Morning Brief

PAS wrapped up its 71st Muktamar in Kota Sarang Semut, Kedah, where the members called for the party to pushed to take a leading role in the Perikatan National coalition. We discuss the potential impact on PN and the Malaysian political scene with Adib Zalkapli, Managing Director of Viewfinder Global Affairs.

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This week US and China government officials announced that a framework agreement had been reached to enable TikTok to continue its American operations. We discuss what we know about the deal with George Chen, Partner & Co-chair of Digital Practice at The Asia Group.

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With the RON95 petrol subsidy rationalization seemingly forthcoming, the Ministry of Finance has said eligibility will be determined using PADU’s socio-economic database, along with income and asset data. Officials claim the move could save up to 8 billion ringgit a year, while costing about 20 billion ringgit annually. P Gunasegaram, independent business writer gives us his thoughts on its implementation.

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The U.S. political landscape has been shaken by the killing of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk last week. Against this backdrop, how is the Trump administration navigating the current political dynamics? For perspective, we’ll be speaking with Dr. Adrian Ang, Research Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

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The ASEAN-6 light vehicle market is seeing significant shifts in its competitive landscape, with Chinese OEMs rapidly gaining market share at the expense of Japanese brands. Patrick Ziechmann, PwC’s ASEAN Automotive Leader, describes how ASEAN is strengthening its role as a major consumer market and a regional production hub.

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Since September 10, Malaysia has decriminalised attempted suicide and strengthened protections for vulnerable groups. Crisis Intervention Officers are now on the frontlines offering immediate support. For more insights on the impact of these changes, we speak with Justin Victor, Former Chairman of Befrienders KL

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The Cabinet has decided in principle to fully separate the roles of the Attorney-General and Public Prosecutor. Lawyer Andrew Khoo weighs in on the reforms needed to ensure full independence for prosecutorial decisions in Malaysia.

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Currently Malaysians navigate 288 apps built by 125 government agencies.  MyGOV aims to change this by consolidating essential services into a single, secure hub, but is that possible? Alex Wong, Managing Editor & Co-Founder of SoyaCincau gives us his perspective.

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As the death toll in Gaza nears 67,000, Israel launched an airstrike on Doha, Qatar’s capital. We speak to Mohd Amirul Asraf bin Othman, research scholar at the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, The Australian National University, on whether President Trump’s ceasefire ultimatum can bring peace — or deepen the conflict.

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Asia’s second-quarter earnings season wrapped up on a muted note, coming in 1.8% below expectations. Yet investor reaction have been mild with minimal selling. Marvin Chen, Senior Asia Equity Strategist, Bloomberg Intelligence gives us his outlook for the rest of 2025 and what markets will outperform.

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