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Home , Lim Kit Siang, Mahathir Mohamad, Pakatan Harapan, Shafie Apdal

WEEKLY NEWS BRIEF 19-26 February 2019

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This week edition will be covering a few domestic and international issues which have serious impact to our country’s economy and security.

Domestic issues cover both politics and economic affairs. Political issues include internal conflict between DAP-Mahathir, reduction in civil servants’ workforce and conflict of -Philippine borderline. The latest major economic issue in revolves around ’s investment in Malaysia; involving ECRL Project and the ‘Panda Bond’, restructuration of national economic model by Tun Mahathir as well as current national economic performance.

The security issues that need to be addressed is Tun Mahathir’s suggestion for ATM to enhances their intelligence capabilities and efficiencies in tackling terrorism threat. He also suggested for a cooperation for intelligence agencies between and Malaysia.

For international news, the news of our neighbour, Singapore increasing their military assets has piqued our interest. This includes the establishment of the Military Cyber School, construction of a 300 000 acre training center in Queensland, Australia and the acquisition of the submarine by Singapore navy.

2 MALAYSIA NEWS Malaysian Politics: Pakatan Internal Conflicts (PH) Government is seen to be in deep conflict when DAP, a major component of the coalition, threatens to withdraw from PH if the coalition is unable to realize the New Malaysia’s objective, according to . This issue is further “I am very grateful for not being chosen as candidate aggravated by a statement from DAP for previous election because I have never accepted Dr. Mahathir’s leadership” -Dr State Assemblyman (ADUN), Dr Boo Cheng Hau.

He urged Tun Mahathir to immediately resign due to his inability to fulfill the manifesto. DAP on the other hand has yet to declare whether Dr. Boo’s stance represent the party or just an individual opinion.

At the same time, the government is trying to reduce the number of civil servants’ workforce. Tun Mahathir pointed out that the number of 1.7 million is too big for government and should be reduced. The workforce figure has been dramatically increased since Tun Mahathir leaves the office in 2003. Accordingly, he proposed that the reduced workforce should be channeled to the manufacturing sector to enable more people joining the private sector and boost national’s economy. However, there is also a speculation that the action is aiming at removing individuals who are in favor of , UMNO especially.

Meanwhile, Philippine Government remained its stance to claim Sabah as part of its territory. This can be seen during the formal visit of Philippine Ambassador, Charles C. Jose, and his delegates, to , . The discussion includes the establishment of Philippine Consul General’s office in Malaysia and the issue of border disputes of Sabah-Philippine. According to Charles C. Jose,

3 although Philippine no longer actively pursuing their claim on Sabah, they also absolutely have no intention to renounce it either.

Malaysian Economics: The numbers are not good.

This January, Malaysia hits its first deflation since 2009, following the plummet of crude oil price, during the global financial crisis. Consumer Price Index dropped to -0.7% in January after staying below 1% for several months, as stated by Department of Statistics of Malaysia. According to Bloomberg, Malaysian economy contracted at 0.4% rate due to several factors such as transformation of fuel subsidy model, by changing oil prices on weekly basis. This caused a huge depreciation in transportation expenditure, by 7.8%, compared to January 2018. The decline in transportation expenditure saw the largest decrease compared to other sectors. The last time Malaysia experienced deflation was between June and November 2009.

The next major news that need to be raised to attention revolved around China’s "It's not like Samurai bonds, where paperwork has investment in Malaysia. China recently been tabled to the Cabinet and approved," said . offers Panda Bond to Malaysia. According to Bai Tian, China’s ambassador to Malaysia, China Construction Bank proposed to issue Panda Bond in China in helping to finance Malaysia. The idea has been presented to Lim Guan Eng, Malaysia Minister of Finance. Prior to this announcement, Malaysia has agreed to accept ’s Samurai Bond, amounting to RM7.6 Billion, with an interest rate of 0.65% for 10 years duration. In Mac 2018, Philippine Government accepted China’s Panda Bond of RMB1.46 Billion with an interest rate of 5%. Analysts stated that if Malaysia were to accept China’s offer, Malaysia most probably will face debt crisis.

4 Besides that, China also has sent a team to renegotiate ECRL Project. The team will arrive from China this week and have discussion and negotiation with Tun , especially regarding the high project costs. According to Tun Daim previous statement, ECRL Project could be accomplished at much lower costs than the original costs of RM66 Billion. The reduction in ECRL Project’s costs will result with huge benefits to Malaysia such as lower annual interest payments, reduction in national currency outflow, as well as increasing business and employment opportunities for . Malaysian security: Enhancing national securities’ abilities and capabilities.

“Malaysia will not involve any major states conflicts and will not solely depend military allegiance or strategic alliances from the region” said Tun Mahathir

Tun Dr. has spoken his strong recommendation for Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) to increase and improve their intelligence capabilities. The agency is urged to be able and capable in combating the new complex and challenging threat of . According to Tun Mahathir;

“Now our preparations are more focused around intelligence agency as it is necessary for us to be able to identify the possibility of a person to become a terrorist. This could be easily deduced if someone has been trained or has close ties with terrorist groups”.

5 Additionally, the terrorism threats are closely related to the strategic geometrical position of Malaysia which made it advantageous in term of regional and world geopolitics. Tun Mahathir added that the success of combating terrorism does not come from national capabilities in warfare, but instead from its capability to gather information and prevent the threat at early stages. These statements were made by Tun Mahathir Mohamad in a dialogue session with Defense Ministers during his first official visit, as Malaysian 7th Prime Minister, at Ministry of Defense Auditorium on 21st February.

In another conference titled ‘Stand with Yemen’ on 23rd February, Tun Dr. Mahathir was quoted saying that Malaysia will not involve itself with any major nations interests and conflicts as well as would not depend on the military or strategic alliances in that region. Besides that, Tun Mahathir added that Malaysia will work side by side with ASEAN to improve its existing framework and strongly reject any foreign interferences. The major reason is to ensure the region stability especially with the trade war between American and China is intensifying.

In the meantime, news has reported that there is collaboration between intelligence agencies from Malaysia’s Special Branch and Singapore’s Internal Security Department. This cooperation’s main objective is to combat against terrorism and its network in South East Asia. The collaboration has recently thwarted a group of six suspected terrorists aiming to attack a so-called Freemason building in Nong Chik province, Johor Bharu. The arrests were made from 19th December 2018 to 28th January 2019. Two of them were Malaysian while the other four came from Singapore, Bangladesh, Philippine and a South East Asia country which was not disclosed by the authorities.

The Singaporean, also known as Kazali Salleh, is reported to have several businesses in Malaysia which includes massage center, used cars business as well as restaurant in Johor. Kazali Salleh have been instructed and responsible for recruiting members for the attack by Malaysia’s terrorists’ leader, Akel Zainal. Furthermore, Akel Zainal is believed to have links with ISIS. The two arrested Malaysia actually already have 3 previous cases linked to terrorism; 1) Alleged to have channeled

6 funds for Malaysian fighting in Syrian wars, 2) Protecting Malaysians who are on red lists by Interpol and 3) Involved in cases in Australia and need to be extracted back to Malaysia. On the other hand, the Filipino arrested has high armament skills and is a close tie to Furiji Indama from Abu Sayyaf militants’ group. This arrest brings the number of arrested individuals involved with terrorism to 459 people, since February 2013. REGIONAL NEWS Singapore Increased Their Military Assets

Chief of the Australian Defence Force General(GEN) Angus Campbell reviewing a guard of honor at the Singapore Ministry of Defense.

South East Asia latest important news revolved around Singapore active actions in strengthening its military assets. A discussion between Dr. Ng Eng Hen, Singapore Defense Minister and General Angus Capmbell, Australia’s Armed Force Commander, took place in Mindef, Singapore. One of the major topics of discussion is about the construction of a 300 000-acre Singapore Military Training Center in Queensland, Australia. The center can accommodate 14 000 soldiers at one time.

Besides that, Singapore’s Ministry of Defence have launched their first Cyber Defense School at Stagmont Camp in Choa Chu Kang, Singapore. The school has

7 already received 59 new students and the numbers is expected to increase to 300. These students will experience introductory training module for 35 weeks. Then they will continue receive weekly training at Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). This huge step taken by Singapore is a measure against breach of personal and confidential information. In 2017, a total of 850 national service trainers and Mindef’s staff’s personal information has been breached.

Lastly, Singapore become the first country in South East Asia region to purchase a submarine equipped with the latest technology from Sweden. The 218SGM model submarine is reported to have immense weapon capacity and complex modern navigation technology. The acquisition by Singapore’s Navy proven that Singapore is on the same level with countries such as and Australia.

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