SINGAPORE (Aug 12): “To my understanding, OP was a term — Optimus Prime, I don’t know — to refer to the Prime Minister.” — AmBank relationship liaison manager Joanna Yu, referring to the alias used by Jho Low for former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak. Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots, the good guys in the animated alien robot series Transformers.

New mandatory cybersecurity rules for financial industry

The Monetary Authority of Singapore has given the financial sector a year’s notice to raise cybersecurity standards and cyber resilience.

The Notice on Cyber Hygiene sets out the measures financial institutions must take to mitigate cyber threats. It will make elements in the existing MAS Technology Risk Management guidelines mandatory. Among them are to establish and implement robust security for IT systems, ensure updates are applied to address system security flaws in a timely manner, implement measures to mitigate risk of malware infection and strengthen user authentication for critical systems as well as systems used to access customer information.

“Cyber threats in the financial sector are growing as a result of an increased digital footprint and pervasive use of the internet,” said Tan Yeow Seng, chief cybersecurity officer at MAS, in a statement. “The financial sector needs to remain vigilant and ensure that defences are able to counter varied and evolving threats. Good cyber hygiene can go a long way in protecting financial institutions from common types of cyber incursions.” Tan gave his assurance that the measures, which he deemed “fundamental and essential”, can be implemented by all financial institutions “regardless of size or system complexity”.

The measures were proposed in a consultation paper released in September 2018, and have taken into account suggestions from the industry, namely to focus on strengthening user access to systems that store or have access to customer data, as well as allow for more time for financial institutions to design, acquire and integrate user authentication technology into their systems. An extra six months’ grace from Aug 6, 2020 can be given to financial institutions if they implement measures to reduce risks in the interim. — By Benjamin Cher

$10 mil fund to address social stratification, ageing and climate change

Amid growing concern about social issues, 11 individuals and the Community Foundation of Singapore (CFS) have created a fund called Mind the Gap 200 (MtG200) with $10 million. The money will be used to partner the public and social sectors in projects to alleviate social issues in four areas: community, education, healthcare and sustainability.

MtG200 is divided into 10 funds with specific mandates in the focus areas. For example, the intergenerational fund falls under community and will promote bonding between the elderly and the youth, while the knowledge fund under education will support those with learning difficulties or need vocational training.

This year, about $1 million will be disbursed towards projects such as palliative care. In recognition of the country’s bicentennial celebrations, MtG200 aims to “create a legacy of impact that will last another 200 years and beyond”, the foundation said on Aug 6. Donors will continue to contribute to its funds so that there is a “steady stream of grants to be disbursed over time, to sustain efforts in addressing identified social issues”.

Catherine Loh, CEO of CFS, says, “With social issues getting more complex, donors are increasingly recognising that their philanthropic efforts will be more effective if they move away from ad hoc, fragmented giving and towards adopting a more considered, longer-term approach.”

Chew Sutat, SGX head of global sales and origination and one of the 11 donors, says, “MtG200 seeks to contribute towards building a better and stronger Singapore. By expressing solidarity with those in need, individual philanthropic giving has helped to alleviate social strains. MtG200 hopes to add on to these efforts in an organised way, and together with the support of CFS, we can bring about positive and impactful change in a way that is exponentially larger than what we can ever achieve individually.” — By Kok Xinghui

Malaysia plans to extend licence for rare earths producer Lynas

Malaysia plans to extend Lynas Corp’s licence to operate a rare earths processing plant, though it could be for a shorter duration than the usual three years, Reuters reported, citing two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. The Australian company has been running the plant in Malaysia since 2012 using rare earths mined from Mount Weld in Western Australia, despite a dispute over the removal of low-level radioactive waste produced by the plant. A decision to extend the licence before a Sept 2 deadline is important for the market for rare earths, as Lynas is the biggest producer outside China. Beijing has in the past tightened supply of the materials, used in everything from military equipment to high-tech consumer electronics. Lynas, which sells most of its products to Japan, declined to comment.

Singapore rejects call to lower voting age

Singapore will keep the country’s voting age at 21 years, as electing a lawmaker into office involves making serious choices, which require experience and maturity, said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing on Aug 7.

His comment comes after Progress Singapore Party proposed to lower the voting age to 18 years, in line with many other nations including those in Southeast Asia.

Singaporean men are drafted into the armed forces at 18 years old. If the voting age is lowered, about 130,000 will become eligible to vote.

“We recognise that many youths want a voice in national matters and wish to make a difference. We will continue to keep such channels and platforms open for youths to express their views and contribute to nation building,” said Chan.

Jokowi to fire officials for forest blaze

Indonesia President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, has threatened to fire officials who fail to tackle forest fires started for illegal land clearing. The most recent 2015 fire affected large swathes of Southeast Asia, including Singapore. Jokowi will be visiting Singapore on Aug 8 and 9 to discuss a range of issues.

On Aug 6, Jokowi said in Jakarta that he was alarmed by the increase in the number of so-called hotspots this year even though it is significantly down from 2015 when a total of 2.6 million ha of land was affected, costing the country 221 trillion rupiah in economic losses.

He told the military, police, disaster mitigation agency and others to focus on prevention and early detection of fires. “We’ll be ashamed to face other countries if we cannot solve the smoke problem,” Jokowi said. “I have told the military and police chiefs to fire whoever fails to tackle the forest and land fires. Don’t underestimate hotspots, just extinguish them. Don’t wait until they get big.”

According to Coordinating Minister for Political, Justice and Security Affairs Wiranto, the risk of forest and land fires may persist until the peak of the dry season in September. Authorities have already reported 975 hotspots this year, affecting an estimated 135,000ha with a decline in the air quality in some cities in Kalimantan, he said.

Trump accuses Google of negative bias

US President Donald Trump has again accused Google of amplifying negative news stories about him, this time citing an ex-employee of the search engine giant who claims he was fired for conservative bias.

“All very illegal. We are watching Google very closely!” Trump said in a series of tweets on Aug 6.

The Twitter storm is an indication that the president will continue to try to rev up his base with charges of tech company bias as the 2020 election approaches.

Trump said he had watched the former staff in question, Kevin Cernekee, in an interview with Fox News allege that conservatives were harassed at the company. Cernekee said Google wanted Trump to lose the coming presidential election, and that its executives wept after Trump’s victory and “vowed that it would never happen again”. Cernekee told Fox he was in a legal fight with Google after he was fired in June 2018.

Google spokesperson Jennifer Kaiser said Cernekee’s comments “are absolutely false”. She added, “We go to great lengths to build our products and enforce our policies in ways that don’t take political leanings into account.”

SIA’s Indian joint venture Vistara flies to Singapore

Singapore Airlines is upping its stake in the highly competitive market for India’s international air traffic.

On Aug 7, Vistara, a 49-51 joint venture between SIA and India’s Tata Group, completed its first international flight from New Delhi to Singapore.

The carrier operates 30 Airbus SE and Boeing jets and has a local market share of 5% in India, the smallest among the six major players. The launch of Singapore-New Delhi service by Vistara is seen as an attempt to grab international market share out of India from Middle East airlines such as Etihad and Emirates. The latter has even been dubbed the “unofficial national carrier of India”, controlling almost 15% of the market to and from the country last year, regulatory data compiled by Bloomberg showed.

According to the International Air Transport Association, the number of passengers in India will more than triple to 520 million by 2037.

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