Are Malaysian workers underpaid? It is an important question. But citing a relatively low labour share does not answer it.

Tong's Portfolio — We repeat: A smaller share of GDP does not mean workers are underpaid

More than one-third of Malaysian tertiary graduates are working in jobs that do not fully utilise the qualifications they spent years earning. At the same time, employers are saying they cannot find workers with the skills they need. These two phenomena may appear contradictory. Yet, both are true at once. In Part 2 of our three-part series on education in Malaysia this week, we examine what this skill mismatch reveals about our education system.

Tong's Portfolio — More degrees, wrong skills: Malaysia’s graduate mismatch

Completing 11 years of schooling from primary (six years) to secondary (five years) is now mandatory for all Malaysian citizens. Parents who fail to comply can be fined up to RM5,000, jailed up to six months, or both. Per the latest United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) data, Malaysians have completed 11.1 years of schooling, on average, well above the global mean of 8.8 years — and just a shade lower than Singapore’s 12 years. A child entering school today has an even higher 12.7 expected years of schooling. By this measure, Malaysia places within the UNDP’s “Very high human development” category. A laudable achievement — but also a false narrative.

Tong's Portfolio — More straight As, less learning: What Malaysia’s exams miss

A budget should be judged by both the relief it provides today and the productive capability it builds for tomorrow.

Tong's Portfolio - Budget 2027: More to spend, less to build?

US President Donald Trump’s Libe­ration Day tariffs, first unveiled in April 2025, triggered a barrage of near-uniform criticisms from economists and trade experts.

Tong's Portfolio - Trump’s tariffs: Why the inflation shock never came

It has been a couple of months since Bank Negara Malaysia rolled out its MediAsas pilot programme, previously called the Base MHIT (medical and health insurance/takaful) Plan. The pilot — involving staff of selected statutory bodies, government-linked companies, and small and medium enterprises, six of the largest insurers and takaful operators in the country as well as 10 preferred in-network hospitals in the Klang Valley — began at end-July and will end this month. Nationwide launch is slated for January 2027.

Tong's Portfolio - Fixing medical cost inflation: Change the rules, change the behaviour

Most debates about democracy ask whether democracy is superior to the alternatives. Supporters point to freedom, representation and legitimacy. Critics point to voter ignorance, populism, short-termism and political dysfunction. Others look at countries governed by technocrats or strong states and ask whether expertise and competence might sometimes produce better outcomes than electoral politics.

Tong's Portfolio: Who governs the governors?

For years, the people building the world’s most powerful artificial intelligence systems have warned us that AI could eventually become dangerous. Yet, they continued to race ahead, building companies now worth hundreds of billions — and, in some cases, associated with technology groups worth trillions — of US dollars each.

Tong's Portfolio - First, win the AI race. Then, stop the race?

Malaysia’s economy grew 6% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026. That is the second-fastest pace of growth ...

Tong's Portfolio - Malaysia’s economy is growing faster than expected — but the people are not feeling it. Why?

The pace of progress in artificial intelligence (AI) has been extraordinary. Just a year ago, generative AI was still largely used as a chatbot — useful for answering questions, summarising documents or generating snippets of code. Today, tools such as Anthropic’s Claude Code and OpenAI’s Codex can operate much more like agents: they can read files, write and modify codes, run programs, debug errors and carry out multi-step tasks with relatively little human intervention.

Tong's Portfolio - AI is changing investing — but not its rules

Every investment is a bet.

When investors buy shares because they expect corporate earnings to exceed expectations, they are betting. When traders buy oil futures because they believe conflict in the Middle East will disrupt supply, they are betting. Venture capitalists funding an artificial intelligence (AI) start-up are betting. Banks financing a new factory are betting.

Tong's Portfolio - The political economy of gambling: Who decides which bets society accepts?

Is rising leverage in the US equity market combined with elevated valuations a warning sign for investors? Per FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), total US investor margin debt just reached an all-time high of US$1.5 trillion in June, up by nearly 50% from this time last year and more than double from the start of 2024.

Tong's Portfolio - Leverage won’t cause the next sell-off ... but it could make it worse

Malaysian initial public offerings (IPOs) do not generally perform well beyond their first few days of trading and, sometimes, not even during that period. We have examined and written extensively about the reasons for this disappointing performance, including a valuation methodology that does a poor job of valuing companies because it is backward-looking, focusing on historical profits rather than future growth potential.

Tong's Portfolio - Public markets, private gains: Why the best years of growth increasingly happen before companies go public

The National Automotive Policy (NAP) 2020 and the New Industrial Master Plan (NIMP) 2030 envision Malaysia as an automotive production and export hub for next-generation vehicles, targeting Asean and the wider Asian market. This dovetails with the nation’s broader industrial development plan to raise economic complexity, create high-value job opportunities and deepen domestic linkages.

Tong's Portfolio - The road not taken: Lessons from Malaysia’s automotive industry

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) is actively advancing key strategic projects to build capacity and accelerate commercial expansion.

Malaysia Aviation Group advances strategic projects to drive commercial expansion

Oil dropped on Monday after a report said US President Donald Trump wants to give diplomacy more time before deciding whether to resume strikes on Iran following Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Oil falls as report says Trump to give Iran diplomacy more time

A sell-off in stocks eased during early Monday trading as Asian equities fell less than their Wall Street peers and US equity futures turned higher. Oil declined.

Stock sell-off eases in Asian trade as oil declines

(Nov 2): Singapore-based data centre operator STT GDC Pte Ltd (STTGDC) is in talks with banks for a S$3.1 billion (US$2.4 billion) syndicated loan, according to people familiar with the matter, as the AI boom continues to fuel demand for debt among companies building the infrastructure.

Singapore’s STTGDC eyes US$2.4 bil loan, adds to AI debt binge — Bloomberg

The main event for the week ahead locally is Bank Negara Malaysia’s policy decision on Thursday (Nov 5). Eight of nine economists polled expect the overnight policy rate (OPR) to stay at 2.75%. UOB economists Julia Goh and Jasrine Koke expect a 25-basis-point (bp) hike to 3%, citing the policy guidance shift in September, stronger-than-expected 3Q2026 advance gross domestic product (GDP) and the expansionary Budget 2027, which includes a higher minimum wage, more cash assistance and tax relief.

The Week Ahead: All eyes on Bank Negara’s OPR decision and US midterm elections

RHB Bank Bhd's (KL:RHBBANK) dividend payout appears secure for the year with the fourth-largest bank by assets unfazed by rising bond yields, an analyst said on Monday.

RHB Bank’s dividends intact, not swayed by rising bond yields — analyst

(Nov 2): China’s central bank launched daily overnight reverse repurchase operations on Monday, kicking off a revamped liquidity framework that establishes the short-term tool as its primary policy anchor.

PBOC conducts overnight reverse repo as policy anchor shifts

Foreign institutions returned to net buying on Bursa Malaysia, recording US$323.1 million (RM1.3 billion) in net inflows, according to MBSB Investment Bank Bhd (MBSB IB).

Foreign investors return to net buying with US$323 mil net inflows last week — MBSB IB

The Sabah portion of the Pan Borneo Highway (PBH) will go down in the Malaysian record books as one of the costliest road infrastructure projects in the region.

Frankly Speaking: The mind-boggling cost of Sabah’s Pan Borneo Highway

Barisan Nasional (BN) is prepared to invite Perikatan Nasional (PN) to join the state administration if the coalition succeeds in forming the government in the 16th Melaka state election on Nov 14.

Melaka polls: Zahid ready for BN-PN govt

A sell-off in stocks eased during early Monday trading as Asian equities fell less than their Wall Street peers and US equity futures turned higher. Oil declined.

President Donald Trump said a US-Canada trade deal is “very close” after talks with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said both sides would work on a “mutually beneficial” outcome in the weeks ahead.&nbsp;

Trump says US-Canada trade deal is close after talks with Carney

More than one-third of Malaysian tertiary graduates are working in jobs that do not fully utilise the qualifications they spent years earning. At the same time, employers are saying they cannot find workers with the skills they need. These two phenomena may appear contradictory. Yet, both are true at once. In Part 2 of our three-part series on education in Malaysia this week, we examine what this skill mismatch reveals about our education system.

Are Malaysian workers underpaid? It is an important question. But citing a relatively low labour share does not answer it.

Here's a heads up on what to look out for today.

YOUR DAY AHEAD: Nov 2, 2026 

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): October saw renewed growth in output and new orders, signalling a fresh improvement in Malaysia's manufacturing health, according to the latest S&amp;P Global purchasing managers index (PMI) data.

Malaysian manufacturing sector regains growth in October — PMI data

Oil dropped on Monday after a report said US President Donald Trump wants to give diplomacy more time before deciding whether to resume strikes on Iran following Tuesday’s midterm elections.

RHB Bank Bhd's (KL:RHBBANK) dividend payout appears secure for the year with the fourth-largest bank by assets unfazed by rising bond yields, an analyst said on Monday.

FRANKFURT/PEISSENBERG, Germany (Nov 1): German ministers threatened tough penalties for looters and rioters who damaged stores and injured more than 100 police officers in Frankfurt overnight, while praising security forces for preventing wider violence.

Frankfurt emerged as the main fl...

German ministers vow tough response to Frankfurt riots and looting

BEIJING/Hong Kong (Nov 2):&nbsp;Five of China's largest state-owned banks reported quarterly profit growth of between 6% and 11%, supported by stabilising net interest margins (NIM) and steadier asset quality, even as a slowing economy continued to weigh.

Each of the five lenders posted...

China's big banks post fastest quarterly profit growth in years as margins stabilise

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 2): TSH Resources Bhd (KL:TSH) has voluntarily offered to engage with&nbsp;the Singapore government's assessors panel to evaluate its operations, corporate relationships&nbsp;and supply chains in connection with the fires in Indonesia that have contributed to the transboundary haze.

TSH Resources volunteers to engage with Singapore agency's independent assessors over haze

(Nov 1):- The stock market got a long-awaited jolt of volatility late last week after disappointing earnings from technology giants added to angst around the AI-driven rally.

Now traders are bracing for further shocks this week from the US midterm elections and Nvidia Corp. earnings lat...

Wall Street braces for more wild days in stocks after tech rout

The Sabah portion of the Pan Borneo Highway (PBH) will go down in the Malaysian record books as one of the costliest road infrastructure projects in the region.

WASHINGTON (Nov 1): President Donald Trump's White House has spent months preparing for a possible Democratic takeover of Congress, developing plans to keep advancing major parts of his agenda through executive power while bracing for investigations of his administration, according to a White Hou...

Trump White House maps path to govern without Congress if Democrats win

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(Nov 1):&nbsp;DeepSeek has released a prototype of a more autonomous coding agent as it seeks to challenge Anthropic PBC's popular Claude Code.

The new open-source offering, dubbed "Super-agent" can proactively monitor group chats among d...

DeepSeek drops enhanced coding agent with aim to rival Anthropic

BENGALURU (Nov 2): Australian lender Westpac on Monday warned of a housing market downturn steeper than any seen in nearly two decades and reported a twofold jump in credit impairment charges, while full-year adjusted profit met market expectations.

Westpac flags deepest housing downturn in nearly two decades, impairment charges double

The Malaysian passport renewal service through the MyOnline passport system will offer a choice of five- or 10-year validity periods starting from Monday.

Five- and 10-year passport renewal options available from Monday via MyOnline system

HANOI (Nov 2): Businesses are divided over whether Washington should propose new tariffs on Vietnamese goods this month, with Tesla and Samsung not in favour, while others have called for penalties, submissions to the US government show.

Tesla, Samsung oppose new US tariffs on Vietnam as probe deadline nears

The main event for the week ahead locally is Bank Negara Malaysia’s policy decision on Thursday (Nov 5). Eight of nine economists polled expect the overnight policy rate (OPR) to stay at 2.75%. UOB economists Julia Goh and Jasrine Koke expect a 25-basis-point (bp) hike to 3%, citing the policy guidance shift in September, stronger-than-expected 3Q2026 advance gross domestic product (GDP) and the expansionary Budget 2027, which includes a higher minimum wage, more cash assistance and tax relief.

(Nov 2):&nbsp;An Australian miner led by billionaire Robert Friedland and backed by the US government has given the go-ahead for a major rare earths project.

Tong's Portfolio

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