Morning Brief

The Penal Code (Amendment) (No 2) Bill 2024 aiming to tackle bullying has been passed at the Dewan Rakyat. The amendments address the legal definition of bullying and its punishments, ranging from fines to up to 10 years imprisonment. These changes aim to establish a clear legal framework for addressing both physical and online bullying. Dato’ Vignesh Kumar, Advocate & Solicitor, and former Deputy Public Prosecutor, speaks with us to shed some light on these new laws

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What does the collapse of the Al-Assad regime in Syria mean for Russia and President Vladimir Putin? We discuss the implications of the realignment in the Middle East with security analyst Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

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Uncertain and volatile are the buzz words for 2025, no thanks to incoming US President Donald Trump and his stance on tariffs and taxes. With that, the pace and quantum of Fed rate cuts is less clear, so what does that mean for Asian currencies and the Ringgit in particular? Christopher Wong, FX Strategist, OCBC Bank tells us his 2025 outlook.

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Local authorities have been called to expedite the gazetting of public open spaces in their respective areas to prevent the land from being misused by irresponsible parties. What accounts for the low level of gazettement? We speak to lawyer Alliff Benjamin Suhaimi, Partner at Thomas Philip to better understand the legislation governing the development of public spaces. 

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2024 has been a tale of two halves for Asia-Pacific infrastructure stocks, with the second half of the year making up for the sluggish start, which saw the sector underperform the MSCI Benchmark index by 7.7 percent. But could the positive momentum be derailed by Trump tariffs in 2025? We discuss the outlook for the Asian infrastructure sector with Denise Wong of Bloomberg Intelligence.

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Human Rights Day is marked annually on 10 December to commemorate the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948. How does the Madani Government’s commitment to uphold human rights stack up against its actions? We get an assessment from Ragunath Kesavan, Commissioner with SUHAKAM.

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Malaysia and Vietnam have elevated their bilateral ties to that of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which is expected to pave the way for a more unified approach to the South China Sea tensions. How might this collaboration strengthen their collective voice against Beijing? For more perspectives, we speak with Collins Chong, a foreign affairs and security analyst at Universiti Malaya.

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In conjunction with International Anti-Corruption Day, we speak to Sujatha Sekhar Naik, Chairperson of the Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG), about the standards of corporate governance in Malaysia, whether the amended MACC Act has reduced instances of corporate malpractice.

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Fortunes in Syria have changed overnight, after opposition groups seized Damascus and toppled the 24-year regime led by President Bashar Al-Assad on Sunday. Who will fill the leadership vacuum in Syria and what does this mean for geopolitical dynamics in the Middle East? We get analysis from Dr James Dorsey, Adjunct Senior Fellow with the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

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Data from Adobe Inc showed that US e-commerce sales rose to a record 10.8 billion US dollars on Black Friday. This shopping season is viewed as one of the barometers for US consumer spending. Sales at larger digital platforms are expected to outperform this season, with TikTok tripling its US shopping sales to more than 100 million dollars on the day after Thanksgiving. For more insights into the earnings of this shopping gala, we speak to Poonam Goyal, Senior Retail and Ecommerce Analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence

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