General

Yesterday, a group of activists peacefully gathered outside of Parliament to protest the Emergency (Essential Powers) (No 2) Ordinance 2021 or simply known as the Fake News Ordinance. We speak to one of the protestors about what went down yesterday, as well as why this new ordinance is problematic.

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There’s no denying that the existence of food delivery platforms like Grab and FoodPanda made business during MCOs and lockdowns possible in the region, but business doesn’t mean profit. With steep partner fees imposed on smaller F&B players, are food delivery companies creating a monopoly around the F&B scene, thereby harming the very people they’re supposed to be empowering.

Brian Dumaine, author of the book “Bezonomics”, discusses why he decided to analyse the success of the first centi-billionaire on the Forbes wealth index, Jeff Bezos. How did Bezos grow a trillion dollar company? What makes him different from other Silicon Valley moguls like Elon Musk? And how can the average layman or aspiring entrepreneur learn from him?

Since April 2020, more than 250 brands have signed with Buy-Now-Pay-Later fintech provider Pay With Split (Split) including Dyson, Lorna Jane, and Gamers Hideout. They’ve also successfully generated some RM10 million in revenue for Malaysian businesses with their BNPL concept. We speak to co-founder of Split Dylan Tan about the recent surge in demand for BNPL, how they make their “no late-fees” model work, and why the whole idea sounds too good to be true.

Indian farmers have been gathering at the borders of the capital New Delhi for over 100 days to date in protest against controversial agricultural laws passed by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Independent journalist Monika Mondal walks us through the issues being debated, and shares her observations of the situation on the ground. You can read more of Monika’s work here.

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Philip See speaks to CEO Sasha Omar Firdaus Amir Nordin to find out how the Malaysian Genomics Resource Centre (MGRC) is restructuring its business lines in a bid to drive greater personalization in the medical industry.

Despite being ostensibly narrower than other fake news legislation, there's much to be concerned about with this latest ordinance, including its ambiguous interpretation and dearth of detail, according to Zaid Malek, Coordinator for Lawyers For Liberty.

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Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are described as "one-of-a-kind" assets in the digital world that can be bought and sold like any other piece of property but have no tangible form of their own. Just as Bitcoin has been hailed as the digital answer to currency, this new star in the cryptocurrency world is seen as the future of collectibles.

For a view on whether this is the next big thing or a bubble waiting to burst, we speak with Varun Mittal, Global Emerging Markets FinTech Leader at EY.

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With Xavier Jayakumar's defection to 'govt-friendly independent', Dr Oh Ei Sun, Senior Fellow at the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, observes that Anwar Ibrahim's PKR is looking increasingly fractured, boding poorly for the national political landscape.

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The Dow Jones Index has outperformed the Nasdaq over the past three weeks. Does this indicate that the smart money has shifted in cyclicals over yield-sensitive tech stocks? The Morning Run speaks with Kingsley Jones of Jevons Global, who also weighs in on sectors like energy and financials, signs of inflation, and gold prices.