Coronavirus: Singapore cases highest in over a year; South Korea plans to ‘live more normally’ with virus

Singapore on Wednesday reported 347 new Covid-19 cases, the highest since August 2020, as the first vaccinated German tourists arrived

Singapore’s health ministry reported 347 new local Covid-19 cases, higher than the 328 cases reported the previous day.

Wednesday’s number was the highest since early August 2020.

This came as the first planeload of Germans allowed into Singapore as part of a tentative reopening for coronavirus-vaccinated tourists arrived at Changi Airport on Wednesday afternoon.

Singapore last month said it would accept double-jabbed visitors from Brunei and Germany, starting in September. While the travellers must test negative for the virus, they do not have to quarantine.

Among the passengers on Wednesday’s maiden flight were Germany-based journalists invited by Singapore Airlines (SIA) and the Singapore Tourism Board.

The flight took longer than usual due to it having to avoid Afghan airspace, according to German reporter Andreas Spaeth, who was on board.

After closing its border during the first pandemic wave last year, Singapore began readmitting tourists, with strict quarantine rules, from a handful of countries, including New Zealand, Vietnam and regions in Australia and China, after it ended its sole pandemic lockdown in June 2020. The list has been amended several times in response to fluctuating coronavirus case numbers in countries of origin.

So-called “reciprocal green lanes” for business or official travel between Singapore and several countries were also set up last year, but most have since been suspended, including one for Germany. Singaporeans were again permitted to enter Germany in October last year, after Berlin eased pandemic border curbs.

Latest Updates:

Daily infections likely to exceed 1,000 | The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2021/09/12/daily-infections-likely-to-exceed-1000

 

Daily Covid-19 cases likely to soon exceed ... - The Straits Times

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/daily-covid-19-cases-likely-to-exceed-1000-soon-next-2-4-weeks-crucial-for-spore

S'pore hospitals to defer non-urgent ... - The Straits Times

Hospitals prepping more ICU beds | The Star

https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2021/09/12/hospitals-prepping-more-icu-beds

South Korea aims to live normally with virus

 

   

People sit at the Cheonggye Stream in Seoul. About 42.6 per cent of South Koreans are fully vaccinated. Photo: AP

Elsewhere, South Korea plans to open up once it reaches its 80 per cent vaccination milestone, and Japan is expected to ease curbs in November

 Meanwhile, South Korea is drawing up a plan on how to live more normally with Covid-19, expecting 80 per cent of adults to be fully vaccinated by late October, health authorities said on Wednesday.

The country is in the middle of its worst wave of infections, but it has kept the number of severely ill cases under control through steadily rising vaccination rates.

“We’ll review measures that will allow us to live more normally, but any such switch will be implemented only when we achieve high vaccination rates and overall (Covid-19) situations stabilise,” Son Young-rae, a senior health ministry official, told a briefing.

The strategy will be implemented in phases to gradually ease restrictions, authorities said. Masks will still be required at least in the initial stage.

The government expects to implement the plan sometime after late October, when 80 per cent of the adult population is likely to have been vaccinated. As of Tuesday, South Korea had given at least one vaccine dose to 70.9 per cent of its adult population, while 42.6 per cent are fully vaccinated.

South Korea extended national social distancing curbs to October 3 this week as the country boosts its vaccination campaign ahead of a thanksgiving holiday that falls later this month. Restrictions in place include limited operating hours for cafes and restaurants and on the number of people allowed at social gatherings.

It reported 2,050 new Covid-19 cases for Tuesday, with 2,014 of those locally acquired. The country has registered 265,423 infections since the pandemic started, with 2,334 deaths.

The country has not seen a significant increase in coronavirus deaths, with a mortality rate of 0.88 per cent, largely due to high vaccination rates among the elderly and vulnerable. Severe or critical cases stood at 387 as of Tuesday.

 Worldwide total, from the most infected countries:  #1 USA,  

#2 INDIA,  #3 BRAZIL,  #4 UK,  #5 RUSSIA

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Has US learned its lessons from post-9/11 wars?

 

 https://youtu.be/UkVPOADFvLM

 Post-9/11 wars: a defeat of Western values

 

Washington's dangerous habit of always seeking an outside enemy needs to change, analysts say

 

It has been 20 years after the world was shocked to see two planes struck the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001. It was a chaotic scene featuring fire and heavy smoke, the screaming and scattered crowds and people who were dumfounded by the fact that the US - a superpower - was attacked by terrorists on its ground.

This year's commemoration of September 11 is different as the US just ended the war in Afghanistan and the Afghan Taliban - after being overturned by the US three months after 9/11 in 2001 - has taken over Afghanistan, again.

The past few weeks have seen the Western media making rolling reports to mourn victims of the terror attacks and some reflecting on the failures of the US domestic and diplomatic policies in the past two decades.

However, the fierce criticism and the apparent failures of the past two decades have not awakened the US political elites. They refused to learn. And soon they will be looking for a new enemy in a new region, but even bigger failures await them, observers said. 

Photo:IC

Seeking truth

The US President Joe Biden, heavily criticized for his hasty and disorganized withdrawal from Afghanistan from all fronts, may attempt to use the 20th anniversary of the September 11 to shift the public attention. According to the schedule released by the White House, Biden and his wife are scheduled to visit all three 9/11 memorial sites -- ground zero in New York City, the Pentagon and the memorial outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where United Flight 93 was forced down -- on Saturday.

But nearly 1,800 people, including survivors of 9/11 and family members of the victims, are signing a joint letter asking Biden to not attend the memorial activities if he does not declassify documents related to the terror attacks.

Brett Eagleson was among them. His father Bruce Eagleson, who was on the 17th floor of the South Tower of the WTC, died in the collapse of the building, leaving his family unable to recover his remains even through DNA analysis. After luckily surviving when the planes hit the building, he chose to stay and assist more people to evacuate and was last seen going upstairs to retrieve a walkie-talkie to assist in communication between firefighters and the police.

Sorrow and bitterness have engulfed the better part of the last two decades of Brett's life, but it's mostly anger that stands out. The US government's investigation into the 9/11 attacks has been shrouded in secrecy with detailed reports on one of the most shocking terrorist attacks having never been disclosed.

"We have been fighting for 20 years about the information that our government has always been keeping this information from us," Brett Eagleson told the Global Times. "We have been fighting for so long; every family is tired and frustrated."

Brett Eagleson said those 20 years have changed his perception of the US government. "We have seen our government block its own citizens from truth and justice for its own selfish interests and to grow its relationship with Saudi Arabia, and as time goes on, we get further and further away from the truth."

Finally gathering up the courage to visit Ground Zero, the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan to see the changes in the place 20 years after it was hit by two planes, Mrs Tsou, a 50-year-old Chinese-American living in New York, remained calm but after seeing the smiling Muslim girls with headscarves painted on the fence not far from the square, she sighed with emotion.

"For the past 20 years, the American people have not seen much of the US counter-terrorism measures in Afghanistan and Iraq, but the fear of and discrimination against Muslims and people of color has grown within the US," she told the Global Times.

Tsou was a software engineer who worked in the north Tower of the WTC. The vacation on September 11 two decades ago saved her life, but more than 30 of her colleagues were wounded or killed in the attack. Tsou quit her job after the 9/11 attacks and has been doing odd jobs at home since then. Rarely has she left the house or have any contact with her former colleagues.

"War is always intertwined with too much self-interest, and 20 years later, the truth about the attacks remains unanswered, and the American people have not been given the answer for 'why do they hate us,' but our government has created more conflict and hate in America and all around the world," Tsou said.

Infographic: Wu Tiantong/Global Times

War on terror

Like Tsou, a lot of Americans are wondering why the US failed and whether the money and the American lives sacrificed in the war on terror in Afghanistan were worth it. But for many outside the US, the question remains how the world and the US were changed by 9/11.

Harvard University scholar Joseph S. Nye Jr. told the Global Times that "future historians will regard September 11, 2001 as important as Pearl Harbor was on December 7,1941."

In the 2000 presidential election, George W. Bush advocated a humble foreign policy and warned against the temptations of nation-building, but after the shock of 9/11, he declared a "Global War on Terror" and invaded both Afghanistan and Iraq, the professor said.

"While the 9/11 attacks killed several thousand Americans, the 'endless wars' that the US launched as part of the global war on terror cost much more," he said.

According to data from the Brown University Costs of War project, over 929,000 people have died in the post-9/11 wars due to direct war violence, and several times as many due to the reverberating effects of war. 38 million people became war refugees and displaced persons. The US is also conducting counterterror activities in 85 countries and the federal price tag for the post-9/11 wars is over 8 trillion.

All this money and lives invested in the post 9/11 wars under the banner of countering terrorism have not stopped terrorism from spreading globally. It has only caused more confrontations between different civilizations.

The rhetoric of the war on terror generated a geopolitical binary that divided the world into the uncivilized and civilized. Islam was posited as the enemy and the symbol of "the uncivilized world." Many Muslim populations -- including innocent civilians -- were viewed as "suspect communities" targeted under the rubric of counterterrorism, Stefanie Kam, associate research fellow from the International Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, told the Global Times via an email.

The old conventional "war on terror" approaches to terrorism - militarized counterterrorism response -- focused on short-term gains, rather than long-term gains attuned to the political realities and the social and historical forces on the ground, which was what largely defined the failure of US' approach to terrorism, Kam said.

Kam thought that the political vacuum engendered in a post-US Afghanistan has the potential to complicate the security landscape by creating breathing space for terrorist groups to consolidate in Afghanistan, and to inspire a wave of foreign fighters -- seeking militant training -- into Afghanistan. Apart from Islamic extremism, the rise of right-wing extremism is an emerging area of concern for governments in Asia.

"In particular, the Southeast Asian region has seen a recent growth in terrorist attacks by ISIS-inspired, self-radicalized individuals, and the involvement of women, youth and family networks in militancy," Kam said.

Echoing Kam, global experts have expressed concerns over the spread of terrorism over the past two decades. The fact that the number of terrorist groups in Afghanistan had grown from less than 10 to more than 20 during the US military occupation also indicates the irony of Bush's words when starting the war.

"Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there," former US President George W Bush told Congress days after the attacks, on September 20, 2001. "It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated."

US remains unchanged

For Adnan Akfirat, China Representative of the Patriotic Party (Turkey),it is the US that made an obscure concept of "international terrorism" to justify its occupations and military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria and "cover up its imperialist aggression."

The US is not fighting against terrorism but using terrorist groups in different regions to play its geopolitical tactics, Akfirat noted.

"With the liberation of Afghanistan, the US had to admit that the 'Crusade' it launched since 2001 ended in disappointment and disgrace only 20 years later," Akfirat said, noting that all these failures could not wake up "the US ruling clique" who still thinks US "will subdue the peoples of the world with its terrible military power. Their class interests compel them to continue this madness."

Yasir Habib Khan, founder and president of the Institute of International Relations and Media Research in Pakistan, thought that lop-sided war on terror architected by America "is the epitome of complete failure" and it is ironic to see the war under the banner of peace and stability prompted more wars and gave rise to "white supremacy" to which Americans' lives are subjected to be more insecure and vulnerable.

In the eyes of some Chinese experts, the US debacles for the past 20 years also resulted in wrong policies and miscalculations as the US political elites failed to solve domestic problems on social polarization, rising economic disparities and other issues. Instead, the country focused on scrambling for power and playing geopolitical tactics in suppressing other countries.

The US' strength and international reputation have been damaged for the past 20 years. Putting huge resources into military actions or "rebuilding" other countries has worsened the overall crisis domestically, including deteriorating political polarization and struggles, the flooding of popularism and racism, confrontations of different classes and people's losing of recognition of national identity, Li Haidong, a professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

However, despite all these problems awaiting to be solved, the US hasn't changed its tactic of seeking enemies to ensure its global status and define its international policies. The US should have coordinated the international community to counter terrorism and extremism after 9/11, but it took unilateral military actions in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Syria for geopolitical purposes, causing ever-lasting regional chaos, experts said.

After all these years, one would think the US has learned its lesson and can now embark on a journey of solving domestic issues and shifting the focus of its policies. Unfortunately, that's not the case, the country has its eyes on a new "enemy" - China.

Khan said that 20 years after the September 11, the US should have built a broad-based global mechanism to promote counter-terrorism modalities and it should have snubbed impulsive of protectionism but unfortunately it did nothing. "It did not learn from the past. This makes the future of the world remain volatile."

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Moral vacuum at the heart of modernity, now embodied in US laws!

` 

In short, historically it was the Church that gave the moral blessing for colonisation, slavery and genocide during the Age of Globalisation. The tragedy is that the Doctrine of Discovery is now embodied in US laws. 

 

THE GLOCALISATION OF HUMANITY 

 

 "Globalisation is interpreted as universalisation of American or European values and standards. But the fact remains that these standards and rules were imposed historically by conquest, colonisation and force".

China Does Not Recognize The Rule-Based International Order imposed historically by Conquest, Colonisation and Force !

While sowing discord around China, the US is heading to be a 'failing state'

 

Illustration: Liu Rui/GT 

 

The Guardian published an article on Wednesday titled "'Like Game of Thrones': how triple crisis on China's borders will shape its global identity." The article says that North Korea, Myanmar and Afghanistan are "three ongoing crises in China's neighborhood," and called the three countries "failing states."

The logic of this article is reversed. It is not that these three countries neighboring China are "failing states." Instead, China's neighbors are targeted by the US to infiltrate and create disorder. Washington intends to use them to levy pressure on China. The chaos or difficulties faced by these countries are due to the intervention or suppression from the US.

Russia is also a major country the US deems as a rival, and Russia's neighboring countries, like Ukraine and Belarus, have also been infiltrated by the US. Washington aims at turning these countries into pawns in its strategic competition with Beijing and Moscow.

The Guardian's report quoted Thant Myint-U, historian and former presidential adviser of Myanmar, who declared that the Western approach to "failing states" is rooted in "ideas around elections, democracy, and human rights." But obviously, by doing so, the US' real purpose is to find excuses for interfering in these countries. The US government does not give any consideration to the feelings of local people, nor does it care about the interests of these countries.

"If the model imposed by the West is really suitable for these countries, then local people would have accepted it. But in fact, most people and political parties in these countries have rejected the US model. This shows that the model advocated by the US and the West is a political manipulation with evil intentions, rather than providing real freedom and democracy that benefit local people," Li Haidong, professor at the Institute of International Relations of the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times.

However, such infiltration of the US is doomed to fail. Take Afghanistan, for example. The US tried to spread democracy in Afghanistan in the past 20 years, yet its hasty withdrawal shows that its so-called fight against terrorism and promotion of "democratic reforms" has completely failed.

The US' barbaric acts will undoubtedly run up against a stone wall in the world. However, China has always respected the sovereignty and independence of Afghanistan. The Afghan Taliban has shown its will to engage in good relations with China. The head of the Afghan Taliban Political Commission, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, said in a meeting in July with Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi that China has always been a reliable friend of the Afghan people. The Taliban has also said that it welcomes Chinese investments in Afghanistan's reconstruction.

"It now appears that the US is more like a 'failing state,' not these countries. The US government has failed to control the COVID-19 epidemic and its hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan has embarrassed itself in the international community. With unsuccessful governance, there are more signs showing that the US is becoming a typical failing state but it refuses to admit this itself," Li said.

Some Western countries and media outlets are still immersed in their own fantasies, sensationally hyping the "crises" surrounding China. In fact, most of China's neighboring countries are stable, as the center of the global economy is shifting from the US and Europe to Asia. 

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Record covid-19 new cases and deaths in Penang, Malaysia 19,733 new cases (Sep 8)

 

 

Penang (2,474) reached a new record Sspt 8, 2021. Hospitalisation of Covid-19 patients has also been trending up, despite 49.4 percent of its population being vaccinated. [see vaccination chart below]

Hospital bed use for Covid-19 patients in Penang has reached 109 percent - the highest in the country - while intensive care bed use is 93.2 percent. [see hospitalisation chart below]

In Sarawak (3,100), the authorities said 99.87 percent of new cases involved patients in Category 1 or 2 (no symptoms or mild symptoms). However, Health Ministry data shows that hospitalisation is still on a 14-day uptrend.

Hospital bed use by Covid-19 patients Negeri Sembilan has dropped 70.9 percent since peaking on July 31.

As of yesterday, the R-naught for the country is 0.95. A R-naught of less than 1.00 suggests that the spread of Covid-19 was slowing down.

The R-naught for the Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan have all fallen below 0.90.

Regions where the R-naught is more than 1.00 are Pahang, Perak, Terengganu, Sarawak, Perlis and Penang, Malacca and Johor.

The number of active cases have continued trend downwards today the intensive care bed use is dropping slowly over the past month.

Active cases: 248,673 

Patients in ICU: 904* 

Intubated: 430*

[Does not include patients classified as 'probable'.]

New cases by states

Sarawak (3,100) Selangor (2,989) Penang (2,474) Sabah (2,067) Johor (1,867) Kedah (1,564) Kelantan (1,471) Perak (1,319) Terengganu (904) Pahang (700) Kuala Lumpur (537) Malacca (375) Negeri Sembilan (256) Perlis (74) Putrajaya (29) Labuan (7)

Deaths

The Health Ministry reported another 361 deaths attributed to Covid-19 today, bringing the national death toll to 19,163.

There were 102 patients who were pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital of which a quarter were reported in Sabah alone.

Selangor (67) reported the highest number of deaths followed by Johor (65), Sabah (54), Kedah (51), Kuala Lumpur (34), Negeri Sembilan (29), Kelantan (17), Sarawak (10), Terengganu (9), Malacca (8), Perak (6), Penang (5), Pahang (4) and Perlis (2).

Clusters

The Health Ministry is currently monitoring 1,459 active Covid-19 clusters.

Another 35 new clusters were classified today of which 20 involved workplaces.

Industri Jalan Nuri cluster

 Category: Workplace State(s): Selangor District(s): Kuala Langat Total infected: 79 out of 122 screened

Tapak Bina Persiaran Elmina cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Selangor District(s): Petaling Total infected: 67 out of 129 screened

Industri Dua Jalan Anggerik Mokara 47 cluster  

Category: Workplace State(s): Selangor District(s): Klang Total infected: 50 out of 167 screened

Industri Dua Jalan Bandar Lama cluster 

 Category: Workplace State(s): Selangor District(s): Kuala Langat and Klang Total infected: 30 out of 36 screened

Tapak Bina Persiaran Laman View cluster  

Category: Workplace State(s): Selangor District(s): Sepang Total infected: 20 out of 69 screened

Tapak Bina Jalan Elegan cluster  

Category: Workplace State(s): Selangor District(s): Sepang Total infected: 12 out of 92 screened

Pasar Matu cluster 

 Category: Workplace State(s): Sarawak District(s): Matu Total infected: 29 out of 121 screened

Tapak Bina Jalan Tasek Mutiara Tujuh cluster  

Category: Workplace State(s): Penang District(s): Seberang Perai Selatan Total infected: 123 out of 518 screened

Tapak Bina Jalan Kubang Menerong cluster 

 Category: Workplace State(s): Penang District(s): Seberang Perai Utara and Seberang Perai Tengah Total infected: 81 out of 290 screened

Jalan Mayang Pasir Tiga cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Penang District(s): Barat Daya and Timur Laut Total infected: 46 out of 468 screened

Zon Industri Bebas Tiga cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Penang District(s): Barat Daya Total infected: 21 out of 283 screened

Tapak Bina Jalan Tengku Azizah cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Johor District(s): Johor Bahru Total infected: 56 out of 235 screened

Industri Jalan Gangsa Kulai cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Johor District(s): Kulai Total infected: 18 out of 230 screened

Industri Jalan Johor Ayer Hitam cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Johor District(s): Batu Pahat Total infected: 15 out of 656 screened

Dah Tapak Bina Patani cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Kedah District(s): Kuala Muda Total infected: 54 out of 226 screened

Dah Empat Industri Sungai Petani cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Kedah District(s): Kuala Muda Total infected: 51 out of 117 screened

Industri Persiaran Pengkalan 32 cluster  

Category: Workplace State(s): Perak District(s): Kinta Total infected: 35 out of 120 screened

Semambu Empat cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Pahang District(s): Kuantan Total infected: 29 out of 55 screened

Ladang Jalan Bahau Rompin cluster  

Category: Workplace State(s): Negeri Sembilan District(s): Jempol Total infected: 75 out of 336 screened

Jalan PBR 12 cluster 

Category: Workplace State(s): Malacca District(s): Melaka Tengah Total infected: 25 out of 90 screened

Jalan Kubang Golok Merabang cluster 

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Bachok Total infected: 20 out of 36 screened

Kampung Gong Manak cluster 

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Pasir Puteh Total infected: 15 out of 18 screened

Jalan Kubang Kacang cluster 

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Kota Bharu Total infected: 14 out of 23 screened

Kampung Kedap cluster 

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Pasir Mas, Machang and Kota Bharu Total infected: 14 out of 26 screened

Kampung Kuala Besar cluster  

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Kota Bharu Total infected: 9 out of 17 screened

Lorong Pasir Lada cluster 

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Kota Bharu Total infected: 9 out of 15 screened

Lorong Madrasah cluster  

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Pasir Mas Total infected: 9 out of 13 screened

Lorong Penggawa Yahya cluster  

Category: Community State(s): Kelantan District(s): Pasir Mas Total infected: 5 out of 6 screened

Jalan Sutera Bakar Batu cluster  

Category: Community State(s): Johor District(s): Johor Bahru Total infected: 116 out of 193 screened

Sungai Tekam Jerantut cluster 

 Category: Community State(s): Pahang District(s): Jerantut Total infected: 27 out of 82 screened

Lemujan cluster  

Category: Community State(s): Sarawak District(s): Pakan Total infected: 38 out of 42 screened

Jalan Chemor Estate cluster 

Category: High-risk group State(s): Perak District(s): Kinta Total infected: 75 out of 97 screened

Kampung Ayer Papan cluster  

Category: High-risk group State(s): Perak District(s): Kinta Total infected: 13 out of 31 screened

Jalan SP 5/4 cluster 

Category: Non-Education Ministry institution State(s): Selangor District(s): Kuala Langat Total infected: 17 out of 118 screened

Jalan Scientex 20 cluster 

Category: Institusi Pendidikan Swasta Berdaftar di Bawah KPM State(s): Johor District(s): Kulai Total infected: 11 out of 48 screened

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‘Silent crisis’ looms as US to end Covid-19 aid for millions of jobless

Tough times: A sign advertising job openings is seen in New York. The US economy is far from healed, with 5.3 million jobs lost to the pand...

 

 

‘Silent crisis’ looms as US to end Covid-19 aid for millions of jobless

Tough times: A sign advertising job openings is seen in New York. The US economy is far from healed, with 5.3 million jobs lost to the pandemic yet to be restored and employers adding a mere 235,000 positions in August - Last year, the United States massively expanded unemployment aid as Covid-19 broke out.— Reuters pic

WASHINGTON, Sept 6 — Spending less on food. Drawing down on retirement savings. Dropping out of the workforce altogether.

Last year, the United States massively expanded unemployment aid as Covid-19 broke out. But in the coming days those benefits will end, forcing millions of jobless Americans — some of whom haven’t worked for the entire pandemic — to make hard choices about how they will get by in an economy newly menaced by the Delta variant.

“I have no idea how we would survive, just on my daughter’s income,” said Deborah Lee, an unemployed phlebotomist in Arizona who is recovering from a Covid outbreak that affected her daughter and two of her three granddaughters.

The government-funded programmes that increased weekly payments and gave aid to the long-term unemployed and freelancers were credited with keeping the United States from an even worse economic collapse last year.

In recent months they have become controversial, with some states ending them early and arguing they encouraged people not to return to jobs that Covid-19 vaccines made safe, though studies have disputed that contention.

From September 6 they will end nationwide, and while economists don’t expect them to meaningfully dent the US economy’s recovery from its 2020 debacle, they’ll undoubtedly up the pressure on the unemployed.

“I think it’s going to be an underappreciated event in the economy,” said Andrew Stettner of progressive think tank The Century Foundation, predicting that 7.5 million people will be relying on the programmes when they end.

“It’ll be kind of a silent crisis.”

‘Screwed over’

The expansion of the unemployment safety net occurred in March 2020, when Congress rushed to blunt the emerging pandemic with US$2.2 trillion (RM9.11 trillion) in spending through the CARES Act rescue package.

While never meant to be permanent, the benefits were reauthorised twice, most recently in the US$1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan enacted by President Joe Biden and his Democratic allies in Congress last March.

While many in the Republican Party at first backed the programmes, by this year their lawmakers were arguing against them, and 26 states, most with Republican governors, moved to end them early in whole or in part.

A study published last month by researchers from American and Canadian universities found only modest improvements in hiring and earnings in some of those states that ended the aid early, while spending fell 20 per cent.

Meanwhile the economy is far from healed, with 5.3 million jobs lost to the pandemic yet to be restored and employers adding a mere 235,000 positions in August, according to government data released Friday.

In Delaware, Ohio, Karen Coldwell says she sends out about 10 job applications weekly but has yet to be hired. All other openings she sees are for low-wage work, the kind of jobs she held when she was younger.

At age 64 she is not yet ready to retire, but worries she’ll have to start dipping into her retirement savings once the long-term unemployment programme ends.

“There’s just nothing out there. There’s jobs, but the money’s not there anymore,” Coldwell said. Others can’t return to the workforce, even though they know the benefits that make up their only income are ending. Brooke Ganieany of The Dalles, Oregon, said she has no one to care for her toddler son if she were to find employment.

“I feel kind of screwed over,” the 21-year-old told AFP. “I feel like they’re doing this to make us have a plan and get back to reality, which is not exactly the slogan they should be using.”

Unequal damage

Those eligible will continue to receive benefits under states’ regular unemployment programmes — but the end of a US$300 extra weekly supplement means their checks are about to shrink.

“It’s going to affect it so much. I’m going to have to cut back on food,” said 58-year-old Karen Williams, an unemployed graphic designer in Pennsylvania.

Gregory Daco of Oxford Economics predicted the cut off in benefits would lower household income by US$4.2 billion per week in September, or about US$210 billion annualised for the month.

“It’s not going to be the type of shock that puts the US economy into reverse,” he said in an interview, but predicted that “lower-income families and minorities are more likely to be negatively impacted.”

Fearful of further coronavirus variants and with her daughter missing badly needed pay from the family’s battle with Covid-19, Lee said she is waiting to hear whether the government will grant her disability aid for a hand injury, conceding her days of employment are likely behind her, at least for now.

“I don’t even know what the answer is,” she said. — AFP

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The fund flow conundrum

 

THE FBM KLCI closed above 1,600 points this week for the first time in five months since March 23, 2021.

It has been six consecutive days that our index continued to scale impressively. The index was single-handedly lifted due to the foreign funds flowing back into Bursa Malaysia with limited support by local institutions and retail investors, who have been net sellers.

Interestingly, this coincided with the resolution of the political impasse in our country with the eventual appointment of Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri as the new Prime Minister, the third in three years.

As of end-July 2021, foreign participation in terms of market capitalisation in our local equity market was at a record low of 20.2%.

After 25 months of a consecutive selloff by foreign funds of Malaysian equities, is this the inflection point that stock market investors have been fervently looking forward to?

There are many layers of questions to this overarching theme, but in my view, the most important would be the need to understand what investors want.

Investors ultimately want returns. So if they were to invest in our local stock market, they hope to be able to get the returns, as otherwise, they might as well invest elsewhere.

Malaysia’s weightage on global indexes has shrunk since its peak pre-1997/98 Asian Financial Crisis.

A simple gauge would be the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, where the FBM KLCI’s weightage has been declining from 19.94% in 1994 to 1.36% as at Aug 30, 2021 as shown in the pie chart (see chart).

This simply means how insignificant the Malaysian stock market has become in the eyes of global investors.

There is also a direct correlation to the performance of the companies in our local index.

Could it be that our listed companies are either undervalued or underperforming to regional peers, especially in the context of emerging markets?

There is no absolute answer to this as it is at times, a chicken-and-egg issue. Which one actually comes first?

Without foreign fund flows, the valuation of listed companies will remain low, as the market participants would be limited, resulting in a constrained money supply in the local bourse.

Conversely, it is true as well. Why should foreign funds invest in our local stock market and listed companies if the valuation versus their growth trajectory or earnings is not in tandem?

A good example would be Singapore. The Singapore Exchange (SGX) for the past 10 years has suffered a wave of delistings.

In 2010, there were 783 listed companies on the SGX. As at end-2020, there were only 715 listed companies remaining.

The peak of the Straits Times Index (STI) was 3,575 points and it has been on a downtrend ever since. Due to the country’s Covid-19 resilience, the STI started picking up ahead of regional peers towards the end of 2020 and reached 3,087 points as of Wednesday.

The predicament that Singapore went through is rather perplexing as any investor who has scoured the SGX would realise the companies are mostly undervalued not only in terms of valuation but also yields.

If we were to compare Singapore’s listed companies today, they are still undervalued comparatively to our local companies.

The blue-chip tech, banking and utilities companies in terms of valuation are on average more attractive than those listed on Bursa.

In the midst of this earnings season, looking at the reports, apart from the commodities sector, blue chips and select consumer/FMCG companies which were exemplary, others showed improvement but it is still far from recovery.

On face value, many did well if we take into consideration that the same quarter last year was the worst quarter for most companies as they had felt the full impact of MCO 1.0.

Bigger pull: The bull and bear fronting the Bursa Malaysia building. The local bourse needs more companies which can command a dominating position in the global market.

Whether our local stock market can remain competitive and capture the interest of foreign funds rely on many factors, among which are:

> the ease of entry and exit (access),

> low barriers of entry (cost),

> economic growth prospects (potential),

> political stability (certainty),

> unique value proposition (world-class companies only available in Malaysia), and

> favourable tax regimes (policies).

With all these factors in play and every market in the world vying for the same pool of funds, there must be a unique proposition for our local stock market.

Of course, the vibrancy of the local stock market would also require emphasis placed on local retail investors apart from our local institutions (mostly the sovereign, pension and government linked funds) which act as the anchor.

Only with that, Malaysia can break away from the usual stigma of “small population, limited growth trajectory”.

A good place to start would be the reform on market policies to be more investor-friendly.

However, the game changer would be favourable policies which can nurture, support and grow industries or SMEs such that they would be able to become world-class companies someday yet continue to list on Bursa.

The United States and Hong Kong markets are able to attract global investors’ interest primarily due to the unique companies which are listed on their bourse such as Amazon, Netflix, Tencent, JD.com, Google among many others.

Our own stock market need such companies to attract foreign funds and sustain their interest.

Bursa does have some good names which are not readily available elsewhere in the world such as those in the technology semiconductor space, glove sector, palm oil sector and plastics packaging sector.

We need more companies that either command dominating position in the global market share within their sector or trailblazers that move the country towards the preferred sectors.

This would be more sustainable to ensure foreign funds investing in our markets is not solely because our listed companies are undervalued but rather for the companies’ unique position itself.

In my humble view, a two pronged approach of encouraging good companies and getting them to list locally can address this predicament.

As an example, the precursor would be favourable policies accorded to foreign direct investment entities should also be given to local home-grown companies which meets the criteria, be it tax incentives or cheap land and so on.

Once the companies grows to a healthy size, to encourage them to list on Bursa, lower listing fees, ease of listing requirements or tax breaks for cornerstone investors or funds investing in home-grown companies listing on Bursa would go a long way.

That way, investors around the world who want a piece of these companies would have little alternative but to invest in our local stock market.

The fund flow conundrum of our local stock market will then eventually see some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Ng Zhu Hann

 
Hann, is the author of Once Upon A Time In Bursa. He is a lawyer & former Chief Strategist of a Fortune 500 Corporation.

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