Opinion

To the young and the hungry: Enjoy the silence while it lasts. Today you are eating the mutton; tomorrow, the mutton is eating you 

I HAVE reached that precarious stage of life where my social circle is now a rotating cast of medical professionals. These white coats shake their heads when I tell them what I used to eat regularly. They viewed my past diet with horrified fascination; I did all the “good stuff” like lontong, nasi lemak, rendang, biryani, and fish head curry. 

My primary “health advisor”, before a little medical episode last year required me to see hospital doctors, was my friend at the Curry Palace. He is not happy with me now because I am talking to real doctors who wear stethoscopes and have nurses and white coats that have never once been introduced to a turmeric stain. 

While the hospital doctor talks about “cardiovascular integrity”, my Curry Palace specialist remains convinced that the only thing wrong with my health is that I’m not filling it with enough of his mutton-fried rice. 

This new abstinence is my new normal. I have undergone a full-scale biological rebranding; I have succumbed to total health-sector radicalisation. My grocery list now looks like the manifest of an ancient spice ship caught in a health-food raid. I have gone full-throttle aesthetic ascetic. 

Front and centre are the chia seeds (tiny, gelatinous pebbles that look like frog spawn) and the accursed apple cider vinegar, a liquid that smells like a gym floor and tastes like a direct assault on human joy. I have enough magnesium and potassium on my bedside to jump-start a dead Volvo, and I treat Celtic salt with a reverence usually reserved for Siti Nurhaliza concert tickets. 

I have what is known as obesity and a visceral fat problem. My Curry Palace friend recently showed me a greeting card from the Ikram Society, which was in the news a few weeks ago for some rather creative “zakat shenanigans”. 

The card was titled “Happy Old People’s Week” (or something similar) and offered deeply spiritual medical advice, including the exhortations to “avoid arguments and unnecessary conflict” and to “swallow sadness and move on”. 

Which is simple, but not nearly as helpful as what the doctors say I must do now: Walk in the mornings. At sunrise. Not just walking, mind you, but engaging in a specific, rhythmic pace that requires me to talk to myself. 

Make no mistake, this is not for the giggles. This is a desperate, panting negotiation for survival. The doctors are obsessed with visceral fat, which, as far as I can tell, is medical shorthand for the ancient, marbled grease of a thousand illicit biryanis currently strangling my internal organs like a hungry python. 

To evict this internal squatter and escape the looming shadow of clinical obesity, I am told I must reside permanently in “Zone 2”. Apparently, if I break into a light jog, my body panics and hoards the fat like a doomsday prepper hoarding canned beans. If I push too hard, I release a weird hormone that, in a cruel twist of biological irony, actually causes me to get fatter.

The only way to verify I am walking in this narrow corridor of fat-burning bliss, a Zone 2, and know that I am successfully melting the mutton without alerting the hormonal guards, is to make sure that I can maintain a conversation while walking fast. 

Since no one I know could be persuaded to walk with me at sunrise, I am forced to talk to myself. I shuffle past the Curry Palace at a brisk, life-saving clip, muttering to my imaginary friend about the benefits of potassium simply to prove to my lungs that I haven’t triggered a “tiger response”. 

To the casual observer, I look like a man who has finally lost his marbles after a lifetime of Kuala Lumpur (KL) traffic. To the medical community, however, I am the picture of health. I’m not sure which is more frightening, but at least the mutton-fried lamb smells from inside the shop are the same as they were when I was allowed to be happy. 

To the young and the hungry: Enjoy the silence while it lasts. Today you are eating the mutton; tomorrow, the mutton is eating you. One day soon, the grease will demand its pound of flesh, and you’ll be out here with me, vibrating with apple cider vinegar and conducting a one-man symposium on the sidewalk. 

It is a tragic irony that a life of good eating ends with a man talking to his own imaginary friend, simply because his heart is too terrified to let him be quiet. 

• ZB Othman is an editor of The Malaysian Reserve.

• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition

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FACING an unprecedented shortage, the oil market is pulling every available lever to rebalance supply and demand. Some are well known: Bypassing the Strait of Hormuz using pipelines, releasing emergency stocks and allowing high prices to kill consumption. But there’s another force that’s equally important and largely unmentioned: China. 

Quietly, Beijing has slashed its oil imports by about a quarter from prewar levels. The impact is clear: Unexpectedly, more crude is available to the wider market, reining in oil benchmarks close to the key US$100 (RM392)-a-barrel level despite 60-plus days of conflict in the Persian Gulf. But the mechanics behind the import swing — crucial to assessing its sustainability — are far from clear. 

Deciphering the vast Chinese energy industry is difficult, even when the fog of war isn’t obscuring the picture further. Oil traders fill the gaps left by patchy official statistics by tracking tankers offloading and uploading in the country, measuring stocks using satellite imagery and by talking to their own on-the-ground contacts for clues. 

Over recent weeks, industry executives have noticed something odd: Chinese state-owned oil companies have been reselling some of their oil cargoes to European and Asian rivals. The behaviour suggests surpluses — odd during a supply shortage. 

The shift has not only capped benchmark oil prices but also helped to trigger a collapse in the premia that traders pay above them to secure physical crude. Barrels that in early April went for US$30 above benchmark prices are now changing hands at premiums as low as US$1. Talk of discounts has even started to emerge. 

Tanker-tracking data gives the same anomalous surplus signal. Vortexa Ltd, a commodity intelligence firm, estimated that China is buying just 8.2 million barrels a day of crude from overseas, down from a prewar level of around 11.7 million. The 3.5-million barrels a day swing almost matches the total consumption of Japan and is double the amount supplied by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) pipeline that circumvents Hormuz. 

Simply put, it’s huge, perhaps the second-or third-largest factor rebalancing the oil market today, behind only Saudi Arabia’s own pipeline bypassing the strait and the use of the strategic petroleum reserves of the US and Japan. 

The import drop might make sense if Chinese commercial inventories were falling sharply, or if Beijing had tapped its strategic petroleum reserves. But neither is happening. 

Instead, commercial stockpiles have continued to increase in recent weeks, according to satellite data. What Beijing did was ban exports of refined products, effectively allowing refineries to process less crude to meet domestic demand. But the policy has now been reversed, suggesting the country sees enough fuel availability. 

So how is China importing far less crude than before without running down stocks? In the past, the country clearly bought more oil than it needed, building a huge emergency stockpile. Today, China has nearly 1.4 billion barrels in its reserves, well above the 400 million of the US and Japan’s 260 million. 

On average, China probably bought one million barrels a day more than it needed last year. By simply stopping beefing up the reserve, China can cut imports a lot without affecting its underlying oil needs. 

The shift can explain, perhaps, a third of the import cut. But the rest? Here’s where oil traders speculate with different theories. One argument said that Chinese economic activity is weaker than previously thought, and thus oil consumption growth is lower. 

What’s the catalyst for that slowdown? Perhaps the impact of the war on several of China’s clients in the region, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand. On top, the increase of electric vehicles (EVs), improved public transport and the option of working from home have made Chinese households better able to cope with higher oil prices. 

Unlike some other nations in the region, China hasn’t announced any emergency action to rein in demand, like adopting a four-day work week for government employees or promoting carpooling. 

The International Energy Agency (IEA), relying on preliminary data, estimates that Chinese oil demand slipped into a modest year-on-year (YoY) contraction in both March and April, down by about 110,000 barrels a day to about 17 million barrels. While the drop is impressive when compared with the exuberant growth of the country’s consumption in the past, it isn’t nearly enough to explain why imports have fallen so much. 

Perhaps, then, Chinese oil demand is contracting far more sharply than currently thought? The key, some traders reckon, is the inscrutable petrochemical industry — the sector that has contributed the majority of oil consumption growth over the last five years. In petrochemicals, China is unique. On top of its traditional industry that uses oil and natural gas as feedstock, it has parallel production that relies on coal. 

Since the war started in late February, coal-to-chemicals profit margins have improved markedly. The industry had typically operated with plentiful spare capacity, so there’s room for a significant shift to coal from oil as a chemical feedstock. 

Hard data is scarce but, anecdotally, petrochemical plants transforming coal into plastics like polyethylene, polypropylene and polyvinyl chloride have been running hard for the last 60 days, in turn reducing consumption of traditional feedstocks such as ethane and naphtha. 

So maybe China has managed to rely far more on coal-to-chemicals than previously thought. Another possible explanation is that it’s running down hard-to-track inventories of semi-finished plastics and other chemicals, making the recent drop in oil consumption in the petrochemical industry an unsustainable one-off. 

Perhaps there are more banal explanations. Although oil traders try to estimate Chinese inventory data with the use of satellite data, maybe everyone is missing locations and stocks are, in fact, falling. 

The oil market is full of chatter about China quietly tapping its strategic reserves, starting by using underground caverns that no one can see using satellites. Maybe. 

Time lags may be playing a role; Chinese domestic oil production has been increasing, too, perhaps helping to plug any gaps. But make no mistake, China is rebalancing the oil market today. 

The bigger question is for tomorrow: If the country can reduce imports so drastically without, apparently, having to take extreme measures, what does that say about the future of oil consumption there? Nothing positive for the bulls, certainly. — Bloomberg

• This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners. 

• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition

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KUALA LUMPUR — UMNO is receiving a positive signal as more young people choose to join the party through its online membership registration platform, said its president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi (picture).

He said the trend proves that the party, which is now 80 years old, continues to move in step with the times and remains trusted as an important platform in defending the country’s stability and future.

“As UMNO president, one of the things that makes me happiest is seeing more young people choosing to join UMNO through online membership registration.

“This signals that UMNO continues to move in line with changing times and is still trusted as an important platform in safeguarding the country’s stability and future,” he said in a Facebook post today in conjunction with UMNO’s 80th anniversary celebration.

Ahmad Zahid, who is also the Deputy Prime Minister, said although the party has gone through various ups and downs over the past eight decades, UMNO’s true strength lies not merely in its name, but in the loyalty of its grassroots members.

“We have been tested by political challenges, divisions, public perception and changing times. Yet UMNO continues to stand strong because its strength lies in the fighting spirit of its members, who remain loyal in defending religion, race and the country,” he said.

He said the continuity of the party’s struggle requires a strong spirit of togetherness to ensure that every weakness can be corrected for the sake of future generations.

He also expressed appreciation to the thousands of members who attended the UMNO 80th anniversary celebration at the World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur recently, which he described as a sign of strengthening the party’s determination in its struggle. — BERNAMA

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The internal contest deepened divisions and reinforced perceptions of intolerance towards dissent 

IS DATUK Seri Anwar Ibrahim undermining his own chances of winning the next general election (GE)? Could the prime minister (PM) be squandering the political goodwill that brought him to power? And what role does UMNO play in the run-up to the next polls? 

These questions are increasingly shaping political conversations across the country as speculation over the next polls steadily intensifies. Over the past fortnight alone, the chatter has noticeably grown louder. 

One trigger was a brief but telling political tremor in Negri Sembilan, where UMNO lawmakers appeared to test the stability of Pakatan Harapan (PH)-led coalition state administration. 

On April 27, Umno Negri Sembilan chairman Datuk Seri Jalaluddin Alias declared that all 14 Barisan Nasional (BN) assemblymen had lost confidence in the state leadership led by Mentri Besar (MB) Datuk Seri Aminuddin Harun. They claimed to be concerned over state governance, traditional customs (adat) and issues affecting royal institutions. 

The timing was difficult to ignore. The mini-crisis unfolded just days before UMNO’s 80th anniversary celebrations, which began on May 1, a major political showcase for a party eager to remind both allies and rivals that it still matters. 

2. Despite being only one component within the Madani coalition government, UMNO-powered Barisan Nasional (BN) continues to wield outsized influence. It controls Pahang, Johor and Melaka, and occupies the MB post in Perak. 

The Breakdown 

Here’s how UMNO stacks up in the states. In Pahang, BN controls 19 seats (UMNO: 17, Malaysian Chinese Association/MCA: 1 and Malaysian Indian Congress/MIC: 1), while PH holds 11 (DAP: 6, PKR: 3, Amanah: 1 and one PH-friendly independent). Perikatan Nasional (PN) has 17 seats (PAS: 15 and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia: 2).

In Negri Sembilan, PH is the top dog with 17 seats (DAP: 11, PKR: 5 and Amanah: 1), followed by BN with 14 (all from UMNO) and PN with five (PAS: 3 and Bersatu: 2). 

The Perak coalition government consists of PH with 24 seats (DAP: 18, PKR: 5 and Amanah: 1) and BN with nine seats (UMNO: 8 and MCA: 1). On the Opposition bench, PN holds 25 seats (PAS: 17 and Bersatu: 8) along with one independent. 

In Melaka, BN is in the driver’s seat with 21 state assemblymen (UMNO: 18, MCA: 2 and MIC: 1) while PH holds five (DAP 4 and Amanah 1). PN has only two seats, both held by Bersatu. 

In Johor, BN stands tall with 40 out of the 56 seats, contributed by UMNO (33), MCA (4) and MIC (3). It also has a confidence-and-supply arrangement with PH, which holds 12 seats (DAP: 10, PKR: 1, Amanah: 1). The Opposition consists of the PN with three seats (Bersatu: 2 and PAS: 1) and MUDA holding one seat. 

The question hanging over the UMNO anniversary gathering was predictable: Will BN contest GE16 on its own? 

Officially, the next GE is still some distance away. Parliament only expires automatically in December 2027. But the more immediate deadlines would are Melaka and Johor, whose state assemblies expire in end-December 2026 and April 2027 respectively. 

For now, UMNO appears to be leaning towards a hybrid strategy. It will maintain BN’s separate identity while preserving selective electoral understandings with PH. But such arrangements are inherently fragile, especially if tensions within the coalition continue to deepen. 

The Basic Premise 

The PM appears to be operating on two broad political assumptions. 

First, non-Malay voters in Peninsular Malaysia ultimately have nowhere else to go and will therefore continue backing an Anwar-led coalition, despite growing frustrations. That assumption carries risks. 

Disillusioned voters do not necessarily swing directly to PN or BN. They may simply stay home. A lower turnout among PH’s traditional base could prove devastating in marginal constituencies. 

Second, Anwar is betting on continued Malay fragmentation between PN and BN, leaving PH with enough space to survive despite relatively weaker Malay support. 

Anwar’s Missteps 

This brings us to Anwar’s own political missteps. 

The first was allowing the perception that he had intervened in PKR’s internal elections, particularly through his daughter Nurul Izzah’s challenge against deputy president Datuk Seri Rafizi Ramli. 

Regardless of explanations offered, many voters will inevitably view the episode through the lens of dynastic politics and nepotism. 

More damagingly, Anwar missed an opportunity to rise above factionalism and project himself as a unifying elder statesman within the party. Instead, the internal contest deepened divisions and reinforced perceptions of intolerance towards dissent. 

The second risk lies in dragging Rafizi through the mud over a deal connected to the UK-based semiconductor design firm Arm Holdings plc. Spare no politician if they are suspected of corruption. But this episode risks appearing politically motivated in the eyes of the public. 

The overkill also makes Anwar look weak. And it may have cost the party some of its core supporters. 

With UMNO carefully balancing its options and Anwar compounding matters through his own political missteps, the PM may ultimately have no one but himself to blame if power slips from his grasp at the next polls. 

• Habhajan Singh is the corporate editor of The Malaysian Reserve. 

• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition

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FOR many Malaysians today, the idea of a “good life” has quietly shifted. 

Not too long ago — say, a decade back — the conversation felt very different. It was about moving up in life. People talked about upgrading their cars, travelling more often, getting on the property ladder earlier and enjoying the small comforts that came with a growing economy. There was a clear sense of optimism. The focus was on progress, opportunity and building something better for the future. 

Now, that tone has changed. 

More and more, the goal is no longer luxury. It’s stability. People want to know if their salary will stretch to the end of the month. They want food prices to stop swinging unpredictably. They want housing that feels within reach, healthcare they can rely on, debt that doesn’t spiral and — above all — the assurance that one unexpected expense won’t undo years of effort. 

That shift says a lot about what many Malaysians are feeling today. Yes, living costs are rising, but it’s more than that. There’s also a deeper sense of financial unease that cuts across income levels, age groups and even professions that were once considered securely middle class. 

And on top of that, global events are adding another layer of pressure. 

Tensions involving Iran and the wider Middle East are a reminder of just how connected everyday life is to events far beyond our shores. Talk of disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz may sound like distant geopolitical news, but the ripple effects have reached Malaysian households surprisingly quickly. 

After all, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s key oil routes, with a significant share of global crude passing through it daily. If that flow is disrupted, oil prices tend to react almost immediately. And when fuel prices rise, the impact doesn’t stay at the pump — it spreads everywhere. Transport costs go up, groceries get more expensive, restaurant prices adjust, electricity bills feel the pressure and even school-related expenses can creep higher. 

For families already dealing with inflation, that possibility is not abstract anymore. It feels immediate. Many are already stretched, and another fuel shock is something few feel prepared for. 

You can sense this concern in everyday conversations. Whether it’s over coffee, during lunch breaks, online, or in family group chats, the themes are often the same: Groceries cost more, eating out has become noticeably pricier, rent keeps climbing and salaries do not quite keep up with the reality on the ground. 

And that’s how fuel prices become more than just a number. When they rise, the effects ripple outward. Logistics costs increase. Businesses pass on expenses. Food prices adjust. Small traders feel the squeeze. Ride-hailing drivers earn less after fuel costs. Even those who do not drive feel it indirectly through inflation. 

That’s why global instability feels personal. 

For younger Malaysians especially, many of the usual milestones of adulthood are starting to feel harder to reach. Graduates enter the workforce with qualifications but still struggle to save. 

Owning a home in cities like Kuala Lumpur or Petaling Jaya often feels out of reach without family help. Even those with steady incomes quietly admit that they are mostly just managing, not really moving ahead. 

And this is not simply about attitude or financial discipline. In many sectors, wages have not kept pace with inflation or urban living costs. Global shocks — wars, supply chain disruptions, fuel price spikes — only make those gaps more visible. 

Economic indicators may point to growth, but people judge things differently. What matters is whether they feel secure enough to plan their lives. 

Right now, many do not.

One clear sign of this is how spending habits have changed. People are more cautious. Grocery bills are checked more carefully. Big purchases are delayed. Even something as routine as eating out now feels like a decision that needs planning rather than impulse. 

But this is not about Malaysians losing ambition. It’s more that financial pressure is reshaping what success looks like. Stability itself has become something people aspire to. 

Having savings for emergencies now feels more important than owning luxury goods. Predictable monthly expenses matter more than status symbols. Job security is often valued more than high-risk opportunities. In many ways, the mindset is slowly shifting from growth-focused to survival-focused. 

And every new global shock reinforces that shift. 

News of conflict, oil supply disruptions, or rising fuel prices triggers familiar anxiety, because people know how quickly something far away can end up affecting their daily lives. A crisis thousands of kilometres away can eventually show up as higher grocery bills, reduced purchasing power and tighter household budgets. 

If this continues over time, the effects go beyond spending patterns. 

Long-term financial stress affects mental well-being, family decisions, career choices and even how much trust people place in society. Some delay marriage or having children. Others consider moving abroad for better opportunities. Burnout becomes normal because people feel they cannot afford to lose stability. Gradually, economic pressure starts shaping the emotional landscape of society. 

There’s also a growing gap between official narratives and what people actually experience. On paper, the economy may look like it is improving, investment figures may be rising and growth may be steady. But for many households, that does not always match what they feel when they pay their bills each month — especially when fuel prices jump. 

And perception matters just as much as data. 

Most people do not experience the economy through statistics. They experience it through everyday questions: Can I afford groceries comfortably? Can I save anything this month? Can I support my parents? Can I raise a family without constant financial stress? 

When those answers become uncertain, confidence naturally weakens. 

Of course, Malaysia is not alone in this. Many countries are dealing with similar pressures — rising living costs, housing challenges, wage stagnation and inequality. The global economy is still adjusting after the pandemic, while geopolitical tensions continue to disrupt energy markets and supply chains. 

But acknowledging global challenges should not mean accepting stagnation at home. 

Malaysia still has clear strengths. It remains relatively affordable compared to many neighbours, has strong infrastructure, a strategic location, diverse economy and multilingual workforce. These are real advantages — but they need to translate into everyday improvements, not just positive macroeconomic headlines. 

And importantly, cost-of-living solutions cannot remain short-term or reactive. Malaysians are not just looking for temporary relief every time fuel prices rise. They are looking for something more lasting: Confidence that effort and hard work can still lead to stability and upward mobility, even in uncertain times. 

In the end, most Malaysians are not asking for extravagance. They are not chasing luxury lifestyles or unrealistic expectations. 

What they want is simpler — and far more fundamental. 

They want to live without constant financial anxiety. 

They want stable prices, stable opportunities, stable institutions and stable futures. And in today’s world, stability itself has quietly become the new definition of prosperity. 

• Intan Baha is the chief sub-editor/production editor of The Malaysian Reserve

• This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition

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