SPIRIT OF HARI MERDEKA - 31ST AUGUST

 

The spirit of Hari Merdeka (Malaysian Independence Day) on August 31st represents national unity, patriotism, and the commemoration of the Federation of Malaya's freedom from British rule in 1957.

Celebrations and Traditions

Official Events: Communities and the government hold grand parades, flag-raising ceremonies, and televised national programs.
Public Participation: Citizens display the Jalur Gemilang (national flag) on vehicles, homes, and public spaces, while enjoying fireworks, shopping promotions, and community gatherings.
Cultural Sentiment: Users on social medias generally agree that while Merdeka Day is a deeply meaningful national holiday, it is celebrated with a quieter, more reflective patriotism compared to culturally festive holidays like Hari Raya or Chinese New Year. 

Deeper Meaning of Freedom

Beyond the public festivities, discussions on social medias reflect a consensus that true national independence involves fostering social equity, mutual understanding across diverse cultures, and working together to improve society.

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Deciphering Zetrix’s a.k.a. MyEG limit down post company’s denial of link to Saravanan’s graft charge

 

CAN Friday’s (Aug 28) 50.4% or 30 sen limit down of Zetrix AI Bhd (previously My E.G. Services Bhd) to 29.5 sen be attributed to stock market irrationality given human emotions, crowd behaviour and short-term trends come into play rather than pure mathematical value?

This is especially so after the digital services outfit denied any link to former human resources minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan who was charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court with three corruption counts relating to foreign worker quotas.

The MIC deputy president has apparently pleaded not guilty to the charges under the MACC Act 2009 for allegedly receiving RM1.097 mil in bribes concerning foreign worker hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2022.

Granted a bail of RM450,000, the Tapah MP further denounced the allegations “wild and politically motivated” and maintained that he has nothing to be ashamed of.

In response to an unusual market activity (UMA) query from stock market regulator Bursa Malaysia Securities Bhd, Zetrix AI contended that it understood that “unfounded rumours or speculation linking the said charges to the company” could have triggered the dumping of its stocks.

However, Zetrix AI stressed that “there is no basis for such rumours or speculation and that it is unaware of any connection between the said charges and the business and affairs of the Zetrix AI Group”.

Editor’s Note: Nearly RM2.4 bil was wiped out from Zetrix AI’s market capitalisation on Friday (Aug 28). The counter dropped 30 sen (50.4%) to hit the lower limit-down threshold of 29.5 sen.

Over 1.05 billion shares traded, thus making making Zetrix  AI the day’s most active counter.  Its current market cap stands at RM2.38 bil.

Downslide at associate HeiTech Padu

In the quest to decipher Zetrix AI’s limit down finfluencer Najib Fazail (@najibfazail) contended on Threads that Saravanan’s case was inevitably linked to Zetrix AI as “it once provided digital services related to foreign workers when it was known as MYEG”.

“Interestingly, however, its Foreign Worker Permit Renewal Services contract had expired in July 2025,” recounted the financial enthusiast who focuses on the stock market.

“So the question is whether the quota that was said to be approved in Saravanan’s case has any connection with the system/portal used for the foreign worker process at that time?

For now, there has been no evidence whatsoever except the coincidental limit down timing with Saravanan being charged in court and ZETRIX having its own limit down history linked to government change (as in May 2018 following the Barisan Nasional collapse). 

Elsewhere, fellow finfluencer Haris Idham (@mrharisidham) observed that Zetrix AI encountered a somehow 29.5 sen “free fall from the prior day’s 59.5 sen within an hour”.

He went on to point out that there is a difference in the limit down/limit up mechanism between “shares above RM1” and “shares below RM1”.

“For shares above RM1, the daily price limit is ±30% of the reference price. For example, a stock closed yesterday at RM2, hence the  Limit Down = RM1.40 while its  Limit Up = RM2.60,” explained the equity dealer at CGS International Securities Malaysia.

“But if the stock is below RM1, the daily price limit is 30 sen as opposed to 30%. For example, a stock closed yesterday at 60 sen. Hence, its  Down Limit = 30 sen while its  Up Limit = 90 sen. Can you see the difference? ”

Coincidentally, however, all three counters said to be linked to Zetrix AI’s co-founder and managing director Wong Thean Soon were traded down on Friday.

Zetrix AI Bhd’s co-founder and managing director Wong Thean Soon

Shares of Zetrix AI’s associate HeiTech Padu Bhd  in which the former holds 16.9% stake managed to recover from its intraday low of 87.5 sen to earse 17 sen or 13.6% to RM1.08 with 2.16 million shares traded.

Agmo Holdings Bhd in which Wong was a substantial early investor and shareholder through his vehicle Asia Internet Holdings Sdn Bhd slide 4.5 sen or 13.04% to 30 sen with 3.42 million shares traded while Excel Force MSC Bhd plunged 7.5 sen or 34.45% with 22.32 million shares exchanged hands. 

- Focus Malaysia

Ong Kian Ming quits DAP on 69th Merdeka Day, not joining any party except helping KJ campaign in GE16

 

Editor’s Note: The writing has been on the wall for quite some time except perhaps for the Fulbright scholar to choose this historic date to commemorate his stepping down from DAP which he joined in 2012.

 

DEAR Saudara Anthony Loke Siew Fook (DAP’s secretary general)

(cc Saudara Khoo Poay Tiong, DAP’s national organising secretary)

I am writing to inform you that I am resigning as a DAP member effective on Aug 31, 2026. My membership number is S04-1916-0142612.

I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the party and the country in different ways since I joined the party in 2012 – as a Serdang MP (2013 to 2018) and Bangi MP (2018 to 2022), as an international trade and industry (MITI) deputy minister (2018 to 2020), as an appointed member of the Central Executive Committee (2019 to 2022) and as an elected member of the DAP Selangor state committee (2018 to 2024).

Ong Kian Ming (right) will continue to serve the interests of the country through his podcast “Are We OK?”

I especially want to thank Saudara Tony Pua for inviting me to join the party and for providing me with the guidance on how to best serve the party and the country over the past 14 years as a DAP member.

I am also grateful to Saudara Lim Guan Eng for providing me with the opportunity to be nominated as a candidate for the parliamentary seats of Serdang and Bangi and as a deputy minister during his tenure as DAP secretary-general.

Ong Kian Ming (right) and Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) (Image credit: ALIRAN)

It has been my pleasure and honour to work with DAP members and leaders in Serdang and Bangi during my time as a MP from 2013 to 2022 while serving the voters and residents of those constituencies as their elected representative.

I am not planning to join another political party in the near future and I will not be seeking to contest as a candidate in the next general election (GE16).

I remain committed to fulfil the promise I made on Jan 10 this year to help Khairy Jamaluddin (KJ) campaign in GE16 (16th General Election) if he is given a seat to run in.

I will continue to serve the interests of the country through other means including on my podcast (Are We OK?), through my various advisory positions and by working with other like-minded people with common interests.

Happy Merdeka Day! 

Ong Kian Ming
Aug 31, 2026

 The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of  MMKtT.

- Focus Malaysia.

PMX’s RON95 300 litres restoration as Merdeka gift brushed aside as “sheer election candy”

 

DETRACTORS have trolled Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s reversion of the RON95 subsidised fuel quota under BUDI MADANI to 300 litres/month from the present 200 litres/month as meaningless as it has come a little too late.

The fuel quota uplift (including diesel entitlement raised to 400 litre/month) which takes effect from Sept 1 (tomorrow) topped the list of six immediate relief measures a.k.a. “National Day gifts” to ease cost-of-living pressures and bolstering public services.

The other five are:

• Higher school maintenance funding: The 2025/2026 educational upkeep allocation for all types of schools was boosted by 50% to RM1.5 bil from RM1 bil.
• Free AI access for Youths: The government is providing three months of free premium AI (artificial intelligence) tool subscriptions (including ChatGPT and Gemini Enterprise) to 100,000 Malaysians aged 18 to 30 who complete a module via Rakyat Digital.
• Public healthcare digitalisation: An allocation of RM1 bil was set aside to implement electronic health records and boost WiFi connectivity at 150 hospitals and 2,000 clinics to dramatically reduce waiting times.

• Raised e-Invoicing threshold: The annual sales threshold required for businesses to be exempted from mandatory e-invoicing was raised from RM1 mil to RM3 mil.
• Enhanced micro-financing and grants: Micro-entrepreneur financing was scaled up by RM1 bil (raising total funding to RM6 bil) alongside a new RM200 mil Geran Sejahtera MADANI which explicitly targets hawkers, night market traders and home-based business mothers.

Former PKR grassroot member Amer Hamzah (@amer7211) ticked off PMX “for treating Malaysians as fools like his Madani cybertroopers given the quota uplift isn’t showcasing his concern for the rakyat but merely as election candy”.

“Back then, when the 300-litre quota dropped to 200 litres, the given excuse was the rakyat weren’t using much,” jibed the now avid BERSAMA keyboard warrior on X.

“Now, when the 200-litre quota has risen back to 300 litres, this is suddenly proof that the Swollen Eye Party (reference to PKR’s logo) cares about the rakyat. No matter what you do, the rakyat will still reject the Swollen Eye Party. It’s all too late!  “

Elaborating further, the poster claimed that a similar tactic was used during the Najib a.k.a. Bossku administration to solicit support for Barisan Nasional (BN) to which one commenter summed up as “he slashed the allocation himself, then he raised it back as if he’s the hero ”.

Elsewhere, former BN deputy strategic communications director Datuk Eric See-To also took a swipe at PMX by wanting to know “what’s the formula behind the sudden reversion to the old quota”.

“Why is it that when the quota was reduced from 300 litres to 200 litres, he claimed that less than 1% of the rakyat were affected but when it was raised back to 300 litres, he contended that more than 50% of the rakyat would stand to benefit,” mocked the staunch Madani critic.

“Now I’m confuse, too. Who can help answer?”

Delving further, See-To who previously blogged under the moniker Lim Sian See used a washing machine to depict PMX as a “spin master” while deducing that “out of 10 words that come out of PMX’s mouth, 9,600 words can’t be trusted”

At the end of the day, one commenter seized what is deemed to be a timely Merdeka Day gift to ridicule PMX with a ‘modified’ Art of War quote – “To confuse the enemy, first confuse yourself”. –  Focus Malaysia