Lowyat.NET: Latest topics by takbodoh722

ASEAN sh*t alliance launched

takbodoh722 — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:09:32 +0800

Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Launch ASEAN Fertilizer Alliance to Bolster Food Security

https://jakartaglobe.id/business/indonesia-...r-food-security

scared no sh*t.

Will people buy more EVs as fuel prices up?

takbodoh722 — Fri, 03 Apr 2026 20:55:21 +0800

NewZealanders might. EV sales more than triple in NZ in March

https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanp...rol-price-pinch

Malaysia insulated from fertiliser shock

takbodoh722 — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 10:08:34 +0800

Malaysia insulated from fertiliser supply shock

https://www.thestar.com.my/business/busines...er-supply-shock

Spent last couple of days looking at global helium and fertiliser supply risk arising from Iran. Noted Bolehland, Indo & Philippines (and China) mostly insulated for fertiliser.

Only Thailand has exposure within ASEAN. Fertiliser risk is critical to manage for maintaining food supply. Helium needed for semicon industry.

At least some assuring news incoming.

Murica fertiliser prices gone up
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/23/nx-s1-574684...planting-season

UN already sounding alarm
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/03/1167182

India fighter crash

takbodoh722 — Sat, 07 Mar 2026 09:59:59 +0800

Indian air force su-30mki crashed in Assam, India. Both pilots are confirmed dead. RIP
https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/iaf-c...sam-1.500465305

3rd fighter crash of the year.

In the meantime, bolehland has entered into agreement with India for them to help maintain Malaysian sukhois.

Good luck to the pilots.

The future of EV is solid

takbodoh722 — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 13:31:41 +0800

VW has began solid state battery testing with its China EV partner
https://electrek.co/2026/03/02/volkswagen-s...tteries-in-evs/

GAC launched its solid state battery production line last year

Almost every non-US major car company is working on it
https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/china-relaun...jB?refresh_ce=1

SS batteries promise 1000+km range on single charge, having power-weight rating more than double existing EV batteries (which are lithium based) and supposedly safer.

Production cars with such batteries are expected from 2027 onwards.

Will this change the EV landscape?

Indian fighter jet crashes

takbodoh722 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 02:00:29 +0800

Indian air force Tejas fighter crashes on landing. plane write off but pilot ejected.
https://www.theweek.in/news/defence/2026/02...-jet-fleet.html

3rd accident in 2 years. currently 30+ in service.

Singapore is collapsing

takbodoh722 — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:02:01 +0800

Singapore sees record poort performance in 2025
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/s...in-2025-5855836

Singapore’s Economy Records Stronger-Than-Expected Growth in 2025
https://www.wsj.com/economy/singapores-econ...n-2025-9bdaa918

Agong tells military not to buy flying coffins

takbodoh722 — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 09:27:36 +0800

Armed Forces cancels deal for decades-old Black Hawk helicopters after King slams ‘flying coffins’
https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/202...-coffins/188133

QUOTE

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 19 — The Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) has reportedly cancelled the purchase of four Black Hawk helicopters worth around RM187 million, following criticism from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

Armed Forces Chief, General Tan Sri Mohd Nizam Jaffar, said the decision was made following the decree, and a new tender for procurement has already been issued,

“The MAF will always uphold and comply with the decree of His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim concerning the purchase of old Black Hawk helicopters, most of which are more than 30 years old.

“We will not be proposing Black Hawks at all, and have taken note of His Majesty’s wishes. The tender [for the purchase] has already been issued,” he was quoted telling Utusan Malaysia.

On Monday, the media reported that the King had decreed the Defence Ministry to cancel the proposed purchase of Black Hawk helicopters that are over three decades old — describing them as “flying coffins”.

As the Supreme Commander of the MAF, His Majesty also reminded the ministry not to repeat past mistakes.

In November last year, the Defence Ministry had issued a notice of termination to the company awarded the contract to lease four UH-60A Black Hawks for the Army Air Corps.

The decision was made after the supplier failed to meet the delivery deadline, which had already been extended to October 30, last year.

However, the ministry has since issued a new contract to procure utility helicopters for the Corps on a five-year lease worth RM187 million.

According to the Defence Ministry’s ePerolehan portal, the contract, published in early August, will close on September 26. The UH-60 Black Hawk is among the aircraft speculated to be included in the contract’s specifications.

Will this apply to other procurement of used equipment?

Macron trying out hawker food

takbodoh722 — Fri, 30 May 2025 12:40:01 +0800

PM Wong brought French PM to try out Lau Pa Sat in Singapore CBD
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/s...ce-wong-5158991

Earlier, lady Gaga was spotted at another hawker centre.
https://www.8days.sg/entertainment/local/la...4-photos-843811

So was Bill Gates
https://mothership.sg/2025/05/bill-gates-si...pore-interview/

Macron is in sinkieland to deliver keynote address for IISS' shangri-la dialogue (SLD).

PMX also delivering special address at the dialogue, which features all the big shots from defence world.

US sending their heavyweights. Besides Hegseth (Defense Secretary), Tulsi Gabbard (Director of National Intel) also attending + highest ranking US officer (Gen Daniel Caine, chairman joint chiefs of staff).
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/u...ina-sea-5158451

China sending delegation from their NDU (not first time but generally likely cos they can deliver speech better)
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202505/1335141.shtml

Anti-CCP propaganda gone astray...

takbodoh722 — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 09:10:23 +0800

Nikkei say China stop soybean imports from US mid-January
https://asia.nikkei.com/Economy/Trade-war/C...riff-escalation

Reuters say China soybean imports from US jump in March
https://www.reuters.com/markets/asia/chinas...ket-2025-04-20/

Who is lying?

Looks like propagandists lost their coordinator when USAid ended. This type a bit too obvious lah.

ASEAN-China's foreign trade share rises to 16.6%

takbodoh722 — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 10:29:40 +0800

It should go up even more once China-US trade stops. ASEAN is increasingly critical to China and vice versa.

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202504/1332056.shtml

QUOTE

In the first quarter of this year, ASEAN remained as China's largest trading partner, with total trade reaching 1.71 trillion yuan ($234.17 billion), marking a 7.1 percent year-on-year increase and accounting for 16.6 percent of China's overall foreign trade, said Lü Daliang, a spokesperson for the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

He made the remarks during a press conference on Monday regarding China's import and export situation with ASEAN countries in the first three months, as well as prospects for future trade between China and ASEAN. In recent years, ASEAN has maintained its position as China's largest trading partner.

In the first quarter, manufacturing products accounted for 90.1 percent of China's trade with ASEAN countries, Lü said.

Chinese exports to ASEAN countries, including flat panel display modules, automotive parts, and lithium batteries, rose by more than 20 percent. Meanwhile, imports from ASEAN, such as components for data processing equipment, printed circuits, while textile raw materials also saw steady growth, the GAC data showed.

He affirmed China and ASEAN countries' commitment to regional economic integration, highlighting how their closely linked industrial chains have driven rapid growth in the import and export of both upstream and downstream products.

Since 2017, ASEAN has remained China's largest trading partner for agricultural products for eight consecutive years.

In the first quarter of this year, China imported agricultural products worth 52.65 billion yuan from ASEAN countries, a 13.8 percent increase, while exporting 37.92-billion-yuan worth of agricultural products to ASEAN countries, up 1.4 percent, Lü said. The complementary nature of both sides' agricultural products has met each other's diverse needs, according to him.

Lü noted that the construction of infrastructure connectivity between China and ASEAN countries has made steady progress, facilitating smoother trade exchanges and turning the resources of both sides into tangible economic results.

In the same period, China's imports to ASEAN via rail transport grew by 37 precent, while imports via road transport increased by 23.2 percent, according to GAC.

Since the China-Laos Railway began operations over three years ago, more than 50,000 freight trains have been run, the spokesperson said. The new Western Land-Sea Corridor seamlessly connects rail and sea transport, allowing for fast transfer from ship to rail and vice versa.

The negotiations for the Version 3.0 China-ASEAN Free Trade Area (FTA) have now been substantively concluded. Both sides will expand mutually beneficial cooperation in emerging industries such as the digital economy, green economy, and supply chain connectivity, while enhancing integration in areas like standards and regulations, Lü said, adding that both sides will work to promote trade facilitation and inclusive development.

China has already trade war proofed its economy

takbodoh722 — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 10:56:29 +0800

China Has Already Trade-War-Proofed Its Economy
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/...fed-its-economy

QUOTE

A common maxim of trade wars is that the best retaliation is not to retaliate at all.

Such conflicts, after all, are counterproductive in the first place. Raising levies on imports simply increases costs for domestic consumers, more than offsetting the benefits that local producers may enjoy from the higher prices they receive from the shift in spending. The best solution is just to stand aloof from this contest of economic self-harm, however much you’re provoked.

That’s the case with most economies — but China, which has announced a 34% import tax against all US goods in response to President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz earlier last Wednesday, may be a rare exception. That’s because the world’s biggest manufacturer has spent decades building an economy that’s already largely war-proofed against blowback from its own trade practices.

Consider the main items the nations trade with each other. The major products that the US imports from China are mostly things you’ll find in a Walmart Inc., at a shopping mall, or on Amazon.com Inc.: smartphones, computers, games consoles, furniture, toys and clothing. Slap a 54% tariff on these items, as Trump has done, and American consumers are going to notice pretty soon.

The flow in the opposite direction couldn’t be more different. Most of China’s major imports from the US are intermediate goods for its manufacturing industry, which would be almost impossible for an ordinary consumer to get their hands on, such as LNG and crude oil, silicon chips and chip-making machines, aircraft jets and plastics. The only real exception is cars — and, given the parlous competitive position of the US auto industry in China, wiping out the remnants of Buick, Chevrolet and Ford’s mainland markets might almost be a mercy killing.

An important thing to note in the charts above is the relative size of the white, gray and blue bars. China tends to have quite a dominant role in US merchandise imports, making it hard for American consumers to switch to alternative suppliers. The US, by contrast, is a relatively minor supplier to China in almost every major product category except jet engines and, to a limited extent, soy. China, meanwhile, has broad and diverse markets for its exports if the US market ends up closed off, as demonstrated by the relatively large blue bars in the first chart.

This is an important consideration when you start thinking about each country’s ability to sustain a prolonged trade war. Trump’s tariffs fall mainly on ordinary American citizens and voters who’ve already suffered four years of above-target inflation and are seeing interest rates around their highest levels in nearly two decades.

The tariffs imposed by China will hurt quite a different group — businesses who are into their third year of producer price deflation, with the benchmark loan prime interest rate at its lowest level on record. Even consumer prices are falling right now.

That means that China already has a decent amount of slack to accommodate the supply-side shock from tariffs, whereas the US economy is already busting at the seams.

Even if Chinese businesses start to feel economic pain as the tariffs squeeze their margins, they’re less likely to complain. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma disappeared from public life for nearly five years after a speech in 2020 criticizing international financial regulations, which local officials appear to have interpreted as a veiled attack on their handling of Alibaba’s payments platform Ant Group Co.

For President Xi Jinping, Trump’s self-inflicted wound is an opportunity. China can present itself as a better representative of the rules-based international order than a US that did so much to establish that system, and a friendlier trade and investment partner for the 85% of the global economy that’s not within America’s borders. That would put dreams of supplanting the US as the world’s hegemonic power well within reach.

Both countries have been decoupling from each other since the start of Trump’s first trade war in 2018, but China has done so more effectively. As a share of its exports, the US has slipped 6.6 percentage points to 17.2%, whereas China as a share of US imports is down only 4 percentage points, to 18.5%. Xi, moreover, is using this moment to build ties with other trading nations, while the Trump administration is punishing its allies with tariffs barely less savage than those it’s imposing on Beijing.

If you want to avoid a future where China cements its rise with tighter links to other countries and crucial roles in blocs such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which includes most of east Asia’s other large economies, then the US tariff plan is the worst possible outcome. China’s economy has problems right now, but international commerce isn’t one of them. If the world is settling in for a long trade war, Trump’s most formidable rival has already fortified itself.

Malaysia trade

takbodoh722 — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 10:20:03 +0800

Malaysia trade surplus is declining.

Jan 2025 reported a trade surplus of only RM3.6 billion. In comparison, Jan 2022 and Jan 2023 surplus was RM 18 billion which dropped to RM 10 billion in Jan 2024.

DOSM trade numbers
https://www.dosm.gov.my/portal-main/release...cs-january-2025

Exports was maintained above RM 123 billion between May-Dec 2024 but has dropped to RM122 billion (no change from Jan 2024) with imports jumping.

Noted article below also highlighting part of reason may be due to CNY (= shorter month).
https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/745265

Monitoring Feb numbers.

Should Bangladesh join ASEAN?

takbodoh722 — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 16:27:37 +0800

Should Bangladesh join ASEAN?

https://www.tbsnews.net/features/panorama/s...n-asean-1005611

Looks like Bangladeshi government pre- and post Hasina has been seeking support from various ASEAN members on entry into ASEAN.

Can forumers think of reasons for and against entry?

Malaysian candidate in US election

takbodoh722 — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 11:23:14 +0800

Tucker Carlson mocks Kamala Harris as ‘Samoan-Malaysian’ at Trump New York rally ahead of key election
https://www.malaymail.com/news/world/2024/1...election/155068

QUOTE

NEW YORK, Oct 28 — Former Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson drew controversy yesterday at Donald Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally, where he made disparaging remarks about Democrat Kamala Harris, misidentifying her heritage as “Samoan-Malaysian”.

As reported by The Daily Beast, Carlson, aimed his comments at undermining Harris’ credibility as a Democratic nominee in the lead-up to this week’s pivotal US presidential election.

During his speech, Carlson dismissed Harris’s achievements, sarcastically suggesting that her election was merely a product of “popular support”.

He stated, “It’s gonna be pretty hard for Democrats to look at us and say, ‘You know what? Kamala Harris, she got 85 million votes because she’s just so impressive. As the first Samoan-Malaysian low-IQ former California prosecutor ever to be elected president.’”

Why Trump is likely to win US election

Thu, 01 Jan 1970 07:30:00 +0800

Gazan children are starving to death

takbodoh722 — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 05:42:32 +0800

Remember in Murica and Europe, killing children quickly by gassing them is called genocide.

but killing them slowly in a cruel, torturous method of starvation is not called genocide even by their own "free" media.

Gazan children are starving to death
https://edition.cnn.com/2024/06/25/middleea...intl/index.html

Trade surplus up, Reserves up

takbodoh722 — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 10:32:11 +0800

Sinkie earn trade surplus of S$26.8B from Jan-May 2024.
Sinkie foreign reserves go up S$22.7B (~RM78B / US$13B) from Jan-May 2024.

Reserve data source:
https://www.mas.gov.sg/statistics/reserve-s...oreign-reserves

Another S$5.6B transferred out using RMGS.
https://www.mas.gov.sg/statistics/reserve-s...ment-securities

To date, MAS not only reach S$500 Billion in reserves, that reserve is reached after transferring out a further S$260.1 B to GIC (since 2022) to manage the excess cash.
https://www.mas.gov.sg/statistics/reserve-s...ment-securities

richie rich.

10th straight month of trade surplus decline

takbodoh722 — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 13:04:24 +0800

DOSM just published May 24 trade statistics.
https://www.dosm.gov.my/portal-main/release...istics-may-2024
https://www.dosm.gov.my/uploads/release-con...40620103217.pdf

Imports continue to go up faster than export.
Trade surplus has dropped from RM 15.7B in May 2023 to RM10.1B in May 2024.
Overall for 2024, trade surplus has dropped from RM92.7B in Jan-May 2023 to RM51.9B in Jan-May 2024.

I checked against sinkieland to see if this is bolehland specific or region-wide.
Sinkie surplus also drop but much less (RM 94.5B for Jan-May 2024 compared to RM 98.8B for Jan-May 2023) using month end exchange rates.

This trend has persisted for 10 months starting from when RM-SG exchange rate dropped from 3.3 to 3.5.
In 2023, Bolehland trade surplus was RM214B against Sinkie RM241B (88% of sinkie). The trade surplus has dropped to ~55% of sinkie trade surplus in 2024.

What would be worrying is that GDP numbers are attributed to export growth when GDP formula is based on X-M rather than just X alone, putting doubt on reliability of GDP figures.

What the trend reflects is ~RM 6B hit every month to foreign currency inflows or RM70+ B on a potential annual basis if trend persist.

RM36 Billion investment in semicon plant

takbodoh722 — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 09:48:02 +0800

Another semiconductor plant to leverage on EV auto boom. USD7.8 billion investment.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/nx...g-plant-4388571