Both sides agreed to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on June 17 that supposedly would open the Strait of Hormuz while they negotiated a final deal on Iran’s nuclear program within 60 days. The two-month deadline to reach a deal expires on Monday (August 17). But Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei ruled out talks to extend the MOU.

In a pre-emptive strike, Tehran warned on Monday that it will escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and beyond, and launch an attack if the U.S. fails to ​implement an interim peace deal fully in a matter of weeks. If the U.S. does not meet that deadline and diplomacy fails, Tehran would conduct a “timely and precise” military attack to ​break the U.S. naval blockade on the Islamic Republic.

After Donald Trump signed the MOU with Iran in mid-June, administration officials have been building a narrative towards reopening of the Strait of Hormuz – leading to an end of the war. The U.S. president has repeatedly claimed that a deal to end the Iran War was near. Yet, Iran has continued to contradict – even sabotage – that a deal was about to be made.

Behind the scenes, Iran’s hard-line leaders gathered in Tehran and came up with a different plan, according to Iranian and Arab officials. In their view, the pact was likely just an attempt by the U.S. and Israel to take pressure off the global economy and buy time for a bigger attack down the road. Instead of naively putting faith in talks, they took the past two months to prepare for a bigger fight.

Iran’s plans include giving the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) more control of the country’s regular army, appointing hardened veterans to key posts, expanding domestic counterintelligence operations and ramping up production of missiles and drones. The leadership made surprise moves – attacking ships to tighten Iran’s grip on Hormuz and expanding the battlefield to the Red Sea, which Saudi Arabia has used to get around Iran’s chokehold on the Persian Gulf.

Arab intelligence officials have picked up evidence – including communications between Iran and militia allies in countries such as Yemen and Iraq – of a strategic shift inside the country’s hard-line leadership to get their forces ready to widen the war and raise the costs for the U.S. Spooking weaker Gulf countries like Kuwait, Iran’s leaders are increasingly talking about offensive operations on enemy territory.

“There is also a widespread view in Iran that the main war has not yet begun,” – said Mohammad Hassan Sangtarash, a Tehran-based defense analyst close to the Iranian government. “What we have seen so far is increasingly interpreted through the lens of ‘salami-slicing’ tactics – limited, incremental escalation designed to weaken capabilities before a larger confrontation.”

The Iranian preparations point to an enormous gap between how Washington and Tehran are perceiving this stage of the war. The divergence has driven a hard-line negotiating stance and reluctance to close deals by Iran’s leaders that has persistently puzzled Trump, who has called them crazy and accused them of lying. Iran’s readiness to fight also signals a deep distrust with the United States.

Iran’s proclamations include plenty of bravado. The country’s military and economic base have been battered by U.S. and Israeli airstrikes. More pragmatic members of the leadership including Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian have repeatedly warned Iran needs to negotiate a deal to end the war that brings sanctions relief or face the collapse of its economy.

But Iran is rebuilding its infrastructure and restoring access to missile bases much more quickly than expected, a concern to Israeli officials who are familiar with the progress. It also has successfully targeted U.S. bases and retains enough firepower to threaten ships and Gulf energy infrastructure. Arab officials are bracing for continued fighting and an extended disruption of energy supplies.

For the regime, “the baseline is war,” – said Alan Eyre, a former senior U.S. diplomat and nuclear negotiator with Iran.“ Iran will remain on a wartime footing, preparing for a subsequent attack.” When Trump signed the MOU with Iran on June 17 at the French palace of Versailles, the biggest hurdle was to convince American critics that Trump wasn’t losing and surrendering to Tehran.

The deal promised sanctions waivers to let Iran sell its oil, access to billions of dollars in frozen cash and the prospect of a US$300 billion fund to rebuild the country. Iran’s main obligation was to open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping traffic and then negotiate in good faith on its nuclear program. When Iran started shooting at ships the U.S. was guiding through the strait three weeks later in early July, it caught the U.S. by surprise.

“The very dangerous people from Iran, they’re sick,” – complained Trump, who also called Iran’s leaders scum. “There’s something wrong with them.” In truth, Iran was pursuing a two-track policy. While diplomats pursued a peace deal with the U.S., Iranian leader Mojtaba Khamenei was taking steps to prepare the security apparatus for an expanded confrontation that may be initiated by Tehran itself.

The Revolutionary Guard used the calm created by the MOU to lay the groundwork with allied militias around the region to step up attacks if needed, sending advisers to Iraq, Yemen and Lebanon to discuss the plans, the officials familiar with recent Arab intelligence findings said. All these happened while Trump thought he was winning.

The intelligence including intercepted communications showed the Revolutionary Guard sending commanders to areas controlled by Yemen’s Houthis to plan for a stepped-up confrontation with Saudi Arabia in coordination with Iraqi militias that also are backed by Iran.

While Trump was led to believe that Tehran diplomats were under pressure for a deal, the Revolutionary Guard supervised deployments of missiles, naval weapons and drone launchers to positions overlooking the Red Sea. It also provided the Yemeni militants with intelligence, target lists including Saudi ports and energy facilities, and advice on sheltering from Saudi retaliation.

The result was fighting that escalated through late July. The Houthis struck Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia and declared the Bab al-Mandeb Strait that links the Red Sea to world markets closed to Saudi Arabia. The militant group has fired on Saudi ships, complicating the kingdom’s efforts to export its oil and raising the supply risks for global markets.

Around the same time, Saudi Arabia said Iran-backed militias in Iraq had launched drone attacks on its oil facilities. The Revolutionary Guard threatened Gulf states that it would destroy their energy facilities if the U.S. were to hit similar sites in Iran – going as far as sharing detailed lists of individual targets to its Arab counterparts, the officials said.

To make sure Washington gets the message, Iran has also escalated its attacks on American troops. Tehran surprised the U.S. by firing five ballistic missiles at Jordan during a lull in the conflict. The attack came two weeks after another Iranian strike in Jordan killed three U.S. servicemembers. It was clearly a deliberate provocation to humiliate Donald Trump.

Officials in the Gulf grew more alarmed as they watched the scope of attacks grow and Iranian missiles evade U.S. defenses and hit targets more precisely in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. The fighting spilled into August, with Iran striking six United Arab Emirates ships over the past two weeks as they tried to transit the Strait of Hormuz.

“We took full advantage of the ceasefire period,” – Revolutionary Guard spokesman Brig. Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said in an interview with the Guard-affiliated Tasnim news agency in July. “We enhanced our capabilities, accelerated our missile production rate and improved missile accuracy.”

Behind the scenes, Supreme Leader Khamenei, or whoever is in charge, was positioning his forces for a more aggressive fight, lining up seven key security leaders. The appointments came with aggressive goals that included tightening the military chain of command, turning an ideological militia into a neighborhood intelligence agency and emphasizing an offensive approach.

Mohsen Rezaei, whose son was among nine identified in a US$11 billion Iran oil network and the same man who led the Revolutionary Guard during the war with Iraq in the 1980s, was named secretary of Iran’s top decision-making body, the Supreme National Security Council, where he will be Khamenei’s representative. In the past week, the council crushed progress on a deal to gradually open Hormuz.

To step up internal security, Khamenei returned veteran Hossein Taeb, a close associate who led a deadly crackdown on protests in 2009, to the helm of the Basij paramilitary unit. The supreme leader tasked the former Iranian Spy Chief with pivoting the volunteer force into a “popular intelligence network” in the wake of two wars that showed how thoroughly Iran had been breached by Israeli intelligence.

Tehran advisers see the next stage of the confrontation going beyond conventional warfare to include external attempts to incite domestic unrest. The regime brutally suppressed protests over the country’s economic crisis in January and fears it’s only a matter of time before the continued economic deterioration under U.S. pressure brings demonstrators back to the street.

Khamenei also consolidated Revolutionary Guard influence over the regular army by unifying control of the two military arms under Brig. Gen. Ali Abdollahi (as Iran’s armed forces chief of staff), a veteran Revolutionary Guard senior commander and military leader who has aggressively advocated attacks on Arab states hosting U.S. bases around the Persian Gulf.

New Revolutionary Guard Commander in Chief Ahmad Vahidi – who has been unofficially on the job since March – was formally given the position and tasked with “powerful offensive operations against the enemy”. The next day, Gen. Mohammad Reza Naghdi, an adviser to Vahidi, said the paramilitary force must be prepared to take operations into enemy territory.

“Vahidi’s elevation is consistent with a leadership preparing the security establishment for a period of sustained confrontation rather than a return to normal peacetime politics,” – said Saeid Golkar, an expert on Iran’s security services at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

The Revolutionary Guard – an armed force nearly 200,000 strong – has devised new plans for further escalation including pre-emptive strikes. Among the options – sabotaging internet cables in the Persian Gulf, creating political unrest in countries with Shia communities such as Kuwait and Bahrain, and potentially even ground operations in Kuwait.

Kuwait takes those risks seriously. In early May, the tiny Gulf sheikdom said its security forces had intercepted six Revolutionary Guard troops that used a rented fishing boat to land on a Kuwaiti island separated from Iran only by a thin strip of Iraqi territory. Some Iranian political figures have suggested the Revolutionary Guard could launch ground raids via southern Iraq if the U.S. were to threaten Iranian territory like Kharg Island.

Some Gulf officials said Iran’s recent behaviour is fueling uncertainty about relations with the much larger, newly more aggressive neighbour after the war. They say it remains difficult to assess the extent of the damage the U.S. and Israel did to the Revolutionary Guard’s capabilities. Still, it’s clear the organization hasn’t been defeated or deterred, and its hold on Hormuz has strengthened its regional position, they said.

That reality has helped push Gulf states to support even unfavorable deals that would acknowledge Iranian oversight of the strait if it stops further escalation. But regional leaders are also growing more frustrated by the lack of fundamental changes in Tehran’s behavior in response to diplomatic outreach. However, Iran could be playing a mind-game or psychology warfare with the Gulf states.

Mediators in the talks said Iranian diplomats agreed early in the month on a deal with Oman to set up and oversee routes through Hormuz that would lead to the gradual reopening of the strait. Those efforts were blocked by the Revolutionary Guard, which went back to attacking ships. Iran’s security-minded leadership, they said, appears to be growing more confident in its demands.

People close to Iran’s top negotiators have warned peace talks could be just an interlude before more conflict. Mehdi Mohammadi, a strategic adviser to chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, described the current stalemate on Tuesday as the calm before the storm. Mohammadi said the drivers of continued conflict include a “generational project for blood vengeance” for the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

“The Iranian nation still has much unfinished business with Trump. Iran is prepared for the great confrontation,” – said Mohammadi, who is also a member of Iran’s negotiating team. On Monday, Donald Trump has again threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of his effort to end the U.S.-Israel war on Iran. Trump’s wish for a peace plan was also torpedoed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a U.S.-backed peace plan for the Gaza. 

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The post Calm Before The Storm – Iran’s Secret Plan To Escalate The War first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

Penang DAP has not taken an official stance on whether to stay or leave PM Anwar’s federal cabinet. But Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow’s decision to continue cooperation with Barisan Nasional (BN) in Penang, despite BN’s betrayal in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, leading to criticism from party adviser Lim Guan Eng, suggests Chow was afraid to openly support Anwar like his comrade Nga.

Johor DAP chief Teo Nie Ching – as much as she likes to take the same stance as Perak DAP – has stated that the state leadership is leaving the choice entirely to its delegates to vote and decide at the national congress on Sunday (August 16). In the recent Johor state election, DAP lost 40% of its seats to BN – largely due to Anwar’s arrogance and voters’ loss of trust in his leadership.

Negeri Sembilan DAP is in trouble. The state has a new chief, a largely unknown called J Arul Kumar. He has been appointed to replace Anthony Loke Siew Fook, the mighty DAP secretary-general and (former) Negeri Sembilan DAP chief who was defeated in his own stronghold Chennah seat. So Loke, like Teo, can’t declare their wish to remain in Anwar’s government without looking overly power-crazy.

While Loke is the Minister of Transport, Teo is the Deputy Minister of Communications. Nga, Chow, Teo, and Penang DAP chief Steven Sim Chee Keong were part of Anthony Loke’s Young Turks who made the disrespectful move to humiliate the Lim family when they plotted the removal of Lim faction in the Democratic Action Party (DAP) national congress in March 2025.

After former finance minister Lim Guan Eng was voted out as DAP chairman, and replaced with Digital minister Gobind Singh Deo, Loke’s team which also comprised Minister Nga as the new deputy chairperson of DAP practically controlled the entire party. The younger leaders such as Loke, demanding a greater say in DAP’s future, were in cloud nine after they defeated the Lim political dynasty.

But Loke faction’s victory would be the beginning of the downfall of DAP a few months later. In the November 2025 Sabah state election, DAP was annihilated, where it won none of the eight seats it had contested. Under Loke’s weak leadership as secretary-general of DAP, the party has become less outspoken, and worse, more comfortable to play a subservient role in government.

While Lim warned PM Anwar that DAP was not a “yes-man party”, Loke arrogantly offered the opposite view in defiance, saying DAP under his leadership will be “respectful” and focus on finding solutions. The Prime Minister was happy that Lim Guan Eng – the only DAP leader willing to speak out about the shortcomings in government and other issues – had been eliminated by Loke.

Drunk with power, Loke’s cowardice emerged soon after his faction won. Denying that DAP leaders did not dare voice out their opinions on pressing issues after being given ministerial positions, he argued that the party had to do things in a different way compared to when it was in the opposition. He said they could not threaten the prime minister if they disagreed with any policy.

“The prime minister is a democrat, he will listen to arguments and opinions. When you speak with the prime minister it has to be with skill and art. You have to be respectful when presenting your opinion. We are not in the opposition where we can threaten the prime minister and the government. Today, we are in the same ship, and he is our captain,” – lectured Loke. 

However, Sabah clearly disagreed with Loke. Sabahan Chinese voted in droves in favour of Warisan last year, effectively wiping out PKR and DAP in the Borneo state. That speaks volumes about the captain whom Loke admires and worships greatly. Incredibly shocked over DAP’s total wipeout in Sabah, Loke announced a six-month window for Premier Anwar Ibrahim’s government to accelerate institutional reforms.

Hilariously, Loke clarified that while DAP would reassess its role if targets weren’t met, it would not withdraw backing to topple the federal administration. The conditions set were not only vague and unmeasurable, which were deliberately designed so that all power-crazy DAP leaders would continue to remain in the government, but were also “full of hot air” meant to hoodwink Chinese hardcore supporters.

Exactly what reforms that Anwar could deliver in 6 months when the PM could not bother to even discuss promised reforms in the past 36 months the Madani government has been walking the corridors of power? And was it not Anthony Loke who himself told all and sundry that DAP cannot threaten the prime minister, but must speak using marvel skill and art?

After all, Anwar has been repeatedly dragging his feet with excuses that reforms would need time and that they could not be rushed. Would it not paint the PM as a hypocrite, a liar, and an untrustworthy forked-tongue leader if he suddenly says reforms can now be done 6 months when he was the same leader in the past 36 months who had insisted that reforms could not be delivered?

That 6-month notice to Anwar has since ballooned to 10 months today. Originally scheduled for July 12, 2026, to evaluate internal positioning and strategy at a special congress, DAP has postponed it. But it has only gotten worse after Anwar led Pakatan Harapan coalition to two more spectacular losses in Johor and Negeri Sembilan, where Anwar’s PKR won only 1 (out of 20 contested) and 2 seats (out of 16 contested) respectively.

In the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections, DAP’s seat counts dropped from 10 to six and 11 to nine, respectively. Under pressure, Loke – humiliated after losing Negeri Sembilan – said DAP will leave it to the wisdom of the over 4,000 delegates that qualify to attend the National Convention to decide whether DAP should remain in the government till the end of term or otherwise.

Make no mistake – the reason why Mr Loke passed the ball to the DAP delegates to make the final decision is to shift the responsibility in the event that a decision – which has already been “made to remain” in the sinking ship – would spark frustration and anger. He could conveniently point the finger at the 4,000 delegates for any unpopular decisions that could backfire.

Yes, DAP is expected to vote in favour of remaining in the Madani government for obvious reasons. Under the pretext of preserving the existing coalition structure and power base, and to allow the Anwar administration to continue pursuing reforms, whilst at the same time maintaining political stability, Loke’s team has already “brainwashed” the delegates with “rounds of briefing” before tomorrow’s congress.

To prevent backlash or trigger anger, the gimmick is to – again – impose conditions of greater commitments or assurances on reforms from Anwar, even though Loke’s initial 6-month window for the PM had delivered nothing. Fear mongering that DAP could be accused of destabilizing the government should the party quit the government would be a good excuse for the delegates to vote to stay.

That explains why the Anwar government – after rejecting for the past 3 years since coming to power in November 2022 – suddenly announced that the controversial AUKU (Universities and University College Act 1971) could be abolished. Student groups, instead of celebrating, have warned against yet another empty promise after “pathological liar” Anwar made the promise at the PKR National Congress in Melaka today (August 15, 2026).

In another “too little too late” coordinate blockbuster drama over the weekend between DAP and PKR, Anthony Loke lectures Anwar Ibrahim to seize the remaining term to focus on implementing reforms and manifesto commitments. Desperation also saw PM Anwar, who is PKR president, shedding crocodile tears with an apology to former PKR leaders and members, begging them to return to the party.

Yes, it’s not a coincidence that Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) and its political ally Democratic Action Party (DAP) – the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition’s two biggest parties – are holding congresses in Melaka and Putrajaya respectively. The melodrama would see Anwar making commitments again on reforms so that DAP delegates could conveniently use them as justifications to stay in the Cabinet.

A decision by DAP – PH’s largest component party in federal parliament with 40 MPs – to withdraw from the Cabinet would pose a serious threat to Anwar’s administration and could even force him to call an early general election. Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could use the DAP decision as an excuse to pull support from the government and push for polls.

Most of the DAP 4,000 delegates have reasons not to rock the boat – they also enjoy some perks thanks to the party being part of the government. Besides, DAP had waited a long time – more than 60 years – to be in government and would not squander the chance they have been given. Even if PH were to lose in the next 16^th General Election, DAP should enjoy the power and perks till the last moment.

Screaming “Reformasi”, while comical and entertaining, may be a nice trick to rally gullible supporters. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an old scam, as long as the scam works. But don’t expect the spineless leadership of Loke to demand for a report on special task force and committees formed by the Malaysian government to investigate former MACC chief Azam Baki to be revealed to the public.

Even though DAP delegates could easily argue that the party should not leave the Madani government, but use the remaining time to push for reforms, the burning question remains whether DAP is ready to face the consequences of insulting the people’s intelligence with more broken promises. Worse, DAP’s continued participation in the cabinet could further expose the party to criticism on unpopular and bad policies.

Like it or not, DAP is being “caught between a rock and a hard place”. They can choose to be accused of wanting to hold on to their positions in government, or be accused of abandoning Pakatan Harapan and the Anwar government at a critical moment. Either way, DAP leaders should realise that the party was likely to return to the Opposition at the federal level after the 16th General Election. Loke has been hugging toxic Anwar for too long. The damage is done!!!

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The post PKR & DAP Weekend Drama – Pretending To Decide Whether To Quit Or Stay first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

In July of this year, Israel shared intelligence with the U.S. – Iran had hatched a new plan to kill Trump. The threat uncovered would involve Iranian proxies launching a lightweight, shoulder-fired missile at Trump’s plane as he departed Ankara. Since the joint US-Israeli strikes in February that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and scores of other senior Iranian officials, a revenge plot to kill Trump cannot be ignored.

In a worst-case scenario, a militant would evade tight security at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit, stand about a half-mile away from the airport and use a man-portable air-defense system, or Manpad, to strike the Air Force One. It may sound like a Hollywood movie. But if the assassination happens, it would be a huge humiliation and defeat to the U.S.

While the plane would later be accompanied by jet fighters in the air, the aircraft would have been vulnerable as it took off under such a scenario. Some U.S. officials thought the alleged plot was impractical, implausible, even impossible. Turkish officials would later tell regional counterparts that they found no evidence Trump was ever in danger of a Manpad attack.

But with little time to confirm incoming details and the U.S. in the middle of a war with Iran, the Secret Service took no risks and devised a plan that seemed ripped from the pages of a political thriller. After all, these are not the first assassination attempts on the POTUS. U.S. officials for years have accused Iran of seeking to assassinate Trump

After exiting his limousine, Trump could be seen boarding a legacy version of Air Force One. However, the Commander-in-Chief secretly – without reporters or some senior White House officials aware of his movements – exits with help of a catering truck which was raised to plane on far side. Then, the truck – with label Turkish DO & CO – drove away from Air Force One to a nearby Air Force C-32A plane.

A few top aides, including his favourite personal assistant Natalie Harp, joined him. Along with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, they would ride the smaller aircraft to a military base in the U.K. before secretly transferring back through a different entrance to the original Air Force One after the jumbo jet landed. Trump then walked down the stairs as though he had been onboard all along.

For the final leg back to the U.S., Trump flew aboard a third plane, his preferred Qatari-gifted jet, for a more luxurious ride home. The ruse was carried out with Cabinet members, some White House staff and reporters aboard the old Air Force One. All hell broke loose when news media discovered that a dozen reporters were left on the decoy plane as potential target. But Trump has defended the switch.

All three planes involved in the dramatic ruse to evade an Iranian threat, including the Qatari Air Force One, departed and landed at the Mildenhall military base in England. The new jet landed at 6:26 p.m. local time, followed by the C-32A landing at 10:20 p.m. and the old Air Force One landing nine minutes later.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were aboard the older Air Force One jet. Rubio was aware of the switch and the potential threat against Trump. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and White House communications director Steven Cheung were also aboard the older plane. The two Cabinet members are fourth and fifth, respectively, in the presidential line of succession.

The clever trick has earned Trump praise, mostly from political allies, for outsmarting an adversary that has placed a US$10 million bounty on his head. Yet, critics have posted AI-generated pictures online of Trump cowering in the catering truck, cutting against his promoted image of a wartime leader who has survived three shooting attempts. 

The president said he had no choice but to obey his security team. “It’s really just up to Secret Service,” – Trump told reporters Tuesday night. “I go by the Secret Service and the military. They wanted me to go on a different flight, a different plane, for safety.” Trump argued that the plane he flew on was “at greater risk.” But he said he was never worried during the incident.

The White House didn’t plan to disclose the ploy – until the Washington Post revealed it and sparked a media frenzy. An angry press is demanding answers on why reporters weren’t told of Trump’s plane transfer or whether their presence aboard the supposed Air Force One put them at serious risk. Government security experts have said such measures are not unusual when a president travels in or near a warzone.

Trump’s team had actually scrambled jet fighters to accompany the plane the president left behind, officials said. A U.S. official defended the response, noting the daily dangers Trump faces and said the threat revealed by the intelligence was serious enough for the Secret Service to greenlight the decoy plan and send the warplanes.

Past presidents have travelled to places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Ukraine under cover of secrecy – but never without at least some prior knowledge by media outlets, under agreements that they would not disclose the movement until after the fact. The maneuver, however, could send the wrong message that the Trump administration was genuinely terrified of an Iran-linked assassination, even in a friendly nation Turkey.

“It’s quite extraordinary that the president had to be smuggled onto a different plane after a NATO summit in a NATO country,” – said Holly Dagres, an Iran expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a think tank. “While the Trump administration touts the weakness of the Islamic Republic, its reach remains extensive enough to allegedly try and kill the most heavily protected leader in the world.”

{ No Room For Error }

Some of the president’s aides had worried about flying into Turkey in advance of the trip, particularly on the Qatari-gifted jet, which has fewer defensive capabilities. Trump didn’t share those concerns and wanted to fly the plane overseas, a senior administration official said.

Israel collected intelligence about Iranian proxies discussing killing Trump while he was in Turkey. The information shared with the U.S. was vague and not deemed entirely credible by many members of the president’s staff. Some suspected that Israel, which routinely shares intelligence with the U.S., was trying to spur Trump into escalating the months-long war with Iran.

Hours later, the U.S. gathered its own intelligence about the Iranian missile threat. American officials had doubts about the alleged scheme, as there was no evidence the militants had the required missile or firing system in Ankara. It would be hard to penetrate the heavy security perimeter around the summit and Trump, the U.S. officials assessed, especially with such a conspicuous weapon.

But a constant stream of threats against the president, a tense war with Iran and a troubling intelligence picture left no margin for error on a short timeline. “This particular case, the Israeli Mossad was one of the reasons that they knew that the plot was real,” – U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Tuesday. So, the Secret Service dug into its playbook of tricks to protect Trump in Turkey.

In 2000, then-President Bill Clinton flew to India from Pakistan in an unmarked plane, landing shortly after the traditional Air Force One jet landed. Two years later, Vice President Dick Cheney boarded Air Force Two in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, during a swing through the Middle East to build support for President George W. Bush’s Iraq policy. But Cheney stealthily switched to a C-17 transport plane, which then traveled to Bahrain.

In each case, the Secret Service determined the elected leaders faced significant threats in transit. John Kirby, a senior White House, Pentagon and State Department spokesman in the Obama and Biden administrations, said Trump’s staff was right to take all necessary measures to protect him, though they could have informed the press about the ploy and embargoed any reporting until the president was out of harm’s way.

“The press would have obliged the ground rules. The last thing they would ever want to do is put anyone’s lives at risk, and in this case even their own. They also deserved – as did the unwitting staffers on the plane – the opportunity to make alternative travel plans,” said Kirby. “It is unconscionable that aircrew and passengers were allowed to fly in that aircraft at that particular moment, ignorant of the danger they were in.”

{ The Risks Are Real }

Trump has raged in recent weeks, personally ordering the subpoenas of journalists at the New York Times for reporting that his Qatari-gifted Air Force One plane didn’t have certain countermeasures against possible aerial threats. Crucially, Trump and his staff have learned to take special precautions because of threats from Iran for years.

During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump’s circle dealt with cyberattacks and serious threats to their physical safety and Trump’s plane. The Iranian government ordered an operative to assassinate Trump before the election, and former officials at the time described serious warnings from the Secret Service about drones following them or the risk of poisoning.

In recent weeks, the Iranians have sought to disrupt the administration by hacking cellphones of top aides. Beyond the president, current and former senior Trump administration officials have also been notified of specific threats against them and have taken extra safety precautions. Those concerns fit with a years-long effort to better protect the president during his flights.

In 2023, during the Biden administration, the Air Force started removing the tail numbers from some of its planes to make them more difficult to track. But these planes often electronically transmit their information, which can be seen by other aircraft and flight-tracking websites.

Trump’s jet out of Turkey – a smaller and militarized Boeing 757 sometimes used to transport the vice president or defense secretary – didn’t use the famous call sign “Air Force One” to indicate the president’s presence onboard. It also didn’t transmit its position, according to flight trackers, secrecy that would have afforded the president some protection.

Another advantage of flying Trump in the smaller two-engine plane would have been a lower heat signature than the larger Boeing 747 jets, in theory making it less vulnerable to certain surface-to-air missiles, like Manpads. At the funeral service for Khamenei, held the day before Trump departed Turkey, demonstrators carried a banner that read “#KillTrump”.

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The post Trump, Truck & Decoy Plane – The Ruse To Evade Iran Threat first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

Tabung Haji was set up about 55 years ago to help Muslims in the country save up for the hajj, a pilgrimage to Mecca they are obligated to perform at least once. Over the decades, the fund board gained respect in the Islamic world for its management of the savings and Shariah-compliant investments, enabling over 30,000 Malaysian Muslims to perform Hajj every year.

Flushed with cash, the fund, however, caught a pair of glowing greedy eyes of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who decided to secretly milk it. In December 2015, Zeti Akhtar Aziz, Governor of Bank Negara Malaysia (Central Bank of Malaysia) sent two letters to the chairman of the fund, Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, and copied them to the Prime Minister, who was also the Finance Minister.

The letters warned that the pilgrims’ fund was on the brink of collapse and a massive bail out by taxpayers may be required. Governor Zeti also warned that the fund’s obligations far exceed its assets, as she observed that Tabung Haji was paying out far more than it had made in profits in recent years, in the form of excessive “dividends” and “bonuses”.

It would take slightly more than two years to discover the horror story of the Tabung Haji financial situation. All hell broke loose after the stunning downfall of the Najib regime in May 2018. By December that very same year, it was found that the Pilgrims’ Fund was “insolvent” – a polite word to declare that the Malay Muslim institution was bankrupt.

The new Pakatan Harapan government of Mahathir had to refrain from announcing the bankruptcy of Tabung Haji for fear of spooking the depositors. It would do more harm than good. After all, if 4-million Malays were gullible enough to vote for Najib’s regime despite the exposure of 1MDB scandal, chances are they would not understand why Tabung Haji could go bust.

It was ultimately revealed in December 2018 that UMNO-led Barisan Nasional government, with endorsement from the PAS Islamist party to a certain extent, had transformed Tabung Haji into a Ponzi “get-rich-quick” scheme. As it turned out, there was a reason why  the fund could distribute “hibah (dividends)” ranging from 6.25% up to 8.25% in the period between 2013 and 2017 under the Najib administration.

At a time when fixed deposit rates were at about only 3%, the unbelievable dividend returns from Tabung Haji were so attractive that a single depositor had invested more than RM190 million in the fund. But it was just the appetizer. A report prepared by government-appointed accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to review the financial position for 2017 unveiled more juicy stories.

Tabung Haji was actually sitting on top of up to RM10.2 billion in losses of its domestic and international equities as of October 2018. Its liabilities outstripped assets by RM9 billion. A report says – “The gap between the assets and liabilities is RM9 billion. If the RM9 billion hole is not covered, no ‘hibah (dividends)’ distribution is possible not just for 2018 but also in the coming years.”

Exactly how did the Najib government bankrupt Tabung Haji? It had lost RM5.7 billion in Felda alone. The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) was forced to write off huge sums of money after its subsidiary, Felda Investment Corp (FIC), went on an aggressive overseas diversification spree, including the purchase of the Merdeka Palace Hotel & Suites in Kuching for RM160 million – despite valuation of the property at only RM80 million.

Similar overpriced acquisitions occurred internationally, including the Grand Plaza Serviced Apartments in London for a whopping RM524 million in 2013 – overpaid approximately RM180 million. Worse, the recipient companies only accounted for roughly RM448 million, leaving RM76 million untraceable. Clearly, the top management of both FELDA and Tabung Haji had plundered the Malay institutions.

But that was nothing compared to the RM2.77 billion acquisition of a 37% non-controlling stake in Indonesia’s Eagle High Plantations in 2015 – overpaid a massive premium of over 95% relative to the market price of the shares. The company was owned by Indonesian billionaire Peter Sondakh, a close friend and associate of Najib Razak. Felda said Najib cheated it into investing in his tycoon friend’s Rajawali Group.

It was also not a coincidence that Tabung Haji and FELDA, not to mention MARA, PNB, LTAT, KWAP and whatnot were similarly milked and plundered at the period when the 1MDB scandal was exposed and needed bailout. Yes, to cover up the 1MDB scandal, disgraced Najib sold not only national strategic assets such as power plants, lands like Bandar Malaysia and projects like ECRL to China in exchange for kickbacks, but also actively raping the Pilgrims’ Fund.

Under Najib government, Tabung Haji also made losses of RM670 million from its attempt to rescue Ramunia Holdings Bhd and RM144 million from buying 30% of Putrajaya Perdana’s ownership (a company linked to Najib’s partner-in-crime Jho Low), not to mention RM1.1 billion losses in Felda Global Ventures (FGV) investment. The fund also did not record an impairment totalling RM227.81 million against investments in three subsidiary companies, primarily TH Heavy Engineering Bhd.

Najib and other so-called UMNO defenders of Malay, Islam and Monarch knew that like the 1MDB scandal, the Tabung Haji scandal was too complicated for the Malays and Muslims to understand. Even if they understood, which they don’t, the Malays would easily forgive fellow Malays under the pretext of Malay unity and Muslim Brotherhood.

To cover up the financial trouble of Tabung Haji, extraordinary “hibah (dividends)” were declared. Crooked Najib dared not reveal the true financial health, as his mismanagement and incompetence will be exposed. The pilgrim’s fund had been illegally distributing “hibah” to depositors since 2014, contravening the Tabung Haji Act 1995 where the fund is not allowed to declare dividends if its liabilities are more than assets.

Ahead of the 14th general election on May 9, 2018, the pilgrim’s fund even cooked its books to justify paying a 6.25% dividend, amounting to RM2.7 billion. The Pilgrims’ Fund Chairman, Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, had conspired with the board of directors to dip their hands into depositors’ savings to pay the dividends. And Najib knew all along about the Ponzi scheme.

The ignorant Tabung Haji depositors actually applauded Najib for the handsome “hibah”, which went up to as high as 8.25%, without realising that the dividends paid were their own money used to pay themselves. And the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) could afford to scam them successfully because out of 9.3 million depositors, only 30,000 would use their money in Tabung Haji to perform Hajj every year.

The depositor who had invested more than RM190 million in the fund would have made a cool RM15.675 million for doing nothing in the year it yielded 8.35% of dividend. But a Ponzi scheme is unsustainable. The Tabung Haji’s Recovery and Restructuring Working Plan reveal­ed the stunning high concentration of depositors to a small segment where 1.3%, or a mere 117,000 of them (depositors), contributed to 50% of its deposits. 

This means if the small number of powerful and rich depositors pull out, the scheme would definitely collapse. Overstated profits, understated value of assets, unbalanced profile of depositors and questionable transactions were all uncovered in the review of the financial position of Lembaga Tabung Haji (board of pilgrim’s fund) back in 2018. 

In April 2019, Tabung Haji announced a “hibah (dividend)” of 1.25% – the lowest in the history – for the financial year 2018. Even at 1.25%, the payout was at a staggering RM913 million to its 9.3 million depositors. Mahathir government also announced that it will allocate RM500 million in 2020 for the Pilgrims’ Fund and RM1.73 billion every year until all of its “sukuk” (Shariah-compliant bonds) were redeemed.

How could Tabung Haji suddenly become as healthy as a horse overnight? Two words – Bail Out!! As of January 1, 2019, the Islamic Pilgrimage Fund Lembaga Tabung Haji was placed under Bank Negara (Central Bank). A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) was created to nurse and rehabilitate the insolvent fund. In short, taxpayers’ money to the tune of RM20 billion was used in the bail out exercise.

Even as then-Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng cracked his head squeezing every Ringgit to bail out the Tabung Haji, crooks from UMNO and PAS spread baseless and fake news that the hajj pilgrims fund board was under the control of Chinese-based DAP. The depositors should be grateful that the fund is guaranteed by the government, unlike entities like Malaysia Airlines.

Worse, in what appears to be an insult to the good name of Islam, the previous government of UMNO Malay nationalist party which was heavily supported by the PAS Islamist party had cooked the Tabung Haji accounting books by selling its shares in Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad to show a profit and then repurchasing the same shares – a breach of listing of stock exchange and cheating of the highest order.

An independent report – “Financial Position Review of TH” by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) – showed that the troubled pilgrims fund made a gain of RM553 million from the disposal of the Bank Islam shares in 2017 and subsequently bought back within four days after trade date at the same price sold through 4 brokers – UOB, Kenanga, TA Securities and Affin.

But since the so-called RM553 million gains were “fake”, former Tabung Haji chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim, also a Member of Parliament of UMNO, had conspired with the board of directors to dip their hands into depositors’ savings to pay the dividends. This created an illusion that the fund was paying an incredible high return when in fact it came from depositors’ hard-earned money.

The scam would have continued had the old UMNO regime won the 2018 general election. The Ponzi scheme was working incredibly well based on the assumption that “not every depositor” would withdraw their money in Tabung Haji. The get-rich-quick scheme would be discovered as the bubble would burst eventually due to insufficient funds – liabilities outstripped assets by RM9 billion.

Had the Mahathir-led Pakatan Harapan failed to defeat the long ruling Barisan Nasional government in 2018, the Ponzi Scheme would have continued till today. When you have 9.3 million depositors, but only 30,000 use their money in Tabung Haji to perform Hajj every year, what Najib and his band of crooks needed to do was to pay dividends using the depositors’ own money – to create an illusion that they received extraordinary “hibah”.

After you minus 30,000 from 9,300,000 depositors, the money left in Tabung Haji was pretty substantial and could still be used to pay dividends for ages using Najib’s Ponzi scheme. As a yardstick, it was discovered that the hard-earned savings fund for Muslims to perform the mandatory hajj pilgrimage should have RM64 billion in assets, but had been found to be short of RM4 billion in deposits in 2016.

Theoretically, based on the RM60 billion left in 2016, Tabung Haji could still pay its same number of depositors the same rate of dividend of 6.25% for at least another 22 years – using the depositors’ own money to pay themselves – till zero Ringgit left. After Pakatan Harapan government collapsed in 2020 after just 22 months in power, backdoor Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin set up a Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) on October 8, 2021.

The RCI report dated July 19, 2022 was then presented to Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King) on August 30, 2022, when UMNO vice-president Ismail Sabir was the Prime Minister. Even then, the RCI only dared to say the crisis was due to Tabung Haji’s  “creative accounting practices” in order to enable it to declare high dividends. It also revealed how unauthorised bonuses totalling more than RM2.19 million were paid to 24 persons.

Still, the burning question is why PM Anwar Ibrahim has only decided to declassify the 211-page Lembaga Tabung Haji RCI report three days before the Negeri Sembilan state election in July 2026 – nearly four years after its completion in July 2022? It’s not rocket science that despicable Anwar was hiding the scandal to protect UMNO – till UMNO declared war with Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan in the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state elections.   

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The post How UMNO Bankrupted Tabung Haji, Cover Up With Ponzi Scheme first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

On Tuesday morning, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went on CNBC to brag that a deal could be announced later that day to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The stock market jumped significantly. Again, there was no deal. It’s unclear whether Bessent had been scammed by the U.S. president into believing there was one, or he is learning fast the art of scamming the financial markets.

For weeks, President Trump had been laying the groundwork to declare victory in the Iran War should Tehran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even floating the idea privately to senior aides that he’s willing to walk away without a nuclear deal. The problem with Trump is he has been playing the game of chicken with Tehran for too long that Iran is getting good at the game itself.

Every time Trump threatens to bomb the hell out of Iran, only to make a spectacular U-turn, Tehran becomes increasingly confident that the POTUS will bluff again. The Commander-in-Chief can’t win at the poker table if he keeps announcing his plan to attack Iran, but never follows through. Even though gambling is prohibited in Iran, they still can smell a bluffer like Trump from thousands of miles away.

On Saturday, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, laid out the conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. They include the U.S. permanently ending the war, lifting its naval blockade, removing U.S. forces from the region, ending all sanctions, freeing Iran’s frozen assets, seeking billions of dollars in U.S. payments and ending threats and insults, among other things.

Such conditions show the Iranian regime believes they have the upper hand, they believe they are winning, therefore, they are emboldened to issue such ridiculous demands. Tehran deliberately – and tactically – wanted to narrow the options for Trump to walk away from the conflict. It’s Trump’s fault for repeatedly threatening – and then backing away from – a massive escalation of its bombing campaign.

President Trump in February 2025 famously told Ukraine’s leader, Volodymyr Zelensky, that he didn’t “have the cards” in talks with Russia. Now, Tehran is playing the same game as Trump. Despite more than 5 months of U.S.-Israel heavy bombardment, destroying much of its military and killing numerous top leaders, Iran still has the trump card – Strait of Hormuz.

Weaponizing the Hormuz is somehow proving effective because there isn’t an easy way to replace this waterway in terms of global trade in the Middle East. Just a few missiles and drones are enough to create a lot of havoc in that waterway. And Iran knows the U.S. has been reluctant to send in ground troops to clear out Strait of Hormuz. Tehran also knows that Trump is terrified of high oil prices.

“Iran’s recent hardline demands for reopening the strait make it increasingly difficult for the president to manufacture a face-saving off-ramp from the conflict,” – said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. The Iranians fully believe Trump wants out and is focused on opening the strait, which is why they are playing hardball.

Hanging over diplomatic talks since April has been the White House’s ultimatum that Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon. Trump initially indicated that Tehran’s nuclear program is non-negotiable. But when Iran insisted that it would not abandon it, Trump blinked and chickened out. The White House in recent weeks has changed its focus to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s ability to essentially choke off the waterway through sporadic missile and drone attacks has proven to be powerful leverage for the country, stalling commercial traffic and spooking global oil markets. Trump has declared repeatedly in recent weeks that the Strait of Hormuz was already fully open, but each of those declarations has proven premature and false.

Now, with less than three months until the midterm elections and the price of gasoline still much higher than it was before the war started in late February, Mr Trump has been desperately looking for ways to tell the American public that the war is won. But the prospects of a deal diminished over the weekend when the United Arab Emirates said Iran launched a missile attack on one of its ships.

By attacking the U.A.E. and laying out a series of tough demands for allowing traffic through the Hormuz, Tehran was not only testing Trump’s patience, but also showing the middle finger to the United States. In fact, Iran was provoking the U.S. president to retaliate so that global oil prices would spike. The average price of gasoline was US$4.02 a gallon on Saturday, according to AAA.

On the nuclear concerns, Trump has told senior aides privately in recent weeks that Tehran is likely unable to revive its nuclear work during his presidency after the U.S. destroyed three primary nuclear sites last year. U.S. intelligence capabilities would likely catch any Iranian attempts to rebuild those facilities or covertly build a bomb, the president said.

This suggests that Trump doesn’t care if Iran resumes its nuclear program “after” his presidency. He could then brag with story that Tehran was afraid to continue the nuclear weapons when he was the U.S. president, the same way he has frequently claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin respected him and that the Ukraine War would never have happened or would not have been started while he was in office.

Make no mistake – Iran, at least Trump thinks, may not be able to resume its nuclear program not because it agrees to. But because it takes time to retrieve after the U.S. bombardment. Trump said – “We’ve already got the nuclear material, because it’s so far underground. Nobody’s going to be able to get it except us.”

If the U.S. can keep the nuclear program in check and traffic resumes in the strait, then Trump is more likely to extend the current ceasefire indefinitely. He also is expected to lift the U.S. military blockade on Iranian ports if Tehran fully reopens the strait. However, there’s one huge problem with Iran’s demands – money – for obvious reasons.

Trump cannot agree to Tehran’s demand seeking billions of dollars in war reparations in addition to an agreement to unfreeze the country’s assets around the world. He would not only lose face, but also be seen as an admission of guilt and a sign of surrender. Trump has said the White House wouldn’t allow any taxpayer money to go to Iran, although a deal appears unlikely without the U.S. unfreezing some assets.

There also is a dispute about whether the U.S. should issue waivers to let Iran sell oil on the open market. The U.S. had agreed to the waivers last June as part of an interim peace agreement with Iran. However, that ceasefire collapsed after Iran attacked ships in the strait, and the U.S. reinstated sanctions on the Iranian oil trade.

Tehran’s game plan is clear. It wanted to squeeze President Trump, who is increasingly losing patience and might recklessly agree to most of Iran’s demands. At the very least, Iran wanted the U.S. to look weak by demanding Washington surrender on Iran’s terms. Unlike Trump’s goal in seeking a traditional military victory, Tehran’s objective was regime survival and restoring deterrence.

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The post Why Iran Thinks It Has All The Cards To Check-Mate Trump first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

“If not Anwar, who else” – his worshippers like to lecture critics who dare to question the PM. Yet, the so-called most popular Malaysian leader had lost not one, not two, but three state elections namely Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan. And you can bet all your money that Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition is going to lose the upcoming Melaka state election too. 

But losing four state elections consecutively was just an appetizer. Anwar’s party – People’s Justice Party (PKR) – would be lucky if it could retain half of the current 31 parliamentary seats it won in the November 2022 national polls. The party might end up withless than 10 MPsin the next 16^th General Election. While PKR is still in “denial, delusion and drunk” with power, someone appears to have woken up.

Nurul Izzah, who is Anwar’s eldest child, has resigned as PKR deputy president – about 14 months after she was elected in the party’s elections in May 2025. In a statement issued on the night of Aug 6, 2026, she said – “I extend my deepest appreciation to the party president Anwar Ibrahim and the party leadership for acknowledging my decision to step down as PKR’s deputy president.”

“This decision was made after much deliberation as I embark on a new path to pursue further studies, a journey rooted in service and contribution and not necessarily bound by the world of politics,” – she said. Nurul said she would remain a PKR member and support the struggle for a better Malaysia championed by the party’s leadership under Anwar (her father).

However, in refusing to accept her resignation, PKR Central Leadership Council has instead granted her a leave of absence – indefinitely. PKR vice-president Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who is Home Affairs Minister, will serve as acting deputy president. This means the party deputy president post is being “reserved or frozen” for an unknown period.

PKR communications director Fahmi Fadzil, who is also Malaysia’s Communication Minister cum Propaganda Minister, said – “We discussed Nurul Izzah’s request to step down as deputy president and, after hearing her views and those of the party leadership, the council agreed to grant her temporary leave of absence, which will begin after the national congress for an indefinite period,” 

Exactly why Nurul Izzah’s desire to step down as PKR’s No. 2 leader was rejected, and her resignation was re-packaged as “pursuing further studies” by the party leadership? The short answer – to save face. The long answer – to stop the perception that PKR is a sinking ship as even Anwar’s own daughter disagreed, clashed and abandoned the PM’s leadership and PKR’s direction.

If Izzah – “Puteri Reformasi” or Princess of Reform – is allowed to quit, it would be a slap in the face of the Premier himself. Mr Anwar can’t explain why his own daughter, groomed to take over the party, is quitting. It creates FUD – fear, uncertainty, and doubt. People leave jobs primarily to seek career growth, better pay, or a healthier work environment. You don’t suddenly leave your deputy CEO job.

Yes, nobody believes Nurul Izzah suddenly wanted to further her studies after she was elected around 14 months ago in PKR’s internal election, beating incumbent Rafizi Ramli after an intense campaign. Only Anwar’s cult supporters believe such unbelievable fairy tales. She would not have fought tooth and nail with Rafizi for the deputy president post, only to step down now to further studies.

Rafizi, Malaysia’s former economy minister, later left PKR and took over leadership of Bersama party in May. Why would she make an enemy out of her good reformist comrade by toppling him if she had no interest in the first place to lead the party as the deputy president? Worse, after strategist Rafizi left, she also wanted to leave now after creating all the mess that has weakened the party.

At best, Nurul Izzah has decided to give up his new toy after discovering that PKR deputy president isn’t a cushy job, and she was not up to the mark. At worst, she is giving up after losing hope with both her daddy and the party. Either way, it does not bode well for a ruling party that has bragged about Anwar’s popularity, but suffered several crushing defeats in state elections.  

The fact that Anwar is reduced to trusting someone like the clueless and incompetent Saifuddin Nasution as acting deputy president speaks volumes about the serious problems inside PKR. It seems the party is not only lacking talents, but Anwar’s half-baked plot to bulldoze dynastic politics and nepotism, contrasting with the party’s historical “Reformasi” roots against entrenched political patronage, has backfired.

When power-crazy Anwar plotted against his own deputy – Rafizi Ramli – last year, he arrogantly, stubbornly, and hypocritically ignored and rubbished critics and analysts’ argument that elevating her own daughter to positions like the deputy presidency would undermine PKR’s founding reformist ideals, which long criticized other Malaysian leaders for family favouritism.

The family-centric leadership model is one of the reasons that alienates grassroots supporters who expect merit-based advancement rather than hereditary succession, leading to a loss of confidence, distrust, and even hatred over Anwar’s treachery and betrayal after he got power. Even though Anwar, Nurul, and their supporters maintain that her victory was won through legitimate intra-party elections, the truth speaks otherwise.

To prevent Rafizi from winning, the cheating began when Parti Keadilan Rakyat under the instruction of Anwar abolished its “one member, one vote” system for national leadership elections and switched to a delegate-based system. This effectively transferred the responsibility of electing the party’s top six national office-bearers from 30,000 delegates to merely 222 divisions.

Four years ago, Mr. Rafizi won the party’s No 2 post when he defeated Anwar’s loyalist, Saifuddin Nasution. Despite Anwar’s open support for Saifuddin, Rafizi received roughly 68,992 votes compared to Saifuddin’s 50,038 votes. In the same 2022 party election, Selangor Chief Minister Amirudin Shari defeated Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak, who happened to be Anwar’s political secretary and trusted crony.

To unseat Rafizi, by hook or by crook, Anwar had to play dirty, including changing the party election system. The PM knew the only way to topple his deputy was to control or “bribe” a small 222 divisions rather than 30,000 delegates. Under pressure, Nurul reluctantly agreed to be used by her daddy to contest against Rafizi in May 2025. That has tainted her integrity and reputation.

Therefore, furthering studies is just a lazy and lame excuse. After Nurul defeated Rafizi and was crowned as the new deputy president, she led PKR to a disastrous defeat in the Sabah state election. Annihilated with just 1 seat, she practically went silent – and missing – since then. She did not care about the Johor state election, and did not bother to help in the Negeri Sembilan state election.

When someone like Nurul Izzah went MIA (missing in action) and kept a low profile, it’s not just a short burst of frustration or sulking. It’s a demonstration of dejection, depression, and disappointment. That sadness translates to hopelessness, and eventually gives up entirely. And she was right to give up after Sabah, as his daddy would lead Johor and Negeri Sembilan to two more crushing defeats.

Apparently, she had disagreed with certain directions the party was taking to the extent of facing “pressure from the party internally” to step aside. Internal source revealed that unlike Anwar Ibrahim, “Nurul Izzah is principled on some issues, and was not willing to shift on them.” Her differences in opinion from her father on the party’s direction continued to snowball till it exploded.

The final straw that broke the camel’s back was when narcissist PM Anwar cut direct constituency funding from specific PKR lawmakers such as PKR MPs Wong Chen (Subang),Lee Chean Chung (Petaling Jaya), and Rodziah Ismail (Ampang), who have vocally dissented or aligned themselves with internal party opposition. Anwar only welcomes apple polishers like Ramanan.

The affected MPs complained that their parliamentary service offices were completely denied access to the MyKHAS online portal, an official system used by lawmakers to manage and administer federal constituency allocations. Because Anwar dares not sack them, he cowardly bullies and intimidates them by denying his own PKR MPs their rightful constituency funding.

Anwar pushed back against accusations of starving constituencies. He even argued that federal development allocations are for the people and local communities, not an exclusive entitlement to be disbursed through the offices of elected Members of Parliament (MPs). Yet, he can’t explain why a similar discrimination does not apply to all 30 MPs from Barisan Nasional (BN), who have declared war on Anwar-led PH coalition.

The cowardice is written on the wall when the PM only has the balls to punish a few MPs from his own party. Facing a bigger force from governing partner BN, Anwar is as quiet as a church mouse. When BN chairman Zahid Hamidi challenged the PM to simply sack any minister he is unhappy with after Anwar tried to flex muscles by telling ministers to resign for attacking fellow unity government partners, the Premier responded by keeping silent.

That was not the only issue the “Puteri Reformasi” clashes with her “Fake Reformist” father. Her criticism of Azam Baki, the former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner caught with his pants down in shareholding and corporate mafia scandals has also added to the pressure for her to step aside.

Anwar, who extended Azam’s one-year contract thrice, has repeatedly, fiercely, and suspiciously defended the former anti-graft chief, saying he has shown “extraordinary courage” in going after powerful figures allegedly involved in corruption. Under pressure, a special committee to probe the allegations against Azam was formed by the Anwar administration, but has not made its findings public.

Nurul Izzah had called for the government to expand the scope of investigation on Azam and stressed the need for independent oversight of the anti-graft agency. She saw the actions of her father were inconsistent with the principles she and the party had long championed. But her public comments ultimately hurt Anwar and the party. Her inability to offer the strategy or charisma that Rafizi did makes Nurul practically useless.

Still, it raises a simple question – why did Anwar need to force Rafizi out by pushing his daughter up? Not only PKR is now without a strategist, but Izzah’s resignation further exposes the lack of leadership in PKR’s lineup. Anwar’s push to create a dynasty at a time when his daughter isn’t fit for the job has created “bad blood” with pro-Rafizi’s faction that openly attacks his leadership.

It doesn’t matter whether Nurul really goes for studies or not. She has proven to be an ineffective leader despite her short and unsuccessful stint as PKR deputy president. She should not have allowed herself to be used by daddy to topple Rafizi. It also doesn’t matter whether PKR president Anwar tries to cover up his daughter’s loss of trust in him. The damage is done. PKR is on the right track to a stunning loss in the next national election.

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• Congrats Again Anwar & Ah Loke – Factors For Losing N9
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• RM90 Million Scandal – Here’s Why Hadi Warned Muslims To Trust Muslim Leaders, Even If They Are Evil & Wicked

The post Resignation!! – Why Even Nurul Izzah Gives Up Hope On Daddy first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

Japan has spent billions of dollars since 2022 trying to limit the yen’s decline – but the currency has continued to hit new lows. The Japanese government spent almost US$74 billion in late April to support the currency following two months of steep declines. The resulting rebound was short-lived, however, and by July 23, the yen had slid further to its weakest against the U.S. dollar since 1986. 

The U.S. had stepped in to raise the value of yen because Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is under growing political pressure to rein in inflation and bring sustained growth back to the economy. Japan is reliant on imports for both energy supplies and food, and a weak yen makes the cost of those imports more expensive for businesses and consumers.

The biggest factor pressuring the yen is the gap between Japan’s ultra-low interest rates and those in the U.S. and other major economies. This has encouraged investors to borrow cheaply in yen and invest in higher-yielding assets overseas. The resulting capital outflows have put persistent pressure on the Japanese currency. While the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised its benchmark interest rate in June to the highest in 31 years, the rate remains low by international standards.

Adding to the headwinds are investor concerns about Japan’s fiscal outlook. The country’s heavy debt burden – which exceeds 200% of gross domestic product, the highest among major economies or G20 – and persistent budget deficits have raised concerns that Japan’s government is spending beyond its means. This can erode confidence in Japanese assets and the yen.

The U.S.-Israel war with Iran has added more pressure on the yen. Japan imports almost all its energy, with the majority of its oil imports coming from the Middle East, making it highly exposed to disruptions in the region. Higher oil prices mean Japan must pay more for energy imports – in U.S. dollars – boosting demand for foreign currency at the expense of the yen.

To make matters worse, mounting global inflation stemming from the Middle East conflict has also shifted expectations around the trajectory of U.S. interest rates, from cuts to hikes, making U.S. dollar-denominated assets even more attractive, further undermining the local currency. Investors dumped Japanese yen in favour of the American dollar.

The yen’s slide over the past decade has helped to transform Japan into an affordable travel destination for millions of foreign tourists while boosting the profits of the nation’s biggest exporters. But in an economy heavily dependent on imported energy and raw materials, the feeble yen has also driven up costs, fuelling inflation for households and squeezing the profitability of domestically focused businesses.

The resulting cost-of-living crunch contributed to the downfall of two prime ministers before current Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office. There is growing concern that domestic inflation is becoming more entrenched. Japanese officials see mounting evidence that companies are passing higher costs on to customers more quickly than in the past.

Recently, Takaichi said she spends all day and most of the night plotting Japan’s economic recovery – but at the same time, she’s fighting to regain ground in national polls, with rising import costs, the Middle East energy shock and the weak yen all hitting her standing with voters. It became so bad that she announced in April that Japan would temporarily cut the sales tax on food to ease cost of living pressures.

But she is also promising to invest hundreds of billions in sectors across the economy, as part of a pro-growth agend. However, concerns over how all this spending will be funded – amid already huge levels of debt – have led to fears that her policies could blow up the economy, triggering a “Liz Truss-style shock”. This uncertainty has added fuel to market volatility, which in turn pushes the yen lower.

The first clues that the U.S. would intervene came during a Trump administration cabinet meeting on Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was pictured with a note reading: “To Do. Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) US$5-10 billion”. Later, Bessent laid out his rationale for conducting a rare joint intervention with Japan to help stem the decline in the yen.

A weak yen could set off a chain of currency devaluations, which could hurt American companies. “If the yen were to weaken substantially, then the other currencies would follow it. It’s just the level of the yen that could trigger other problems or trigger competitive devaluations, which is unhealthy,” – said Bessent. Additionally, the yen’s weakness has in the past fueled global financial stability risks.

“The Asian financial crisis (in 1997-98), in my opinion, part of it was triggered by an overly weak yen. So I think a stable yen is not only important for the U.S., but it’s very important for the entire region.” – said Bessent. Crucially, the intervention gives Japan time to deliver on policies that can support the currency.

Trump has repeatedly criticised Japan’s weak currency, arguing that it gives Japanese manufacturers an unfair trade advantage. In March 2025, he took a more confrontational stance, proposing tariffs on Japanese goods as a response. The U.S. move to help support the yen in late July signalled a U-turn from Washington – Trump said the currency market intervention was a sign of friendship with Tokyo.

“Japan’s been very good ‌to us, with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor,” – Trump said on Sunday, as he confirmed that the treasury had bought billions of dollars’ worth of Japanese yen – the first time in 30 years that the US has stepped in to strengthen the currency in such a way. The U.S. president said the intervention would be “good for the world economy.” In truth, a weak yen is not just a negative in terms of trade for the U.S.

Japan is the largest foreign holder of U.S. Treasuries, with more than US$1.1 trillion in holdings. By selling Treasuries, Japan could push down their price – but that could ultimately raise borrowing costs for the U.S. government. Already, the yield on U.S. Treasuries have climbed in recent weeks on concerns about inflation. Last week, the yield on 30-year U.S. bonds hit their highest level since 2007.

The flip side of a weak yen is a strong U.S. dollar, which can hurt U.S. exporters by making their goods more expensive for foreign buyers. And that could give Japanese exporters a competitive advantage in the United States. Last year, the U.S. imported US$146 billion worth of goods from Japan, and exported about US$82 billion.

Economists are suggesting that the Trump administration’s intervention could be an attempt to limit the amount of U.S. government bonds that Japan sells. “Put yourself in Scott Bessent’s shoes,” – wrote Rebecca Patterson, a senior fellow at the council of foreign relations. “It is in his interest to do what he can to help Japan stabilize the yen sooner rather than later.”

Still, the weakness in the yen will persist as long as Japanese interest rates remain so much lower than those in the U.S., where the Federal Reserve has held rates between 3.5% and 3.75%. Despite mounting inflation, the Japanese central bank raised interest rates to only 1% in June – the highest level in 31 years. 

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The post Why U.S. Launched Rare Joint Intervention With Japan To Prop Up Yen first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

The additional RM200 monthly SST taxes easily erase the Madani government’s glorified Sumbangan Asas Rahmah (SARA) program, which allows qualified recipients to receive RM100 each month credited directly to their MyKad to buy essential grocery items. It’s obvious why the government refuses to exempt Malaysians from the 8% SST on elderly care services.

Since July 1, 2025, Malaysia under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has expanded the 8% SST rules to all customers (Malaysian citizens and non-citizens alike). The arrogant government refused to listen to concerns that elderly care is a “welfare” service, not a commercial service. Arguments that seniors are paying from post-tax retirement savings (already taxed once) have fallen on deaf ears.

This is just one of dozens of factors leading to frustration, distrust, anger, even hatred toward the Anwar administration. Tax regimes like the expansion of SST, the troublesome e-invoicing system, and the deliberate tax refund delays were just some unpopular economic policies affecting small traders and SME (small and medium enterprise), especially Chinese business owners.

Small traders have repeatedly expressed anger and concern over mandatory e-invoicing due to high compliance costs, low digital literacy, and operational complexities. Even online sellers on e-commerce platforms must comply regardless of revenue. Policy inconsistency, weak decision-making, and clueless leadership saw the government keep postponing and revising policies repeatedly. 

Anwar knew from the beginning that e-invoicing would impose unnecessary burdens on small operators, but he bulldozed it anyway even for those with just RM500,000 turnover. He deliberately taxed the SMEs to the maximum because the Chinese community controls and manages most of the Malaysian SMEs. He saw the Chinese businesses as cash cows that must be milked to dry.

The government also increased the electricity tariff, affecting the manufacturing sector that was facing other challenges such as a service tax hike for logistics, additional costs for e-invoicing, and the forceful EPF contributions for foreign workers. Worse, the LHDN or the taxmen was ordered by Anwar to aggressively collect taxes, leading to abuse of power such as denial of rightful tax exemptions.

On Saturday (August 1), Negeri Sembilan voters taught Anwar-led ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition a lesson through the ballot box. It has lost the state it governed for eight years. PH won only 11 seats, short of 8 to form the state government. The Barisan Nasional (BN) and Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalitions have won a decisive victory – grabbing 25 of the 36 seats to form a supermajority in the legislative state assembly. 

But it was not an ordinary loss. Rather, it was a humiliation – a slap in the face of not only PM Anwar, who had been campaigning tirelessly till foaming at the mouth, but also a disastrous defeat for PH top generals. PH heavyweights such as caretaker chief minister Aminuddin Harun and Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook both lost their state assembly seats.

Aminuddin lost to BN’s Mohd Faizal Ramli in Linggi, while Loke, who is the Democratic Action Party (DAP) secretary-general, lost his Chennah seat – which he had held for three consecutive terms – to BN’s John Siow Kong Choon. Anwar’s gamble to shift Aminuddin, a vice president of his own party PKR (People’s Justice Party), to Linggi from Sikamat seat had failed miserably.

It doesn’t matter whether Aminuddin had run away from the Sikamat state seat, which he held for four terms, or it was a calculated strategy to help PH capture the Barisan Nasional stronghold seat. It also doesn’t matter whether it was part of Anwar’s dirty politicking to sacrifice Aminuddin, gambling that Aminuddin (who was closely aligned with Rafizi Ramli) either delivers a new seat or perished.

What matters is under Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Pakatan Harapan (PH) has lost the central state after two terms in power here – a third consecutive loss at the state elections after huge losses in Johor in July and Sabah in November 2025. What matters is PH won 11 seats, down from the 17 in the previous 2023 state election. What matters is DAP and PKR have lost 2 and 3 seats respectively.

Yes, three strikes, and you’re out. But even after three wake-up calls – Sabah, Johor and Negeri Sembilan – don’t expect any waking up from Anwar and Ah Loke, who are still in denial, delusion and drunk with power. Chances are they would continue to cook up excuses even after an expected loss in the upcoming Melaka state election, which BN is scheduled to call very soon.

Melaka will be the last chance for Anwar’s PH coalition to boost its morale before a general election due by early 2028, but it’s too little too late for both arrogant PKR and DAP chiefs to do anything meaningful. Likewise, Sarawak must also go to the ballot by early 2027, but the dominant Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), an ally of PH in the federal government, is expected to retain the state.

Because Malays make up the majority in 123 of the 222 parliamentary seats, well in excess of the 112 needed for a simple majority to form the federal government, the Johor and Negeri Sembilan state election results show that Pakatan Harapan is screwed. With UMNO-led BN and PAS-led PN joining forces, it’s hard to see how PH could win the next 16^th General Election.

Pro-Anwar bloggers, propagandists, cyber troopers, YouTubers, TikTokers and news media were shocked – again – when news flashed about the defeat of Anthony Loke, DAP, and PH. The same clueless social media influencers who blindly supported and worshipped Anwar and Loke, and had rubbished that the Chinese tsunami in Sabah would reach the Peninsular, are now dejected and depressed.

As expected, they lazily and conveniently blamed everything on racial politics. True, BN and PN have weaponized race and religion to consolidate Malay-Muslim against DAP and PH. But Anwar and Loke already knew from the beginning that the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) is racist and corrupt, whilst the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS – Parti Islam Se-Malaysia) is religious extremist.

What do you expect UMNO and PAS to say and play during the Negeri Sembilan campaign? At least, they decisively, boldly, and clearly delivered narratives to voters compared to PKR and DAP, never mind the narratives were about Malay power, Malay leadership, and Malay unity. The burning question is what narratives was PH trying to deliver? Absolutely nothing compelling that worth the time of voters.

Anwar can no longer scream “Reformasi” because it has become “Reformati” the moment he was installed as the 10^th Prime Minister in November 2022. He hoodwinked supporters with excuses that reforms take time. He tried to scam voters with the same boring self-declared anti-corruption commitment. But he was the same man who quietly threw away 47 corruption charges on UMNO president Zahid Hamidi.

From facilitating a royal pardon for ex-PM Najib Razak, who had stolen billions in the infamous 1MDB scandal, to protecting Azam Baki, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner caught with his pants down in shareholding and corporate mafia scandals, PM Anwar was complicit in assisting corrupt individuals to walk away free.

And from covering up Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor’s corruption scandal despite a series of exposé videos released by a whistleblower, to defending his trusted aide, Shamsul Iskandar, despite being exposed for issuing a letter of support for six contractors involved in a hospital project, the Premier has been part of the corruption network all along.

Did the PM really think voters have forgotten how the Madani government swept under the carpet the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) scandal involving RM9.14 billion contract to build six warships for the Royal Malaysian Navy, or how Anwar’s Cabinet awarded Bestinet with an “extension” in early 2024 after lobbying, despite an earlier promise to terminate the monopoly contract for the company known for exploiting migrant workers?

Or did Anwar really think voters haven’t the clue how the MACC closed both eyes on his former aide-turned-crony, Farhash Wafa Salvador, in corruption and corporate mafia scandals? Worse, DAP, under the spineless leadership of Loke Siew Fook, chose to keep silent and pretended as if nothing had happened despite all these scandals linked to Anwar.

Even if Loke dares not criticize Anwar for selectively protecting corruption linked to his cronies and political allies, he should have rejected bad policies such as the expansion of SST, the troublesome e-invoicing system, and the deliberate tax refund delays. And even if he has no balls to do all that, he should have expressed displeasure over banning all pig farming and cracking down on unregulated houses of worship.

BN and PN did not have to do heavy lifting in uniting Malay-Muslim against PH. Anwar and his obedient lapdog Ah Loke have done an excellent job making the Chinese and Indians angry enough to either vote for BN-PN or not turning up in full force to vote for traitor Loke. DAP should be grateful that it was not annihilated like in Sabah.

Living in their own bubble, PH top leadership was still clueless even after the Johor’s crushing defeat. Despite DAP losing 40% of its seats, Anthony Loke arrogantly said Johor has no impact on Negeri Sembilan whatsoever. In denial, Anwar Ibrahim, on the other hand, played down the heavy losses and said his government remains focused on governing and delivering policies.

With only 1 seat in Sabah, 1 seat in Johor, and 2 seats in Negeri Sembilan, you don’t need Einstein to predict Anwar’s People’s Justice Party would suffer more heavy losses in the next national polls. Sending Selangor Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari, who has replaced PKR deputy president Nurul Izzah Anwar as the party’s election director, to lead the Johor and Negeri Sembilan election campaign was already a mistake.

Exactly how do you convince PH’s core supporters – ethnic Chinese and Indians – to vote for PH when Election Director Amirudin Shari was the same Selangor Chief Minister responsible for cracking down on pig farming and temples? Instead of reflecting on PH’s failure, Amirudin attributed PH’s losses to the use of racial rhetoric by its rivals in the campaign.

However, voter turnout was 72.64%, up from 68.35% in 2023, which should have benefited incumbent PH. Yet, despite the higher turnout, PH lost Negeri Sembilan and Anthony Loke lost Chennah. True, DAP still largely retained Chinese support. But it’s a huge difference between commanding 95% and 80% of the Chinese vote bank. And it’s certainly making a difference if only 60% of the 80% votebank comes out to vote.

There’s a reason why even Malays do not trust one of their own kind – chameleon Anwar Ibrahim. Despite giving away RM200 million to Hamas-Palestinian, RM2.6 billion to JAKIM, more than RM10 billion annually in civil service salary increment to appease Malay voters, Mr Anwar has failed to increase Malay support for his own PKR, let alone DAP or PH.

While Loke’s defeat raises questions over the party top leaders’ ability to defend fortresses, Anwar’s inability to rally his own race to win meaningful number of seats raises questions about his charisma, trustworthiness, integrity, and leadership as well as PKR’s future. Crucially, losing 16 out of 18 seats contested also raises the question whether PKR is dependable anymore.

If Anwar and PKR continue to suck blood from DAP Chinese, then the useless PKR is no different than Bersatu, which is struggling without PAS Islamist party. In the same breath, DAP cannot afford to lose more Chinese support due to Anwar’s toxicity. The problem isn’t about PKR or DAP as a party, but the leadership of forked-tongue Anwar and coward Loke.

It was too little too late when Anwar apologized to the Indians at the last minute when the Indians’ votes were desperately needed after insulting Hindu temples for months. And the Malays could smell desperation when the Cabinet decided at the eleventh hour before polling to declassify the Royal Commission of Inquiry (RCI) report into Tabung Haji, “four years” after it was completed in July 2022.

True, not all Chinese hate DAP, and not all Indians hate Anwar, and certainly not all Malays despise PH. But there were enough Chinese, Indians, and Malays who found no compelling reasons to vote for PH. Even if promise of reforms cannot be kept, at least don’t make life difficult for the people and the business community. Blocking websites critical of Madani and Anwar cannot win you elections. It will backfire. Don’t be evil. Stop being arrogant and in denial.

Other Articles That May Interest You …

• Loke Thought Zahid Was Friend – Until Zahid Wanted To “Bungkus” Him
• Congrats Anwar & Loke – Continue Your Denial, Delusion, Arrogance To Lose More Elections
• No Good Options – Anwar To Lose Whether Election This Year Or 2027
• Azam’s RM14 Million Scandal – Damage Done, Too Little Too Late
• Bloomberg – How MACC Partners With Corporate Mafia To Seize Control Of Companies
• The Damage Is Done – Relocation Of 131-Year-Old Hindu Temple Fuels Accusations Of Bullying & Special Privileges
• From Zahid To Saifuddin – Corruption In Migrant Worker System
• Corruption Scandal – How Anti-Corruption Chief Azam Baki’s Half-Baked Story Backfires & Implicates Him Even More
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The post Congrats Again Anwar & Ah Loke – Factors For Losing N9 first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

The simple fact that opposition Perikatan Nasional election director Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor is not being investigated under a more serious law of threatening “national security” is the clearest sign that the case would eventually be dropped. He would become an instant Malay hero if the authorities dare to charge him. That’s why he dared to spew false racist and extremist rhetoric in the first place.

Working hand-in-glove, the PN-BN (Perikatan Nasional-Barisan Nasional) cooperation is in overdrive as Negeri Sembilan’s state election campaign enters its final week before polling on August 1. Instead of courageously locking up the chief instigator, the Prime Minister was terrified – scrambling to douse inflamed racial sentiment as politicians from both PN and BN urged Malays to unite politically.

PM Anwar is trapped as BN and PN are portraying the election as a contest for Malay political leadership and warned against a federal government that they claimed is dominated by the Chinese-based Democratic Action Party (DAP). He could neither attack his own governing partner BN nor opposition PN. The PM-obssessed Anwar may need support from both after the next 16^th General Election for a second term.

When Mr Anwar warned ministers, deputy ministers, and federal agency heads that they must resign from their positions if they use their official federal status to attack fellow unity government partners, he was mocked, challenged, and even insulted. UMNO deputy president and foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said he is prepared to resign from the Cabinet if ordered to do so by the Premier.

But Deputy Prime Minister Zahid Hamidi, who is also UMNO president, asserted that BN ministers do not need to resign, challenging the Prime Minister to sack them instead. “If he doesn’t like us, he can just sack us,” – said Zahid. With an egg on his face, PM Anwar could only keep silent, pretending as if nothing had happened but looking like a fool after Mr Zahid called his bluff.

That was not the biggest humiliation suffered by Anwar-led Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition. DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook was being played left, right, and centre by UMNO. Zahid, while campaigning in Simpang Durian, urged voters to vote for UMNO-led BN in the Chennah state seat, saying “kasi bungkus itu orang (pack off that person).” Zahid was referring to Loke.

Silly Loke, who was under the delusion that Zahid was his best friend in the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), was super sad, speechless and shocked. Yet, like his political master Anwar, Loke could not and dare not retaliate appropriately. With tail between legs, DAP Commander-in-Chief Loke could only advise the BN chief not to speak arrogantly when campaigning in the state election.

But the damage is done. For more than three years, both Anwar Ibrahim and Loke Siew Fook have deliberately – and cowardly – closed both eyes whenever UMNO unleashed its notorious troublemaker Akmal Saleh (UMNO Youth Chief) to bully, threaten, intimidate and terrorize the Chinese business community. The plan was to strengthen UMNO, even at the expense of DAP’s own Chinese core supporters.

During the Johor state election campaign last month, Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) Onn Hafiz Ghazi said he would rather give up his position than “sit at the same table” with DAP. Loke proudly responded that Onn’s boss, UMNO president Zahid, sits next to him during every weekly cabinet meeting. But with Zahid now publicly asking people to “bungkus” Loke, the DAP chief definitely looks like a moron.

The insults from Zahid were more than symbolic. It shows how despite DAP possessing 40 MPs in the parliament – the biggest party in the federal government – UMNO has zero respect for Loke. The paramount leader of the Chinese increasingly looks like a timid mouse rather than a dragon with Zahid’s latest insult. Zahid shows Loke Siew Fook is no different than MCA eunuch Wee Ka Siong, UMNO’s lapdog.

DAP is paying the price for ignoring the Chinese interests whilst at the same time failing to win over the Malay hearts. Despite Loke’s childish strategy to appease UMNO-Malays, the Malay community showed their middle finger to DAP in the Johor state election. Worse, even UMNO chief Zahid took advantage of Loke’s weakness by giving him a kick where it hurts the most.

But that is not the best part. Because DAP top leadership is drunk with power, the spineless Anthony Loke may have to continue “kowtowing” to UMNO even after the Negeri Sembilan state election no matter how UMNO ridicules, bullies, and insults DAP or Pakatan Harapan in the future. Timid Tony still doesn’t understand that a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

Now that Loke has become a joke within the circle of UMNO-Malays after Zahid’s mocking to “bungkus him”, it creates a narrative that UMNO has become stronger and is worth voting for among the Malays. The strategy to attack DAP and to bank on Malay unity resonates well with the state’s electoral realities – 57% of the electorate in Negeri Sembilan are Malays.

On top of that, 23 of 36 state seats have Malay-majority electorates, where 11 of those seats make up more than three-quarters of Malay voters in the state. If the blue wave from Johor sweeps Negeri Sembilan, Anwar and Loke could be leading Pakatan Harapan to yet another disastrous defeat. PH’s dumb strategy to chase Malay votes, thinking it could outdo UMNO and Islamist party PAS has been miscalculated.

The “8123” numerical slogan – “81” or August 1 is polling day and 23 denotes the seats Pakatan aims to win – mooted by Chennah incumbent Anthony Loke could turn out to be true. But the 23 seats could end up in BN’s pocket instead, not PH as fantasized by Loke. The Malay mood has shifted and there is so much anti-DAP propaganda playing out on the Malay ground.

Chinese make up 44% of the voters in Chennah and Anthony Loke desperately needs them all on this Saturday. If the turnout is similar to that of Johor, where the Malay voter turnout (estimated at 77%) was much higher than the Chinese voter turnout (estimated at 58%), the DAP Chief is “bungkus”. Anything less than 80% turnout from the Chinese community is bungkus for Loke.

The level of frustration and displeasure among non-Malays, particularly the Chinese, can no longer be swept under the carpet. The traditional DAP supporters are aggrieved and angry that the party has failed them in fully addressing the issue of UEC (Unified Examination Certificate). DAP has also failed the Chinese community in the pig farming issue in the state of Selangor which it governs.

The Anwar-led administration in Selangor could not explain satisfactorily why pig farming has to be banned in the state when it had been working fine for over 60 years under the previous BN, and even under the backdoor government of PN. As the recent Johor election results showed, even the Indian community has abandoned PH in droves in favour of BN over the temples issue.

On Wednesday night (July 29), while addressing over 1,000 people at a meet-and-greet session with the Indian community in Seremban, PM Anwar Ibrahim reluctantly apologized and appealed to Indian voters last night to forgive his past mistake of referring to houses of worship on disputed land as “illegal”. But it’s too little too late. The Indian community is ready to teach DAP, PKR, Amanah, and PH a lesson.

It’s obvious why the racist PM had waited till now before apologizing after he happily – and arrogantly – insulted illegal Hindu temples months ago. Indians make up more than 20% of the electorate in 11 of the state’s wards, of which nine are governed by the ruling coalition. More than 80% of the Indian vote in the 2023 Negeri Sembilan state election helped PH won 17 out of 36 seats overall.

But the Indian support now appears to be hanging in the balance. BN won an estimated 60% of the Indian vote in Johor, a bloc that had largely backed PH for the past two decades. As far as the Indian community is concerned, PH promised a lot, but never did anything, especially for Indians on issues like scholarships and temple demolitions. They wanted to tell Anwar that they have an option – BN. 

More importantly, it shows that DAP is struggling to help deliver the desired 23 seats in Negeri Sembilan for Anwar-led PH. Without 95% Chinese votes and 80% Indian votes, PH is looking at a defeat against the onslaught of the mighty BN-PN Malay forces. Like the police investigation drama on Sanusi, very few believes Anwar’s apology was sincere. To say that Anwar and Loke are fabulously desperate is an understatement. They are panicking.

Other Articles That May Interest You …

• Sanusi Can Go Back Indonesia – PAS Toxic Politics Could Backfire
• Congrats Anwar & Loke – Continue Your Denial, Delusion, Arrogance To Lose More Elections
• No Good Options – Anwar To Lose Whether Election This Year Or 2027
• Bloomberg – How MACC Partners With Corporate Mafia To Seize Control Of Companies
• The Damage Is Done – Relocation Of 131-Year-Old Hindu Temple Fuels Accusations Of Bullying & Special Privileges
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• 2 Million Muslims Scammed – Court Settlement Proves “Holy Man” Hadi Took RM90 Million Bribes

The post Loke Thought Zahid Was Friend – Until Zahid Wanted To “Bungkus” Him first appeared on FinanceTwitter.

Even after a landslide victory by Barisan Nasional (BN) in Johor, where it won 48 out of 56 state seats (85%) with a popular vote of almost 60%, Pakatan Harapan (PH) continues to be in denial. PH leadership simply blamed their defeat on Perikatan Nasional (PN)’s vote “transfer” to BN – ignoring that DAP’s vote share dropped from 61.2% in 2022 to 50.8% in the 2026 Johor state election.

In truth, the Malay voter turnout (estimated at 77%) was much higher than the Chinese voter turnout (estimated at 58%) in the Johor state election. That was because the Malay voters were much more motivated to turn out to vote against DAP and PH (hence creating a “blue wave” in support of BN) compared to the Chinese voters, who did not have a compelling reason to come out to vote for PH.

Incumbent DAP secretary-general Anthony Loke Siew Fook was on his way to losing his Chennah seat in the coming Negeri Sembilan state election – until opposition Perikatan Nasional election director Sanusi Nor unexpectedly gives him a new lease of life. Thanks to Sanusi’s stinky mouth, disgruntled Chinese voters who were angry with Loke earlier may now be motivated to vote for DAP.

Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS – Parti Islam Se-Malaysia) should not have let its dog out –  barking madly like a rabid dog.Speaking at a rally in Jempol, the Kedah Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) falsely – and provocatively – claimed that Malays have no homeland other than Tanah Melayu (Malaysia), while other communities have ancestral countries elsewhere.

“The Malays no longer have land. The Malays only have this Tanah Melayu (Malay Land). Indians have India, Chinese have China, Cambodians have Cambodia, Siamese have Thailand. Where are the Malays? The Malays are only here,” – the notorious and racist PAS warlord screamed, hoodwinking a crowd of more than 300 people.

He also lied with false claims that the political power and economic foothold of the Malays are deteriorating rapidly and risk being completely lost within a decade unless drastic changes are made, and likened Malay leaders in government to the traitorous character “Buang” from the classic film Sarjan Hassan. Obviously, Sanusi was trying to incite the Malays to hate other ethnics, especially the Chinese.

In actuality, all Malaysians regardless of race and religion – Malay, Chinese, Indian, Iban, Kadazan, Murut, etc – are loyal citizens who share one Malaysian identity and have nowhere else to go but Malaysia. What they are “not loyal” to are the toxic political parties and forked-tongue politicians who selfishly, hypocritically, and greedily weaponize ethnicity to divide the people for power.

In fact, not only Chinese Malaysians are not guests in this country, whilst Indian Malaysians are not outsiders, but they are proven testimonials of generations of Malaysian Chinese and Indian heritage who have contributed to the country’s development in business, public service, education, the economy and national defence.

Heck, did Sanusi and his gang of PAS Talibans who dangerously promote toxic politics, politics of division, and extreme racial politics realize that 90% of the personal income tax which the government collects is paid by the Chinese? Therefore, if the Chinese go back to China and the Indians go back to India, leaving him alone in the so-called Tanah Melayu, he would end up as a scavenger.

By questioning the loyalty of citizens based on ethnicity, Sanusi is no different than Indian Muslim hate preacher Zakir Naik, a Malaysian permanent resident who provocatively and deliberately said the Malaysian Chinese aren’t born in the country so they, as the “old guests”, must go back to China first before he (the “new guest”) can be asked to leave. The fugitive preacher had also questioned Malaysian Hindu’s loyalty to ex-PM Mahathir.

As much as Sanusi and the PAS Islamist party hate Chinese and Indians, they are 70 years late to the party. Whatever the skin colour, race, or ethnicity, the Federal Constitution guarantees the rights and interests of all Malaysians as part of the conditions for the British granting Independence to the Federation of Malaya on August 31, 1957.

Sanusi could talk big if only Malay leaders went to London to negotiate for independence. But Malaya was represented in negotiations for independence from the British by a joint delegation led by Tunku Abdul Rahman, alongside Tan Cheng Lock and V.T. Sambanthan, without which the so-called Tanah Melayu will still remain as “Tanah British” till today.  

Yes, the British insisted on multi-ethnic cooperation and consensus among Malaya’s major communities – specifically represented by the Alliance coalition of UMNO, MCA, and MIC – as a vital condition for transferring power peacefully. Sanusi was not even born yet when the Malay, Chinese, and Indian representatives negotiated with the British Empire in 1956. If he still doesn’t like the deal, that’s too bad, and he can always go back to Indonesia.

Yes, Sanusi and all his radical minions can actually go back to Indonesia, their ancestral land. In case he failed his history, Malay groups migrated from what is now Indonesia beginning around the 12th century. He can’t dispute this fact because genetic and archaeological studies show that the core DNA profile of both Malaysian Malays and Indonesians is remarkably similar.

However, while ethnic Malay is the majority group in Malaysia, they are a minority group in Indonesia – making up roughly 3.7% (8 million) of the population. Javanese (40.2%) and Sundanese (15.5%) are the major ethnic groups in Indonesia, not Malay. That perhaps explains why inferior Malays like Sanusi love to bully and intimidate minority groups such as Malaysian Chinese and Indians in order to show superiority.

That also explains why Indonesia rejected Malaysia’s April 2022 proposal to make Bahasa Melayu (Malay language) the second official language of ASEAN. Instead, Jakarta said “Bahasa Indonesia” is more suitable as the language is spoken by the largest population in Southeast Asia – a huge slap in the face of Malay politicians trying to champion Bahasa Melayu.

Arguably, Sanusi might be right to a certain extent that retarded Malays like him have only Tanah Melayu to relied on because they are considered “third-class” citizen back in their own ancestry home Indonesia. If the Kedah chief minister is such a Malay hero, he should have declared war on Indonesia for insulting Malay language in refusing to make Bahasa Melayu the official language.

The best part is Muhammad Sanusi Nor has forgotten that his paternal grandfather was a migrant from mainland China who moved to the Malay Peninsular in 1930. Because his grandfather integrated into a local Malay village and his family subsequently intermarried within the community, Sanusi identifies and is legally classified as a Malay under Malaysian law.

However, technically, it still makes Sanusi a half-baked Malay with his lineage containing a mixture of Malay and Chinese DNA. So, based on his moronic argument, he should chop his body into half – partly goes to China and partly ships to Indonesia (or remains in Tanah Melayu). His grandfather would turn in his grave if he saw Sanusi’s extraordinary stupidity.

Historically, the first inhabitants of Malaysia are the Orang Asli (indigenous peoples of Peninsular Malaysia), not Malay migrants. It’s the same case in the United States, where the first people to live in America were Indigenous peoples, specifically American Indians and Alaska Natives, and not the British people migrated to America starting in the early 1600s.

In fact, commerce and trade began between ancient Chinese dynasties and ports on the Malay Peninsula, as proven by early pottery shards, had begun in the 1^st Century BC – long before Parameswara arrived in Melaka around 1402. Fleeing Majapahit forces in Temasek (Singapore), Parameswara ended up in Melaka the same way Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in late 1949 after losing the Chinese Civil War to the Chinese Communist Party. 

Therefore, Malaysia is something like Taiwan. Malays share deep ancestral, linguistic, and cultural roots with mainland Indonesia, the same way Taiwanese do with mainland China. If Malaysian Chinese and Indians can go back to China and India as they wish, which they can’t, then Taiwanese Chinese and Malaysian Malays can certainly go back to China and Indonesia respectively.

But who is Sanusi to tell Malaysian Chinese and Indians to go back to China and India after the minorities have been working so hard in developing, contributing, and sacrificing for the country, while a blood-sucking parasite like Sanusi gets paid tens of thousands every month from the taxpayers’ money just for playing extreme racial politics?

It’s also not true that the economic foothold of the Malays is deteriorating and risk being completely lost within a decade. On the contrary, Malays breed like rabbits and it’s the Chinese and Indians who are fast losing their economic pie. The ethnic Chinese proportion of the national population is declining and projected to fall under 15% by 2060, compared to Malay’s population rise to 79.4% from current 69.4%.

It’s an insult to the Malays’ intelligence to suggest that 15% Chinese could take away 80% Malays’ economic cake. Even if it were to happen, it’s because of Malays’ corruption, greed, and treachery. Was it not PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang who happily took the RM90 million bribes from former Prime Minister Najib Razak in exchange for sabotaging the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat coalition?

From Mahathir Mohamad era’s scandals involving UEM, Malayan Banking, Bank Bumiputra, Sime Bank, KUB, Bank of Commerce, RHB Bank, Ekran’s Bakun Dam Project, Park May-Intrakota bus, Monorail, Perwaja, and Konsortium Perkapalan Bhd, just to name a few, to Abdullah Badawi’s oil-for-food kickbacks, hundreds of billions had been stolen and siphoned by Malay leaders.

And from Najib Razak’s 1MDB scandal where a massive global financial fraud involving over US$4.5 billion (RM42 billion to RM50 billion) siphoned from Malaysia’s state development fund to Muhyiddin Yassin’s RM5.7 billion Jana Wibawa scandal, which was just a small part of the RM92.5 billion Covid-19 Stimulus Programme, billions had been stolen again by Malay leaders.

Even clueless “turtle egg” Ismail Sabri was caught with over RM100 million in cash stashed in safe houses and properties linked to the former prime minister’s aides. The best part is another Malay leader – 10^th Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim – has been busy dropping charges beginning with Zahid Hamidi’s 47 corruption charges to a royal pardon for jailed ex-PM Najib Razak.  

From protecting Azam Baki, former Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Chief Commissioner caught with his pants down in shareholding, to covering up Sabah Chief Minister Hajiji Noor’s corruption scandal, and from sweeping under the carpet the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) scandal involving RM9.14 billion to closing both eyes on Farhash Wafa Salvador’s corruption and corporate mafia scandals, PM Anwar has taken “protecting corruption” to a new level.

Exactly where was Sanusi when his boss Hadi accepted RM90 bribes? Was not the Islamist party PAS part of the Muhyhiddin and Sabri backdoor government when they stole billions from the national coffers? The economic foothold of the Malays is deteriorating, if any, not because of Chinese or Indians, but due to thievery and treachery from Malay leaders entrusted to protect Malays’ interests.

Telling the Chinese to go back to China and the Indians to go back to India, as suggested by Sanusi, is a dumb strategy in the social media age. The election strategy is so damaging and dangerous that it could backfire spectacularly on the BN-PN cooperation in Negeri Sembilan, so much so UMNO president Zahid Hamidi has to tell his PAS buddy to go back to Kedah. Still, the burning question is why Sanusi hasn’t been arrested for threatening national security? Still, the burning question is why Sanusi hasn’t been arrested for threatening national security?

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The post Sanusi Can Go Back Indonesia – PAS Toxic Politics Could Backfire first appeared on FinanceTwitter.