- Kuala Lumpur- Singapore is no longer the busiest air corridor in the world
- Malaysia officially joins BRICS, comes New Year 2025
- Azerbaijan Airlines plane believed to be shot down by Russia
IN Malaysia
Shooting itself in the foot?
As more states in the country try to make themselves more attractive to foreign investments, some states continue to self-sabotage and focus on the wrong things.
Johor—A group of Singaporeans (approximately 170 of them) has banded together, claiming that they were duped by a property developer in Johor Bahru. They stated that they were not informed that they were purchasing PLS property. Property purchased under a Private Lease Scheme (PLS) only grants the homebuyers a leasehold for 99 years rather than actual ownership. This means that the buyers are unable to rent or sell their properties without the developer’s permission. Most of the Singaporeans had purchased the homes for either weekend use or for investment purposes and some have invested up to RM907,280. According to CNA, Singaporeans were among the top buyers of properties in Johor Bahru.
Kelantan – Kelantan intends to be the ‘trailblazer’ in this country as the state government requires all food and beverage premises to obtain Malaysian Halal Certification before renewing business licences with local authorities. Kota Bharu Municipal Council-Islamic City will pioneer the move before it is replicated by other local authorities. At the moment, 453 certificates have been issued to businesses in the state from January until now. To understand why this move can fly in Kelantan because, with a population of 1.79 mil, 95.5% of them are Muslim. In comparison to more urbanised states such as Selangor (61.1%), Johor (59.7%) and Penang (45.5%), the demographics are more balanced.
Whenever I see some states doing foolish things like this, I keep remembering the image below. When you focus on the wrong things, you are going down a route to nowhere.
As a geopolitical strategist, I wish the EU more AI, chips & advanced manufacturing, and less regulation in 2025! pic.twitter.com/Tdj9k4mW8l
— Velina Tchakarova (@vtchakarova) December 25, 2024
Kedah Darul Green Energy
- China-based battery maker Eve Energy announced that its Malaysian subsidiary in Kedah has won the deal to supply battery cells to an unnamed American customer. According to Chinese media LatePost, the unnamed American customer is said to be Tesla. If the rumour is deemed true, Eve Energy’s new plant in Padang Meha, Kedah will join the esteemed group of manufacturers that supplies batteries to the largest battery-powered EV producer in the world.
Source: https://paultan.org/2024/12/26/tesla-to-source-battery-cells-from-eve-energy-kedah/
- Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB)’s green energy arm, TNB Renewables Sdn Bhd (TRe) has been shortlisted as one of the companies to develop the 500-megawatt (MWac) large-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) plant in Kuala Muda, Kedah. Another solar farm that was announced under the fifth large-scale solar bidding round (LSS5) conducted by EC is the 100MWac project in Kedah to be developed by Gentari Sdn Bhd, the green energy arm of Petronas.
Shorts
- The Kuala Lumpur – Singapore route is no longer the busiest international airline route globally as the Hong Kong – Taipei route took the crown for 2024 with an impressive 6.8 mil seats (compared to KUL-SIN’s 5.4 mil seats). The HKG-TPE route recorded an outstanding 48% increase compared to 2023, mainly due to post-pandemic recovery. Based on the OAG’s Global Airline Schedules Data for 2024, 9 out of 10 top busiest international air routes are within the Asia continent, with the sole exception of the New York JFK – Heathrow route which sits at the 10th place, with 4.01 mil seats.
- Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) announced a huge electricity tariff increase for the regulatory period 2025-2027 (RP4), increased by 14.2%, from 39.95 sen/kWh to 45.62 sen/kWh. TNB blames the increase on the power generation cost, which will be generated mainly from gas and coal. For RP4, the CAPEX is set at RM42.82 bil (RP3: RM20.55 bil) and OPEX at RM20.78 bil (RP3: RM17.69 bil). The new electricity tariff will be effective July 1, 2025.
Source: https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/739068
Around the S.E.A.
Malaysia has officially joined the BRICS
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov announced that Malaysia and 8 other countries (Belarus, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Cuba, Uganda and Uzbekistan) will officially become members of BRICS, effective January 1, 2025. BRICS is an informal group of nine countries that work together to promote economic cooperation, sustainable development, and reform financial institutions. It was created to balance up the Western bloc led by Uncle Sam.
Source: https://www.malaysiakini.com/news/729749
Two of BRICS’ new members, Malaysia and Thailand have been fraternising with each other quite closely as of late, up to the point there is already a Little Malaysia in the South of Thailand. The Thailand-Southeast Asia Halal Trade and Tourism Association projected that for the month of December, the number of Malaysian tourists visiting the Land of Smiles could surpass the 500,000 mark, with the southern region of Thailand set to welcome between 230,000 – 400,000 Malaysians during the last ten days of 2024. On average, a Malaysian tourist will spend RM600 per trip, thus making Thailand set to cash in up to RM300 mil from Malaysian visitors in the last month of 2024.
Azerbaijan plane allegedly downed by a Russian air-defense system
According to Reuters, based on the preliminary findings on the downed Azerbaijan Airlines plane, it was believed that the plane was being hit by Russian air defences during its flight path over the southern region of Russia. Unlike what happened to Malaysia Airlines’ MH17, where all 298 lives were lost when a Buk 9M38 surface-to-air missile hit the plane over Ukraine, the Azerbaijan Airlines Flight J2-8243 had 29 survivors (38 were killed when the plane crashed in Kazakhstan). Originally, the passenger jet had flown from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Grozny, in Russia’s southern Chechnya region. Investigators believed that it was hit by a Russian Pantsir-S air defence system on the approach into Grozny. Moscow has been actively deploying air defence systems in the southern region of Russia to thwart Ukrainian drone strikes.
One of the passengers on the Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 reads the Shahadah, preparing to meet Allah as the plane is about to make an emergency landing.
In the second video, we see how Allah saved his life…
Alhamdulillah! pic.twitter.com/ZYIuTT3obr
— زاھىد ئەختەر – Zahid Akhtar (@ZahidDOAM) December 25, 2024
For your EYES only
Universiti Malaya is now nurturing a new class of graduates – in the field of theriocide (the killing of a non-human animal by a human). The police have made a U-turn on its decision to ‘tutup buku’ and decided to open an investigation into the deaths of the cats, allegedly killed with sharp objects. Kuala Lumpur Police Chief Rusdi Mohd Isa stated that this new investigation was prompted by the revelation by animal activists claiming that the slain cat was cut using a sharp object. Labubu betul UM.
Bagi kes kucing mungkin dibunuh psikopat ni, berkemungkinan besar polis buat kerja cincai-cincai.
Pekerja cleaner UM jumpa macam ni. pic.twitter.com/1SKdN5Fvvq— aque_saja_nak_komen (@jom_komen324) December 22, 2024
