- PM Anwar has embarked on his second visit to Russia
- Tengku Zafrul is the new BAM president
IN Malaysia
A sad Mother’s Day, mourning our local elephant
A mother elephant was seen mourning at the side of her dead calf, which was hit by a truck at the Gerik-Jeli Highway during the long weekends. The image pulled the heartstrings of many Malaysians as the incident happened coincidentally on Mother’s Day. The distressed elephant initially refused to leave her calf’s side from before dawn until after sunrise, despite efforts by bystanders to shoo her away. The adult animal was later sedated and moved to rejoin its herd while authorities removed the calf’s carcass.
https://twitter.com/drfitriyusof/status/1921425878141034708
Unfortunately, wild animals hit by motor vehicles are not an unusual occurrence in the country. According to the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, since 2020, a total of 2,361 wild animals have been reported killed by vehicles, which include eight elephants. Perhaps, it is time to really rethink how we proceed with Malaysia’s economic development. While building highways and basic infrastructure are the low-hanging fruit in any economic development formula, Malaysia as a country need to be careful in seeing development in silo. Projections by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC), the upcoming Visit Malaysia Year 2026 will attract a whopping 35.6 mil international tourist arrivals, with an estimated RM147.1 bil in domestic spending. Nature-based tourism (NBT) are among the top 10 tourism types that attract travellers, including islands and beaches (76.8%), ecotourism (57.8%), and greenery (45.7%). Jangan sampai one day we have to 3D print our or hologram our elephants so that the future generations can visualise what elephants look like. Preserving our flora and fauna is important as it is backed by both sentiments and economic justifications.
Shorts
- Uraa, as PM Anwar Ibrahim is set to embark on his second visit to Russia as PM starting today. PM Anwar will hold high-level meetings with (Russian) President Vladimir Putin and (Russian) PM Mikhail Mishustin to take stock of bilateral relations and advance cooperation in areas including trade and investment, agriculture and agri-commodities, education, aerospace and energy. Previously, in November 2024, PM Anwar had rejected a call by the top US diplomat to stop being friendly with Russia. Yet, despite our ongoing crush on all things tall, icy, and Russian, PM Anwar or any of our country’s representatives were absent during Russia’s annual Victory Day parade on May 9.
- Investment & Trade Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz is a step ahead in planning his post-ministerial career as he is now officially the new president of the Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM). Zafrul was elected unopposed and unanimously during BAM’s general meeting last Saturday. Responding to the matter, Zafrul request a period of 100 days to present his strategic vision and comprehensive action plan for BAM. Tengku Zafrul’s days as a minister are numbered as he must resign his minister position in December 2025, because he is currently a second-term senator or member of the Dewan Negara and his senatorship is set to expire on the same date. Unless some by-election is happening soon and he is on the ballot papers, we may see the end of Zafrul in public office.
Around the S.E.A.
The US and China declared an economic truce
Uncle Sam and Big Brother China rupanya gaduh-gaduh manja saja as both countries have agreed on a ‘total reset’ in the economic skirmish that has lasted for the past few months, thanks to a series of talks in Geneva, Switzerland, during the weekends. As part of the ‘total reset’, the US will lower those tariffs from 145% to 30%, while China’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods will drop to 10% from 125%. President Trump told reporters that some of the levies have been suspended rather than cancelled altogether; they might rise again in three months time, if no further progress is made. Trump reiterated that the US is not looking to hurt China as he stated that China was ‘being hurt very badly’. Jap, wait a minute, let’s do a quick fact check. For this one, we will bring in our trusted segment dubbed ‘Apa Lagi Trump Sembang Harini?’. According to the US Commerce Department, the US economy has shrunk for 1Q2025, for the first time ever since 2022, by 0.3%. During the same period, China, on the other hand, flourished, where its economy expanded by 5.4%. So, negara mana yang ‘being hurt very badly’ ni?
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx0ry7kdk5o
Despite the US-China economic truce, Apple is still mulling to increase the price for its upcoming iPhone lineups, as most of its devices are assembled in countries at the heart of the US-China economic war. Raising prices could help Apple cushion higher costs stemming from the tariffs that have hampered global supply chains and forced the company to shift more production to India. In order to illustrate how Apple is affected by the tariffs, the cheapest iPhone 16 was launched in the US at a price tag of USD799. Hypothetically, with the full force of the tariffs, the price of the same model of iPhone could balloon up to USD1,142, about a 43% hike.
Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/754855
For your EYES only
To all those military enthusiasts, the bi-annual Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA) is coming soon, starting from 20 May 2025 until 24 May 2025. We may catch a glimpse of which fighter jets will be chosen to fly alongside our Sukhoi SU-30 MKM soon. Any jets will do asalkan bukan Rafale, as the expensive French fighter was proven not at par with its more than RM1 bil per unit price tag, during the India-Pakistan skirmish, where at least one Rafale was shot down by Pakistani fighter jets that cost 5 times less.
PAMERAN UDARA DAN MARITIM ANTARABANGSA LANGKAWI (LIMA) 2025
20 – 24 Mei 2025
Langkawi, Kedah.Nantikan di RTM ✈️ pic.twitter.com/W2P8MOKf9t
— RTM Malaysia 🇲🇾 (@RTM_Malaysia) May 9, 2025
