Morning Brief

US trade officials announced a new round of tariffs on solar panel imports from four South-East Asian nations last week

after American manufacturers complained of flooding the market with unfairly cheap goods. Davis Chong, President of the Malaysian Photovoltaic Industry Association (MPIA) tells us what impact it would have on Malaysian solar players.

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South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is now facing the very real possibility of being impeached after declaring martial law out of the blue on Tuesday night, and rescinding it after a parliamentary vote a few hours later. For some insight into South Korea’s political situation at the moment, we will be speaking to Dr. Hoo Chiew Ping, Senior Fellow, East Asia International Relations (EAIR) Caucus.

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Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, announced that the government is reviewing the master plan for the Bandar Malaysia development after it was approved in principle last year. Our Finance Minister said the review is necessary to take into account the perspectives from various stakeholders to ensure that Bandar Malaysia achieves its objectives. Dr. Shuhana Shamsuddin, President of Pereka Bandar joins us to unpack the costs and benefits of this development plan.

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The 2-month-old minority government of France's prime minister, Michel Barnier, is facing near-certain defeat in a no-confidence vote. This is after he forced through an austerity budget which rallied opposition lawmakers from both a left-wing alliance and Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party. Benjamin Barton, Head of School of Politics and International Relations at University of Nottingham Malaysia, gives us a rundown on what's happening there.

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The Malaysian government has recently launched a 13 billion ringgit affordable housing project, but how can the government ensure this project is carried out effectively? For some answers, we speak to Dr Carmelo Ferlito, CEO of the Center for Market Education.

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Malaysia and Brazil are partnering in the semiconductor industry for integrated circuit (IC) design activities next year.

With joint ventures (JVs) between Brazilian and Malaysian companies spearheading that, we speak to Dato' Seri Wong Siew Hai, President, Malaysia Semiconductor Industry Association as to how this might help us achieve our goals as stated in the National Semiconductor Strategy.

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Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia recently held their 7th AGM with delegates reaffirming their support for Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin to continue leading the party as president as well as to be Perikatan Nasional's prime ministerial candidate for GE16. Ibrahim Suffian, Co-Founder & Programme Director for Merdeka Centre shares his takeaways from what came out of the meeting.

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Australia has passed a bill banning children under 16 from going on social media. This includes regulations on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and X, subjecting them to fines of up to A$49.5 million. Dr Faith Gordon, Associate Professor of Law at the ANU College of Law at the Australian National University, shares her insights on how effective (or not) this new piece of legislation will be.

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There have been significant developments in Malaysia’s fintech landscape across the board over the past few years. With the launch of digital banks and the take up in e-payments to the introduction of buy now pay later players. We ask

Vincent Fong, Chief Editor at Fintech News Malaysia about their latest report and what were the key observations.

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Selangor became the first state in Malaysia to launch a care economy policy. As the state with the highest number of elderly residents, the new framework would focus on regulation, training, and investments in the care economy. Joining us for a discussion on this is Lee Min Hui, Gender Consultant at the United Nations Population Fund Malaysia.

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