised the need for alignment between SDG goals and local-level plans, programmes and projects, stressing the critical role of regional implementation in achieving the Sustainable Agenda 2030. – Bernama The Malaysian gas industry has been contributing to the country’s socio-economic well-being via the creation of jobs, supporting economic output, and boosting external trade, among others. – BERNAMAPIX
BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 22 Or download app on the AppStore or Google Play ENJOY A SEAMLESS READING EXPERIENCE. Read our iPaper at https://www.thesun.my/ IO&T platform boon for carbon credit trade oGenesys Reserve rolls out transparent, user-friendly avenue for developers and buyers to conduct transactions KUALA LUMPUR: The launch of the purpose-built Issuance, Ownership & Transfer (IO&T) platform marks a milestone for the world’s first dynamic carbon registry Genesys Reserve. The IO&T platform is intended to serve as an accessible, transparent, and user-friendly avenue for developers, buyers and verifiers to transact their genuine and impactful carbon credits. The platform in its initial stages will be utilised to track carbon credits issued by Genesys Reserve to offset developers and allow sustainability professionals from small to medium enterprises to make purchase, claim and transfer transactions seamlessly. The platform will also be made available to third party verifiers who wish to view the status of specific carbon credits ensuring transparency within the registry. In phase 2, IO&T will be integrated with Kool Buddy, a track and verify app to bring carbon credits benefits directly to communities and individuals. “After 15 months and multiple R&D cycles, we are very pleased with the launch of the IO&T platform, which will bring multiple benefits to its users and the localised carbon markets where it will be deployed in the coming months. This marks Karbon Hero’s efforts in democratising the creation of carbon credits, bringing trust, reliability and most importantly accessibility to the voluntary carbon market,” said Karbon Hero CEO Dr Sarah Shahril. The IO&T platform designed by Karbon Hero and developed by Virtual Spirit Technology Sdn Bhd harnesses Malaysian homegrown technical expertise and talent. The IO&T platform is focused around usercentricity to ensure an intuitive user experience. “All users will be able to obtain important information regarding the carbon credits in Genesys Reserve such as its developer information, serial number, type, location, expiry date, and status. “From the very beginning of this IO&T project we decided to harness 100% Malaysian-made expertise and talent from a pool of technical and scientific professionals available around the country, to showcase that Malaysia is a world leader in accelerating the global carbon credit market and transition toward Net-Zero goals,” said Karbon Hero chief strategy officer Reuben Ravi. Genesys Reserve will phase in a wide range of carbon credits through its methodologies launches and developer onboarding over the coming months with credit types such as emobility, solar renewable energy, forestry nature-based solutions and biochar. ELK-Desa Q2 revenue buoyed by hire purchase segment KUALA LUMPUR: ELK-Desa Resources Bhd, a non-bank lender focused in the used-car segment, in releasing its financial results for the second quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 disclosed that the group’s revenue for the quarter increased by 9% to RM39.2 million compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago. This was due to higher revenue contribution from its hire purchase segment. Nevertheless, profit before tax for the quarter decreased by 22% to RM11.83 million as compared to a year ago due to lower contribution from both its hire purchase and furniture segment. As at Sept 30, 2023, the group’s hire purchase receivables stood at RM588.81 million, which is 13% higher than the previous year. This is reflective of the group’s strategy to bring back its hire purchase receivables towards pre-pandemic levels. The group’s bank borrowings increased by 23% as a result of higher drawdown of block discounting facilities to support the increased hire purchase receivables. Nevertheless, the group’s gearing remains at a manageable level of 0.52 times as compared to 0.43 times one year ago. For the hire purchase segment, revenue increased by 14% to RM27.44 million during the quarter primarily as a result of the expansion of the group’s hire purchase portfolio. Impairment allowance increased by 212% to RM5.54 million. Credit loss charge (i.e. impairment allowance over average net hire purchase receivables) increased from 0.32% to 0.9%. The higher impairment allowance and credit loss charge were mainly due to the slower repayment from hirers and higher losses incurred from sales of repossessed vehicles in the current quarter in contrast to the exceptionally good collections and positive recovery activities in the previous correspondence quarter. Nonetheless, as a result of the higher level of repossession activities, the net impaired loans ratio decreased from 2.25% as at June 30, 2023 to 0.96% as at Sept 30, 2023. Due to the higher impairment allowances, profit before tax for the segment declined by 17% to RM11.76 million. The board of directors has declared a single tier interim dividend of 2 sen per share (Q2 FY23: 3 sen per share after restatement for bonus issue) in respect of the financial year ending March 31, 2024. The dividend will be paid on Dec 18, 2023 to the shareholders whose name appear in the record of depositors of the group as at Dec 7, 2023. Siab proposes private placement, rights issue, acquisition of Taghill KUALA LUMPUR: Siab Holdings Bhd has proposed a private placement, a rights issue with warrants and the acquisition of 100% in Taghill Projects Sdn Bhd. The company said the private placement would involve 100 million new ordinary shares representing 20.42% of the existing issued shares to independent investor(s) to be identified, and at an issue price to be determined later. The company said in a filing with Bursa Malaysia yesterday that the issue price will be based on the five-day volume weighted average price of Siab shares immediately preceding the price fixing date(s) with a discount of not more than 20% but subject to a minimum issue price of 12 sen per share. It noted that based on the indicative placement price, the proposed private placement will raise gross proceeds of up to RM12 million, intended for the cash consideration for a proposed acquisition. Siab has also proposed a renounceable rights issue of 766.52 million rights shares together with 383.26 million warrants on the basis of 13 rights shares for every 10 existing Siab shares held on the entitlement date together with one warrant for every two rights shares subscribed. The company said issue price of the rights shares under the proposed rights issue with warrants has been fixed at 12 sen per rights share. Siab said it also intend to acquire two million shares which is the entire stake in Taghill Projects Sdn Bhd, which is principally involved in the building construction services, from the vendors namely Chu Yee Hong, Wong Yih Ming and Yap Kek Siung for RM122 million. The purchase consideration will be satisfied via a combination of RM96 million in cash and RM26 million through the issuance of 200 million new Siab shares at the issue price of 13 sen per share. As for the proposed acquisition, Siab said it forms part of the group’s long-term business expansion and growth strategy as both companies are currently involved in the building construction services. – Bernama
BIZ & FINANCE BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | NOV 17, 2023 23 PETALING JAYA: Only 13% of organisations in Malaysia are fully prepared to deploy and leverage artificial intelligence-powered (AIpowered) technologies, according to Cisco’s inaugural AI Readiness Index released yesterday. The index, which surveyed more than 8,000 global companies, was developed in response to the accelerating adoption of AI, a generational shift that is impacting almost every area of business and daily life. The report highlights companies’ preparedness to utilise and deploy AI, showcasing critical gaps across key business pillars and infrastructures that pose serious risks for the near future. The new research finds that while AI adoption has been slowly progressing for decades, the advancements in generative AI, coupled with public availability in the past year, are driving greater attention to the challenges, changes and new possibilities posed by the technology. While 87% of respondents believe AI will have a significant impact on their business operations, it also raises new issues around data privacy and security. The index findings show that companies experience the most challenges when it comes to leveraging AI alongside their data. In fact, 81% of respondents admit that this is due to data existing in silos across their organisations. Findings from the index revealed that companies in Malaysia are taking many proactive measures to prepare for an AIcentric future. When it came to building AI strategies, 94% of organisations already having a robust AI strategy in place or are in the process of developing one. More than eight in 10 (80%) of organisations are classified as either Pacesetters or Chasers (fully/partially prepared), with only 3% falling into the category of Laggards (not prepared), which indicates a significant level of focus by C-Suite executives and IT leadership. This could be driven by the fact that almost all (99%) respondents said the urgency to deploy AI technologies in their organisation has increased in the past six months, with IT infrastructure and cybersecurity reported as the top priority areas for AI deployments. “As companies rush to deploy AI solutions, they must assess where investments are needed to ensure their infrastructure can best support the demands of AI workloads,” said Cisco executive vice-president and general manager, applications and chief strategy officer Liz Centoni. She added that organisations also need to be able to observe with context how AI is being used to ensure ROI, security, and especially responsibility. Alongside the stark finding that overall, only 20% of companies are Pacesetters (fully prepared), the research found that 36% of companies in Malaysia are considered Laggards (unprepared) at 1%, or Followers (limited preparedness) at 35%. The Cisco AI Readiness Index is based on a double-blind survey of 8,161 private sector business and IT leaders across 30 markets, conducted by an independent third-party surveying respondents from companies with 500 or more employees. The index assessed respondents’ AI readiness across six key pillars: strategy, infrastructure, data, talent, governance, and culture. Only 13% of organisations in M’sia are AI-ready: Cisco oInaugural study finds low percentage of them fully prepared to deploy and leverage artificial intelligence-powered tech SEPANG: Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG), the parent company of national carrier Malaysia Airlines, yesterday took delivery of its first Boeing 737-8 aircraft (pic) as part of its fleet modernisation strategy to enhance customer experience, operational efficiency, and meet future network growth requirements. The aircraft, bearing registration number 9M-MVA, departed from Boeing’s Seattle Delivery Centre on Monday morning local time to Honolulu and Guam before continuing its journey to Malaysia. Flight MH5041, which was flown by Captain Mohd Ezaddin Roslan, Captain Izahariman Ibrahim and Captain Arian Syazwara Adenan, landed in Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 10:30am after a total flight time of 21 hours and 45 minutes. Adorned in its Malaysian flag livery and new songket motif wau logo, the aircraft was greeted with a water salute upon arrival. The aircraft is scheduled to make its maiden commercial flight on Monday from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Kinabalu. The 737-8 will feature state-of-the-art wireless inflight entertainment, showcasing a wide variety of content. Similar to its refreshed B737-800 NG aircraft, the 737-8 will offer seating configurations comprising 12 seats in Business Class and 162 seats in Economy Class. MAG has an order book of 25 737-8 aircraft through its operating lease with Air Lease Corporation, which will be delivered progressively through to 2026. HSS registers higher revenue, net profit for nine-month period PETALING JAYA: Engineering and project management consultant HSS Engineers Bhd saw its net profit increase by 28.3% to RM14.7 million in the nine months ended Sept 30, 2023 (9M’23) compared with RM11.5 million in the corresponding period a year ago. This was achieved on the back of a 23.9% increase in revenue to RM142.1 million during the period, spurred by project management contracts for major infrastructure projects. Group revenue for the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2023 (Q3’23) increased 17.4% to RM47.4 million from RM40.4 million previously while Q3’23 net profit rose 3.1% to RM5.2 million from RM5 million previously. The softer increase in net profit in Q3’23 was mainly attributed to the previous corresponding quarter having a better sales mix and significantly higher operating income. HSS’s order book as at Sept 30 stood at RM1.5 billion. The group is tendering for RM442 million worth of projects across multiple sectors, including highways, public transport, ports and water infrastructure. HSS executive vice-chairman Tan Sri Kuna Sittampalam said in a statement yesterday: “The government’s recent allocation of RM11.8 billion for flood mitigation projects will certainly safeguard the people’s quality of life as Malaysia grapples with the challenges posed by climate change. Given our strong track record in flood mitigation, HSS is uniquely positioned to help minimise the disruption caused by flooding.” The group has ventured beyond infrastructure into the digital and technology sector, having secured contracts to provide project management and engineering services to two data centres in Sedenak, Johor, and the Infinaxis data centre in Cyberjaya, Selangor. It has also established the recurring revenue segment as its fourth vertical. The group, together with consortium partners Shizen International Inc, Solarvest Asset Management Sdn Bhd and Aziho Trading Sdn Bhd, was awarded a contract by the Energy Commission to develop a 29.99-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant in Kuala Muda, Kedah. Tomei delivers sparkling results for Q3, with net profit at RM10.8m PETALING JAYA: Integrated gold jewellery manufacturer and retailer Tomei Consolidated Bhd delivered a profit before tax (PBT) and profit after tax (PAT) of RM15.3 million and RM10.8 million respectively, on the back of revenue of RM203.5 million for the third quarter of financial year ending Dec 31, 2023. For the nine months ended Sept 30, 2023 (9M’23), revenue was RM664.6 million, with PBT and PAT of RM55.4 million and RM41.3 million respectively. The results fundamentally reflected the group’s strong performance which has more than normalised compared to prepandemic levels where the 9M’23 earnings have far exceeded FY 2017, FY 2018 and FY 2019 full-year earnings. Commenting on the results, Tomei managing director Datuk Ng Yih Pyng said, “We preserve our approach to continue focusing on introducing new jewellery designs to the market, as well as expanding our retail outlet network to reach out to various target market of customers. “Delivering profitability and enhancing our shareholders’ value remain as the group’s top priorities. In this regard, we are grateful that we are still able to maintain steady and better earnings, as compared to the pre-pandemic level, notwithstanding the current challenging retail environment.” He added, “Our performance is a testament of our resilient and sustainable business strategies, and going forward, we are optimistic that we can continue to achieve positive earnings. I am looking forward to our full year results, of which I am confident will meet Tomei’s expectations.” As of Sept 30, Tomei has 57 stores across Malaysia. Bumi Armada posts improved earnings for third quarter PETALING JAYA: Bumi Armada Bhd’s third quarter 2023 revenue was higher at RM524.8 million compared with Q2’23 mainly because Armada Kraken’s operational performance was fully restored in August. The group reported a net profit of RM177.8 million in Q3’23, an improvement from Q2’23 as a result of higher contribution from Armada Kraken FPSO, which was offset by gain on disposal of Armada Claire FPSO and the last remaining OSV in Q2’23. Cash flows generated from operating activities during the quarter of RM213.1 million were mainly used to further deleverage the balance sheet and reduce interest costs for the group. The future firm order book at the end of Q3’23 amounted to RM10.6 billion, with additional optional extensions of up to RM9.8 billion. Malaysia Aviation Group’s first Boeing 737-8 lands at KLIA