- MH370 search still ongoing
- Lufthansa resume flights to KLIA
- AI still haven’t killed jobs, not yet lah
IN MALAYSIA
PM Anwar visited Kedah
Over the weekend, PM Anwar Ibrahim travelled all the way up to Kedah to embark on a one-day working visit, particularly to Kulim. On Saturday, he chaired the Kulim District Development Meeting, which Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi and Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution also joined. The meeting identified urgent district-level needs, including issues related to project implementation and delays. Plus, road construction, flood mitigation, and a water treatment plant were also discussed. Why is Kulim so special? Kulim houses the Kulim High-Tech Park (KHTP), an opportunist industrial park benefitting the spillover from Penang. KHTP has attracted substantial investment since its inception in 1996, with approved investments totalling RM181.5 bil.
Source: https://thesun.my/news/malaysia-news/pm-anwar-chairs-development-meeting-in-kulim/
The search for MH370 still continues
The latest search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370), now spearheaded by an Australia-based firm, Ocean Infinity, has covered an area of more than 7,500 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean (about the size of Palestine’s West Bank and Gaza combined), but still nothing has been found. Previously, Putrajaya signed an agreement, on a ‘no find, no fee’ basis, with Ocean Infinity on March 25, 2025, to undertake seabed search operations in a new 15,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean.
While the search for the one aircraft resumes, another ‘aircraft’ seems to make it way back home as Germany’s national airline, Lufthansa, resumed direct services between Kuala Lumpur and Frankfurt, after nearly a decade of absence. Lufthansa will operate five weekly flights using the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, becoming the 71st airline to call KLIA as its destination.
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/795365
Business news
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Malaysia has disbursed RM6.2 bil in tax refunds
The Finance Ministry has stated that it has disbursed RM6.2 bil in tax refunds so far in 2026, involving 95,285 cases. The ministry reiterated the government’s commitment to settling excess tax refunds for the 2023 assessment year within this first quarter. It also pledged to complete all refunds for the 2024 assessment year by 2026. In 2025 alone, Putrajaya has refunded a whopping RM22.45 bil. This marked the highest annual amount disbursed over the past five years.
Source: https://thesun.my/news/malaysia-news/malaysia-disburses-rm6-2-billion-in-tax-refunds-for-2026/
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One of the winners of the US-Iran War? – Petronas Chemicals
After suffering financial losses in 2025, Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PetChem) shares have surged as much as 42% since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran last weekend, valuing the company at RM33.6 bil. The key advantage is that PetChem purchases its gas feedstocks from sources within Malaysia and does not rely on gas sourced from the Middle East. As a context for those who have been living under a rock and hanya tengok video resipi Khairul Aming, following the strikes by the US and Israel, the Strait of Hormuz has been rendered impassable, locking in 20%-30% of the world’s seaborne oil, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas trades. The Iran-imposed blockade will only allow Chinese vessels or China-bound vessels to pass through.
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Thailand to acquire Malaysian grocery chain
Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand (CP) Group has announced the acquisition of The Food Purveyor – the company behind Village Grocer, Ben’s Independent Grocer, The Food Merchant, BSC Fine Foods, and Pasaraya OTK in a RM1.66 bil deal from private equity firm Navis Capital. This is not CP Group’s first foray into Malaysia’s retail scene, having acquired Lotus back in 2020. Combining Lotus and The Food Purveyor’s brick-and-mortar footprint, CP Group is slated to have 120 stores in Malaysia, ranging from low-range to premium offerings. One interesting thing to note is that apart from minor players such as Mercato and Cold Storage, Malaysia’s premium grocery segment is dominated by Jaya Grocer and the Village Grocer group. After Singapore-based Grab acquired a majority stake in Jaya Grocer for RM1.8 bil in 2022, and now the imminent acquisition of TFP by CP Group, the high-end grocery segment is effectively ‘foreign-owned’. Yeay to globalisation or the ‘food security’ alarm bells need to be sounded?
AROUND THE SEA
AI Is Coming for Your Job. Or Is It?
According to an article by Anthropic, the company behind Claude AI, AI has not yet actually killed jobs, or belum lagi. They built a new measure called observed exposure — combining task databases, real Claude usage data, and academic estimates of AI capability. Instead of asking can AI do this job, they ask is AI actually doing it.
The gap is massive. In Computer and Math roles, AI could theoretically handle 94% of tasks. In practice, AI covers just 33%. Jauh lagi. However, the article stated one thing: the most exposed workers are older, female, more educated, and earn 47% more. AI is not coming for the tukang masak. It is coming for the people who make PowerPoint decks. No one is being displaced at scale. Yet. But the early signals deserve attention. The smart move is not to panic. It is to prepare.
The race for rare earth took a surprising turn
In a world where countries start to doubt US leadership, Japan, France, and Canada are quietly building their own plans to break China’s grip on rare earths. Canada is mobilising roughly C$18 bil in investments through its Critical Minerals Production Alliance, with Australia recently joining the fold. This is what Canada PM Carney calls middle powers banding together. It is also what happens when trust in one ally starts to come with tariff-shaped strings attached. At the moment, China controls roughly 85 to 90% of global rare earth separation capacity and about 90% of permanent magnet manufacturing. These are the metals inside your phone, your EV, and your missiles. Semua orang setuju China monopoli ni bahaya. The disagreement is over who leads the fix. Washington wants the centre seat. Tokyo, Paris, and Ottawa are saying — politely — kita buat sendiri pun boleh.
For Your EYES Only
Is JDT’s success sustainable? The answer is no
Who’s going to tell this dude that JDT merch sales only brought in RM3.7 mil while ticketing only raked in RM4.9 mil. And “other income” RM7.4 mil?
Bet he’ll just simp without checking out the audited financials. And I’m doing free work for this guy. On brand. https://t.co/LRajTUEUFe
— emmanuelsamarathisa (@esshimself) March 8, 2026
