KUALA LUMPUR: AirAsia Group Bhd has become the first in Malaysia to obtain a licence to conduct drone training: a game changer in the drone delivery revolution in the country. This would at the same time be a boost to the fast growing domestic e-commerce industry. Group chief executive officer of AirAsia Aviation Ltd Bo Lingam said the move to train drone pilots would drive drone delivery. AirAsia Aviation Ltd is a unit of AirAsia Group. Commercial remote pilot training classes would commence from Jan 24.

The prizes included mahjong sets, premium ang pow packets (in three designs), Tiger chopsticks and Tiger poker cards. Specially commissioned Tiger “Roar Together” art installations by three up-and-coming artists —Thomas Powell, Sheena Liam and Pamela Tan — will be activated at the main entrance from Jan 10 too. At the same time, fans also stand a chance to win exclusive Tiger mahjong sets with two weekly winners until Feb 15. The NFT collection, known as The Tiger Archives, feature vintage Tiger artwork ingrained into the blockchain and each artwork is drawn fully by hand. Tiger Beer and all other brands under the Heineken Malaysia portfolio advocate responsible consumption and urge consumers not to drink and drive.

JOHOR BARU (Jan 10): The Johor Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has detained a managing director of a company and an engineer for allegedly submitting false claims worth more than RM250,000 for a temporary bridge construction project in Segamat six years ago. According to a source, the men, aged 41 and 52, were picked up at the MACC office here about 7pm on Sunday (Jan 9). It is understood that between 2016 and 2020, the two individuals allegedly conspired in submitting false claims to a government department in the Segamat district for a temporary bridge construction project worth more than RM4 million, but the works mentioned in the claims had not been implemented. Meanwhile, Johor MACC director Datuk Azmi Alias, when contacted, confirmed the arrests. The suspects will be brought to the Johor Baru Magistrate’s Court for remand application on Monday morning.

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia cannot afford, in the economic and welfare aspects, to implement a lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19, says Khairy Jamaluddin. The Health Minister said on the other hand, the government's strategy to contain the pandemic was to implement mitigation strategies. "There is no doubt that China’s approach (to enforce a lockdown) has been effective. In his tweet, Khairy also attached a screenshot of a news report headlined "Yuzhou: Second Chinese city forced into Covid lockdown”. Meanwhile, Khary also expressed his full support for Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to continue his duties as Health director-general.

PETALING JAYA: Reporting on wrongdoing involving public officials is a form of free speech practised by the West and Malaysians should not blindly follow western values, says PAS president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang. Without naming names, Abdul Hadi was believed to be referring to the share trading scandal involving MACC chief commissioner Tan Sri Azam Baki. Abdul Hadi said the media freedom practised by western countries was akin to putting the people’s voice on a pedestal. “The sin is even bigger for those who are innocent,” said Abdul Hadi. Abdul Hadi also said Islam stressed that an individual accused of a crime must not be presumed guilty until he faces the legal process.

PETALING JAYA: The suspect in the murder of Palestinian university lecturer Dr Fadi Al Batsh, who was shot dead in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur in 2018, is believed to have been detained in Gaza. "The news was circulated this morning that the spy and killer of Dr Fadi Al-Batsh in Kuala Lumpur in 2018 was arrested in Gaza by the security forces," he wrote. “He reported killing Dr Fadi along with other men in Kuala Lumpur at that time. It is learned that Dr Fadi, who was 35, did his doctorate in engineering at Universiti Malaya before taking up the post of lecturer at a private university. Earlier, the media reported that Dr Fadi's murder in 2018 was believed to have been orchestrated by the Israeli national intelligence agency, Mossad.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): The RM10,000 Employees Provident Fund (EPF) i-Citra withdrawal allowed is not the best solution for contributors adversely affected by the recent floods, says a financial expert. Ahmed Razman said not all the EPF contributors could benefit from the RM10,000 i-Citra withdrawal allowed as about 6.1 million of them currently had savings of less than RM10,000. The issue of the one-time special i-Citra RM10,000 withdrawal has become a hot topic again when some quarters urged the government to consider the withdrawal to lighten the burden of the flood victims. “When they’re used to using their EPF savings in emergency cases, what financial assistance can they turn to if not from their EPF savings when they reach the age of 60? “If one can only withdraw RM500 from the EPF savings, perhaps one can buy food that is sufficient for a month.

Due to these factors, a market recovery may be on the horizon this year, according to industry observers. They concur that 2022 will be the start of higher economic activities and investments in the local property market, with more focus on affordable, value-for-money residential and industrial, logistic products. The local property market, nonetheless, is still facing challenges and disruptions in 2022 such as political uncertainties, delay in construction works, the shortage of construction workers and an increase in the cost of building materials, among others. The industry experts share the lessons learnt and key takeaways from 2021, and their insights and predictions for this year. For more insights on what’s in store for FY2022, check out The Edge Malaysia weekly’s Jan 10 edition.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): Owners who rent out their homes and commercial premises can change the electricity account name to their tenants' names by performing Change of Tenancy (COT) during the rental period, to help keep the accounts organised and protect landlords' rights. Tenaga Nasional Bhd chief retail officer Datuk Megat Jalaluddin Megat Hassan said changing the name of the account owner to the tenants allows the latter to be fully responsible for their electricity consumption and bill payment. “Premise owners can still monitor tenants’ monthly payment and usage patterns over time through the myTNB application and portal. Meanwhile, on the complaints on premise owners burdened with tenants’ bills upon discovery of TNB’s installation and meter tampering by bitcoin cryptocurrency operators, Megat said the name change option reduces the risk of owners having to settle tenants’ defaulted bill payments. “We are always open to meeting our customers for further clarification and discussion,” he added.

While I really do miss travelling abroad, I also do not wish to endure all the anxiety that comes with travelling mid-pandemic. Still, I am hopeful that things will not remain so daunting in this new year when it comes to travelling. Hopefully, too, travel restrictions will begin to slowly ease as we navigate our way through our third year of living with Covid-19. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation’s Travel Restrictions Report in November, 98% of all destinations in the world still have some kind of travel restrictions in place. In the meantime, keep planning those dream vacations, and keep travelling to new, awesome attractions in our own backyard.

PUTRAJAYA: The price of chicken and eggs will go up even higher if there is no government intervention, says Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi. Therefore, he said the government, including his ministry, would continue to take proactive steps to balance the rise of chicken and egg prices in the market. According to Bernama, Nanta said the government also provided soft loans to the country’s poultry industry to overcome the surge in chicken prices in the market with an allocation of RM262mil to help farmers affected by rising fertiliser and pesticides prices. “With the provision of the soft loans, it can help farmers and breeders to absorb the high operating and production costs, thus control the increase in chicken prices,” he said. Nanta explained that the issue of rising chicken prices which involved operating costs influenced by the world market was indeed very challenging, thus requiring the cooperation of the various ministries and agencies.

Michelle Glory G. Jonik certainly made heads turn during her Master's graduation ceremony at Penang's Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) three weeks ago. The 28-year-old Sabahan wore a traditional Kadazan costume complete with accessories that weighed over four kilogrammes. Her graduation outfit combined the Kadazan Papar blouse and Kadazan Penampang skirt because her father and mother are from Sabah's Papar and Penampang districts respectively. Jonik wearing her traditional outfit underneath the robe at her recent graduation ceremony in Universiti Sains Malaysia. Six years ago, Jonik wore her mother's traditional wedding attire during her convocation in USM when she received her degree.

“They will call Azam Baki to get an explanation from him. “We cannot jump to conclusions by assuming that Azam Baki is guilty. Asked if the government would set up an independent body to investigate, Ismail Sabri said they could not do so and added that he believed in and was confident with the existing system. Ismail Sabri, who was visiting Sabah’s northern flood-hit Kota Marudu and Pitas areas Saturday (Jan 8), dismissed claims that the government was not taking action. “He continued to be chief minister.

Supply concernsLonger-dated Treasury yields rose anew on Friday but shorter-term government bonds declined after the US non-farm payroll report. Analysts said the data was solid enough to keep the Fed on track to raise interest rates in its March meeting — or sooner. The yield on benchmark 10-year Treasury notes was last at 1.7673%, up from 1.7461% before the payroll data. Spot gold stood at US$1,795 an ounce, up slightly on the day after touching a two-week low of US$1,788.25 on Thursday, as rising US Treasury yields hurt demand for the non-interest bearing metal. Bitcoin was last down about 3% at US$41,896 after touching US$40,938, its lowest since Sept 29, as the payroll data fuelled some bargain buying.

KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 7): Sarawak Cable Bhd (SCable) has proposed to settle its debts totalling RM124.59 million owing to AmBank (M) Bhd, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd and Hong Leong Islamic Bank Bhd (HLISB) by restructuring the payment/repayment terms under the existing facilities. The RCD and RCD-i may be converted into new shares of SCable at any time during the five-year tenure of the RCD and RCD-i. "The debt restructuring exercise is aimed at enabling SCable to address its debt obligations by restructuring the outstanding debt to financiers and allowing SCable more time to repay the outstanding debt to financiers," the group said. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the debt restructuring is expected to be completed by the second half of 2022. Shares in SCable finished one sen or 5.13% higher at 20 sen on Friday, valuing the group at RM81.79 million.