Job Losses and Job Creation!

 

It was recently reported that 7,057 workers lost their jobs in April, up from 5,855 in March, though still below January’s 10,658. In its latest report, the Social Security Organisation said manufacturing remains the hardest-hit sector, accounting for more than a quarter of total job losses in April, followed by wholesale and retail trade as well as vehicle repair services.

 

 

In the above chart, critical talent shortages are mentioned as well as sectors actively recruiting. AI and semiconductors are creating demand. Digital capabilities are increasingly sought even outside traditional technology jobs. The market is moving toward tech-enabled roles, not only pure tech jobs. Workers in areas such as sales, finance, marketing, operations and administration are increasingly expected to use AI tools.

 

Job losses may need more detailed work, especially if it is manufacturing. Is this due to manufacturing plants closing and what skill sets do the workers have? If it is wholesale and retail trade then that’s more reflective of a general dampening in consumer demand. some of these workers could be re-trained but many may be too old or too fixed in their thinking!

 

Reference:

High-tech skills a buffer from cuts, Allison Lai, The Star, 27 May 2026

Is Malaysia’s Public Housing Cheap?

 

DBKL spends RM300 to maintain each public housing flat. It collects RM124 in rent. The maths only works one way. That is the monthly rental rate for a DBKL People's Housing Project flat. RM124. Less than most Malaysians spend on their weekly grocery run. A figure that has not been meaningfully revised in decades. And according to a new report, it is at the very heart of why Malaysia's public housing system is quietly heading toward collapse.

 

A report by Think City titled "From Roof to Resilience", highlighted by Malay Mail, found that stagnant rental rates and mounting rental arrears have rendered public housing in Malaysia financially unsustainable. The math, once you look at it clearly, is not complicated. It is just uncomfortable.

 

Source: https://ms.wikipedia.org

 

The actual cost of managing and maintaining each unit, covering cleaning, utility bills, lift maintenance, and public facilities, is estimated at RM300 per month. Every single month, DBKL loses RM176 per unit just by keeping the lights on and the lifts running. Across tens of thousands of units, that gap compounds into a structural financial problem that no amount of goodwill can paper over. Some of those arrears stretch back years. Some tenants have not paid in six months, a year, or longer.

 

Malaysia's public housing model was built on a philosophy of welfare provision. The government, through DBKL and other authorities, would build and manage affordable housing for the urban poor, charging rents low enough that even the most economically vulnerable could afford them. The social intention was noble and the political logic was clear. But the financial model was never fully thought through. Or if it was, the thinking was always that the government would absorb the shortfall indefinitely.

 

The Edge Malaysia reported as far back as 2024 that DBKL had failed to collect an estimated RM60 million in arrears accumulated over decades, and that the rental rate was insufficient to cover maintenance costs. The then-city hall management acknowledged the problem openly. Nothing materially changed.

 

Successive governments have maintained the low rental rates for political reasons. Raising rents on the urban poor is politically costly in a way that allowing the physical condition of public housing to gradually deteriorate is not. The deterioration happens slowly, spread across thousands of units, invisible in press conferences. A rent increase is immediate and measurable and generates complaints.

 

The result is a system where the average PPR flat now costs more to maintain per month than it earns in rental revenue, the building fabric is ageing without adequate funding for repairs, and hundreds of millions of ringgit in arrears sit uncollected because enforcement is difficult against people who genuinely cannot pay.

 

This brings us to the question at the heart of the whole debate. Who is actually responsible for the condition of public housing? Is it DBKL's responsibility to maintain every unit to a standard proportionate to the rent charged? Is it the resident's responsibility to maintain their own unit even if they are paying almost nothing? Or is the problem that the rent is so low it creates a psychological disconnect between what people pay and what they feel entitled to expect?

 

Most residents of PPR and PA flats are from B40 households. Young people who came to the city looking for work and found that even the cheapest private rental was beyond their reach. Families who have been on the waiting list for years and feel fortunate to have a roof at all. Single mothers, elderly residents on fixed incomes, new workers in their first jobs. These are not people gaming the system. They are people the system was designed to serve.

 

But a system that collects RM124 per unit and spends RM300 per unit to maintain it, while sitting on RM70 million in uncollected arrears in 2025, is not serving anyone well. Not the residents who deserve better maintained homes. Not the taxpayers who ultimately fund the gap. And not the long-term viability of affordable housing as a concept in Malaysian cities.

 

The Think City report's title, "From Roof to Resilience," implies a transformation rather than a patch. And that is exactly what is needed. Rental rates in public housing need to be reviewed and gradually adjusted to reflect at least a portion of the actual maintenance cost. Not in a single jump that shocks residents, but in a carefully phased increase accompanied by genuine improvements in maintenance standards. If rents go up even modestly and the lifts start working consistently, the bins get emptied on time, and the hallways are properly lit, most residents will accept the trade-off.

 

Reference:

Malaysia's Public Housing is Cheap. That is Exactly Why it is Falling Apart.

Opinion, Kamarul Azwan, Newswav, 30 May 2026

 

KL Low-Cost Housing Rent Arrears Reach RM70m, says Mayor, The Star, 18 May 2025

What is the Thucydides Trap?

 

The Thucydides Trap is a political theory stating that when an emerging power threatens to displace an established ruling power, the resulting structural stress makes armed conflict between them highly probable.  This was what Xi Xin Ping told Donald Trump in Beijing recently. 

The concept is based on a famous observation by the ancient Greek historian Thucydides regarding the Peloponnesian War. He noted: "It was the rise of Athens and the fear that this instilled in Sparta that made war inevitable." 

The term was popularised by Harvard political scientist Graham Allison to analyse great power dynamics.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides_Trap

The Dynamic: The anxiety and paranoia felt by the ruling power (e.g. Sparta) as the rising power (e.g. Athens) gains economic and military strength often leads to strategic miscalculations and a catastrophic conflict. 

Primary Example: It is most frequently used to describe modern U.S. – China relations, where China’s rapid ascent is viewed by many as threatening longstanding American global hegemony. 

While Allison’s historical analysis showed that 12 out of 16 past power transitions ended in war, he and other scholars emphasise that conflict is no inevitable. Both emerging and established powers can consciously manage their rivalry through diplomacy, compromise, and establishing new structural rules to coexist peacefully. 

The importance of recognising it is that markets, economies are all impacted. The current trade issues with the U.S. is part of this political theory. A declining power is flailing about just to remain dominant. Hence, the war on Iran and the Straits of Hormuz. What can we do? Large (or even small) companies may need to work around the games of both superpowers. That is why Tim Cook, Jensen Huang and Elon Musk went to China with Trump. They may have not secured anything of value but paid “homage” to ensure their businesses could survive the near future. For ASEAN, we are closely aligned with China and entertain U.S. investments which has no borders. Malaysia must continue to work on its AI, semiconductors and data centres to ensure growth and provide employment. Are we “future proof” whichever way the Thucydides Trap falls? You can answer that!

 

What is the Right AI Tool for Your Task?

 

When to Use Which AI Tool? AI tools are powerful — but choosing the right tool for the right task is what actually boosts productivity. Here’s a quick breakdown:

ChatGPT Best for: Reasoning, brainstorming, creative writing & problem-solving ✅ Idea generation ✅ Content drafting ✅ Learning & explanations

 

Claude Best for: Long documents & deep analysis ✅ Large file summarization ✅ Detailed reports ✅ Compliance & structured writing

 

Gemini Best for: Google ecosystem & research workflows ✅ Workspace collaboration ✅ Multimodal tasks ✅ Research assistance

 

Perplexity Best for: Real-time information & cited research ✅ Fact-checking ✅ Market research ✅ Up-to-date answers

 

Grok Best for: Trends & social insights ✅ Trend analysis ✅ Social listening ✅ Real-time discussions 

Pro Tip: Don’t rely on one AI tool — build an AI workflow stack based on your task.

 

Reference:

Choosing the Right AI Tool for Your Task, Credit to Rakesh Kumar, this title was summarized by AI from linkedin.com, AI For Leaders

Malaysia Needs US$32b for Disaster Resilience!

 

Malaysia is projected to require US$32.56 billion (RM128.81 billion) in spending for disaster risk reduction and resilience measures. This is part of broader climate adaptation needs over the coming decades, according to the World Bank. These measures include strengthening land use planning, enforcing stricter building standards, investing in flood-resilient infrastructure, and restoring natural ecosystems that can better absorb and retain water.

 

In its Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) for Malaysia, the World Bank said additional financing needs are even larger in other critical areas, with US$69.8 billion required for water supply infrastructure and US$33.5 billion for irrigation over the next 25 years.

 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org

 

Overall, total climate adaptation investment could reach between US$852 billion and US$1.13 trillion in nominal terms by 2050, encompassing the cost of upgrading infrastructure, strengthening disaster response systems, and protecting key economic sectors.

 

Flooding remains the most significant natural disaster in Malaysia, accounting for 85% of all disasters since 2000, with more than a third of towns and cities projected to face flash flood risks by 2100. Urbanisation has compounded these risks, with built-up areas expanding rapidly and reducing natural flood mitigation capacity, thereby increasing exposure to flash floods and landslides.

 

The report highlighted that over 5,496 flood hotspots have already been identified nationwide. Climate change is expected to increase flood risks across most river basins by about 15% by 2100.

 

Sea-level rise poses another major threat, particularly to coastal economic hubs such as Port Klang, Penang and Johor, with a one-metre rise potentially resulting in the loss of around 180,000ha of agricultural land and up to 20% of mangrove forests.

 

The agriculture sector is also at risk, with rising temperatures and erratic rainfall expected to reduce crop yields by up to 6% by 2050, affecting key commodities such as rice, rubber and palm oil.

The tourism sector could also decline significantly by the 2040s, with international tourism revenue projected to fall by between 12.2% and 21.3% due to rising temperatures and degraded natural attractions.

 

At the macro level, climate change could shave up to 8.3% off Malaysia’s GDP by 2050 in a worst-case scenario, driven largely by heat stress and flood-related disruptions. Heat stress alone is projected to reduce labour productivity, with agricultural output potentially declining by as much as 18% by mid-century while overall productivity losses could affect all sectors of the economy.

 

The report noted that climate risks are already materialising, with heavy rainfall between 2015 and 2024 estimated to have reduced firm revenues and productivity by about 3% on average, equivalent to around US$7 billion (RM27.68 billion) in GDP losses.

 

Smaller firms and startups are particularly vulnerable, experiencing declines up to eight times larger than bigger companies due to limited access to finance and weaker resilience capacity.

The report added that around 23% of Malaysia’s population is already exposed to climate shocks, with poorer households more likely to suffer long-term economic setbacks.

 

Despite the risks, the World Bank said proactive adaptation measures — including improved infrastructure, climate-resilient agriculture and stronger disaster management systems — could offset up to half of the projected economic losses.

 

Reference:

Malaysia needs US$32.6b for disaster resilience as climate risks mount — World Bank, Emir Zainul, theedgemalaysia.com, 4 May 2026

Malaysia Semiconductor Map by 2030

 

Map on semiconductor is a simplified illustration based on public data. Locations may not reflect full operational footprint.

 

Reference:

Malaysia Semiconductor Map: 350+ Factories, 60,000 Jobs by 2030, post by Ariff Fathi on linkedin

Can Filial Responsibility Be Legislated?

 

The proposed senior citizens bill is problematic because it turns filial responsibility into a legal obligation. Cases of elderly abandonment are serious. Nobody wants to see old people abandoned at hospitals or left uncared for. But laws affecting millions of families should not be created based on knee-jerk reactions. 

Official statistics showed that around 2,144 elderly persons were abandoned at hospitals nationwide between 2018 and mid-2022. In 2025, Malaysia recorded roughly 2.7 million elderly persons aged 65 and above, while senior citizens aged 60 and above stood at about 4.1 million. Of these, 18.8% lived alone.

 

Source: https://www.wikihow.com 

The bill appears intended for a very small number of cases, working out to less than 0.1% of the elderly population, yet its emotional and psychological effect extends to all families. If the government cannot handle less than 0.1% of abandonment cases through healthcare, welfare and support systems, then the problem lies with the short-sightedness of policymakers, not within ordinary families. 

The biggest flaw in the bill is the assumption that all parents are good parents. In many cases, parents who fulfil their responsibilities do not need to force their children through legislation to care for them. In many cases, parents who failed to uphold their parental responsibilities are also the ones demanding legal financial support from their children. Furthermore, there are also no statistics showing how many parents who were genuinely loving and responsible were abandoned by their children. 

While Singapore’s Maintenance of Parents Act is often mentioned as an example Malaysia could follow, it is also evident that the act has not been very effective. During parliamentary discussions there, an MP reportedly stated that about one in four cases at the Office of the Commissioner, and one in three tribunal cases involved children alleging abuse, neglect, or abandonment by their parents. That alone exposes the weakness of a blanket maintenance law. Some parents abused their children. Some neglected them emotionally. Some abandoned their families. Some treated children as future retirement plans instead of human beings. Family relationships are complicated. Legislation cannot assume all parents deserve care simply because they are parents. 

In healthy families, children usually take care of their parents willingly. They do so out of gratitude, love and respect for the people who raised them. Taking care of parents should be a blessing, not a burden. The bill makes caring for parents a burden. Once filial responsibility becomes a legal obligation, the relationship changes and becomes transactional. What normally comes from love and willingness becomes compliance with the law. The bill also gives the impression that responsibility for elderly care is being pushed onto children instead of strengthening healthcare, retirement protection and support systems for senior citizens themselves. 

If this bill gets approved, parents suing children may slowly become normalised in society, making the problem worse. Malaysia should focus on building stronger support systems for the elderly instead of legislating family relationships. 

Reference:

Filial responsibility cannot be legislated, Carolyn Khor, Newswav, 28 May 2026