Morning Brief

Singapore has been seeing an influx of wealthy families interested in setting up single family offices in Singapore with an interest to tap into tax incentives. As money-laundering cases are also becoming a growing concern, authorities are weighing tougher measures. Sarah Jane Mahmud, a senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, shares her views on this issue.

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Many Malaysians turn to the Employees Provident Fund for their retirement savings. However it is still important to diversify and to that end, EPF has EPF i-Invest, an online platform that allows eligible members to invest part of their savings in selected unit trust funds and private mandate portfolios Shamsul Fadzil Kamaruddin, Senior Manager, Investment Strategy & Analytic Department, EPF tells us the advantages of this.

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Last Friday, the Pardons Board decided to halve former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Abdul Razak’s jail time, cutting it from 12 years to six years whilst also reducing the fine to just RM50mn. We get reactions from the across the aisle of the August house with Dr Afif Bahardin, Bersatu Supreme Council Member and Taman Medan Assemblyman.

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Malaysian employers are set to face new conditions regarding the foreign labour on their payrolls. These include increased the frequency and fees for their mandatory medical examinations, as well as having to house them in centralised living quarters. Datuk Shamsuddin Bardan, Executive Director of the Malaysian Employers Federation shares his views.

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Southeast Asia's e-commerce market saw spectacular growth in recent years with names like Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop becoming household names. However as economic headwinds are beginning to exact a toll, layoffs start to make headlines, along with the aborted Grab-foodpanda deal. Jianggan Li, CEO of Momentum Works, shares his perspective.

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Southeast Asian countries have still not seen their tourism numbers recover to 2019 levels, before the Covid-19 pandemic decimated this industry. We check in with Hannah Pearson, the founder of travel market research firm, Pear Anderson, for her insights into how developments like China's visa-free travel agreements and the likelihood of a high-speed rail between KL and Singapore might shape the region's tourism sector.

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The IMF has recently raised global GDP to 3.1% from 2.9%. Is this optimism warranted? Selena Ling, Chief Economist at OCBC Bank tells us if there are truly reasons to be optimistic whilst weighing in on the Chinese economy and the headwinds it faces.

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Yesterday was the golden jubilee of the formation of the Federal Territories and also the 50th anniversary of Kuala Lumpur’s designation as a Federal Territory. We will be speaking to Koh Cha-Ly, CEO of Urbanmetry on what’s next for Kuala Lumpur city and how the recently gazetted KL Structure Plan 2040 will shape the development of the city moving forward.

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In today's fast-paced media world, the rush to break news often conflicts with ethical standards. Speed can lead to errors while, sensationalism can detract from important content, and the abundance of unreliable sources can worsen the problem. Wathshlah Naidu, Executive Director, Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) tells us what are the best practices, journalist should adopt today.

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Transparency International released their 2023 Global Corruption Perceptions Index, where Malaysia’s ranking as well as score have improved for the first time in three years. But have we truly made significant progress in combating corruption, and what more can be done? Dr Muhammad Mohan, President, Transparency International Malaysia weighs in.

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