News about Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 7): Scientex Bhd is looking to accelerate its development of affordable housing units, and plans to build 32,500 units over the next 10 years to meet its 50,000 homes target by 2028.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 7): The Finance Ministry said today foreign online services will need to register with the Royal Malaysian Customs Department to ensure a level playing field between Malaysian and foreign companies.

PETALING JAYA (Nov 7): The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Com­mission (MACC) has questioned former Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) governor Tan Sri Muhammad Ibrahim over the central bank’s RM2bil land purchase from the Finance Ministry in January.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): The multi-tier levy system has been strongly opposed by an employer group and industry players, which said it would increase the cost of business operations.

GEORGE TOWN (Nov 5): State Housing Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo (pictured) has been receiving increasingly more complaints from Penang residents about the problems they face from foreign workers living in their areas.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): The announcement that exemptions will be granted for specific business-to-business (B2B) service tax from Jan 1, 2019 for registered service tax entities would help lower the costs of doing business by eliminating pyramiding taxation, or the tax-on-tax effect.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): Three years ago, when former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who was also the finance minister, unveiled Budget 2016, many labelled it the “Robin Hood” budget — a reference to a fictional character who took from the rich to give to the poor — simply because the personal income tax rate of those in the higher income bracket was raised.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): The federal government’s proposed airport real estate investment trust (REIT) may be neutral for Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) in the near term.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): The government’s announcement that it will take over the Eastern Dispersal Link (EDL) expressway from Malaysian Resources Corp Bhd (MRCB) for RM1.

The design of affordable housing schemes have been pretty much the same everywhere – a few high-rise blocks that look like pigeon holes, a high density of small apartments with the typical 2-bedroom or 3-bedroom layouts.