- Sultan Kedah’s sister passed away
- KLIA Aerotrain undergo a ‘maintenance’ again
- EPF investment income up 22%
IN Malaysia
Sultan Kedah’s sister passed away
Sultan of Kedah’s elder sister, Tunku Sakinah Sultan Badlishah, passed away over the weekend, at the age of 95, just a few years shy of becoming a centenarian. Tunku Sakinah will be laid to rest at the Langgar Royal Mausoleum.
Source: https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2025/08/16/sultan-of-kedahs-elder-sister-dies/187876
Transport news
- Ipoh will be the first city to benefit from the nationwide TOD wave
PM Anwar Ibrahim has rolled out the Ipoh Sentral project, the first transit-oriented development (TOD) to be launched since the government announced plans for 30 such projects in the next five years. Ipoh Sentral will be adjacent to the Ipoh railway station, where the former will span across 27 hectares, carried out in a collaboration between Malaysian Resources Corporation Bhd and the Railway Assets Corporation. The project will break down into two phases – Phase 1 to focus on the preservation of a 6.3-acre green space, including landscape enhancement and recreational parks, while Phase 2 – is a mixed development on 60 acres of land.
- KLIA Aerotrain will start its non-peak hours maintenance over a two weeks period
Malaysia Airports MD Mohd Izani Ghani announced that the KL International Airport (KLIA) Aerotrain will undergo a scheduled overnight works for two weeks starting August 18. The works will be conducted from 12 AM until 5 AM, where the Aerotrain services will be temporarily unavailable and airside shuttle buses will be provided. Since the start of operations, the Aerotrain has transported over 2 mil passengers, accumulated more than 1,100 hours of service and completed 18,800 trips. So far, the ‘new’ Aerotrain journey has not been smooth, with key ‘hiccups’ since its relaunch.
Shorts
- Scammers now turn to the loan shark route
MCA Public Services and Complaints Bureau chief, Michael Chong, has warned the public to be extra careful as scammers are getting smarter and now targeting debtors by posing as fake loan sharks and convincing them to settle a fake debt. The scammers’ modus operandi works by contacting individuals who lodged police reports of harassment by real loan sharks. Then, the ‘fake’ loan sharks, a.k.a. the scammers, will contact the individuals, just mere hours after the police report was submitted, to offer discounts on their debts. How the hell do these scammers obtain information about the police reports? I do not want to say much as I would appreciate not ending up behind bars.
- EPF’s investment income rises by 22%
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) announced that for 2QFY2025, ended June 30, 2025, the pension fund recorded a 22% increase in its investment income, from RM16.91 bil to RM20.61 bil, compared to a year earlier. EPF CEO Ahmad Zulqarnain Onn attributed the win to its focus on high-quality assets, particularly in key domestic sectors. Equities remained its largest contributor, generating RM13.77 bil or 67% of total investment income.
Around the SEA
Happy 80th birthday to Indonesia
Indonesia just celebrated its 80th Independence Day over the weekend on August 17. August is truly the month of Merdeka as Singapore, Indonesia and even Malaysia celebrate their independence in the same month. While parades and fireworks are expected for such a celebration, before the fiesta started, last Friday, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto announced a USD234 bil government budget to continue spurring downstream industries in critical minerals such as nickel and copper. Other priorities for Indonesia’s new budget are –
- Strengthening the recently established sovereign wealth fund Danantara;
- Providing ample financing support to farmers, fishermen and villagers through setting up 80,000 cooperatives nationwide to ensure they obtain the best prices for their produce;
- Expanding edible crops to improve food self-sufficiency;
- Establishing 20 “gifted schools” for the top 1 per cent of Indonesia’s students (akin to our Sekolah Permata Pintar, nampak gaya Rosmah was quite visionary back then).
On an unrelated matter, Prabowo decided to celebrate Independence Day in Jakarta, instead of at the newly minted capital, Nusantara, fueling the rumour mill that he might abandon former President Jokowi’s pet project. Previously, the 2024 Independence Day was celebrated in Nusantara.
A Singapore firm was fined USD1 bil by Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court recently ordered X-Press Feeders, the owner of MV X-Press Pearl, which sank off Colombo Port due to fire, to pay USD1 bil in damages for causing Sri Lanka’s worst case of environmental pollution. The vessel was carrying 81 containers of ‘dangerous cargo’ that included acids, lead ingots and plastic raw materials. Tons of microplastic granules from the ship inundated an 80km stretch of beach along Sri Lanka’s western coast. Fishing was prohibited for months. However, X-Press Feeders is calling out the Sri Lankan government to be more rational in the penalty amount, as the company has spent USD150 mil to remove the wreck, clean the beaches, and compensate affected fishermen. Saya tahu berdosa, but sometimes I feel puas when a big corporation is being fined accordingly for its mistake, instead of just a slap on the wrist.
For your EYES only
SPRM is the spy agency of spy agencies in Malaysia
I apologize SPRM. I wasn’t familiar with your game https://t.co/huTvrMQGPY pic.twitter.com/pEX2MvGW5C
— Syed Saddiq Sepakraga (@13Mr_Mayhem) August 15, 2025
