• Penang is the safest city in Malaysia
• HSBC to shutter its investment banking operations in Europe and the Americas
• Tik Tok to invest more than USD3 bil in Thailand

IN Malaysia

Petronas to move even further away from East Malaysia

After licking its wounds from the Petronas-Petros spat, Petronas has now decided to decommission the Sabah-Sarawak Gas Pipeline (SSGP) as part of its decommissioning plans from 2025 to 2027. SSGP is the 500km natural gas pipeline, which links the Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal in Kimanis, Sabah, to Petronas’ liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex in Bintulu, Sarawak. The pipeline took three years to construct back in 2011 and cost Petronas a whopping RM4 bil. The national oil & gas company cited safety concerns as the main reason for the scrapping of the pipeline as it has been plagued by geohazard risks and soil movements, leading to several incidents including a fatal force majeure event.

Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/742718

Sabah Finance Minister Masidi Manjun stated that the decommissioning of the pipeline will benefit the state as it allows Sabah to retain more of its gas resources. Masidi added that instead of fixing the plagued pipeline, Petronas is now focusing on LNG offshore facilities in Sipitang, allowing Sabah to retain more gas for domestic use. Is this Petronas’ soft approach to alienating Sarawak in its future plans?

Source: https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2025/01/30/sabah-to-benefit-from-petronas-decommissioning-rm46bil-gas-pipeline-says-masidi

Penang is boosting its status as the safest city in the country

After being crowned as the safest city in the country according to Numbeo’s 2025 Crime Index, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow announced the plan to install 1,000 CCTV in Seberang Perai for better monitoring. As per Chow, at the moment, there are 200 CCTVs in Seberang Perai while Pulau is already being equipped with more than 1,000 CCTVs. Although Chow is happy with the safest city status, however, he is still concerned with Penang’s drug-related crimes as the state is still the northern hub for drug trafficking activities, where drugs from northern countries transited in Penang before being trafficked elsewhere. If Mexicans normally called their drug lords Pablo, what do you think Penangites termed their drug lords? Sohai kut.

Source: https://www.bernama.com/en/news.php?id=2387963

Around the S.E.A.

The tales of the two sides of the coin

Expansionary mode – While China has its 1947 Nine Dash Line map, the US has resurrected its ‘Manifest Destiny’, the 19th-century phrase used to justify the US’ expansion westward, all the way to the Pacific — in bloody campaigns that saw the conquering of Mexican and Native American lands. The current US President Donald Trump is reigniting the ‘Manifest Destiny’ spirit by announcing the intention to acquire Greenland, the Panama Canal and to make Canada the 51st state. Previous US President William McKinley also used Manifest Destiny as the ground to acquire Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Hawaii in the late 19th century. FYI, Trump’s intention to acquire Greenland has prompted Denmark, the current owner of Greenland, to spend an additional USD2 bil on Arctic security to safeguard the sovereignty of Greenland.

Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2025/01/30/trump-resurrects-19th-century-manifest-destiny-ideals-as-he-eyes-us-territorial-expansion/164999

Consolidation mode – Once the darling of the financial sector, HSBC has retracted its goals to become one of the major players in Wall Street and the City of London, thus admitting defeat, especially in its investment banking venture. HSBC said on Tuesday that it would shut its equity capital market (ECM) and merger and acquisition (M&A) advisory businesses in the UK, Europe and the Americas. In the end, investment banking is just not HSBC’s forte as it only accounted for about 6% of the bank’s total revenue in 1H2024. Moving forward, HSBC’s strategy is to move away from the global market and double down on its Asia bet.

Source: https://www.ft.com/content/fd9dc167-d021-495b-96ee-3ddd73d1bbe3

https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/hsbcs-global-brand-balance-it-doubles-down-asia-bet-2025-01-29/

Another bad week for the aviation industry

• The crash of American Eagle Flight 5342 – An American Airlines regional jetliner and a military helicopter collided midair near Washington, D.C.’s Reagan National Airport when the aeroplane was approaching the airport to land. The final casualty list of the crash is still uncertain but at least 27 bodies have been recovered so far. According to the authorities, 64 people were onboard the Bombardier CRJ700 aeroplane while three servicemen were in the US Army Black Hawk helicopter. At the moment, the cause of the crash has not been determined yet and it may take months, if not more than a year to narrow down on the why.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/01/30/american-airlines-helicopter-collision-worst-air-disaster-in-years.html

• Air Busan Flight 391 on fire, literally – Air Busan’s Airbus A321 aeroplane, carrying a total of 169 passengers caught fire before taking off at the Gimhae International Airport in southeastern Busan, leaving seven people sustaining minor injuries. The fire was believed to be caused by one of the passengers’ portable batteries stored in the overhead bin. The accident left nearly half of the fuselage burnt but its wings and engines on both sides remain undamaged. Apa yang the passenger felt eh when his or her cheap power bank caused damage to a USD150 mil aeroplane? I don’t know about that but I am sure the CEO of Air Busan is currently be cursing left, right and centre.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korea-plane-fire-airbusan-a320-seven-injured-4903221

All about Thailand

• Thailand stated that its 609km portion of the high-speed rail link connecting China and Thailand via Laos, will commence operations in 2030, nearly 10 years late from its initial timeline. Previously, Laos has completed its end of the bargain, by constructing the USD6 bil, 1,000km rail line from the Laotian capital Vientiane to the southwestern Chinese city of Kunming in 2021. The Laotian project was developed by a venture 70% owned by Beijing. The Laos and Thailand segments are seen by many as the start of infrastructure that would directly connect China with much of Southeast Asia, including Malaysia and Singapore.

Source: https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3296680/thailands-fast-train-china-expected-9-years-behind-schedule

• Thailand’s Board of Investment announced that ByteDance’s TikTok will invest USD3.76 bil for its data hosting service that will commence operations in 2026. TikTok is following the footsteps of several tech giants to set up data centres in the Land of Smiles. Last year, Alphabet Inc’s Google said it would invest USD1 bil in Thailand, a year after Amazon Web Services announced a USD5 bil investment in the country over 15 years. Microsoft has also announced it will open its first regional data centre in Thailand.

Source: https://www.nst.com.my/world/world/2025/01/1168258/tiktok-invest-us38bil-thailand

For your EYES only

Recently, several Singaporeans were interviewed whether they took shower or not in the morning. Half of them said that they did not, and one of them even stated why we needed to shower in the morning if we already bathed the night before. The interviews prompted an unofficial campaign dubbed ‘Mandilah Singapura’ a creative play of words from the country’s national anthem – Majulah Singapura. To those Singaporeans yang tak mandi, FYI a human sheds at least 12 mil dead skin for a typical night of sleep. So, Mandilah Singapura. Kata negara maju, air pun cukup, dah ambik from Malaysia kan.

#mandilahsingapura pic.twitter.com/wABxOSmNFP

— GP size 80 (@guttapercha80) January 28, 2025