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KDN PP18893/11/2015(034373)
he year of the wood snake started off literally with a bang. Based on recent media reports, the Petronas gas pipeline explosion in Putra Heights in Selangor displaced more than 500 residents, damaged 190 homes, 148 cars and 11 motorcycles, and brought untold suffering and misery to everyone affected by the blast who would otherwise have been joyously celebrating Hari Raya over the long weekend. Affected residents will now have to tend to their injured loved ones, take stock of their lost belongings, lodge police reports, file insurance claims and navigate the intricacies of claiming for their financial losses. In addition, these people will have to take leave from work whilst children may have to skip school for a period of time whilst the families try to find alternative temporary accommodation, apply for replacement of important lost official documents like birth certificates, marriage certificates, identity cards, graduation certificates, property titles, car ownership registration cards and so on. It would likely take a while before they can go on to restoring or repairing their homes if they are not that badly damaged, or if they have been burnt to the ground, they will have to sort out their insurance claims and use the money to buy a new home. This unfortunate event will certainly have some impact on the property industry. Potential house buyers will now ask whether the property that they are considering buying is located anywhere close to any gas pipelines. Financial institutions will also likely want to establish whether there are any gas pipelines running close to the properties that they are being asked to finance and property valuers will also take this factor into consideration when coming up with the OMV (open market value) for the property and make the necessary adjustments to the value just
Curtain Raiser 2025: Henry Butcher Malaysian & Southeast Asian Art Auction p11
like for properties which are located close to flood prone areas, high tension wires, cemetery, steep slopes, oxidation pond/sewerage treatment plant or other negative elements. Trump’s Tariffs On the global stage, the advent of the Trump II administration has, as expected, created a lot of fears, tension and uncertainty with the new President signing into power, a host of controversial executive orders on issues ranging from double citizenship and illegal immigrants to a freeze in federal staff hiring, halting government funding for transgender medical care, halt to federal aid, shuttering USAID and firing all its staff, shutting down offices of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), cutting jobs under the newly set up DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) and so on. Of more significant impact to the world is the announcement on the day after April Fool’s day and called Liberation Day by the U.S. President, the imposition of sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs ranging from a minimum of 10% to as high as 49% on all imports into the U.S. which affects even close allies of the countries. These new tariffs will add on to existing tariffs levied on the countries and this aggressive stance taken by the President will certainly invite retaliation by the countries affected which will then lead to an unprecedented all-out global trade war. This development could have a far reaching and damaging impact on world trade and economic growth. The announcement of the tariffs led to a carnage on Wall Street, recording the fourth-largest two-day drop in the S&P 500 since its inception in 1957 whilst Asian markets suffered historic losses and European bourses followed suit. Locally,
Tang Chee Meng
the KLCI slumped to its biggest one day drop since March 2008. Malaysia itself has been hit by a 24% tariff rate, higher than the 10% imposed on close U.S. ally Singapore and the 17% imposed on the Philippines but lower than the 46% imposed on Vietnam, 36% imposed on Thailand, 32% imposed on Indonesia and 49% imposed on Cambodia. On a macro level, this will certainly have an impact on our exports to the U.S. and result in reduced orders from American consumers due to the higher prices that they now have to pay but at the micro level, the tariffs may actually benefit some of our exports eg. rubber gloves as Malaysian gloves will become relatively cheaper than similar products from competitors like China which have been hit by very much higher tariffs which have more than offset the lower production costs of Chinese manufacturers.