- Fresh Musang King has started to enter the Chinese market
- No more new development projects in KL until Putrajaya can figure out why KL is sinking like crazy
- BYD wants almost half of its sales to come from overseas
IN Malaysia
Wave the white flag, our man, Malaysia Airlines is down
Condolences to our friends at Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) and Khazanah Nasional who will not get enough sleep until their annual vacation to Kampung Melayu London, United Kingdom, come December. Following MAG’s announcement that it will reduce its flights across all its carriers (Malaysia Airlines, Firefly and Amal) due to the ongoing technical issues, bagai jatuh ditimpa tangga, now they face another dugaan. Following a probe into technical issues the state carrier faces, Civil Aviation Authority Malaysia (CAAM) has cut the duration of Malaysia Airlines’ air operator certificate from three years to one. Moving forward, Malaysia Airlines will also need to provide monthly reports to CAAM to show that mitigating actions are being implemented to improve the situation. Commenting on the issue, Transport Minister Anthony Loke added that one of the most significant factors that caused the technical disruptions is the lack of skilled workers to carry out aircraft maintenance. According to Loke, CAAM revealed that 63 of 411 qualified Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) Engineering Services staff have left since January. CAAM found that these resignations may be due to more attractive salary offers from other maintenance companies.
In another key airline-related news, Loke also announced that airlines will be required starting next month to fully refund passengers for flights delayed by five hours or more. Yay for us, nay for Malaysia Airlines.
Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/724607
Musang King turns Musang Emperor in the China market
Deputy Agriculture Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup said that Malaysia has begun exporting 40 tonnes of fresh durian to China after Malaysia has been allowed to do so in June. This is the first step for Malaysia to capture more of the durian market share in China, as last year, China imported 1.4 mil tonnes where 68% of the durian came from Thailand. Although the Agricultural Ministry predicted that the export value of durians to rise to RM1.8 bil by 2030, for the China market, Malaysia is positioning its durian as a luxury product, emphasizing on quality rather than quantity. Malaysia is the fourth ASEAN country to be able to export fresh durian to China, after Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Shorts
- You may wonder why your boss always travels locally and you think that he is a true Malaysian for sapot lokal? Think again and you may need to check your EPF account. The Employee Provident Fund (EPF) has submitted the names of 635 company directors who did not settle their employees’ contributions between January and June 2024, to the immigration department so that they cannot leave the country. EPF also stated that as of June 2024, 13,820 employers have failed to pay their employee’s contributions.
- Following the sinkholes that appeared at Jalan Masjid India and Kampung Kerinchi (commercial name: Bangsar South), Federal Territories Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa said that all new development projects in Kuala Lumpur will be put on hold until a task force is formed. Talking about sinkholes, our joker of the day, Raja Bomoh offered his expertise to find the missing Indian tourist who fell down a sinkhole last Friday. Who needs technology when you have coconuts and bamboo binoculars?
- Malakoff Corp Bhd’s subsidiary, Prai Power Sdn Bhd has received a one-year extension to its power purchase agreement (PPA) from Tenaga Nasional Bhd. Malakoff CEO Anwar Syahrin said that the PPA extension will enable the 350 megawatt (MW) power plant at Seberang Prai Tengah, Penang to provide the most economically viable support towards the national grid. The Prai Power Plant was commissioned in 2003 and previously was under a 21-year power purchase agreement.
Around the S.E.A.
Thailand’s proposed land bridge may be as mythical as the Bridge to Terabithia
For decades, Thailand has planned to link the Pacific and Indian Oceans via a 90-kilometre highway-and-rail link that will cut across the Malay Peninsula and connect a planned port in Ranong, facing the Indian Ocean, with another planned port, in Chumphon province, along the Gulf of Thailand. Local opposition – especially the fishermen, environmentalists and resort owners has always dampen the progress of the plan. However before this, Thailand’s top leadership still proceeded with the USD29.4 bil plan, starting from the previous PM Prayuth Chan-Ocha up until the former PM Srettha Thavisin. Unfortunately now, due to the current political instability, the land bridge project’s future is uncertain as major infrastructure projects in Thailand have been cancelled or postponed before when its government changed. Plus, Thailand has a competitor in the region as Malaysia will complete its East Coast Rail Link in 2027 that will connect Kuantan Port and Klang Port via a land link.
India is the land of blockbuster deals
- USD10 bil – US-based private equity firm, Chatterjee Group is set to work together with India-based Oil & National Gas Corp for the USD10 bil oil-to-chemicals project in Tamil Nadu, India. The proposed joint venture will be on a 51:49 basis where the Chatterjee Group will own the controlling stake.
- USD8.5 bil – India’s Competition Commission (CCI) has granted conditional approval for both Walt Disney Co and Reliance Industries to merge their Indian media assets in a mouth-watering deal worth USD8.5 bil. The merger will create India’s biggest entertainment player to compete with Sony, Netflix and Amazon in India’s USD28 bil entertainment market.
BYD wants 50% of its revenue to come from global sales
BYD Co. executive vice president Stella Li set a target that almost 50% of BYD’s revenue will come from overseas sales. There is no timeline being put in place to reach the target but Li stated that for the target to become possible, the construction of global production facilities needs to be sped up, in order to find ways around the ‘crazy’ tariffs imposed on China. Earlier this month, the European Union imposed an additional 17% duty on BYD cars, while Canada and the US slapped 100% levies on Chinese EVs. Currently, BYD has a factory up and running in Thailand, and more manufacturing capacity is being built in Hungary, Brazil and Turkey. It has committed to build a plant in Indonesia and is poised to sign a production deal in Mexico.
For your EYES only
Do insurance policies only bring goods to its sales agents and the hospitals and not the consumers who purchased them? One individual who is also the CEO of the Life Insurance Association, the umbrella association consisting of health insurance companies, could not understand his hospital bill, which is 13 pages long btw. If he cannot, imagine how could we.
If you don’t know who Mark is, he’s the CEO of Life Insurance Association of Malaysia. His association has all the health insurance companies in it. He’s one of the most veteran person in the industry. For him to say he doesn’t understand his hospital billing and what his… https://t.co/AUE9kHNWav
— Ooi Beng Cheang (@luxentX) August 28, 2024
