Morning Brief

Roshan speaks to Steven Schwartz, Head of Asia-Pacific Sovereigns​ at Fitch Ratings, about Fitch’s Sovereign Ratings Outlook for Asia Pacific, particularily Malaysia. Steven discusses headwinds and risks for the Asian region as well as concerns for Malaysia, in particular the GST shortfall, oil revenue dependence and how the country compares to its peers.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Islamic banks in Malaysia are poised to benefit from digitisation because of their lack of branches, according to Moody's. This will allow such banks to save costs and add more to expansion. While Malaysia is an Islamic Banking leader, Indonesia will quicken its pace given its large population and increasing banking and internet penetration.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Troubled Deutsche Bank is flushing out poor quality loans to a "bad bank" which allows them to improve the quality of their loan book and lend out more. The are also radically changing their business focus by abandoning the mission to be the "Goldman Sachs of Europe" and focusing more on the bread and butter corporate lending business. Also, Samsung is facing challenges on many fronts: trade tensions affecting the chip business, more competition in the display business as well as overall structural issues in chaebols.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The policy to have Felda go into fast moving crops and livestock alongside palm oil is not new but would come in handy for diversification. Also, the Ministry of Education explains that YTL's "free" internet connection to schools comes with hidden costs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As Malaysia's economy faces a soft patch due to trade tensions, we ask Julia Goh, Economist at UOB Malaysia if she  expects the regulators to cut rates at July's MPC meeting and what other tools does Bank Negara have at its disposal to boost the economy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

July 12th is the deadline for e-hailing drivers to obtain a public service vehicle or PSV license, as required by the Ministry of Transport. About 10,000 drivers have passed and obtained this license over 16,000 applicants. If far too few e-hailing drivers obtain this license, the number of drivers on Grab and other platforms could fall which means longer wait times and higher fares. We speak to Arif Asyraf Ali, President of Grab Drivers Malaysia Association about his experience and observation over the licensing process.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:51 - Last week marked the third anniversary of the Brexit referendum, yet the story is still far from conclusion. The UK is in the process of figuring out who will become the next Prime Minister and while the impact of Brexit is still too early to tell, some patterns have emerged. We speak to Jonathan Portez, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at King's College on how Brexit has affected the UK thus far. 8:24 - Ride sharing platform Ola has been licensed to operate in London, adding to the number of e-hailers operating there including Uber. It would be interesting to watch the next move of SoftBank, which has stakes in both Uber and Ola.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Chairman of the Election Commission, Azhar Azizan Harun, highlights that data linkages have to be made and voter statutes confirmed for automatic voter registration to be implemented smoothly. Meanwhile, Chairperson of Bersih 2.0 is opposed to the idea of compulsory voting and feels that not voting is also a right.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to Datuk Liew Vui Keong, Minister in the Prime Minister's Department for Legal Affairs about the motion for MP's to declare their assets and planned legislation to reduce the voting age from 21 to 18.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Local Police have made their first arrests, after two days spent compiling forensic evidence on the group of protesters who stormed the Hong Kong Legislative Council building on Monday. We speak to Professor Cabestan about what to expect following the protests, including the likelihood of a China crackdown.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following the news that the current Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, may soon head the European Central Bank, we speak to Fernandino Giugliani, writer on European economics, about what this might mean. Fernandino weighs in on whether Lagarde’s nomination raises a concern about the ECB’s independence. He also discusses how Madame Lagarde’s policies may compare to that of current President Mario Draghi. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:08 - YTL Communications has accused the Education Ministry of breaching contractual obligations, over the supply of internet connectivity to 10,000 schools nationwide. 4:28 - The Edge reports that a group of businessmen, led by Former AirAsia Chairman Datuk Pahamin Abdul Rajab, have met with the Prime Minister to express their interest in helping the government turn Malaysia Airlines around. -See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia Airport has submitted plans to expand the Penang International Airport under the new Regulated Asset Base framewok as new funding and investment models are explored. Also, with a potential contribution of 3 billion ringgit to the Malaysian economy, Airbnb is big business and helps homeowners with their mortgage but still remains unregulated. We discuss the merits of this new economy model and take a deeper dive on the regulation imposed by other countries on this service.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

0:32 - Both manufacturing and services PMI numbers are falling globally, is this the first sign of a slowdown and are there any policy tools that can help avert a potential crash? Rajiv Biswas, APAC chief economist at IHS Markit helps to answer that question. 5:45 - IMF Chief Christine Lagarde has been nominated as the next head of the European Central Bank (ECB). We discuss the skills and experiences that she brings to the table in challenging times for the EU.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Amendments have been proposed to the Peaceful Assembly Act, to remove street protesting as a criminal offence. We speak to Lim Wei Jiet, Secretary-General of the National Human Rights Society, for his insights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With trade war tensions continuing, we ask Ranjan Sharma, head of ASEAN TMT at J.P. Morgan about the substitution effect and who stands to benefit in this region.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We ask whether there should be a full-blown asset declaration to the public rather than stopping at the Speaker for MPs. Given that corruption is a toxic problem for the nation, deterrence and punishment also take precedence over privacy. The Morning Run Crew also discusses the new appointees to Khazanah's board, which reflect a pivot to both tech and China.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia's public sector performance has been on a downward trend since 2014. The World Bank has raised concerns over the sustainability of our civil service wage bill as a result, as part of their latest economic monitor report. For more insight, we speak to Rajni Bajpai, Lead Public Sector Specialist at the World Bank Group, for her thoughts on Malaysia's civil service.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said that Malaysia is making a movement towards the decriminalisation of drugs and reiterated that this does not mean the ‘legalisation of drugs.’ This means the removal of criminal penalties for those who are caught possessing and using a small quantity of drugs for personal use. Malaysia has some of the harshest laws on drug possession, so this move would be very significant. We speak to Psychiatrist, Dr. Mohd Fadzli Mohamad Isa for more insights.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at The Singapore Institute of International Affairs tells us that there no hard details from the G20 Summit in Osaka, which in the end was hijacked by a surprise visit to the DMZ in the Korean Peninsula by US President Donald Trump.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Current talk of the US elections is dominated by observations of an extremely crowded Democratic field, with more than 20 candidates vying for the party's nomination. Following the first debates, which saw 10 candidates face off at a time, we speak to Capri Cafaro, Executive in Residence at American University's School of Public Affairs, and former Ohio Senator, for her insight into what the debates may mean, in an age of social media.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The sugar tax in Malaysia kicks in on the 1st July 2019. Plans for the sugar tax were proposed at the tabling of the 2019 budget last year to promote ‘healthy living’ amongst a population that has some of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in South East Asia. We speak to Troy Donnell, Executive Director at Nielsen Malaysia to get a sense of how a sugar tax might impact consumer behaviour.Also, the Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs has highlighted four of Pakatan Harapan's manifesto promises, which may prove unrealistic- including cost of living, affordable housing, and PTPTN.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:37 - The Armed Forces Fund Board has issued a statement to clarify its decision to vote against FGV’s director remuneration resolutions. 07:27 - The Health Ministry has announced a move to decriminalize personal drug use.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:54 - The race for the Democratic presidential nomination shifted into high gear after the first round of back to back debates. The candidates had their say on a number of pressing issues, from healthcare, to climate change, to their views on big corporations. 04:03 - It is the first day of the G20 summit in Japan, where world leaders will gather in Osaka until the 29th to discuss important global issues. The main topic is on everyone’s minds is, of course, the US-China trade war. For more insights, we speak to Jahangir Aziz, Chief Emerging Market Economist at J.P. Morgan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:37 - Malaysia’s high level tech jobs are going unfilled. We speak to Ong Geok Eng, an IT Manager at Robert Walters Malaysia 08:28 - Should a young person gain work experience before entering politics?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:24 - What do we do with Malaysian Airlines? The airline industry is indeed a difficult one to be in, so for more insight we speak to Khair Mirza, Associate Director at Modalis Infrastructure Partners. 07:50 - Malaysia has some of the longest transit times in Southeast Asia, when it comes to e-commerce deliveries. Listen in for more on this. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Student debt is a problem facing not just Malaysians, but also other countries in the Asian region. To discuss the cost of higher education as well as other factors that contribute to ballooning student debt, we speak to Professor of Development Economics at Universiti Malaya, M. Niaz Asadullah.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia's government thinks a RM6.2 buyout of four toll highways is cheaper than a longer-term RM18b compensation bill. But it's a much broader discussion. The Morning Run crew unpacks the issue.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With US Shale producers pumping away furiously and global demand sagging, OPEC and other oil producers are wringing their hands in despair. We speak to Rob Barnett, a Senior Analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, for more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Calls for Prime Minister's Question Time have gone unheeded, with De Facto Law Minister Liew Vui Keong saying that the existing mechanism of Minister's Question Time is sufficient. We speak to Wong Chen, MP for Subang, for this and more about the wider political landscape in the country.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:38 - The maker of the world’s best selling drug and the biggest Botox seller, respectively AbbVie and Allergan are marrying. This follows the M&A trends in big pharma to deal with shoring up patent pipelines. 04:52 - Meanwhile, Instagram is going into online retailing. This will be liked by Facebook which in hindsight bought Instagram at a bargain price of only US$1bSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:28 - FGV Holdings’ major shareholders voted against three resolutions on FGV directors' remuneration. According to the chairman of FGV, the board is still deliberating on the matter and that the issue will likely not be resolved any time soon. 07:16 - Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said while the government is open to the possibility of selling Malaysian Airlines, it was also important to ensure that its identity as the national carrier is retained.  The government has injected billions of ringgit over the years to turn the company around but the carrier continues to remain in the red. Listen in for more. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With a model for toll acquisition announced we speak to Loong Chee Wei, Senior Associate Director at Affin Hwang Capital, to find out if the offer was fair. We also ask if capital markets were happy with the offer and question whether it will lead to more highway acquisitions in the future.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1:05 - With Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt left in Britain's Conservative party leadership race, we speak to Dr Alan Wager, a lecturer at King’s College London, to get an update and get insight into whether Boris is headed for 10 Downing Street. 07:18 - One of the biggest names in gambling, Caesars Entertainment, has agreed to be bought by rival Eldorado Resorts in a deal worth 17.3 billion dollars. Listen in for details of the deal.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:35 - Moody cites close credit linkages between Petronas and the Malaysian government as its reasoning behind why it cut rates by 1 notch. However its upgraded its outlook for the national oil corporation to stable. 4:43 - Meanwhile, Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, says Malaysia is on the right track towards institutional reforms, managing government debt and tackling corruption, but more needs to be done.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to K.Y Ng, Managing Director of BitInsight, to see if cryptocurrencies can go mainstream with Libra's eventual debut in 2020.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over the weekend, PAS held its 65th muktamar or annual congress, and its party elections for the term 2019 to 2021 in Pahang, which saw the top posts go uncontested. One of the major outcomes of the congress was the strengthening of the alliance between PAS and UMNO where the muktamar adopted a resolution in support of the political cooperation with UMNO. We speak to Sheridan Mahavera, journalist with The Malaysian Insight to get a better sense of what went on during the meeting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 34th ASEAN Summit took place over the weekend, heralding a new ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. We speak to Benjamin Bland, Director of the Lowry Institute, to understand how this compares to previous approaches by the bloc, as well as to find out whether the bloc can escape the shadow of US-China relations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simmering tensions in the Middle East have thrown global oil supplies into question, as well as raised the spectre once again of armed conflict in the region. For more insight into whether we're headed for an all out conflagration, or if all parties will be able to cool themselves off, we speak to Hady Amr, a visiting fellow at the Brookings InstituteSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

00:08 - The Pakatan government is making progress in fulfilling Promise 6 of their manifesto by offering RM4.5 billion cash to takeover 4 major urban highways owned by Gamuda. 05:51 - Meanwhile, liberalisation of the sugar sector with the issuance of more import licences in Sarawak means that things aren't looking too sweet for local sugar refiners.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Auto sales pick up year on year but on a deeper dive it's the low base and seasonality effect. However we examine if this trend can continue by looking at Proton and Perodua plans in detail. 05:40 - Paramount Corporation is selling its education business for cash and entrenching itself in the property sector to Two Horses Capital, led by former Khazanah executives. This is in line with the group’s intention to become a pure-play property group. The group will be selling majority stakes in Paramount Education, Paramount Education Klang, and Sri KDU. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following US President Donald Trump's announcement that he will be running for re-election, we speak to Professor Robert Shapiro, Professor of Government at Columbia University, about Trump's prospects and the current Democratic field.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak with Donald Hanna, Chief Economist at CIMB Group about how sustainable the Chinese economy is and whether it is truly on a growth trajectory.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malaysia has reportedly lost some RM5 billion in potential tax revenues from the illicit tobacco trade. We speak to Pete Collings of Oxford Economics and Erik Stoel, managing director of British American Tobacco. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To  find out the potential growth of the insurance sector and the protection gap that China faces, we speak to Zhang Yi, a financial and insurance analyst with Shenwan Hongyuan Securities based in Hong Kong.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We speak to Firdaos Rosli, Director, Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia to find out if this initiative is actually good and a solution to our economic issues.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Morning Run crew discuss news that US President Donald Trump has formally announced re-election plans. 06:37 -  Apple has asked its suppliers to move up to a third of production out of China and into Southeast Asia, to mitigate possible fallout from the US-China trade war.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Four Russians and one Ukrainian have been formally charged with shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014. 03:43 - Malaysia Airports Holding has seen its share price climbing, on a favourable proposal from Mavcom released earlier this week.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Facebook announced plans to launch a cryptocurrency, Libra, in attempts to broaden its revenue stream. 06:01 - Huawei has suffered about a 40% drop in overseas smartphone shipments, after the US placed it on an export blacklist.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Touch 'n Go wants to expand its product line in the e-financial segment, following its launch of the Touch 'n Go e-wallet app which has seen growth of over 5000% in the past 11 months.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.