I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our members a Happy Lunar New Year! While it is unfortunate that we are still under MCO 2.0 for the holidays, I would still like to wish you all well as we move into the Year of the Ox. Celebrate to the best of your abilities, safely, and may we draw from the ox’s stability after a tumultuous year of the rat. It feels like we have not seen many of you for a very long time. So to ensure you know that your AMCHAM community is still with you, we are going to start holding some general ‘Coffee’ segments and town halls.

The Cabinet has agreed that the COVID-19 vaccination programme to begin at the end of this month will be given freely to non-citizens residing in Malaysia, but Malaysians will remain top priority, says the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply. In a joint statement issued by the ministries of Health and Science, Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) Thursday (Feb 11), the Special Committee said that this was decided by the ministers at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday (Feb 10).

The economy registered a negative growth of 3.4% in the fourth quarter (3Q 2020: -2.6%), largely attributable to the imposition of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) on a number of states since mid-October. For 2020 as a whole, the economy contracted by 5.6%. The restrictions on mobility, especially on inter-district and inter-state travel, weighed on economic activity during the fourth quarter.

Employment tax compliance costs and risks will continue to rise as the regulatory landscape continues to evolve and change. In this webinar, we will deep dive into your employment tax obligations, how you can stay on top of them and also discuss the impact of not getting it right.

Many of the challenges faced by Human Resources prior to the COVID-19 pandemic have been amplified. We know from the near 1,300 worldwide HR leaders who took part in the KPMG 2020 HR pulse survey that the pandemic has exposed significant skill gaps, shifted priorities, and accelerated digital transformation. Here are some highlights from respondents in Malaysia

In collaboration with the EU-funded programme WeEmpowerAsia of UN Women, LeadWomen is inviting Malaysian and Malaysian-based corporates to expand on their gender diversity efforts by joining the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Activators Malaysia Campaign. This will be the FINAL WEPs Awareness Training which will bring a wider consciousness of the WEPs and provide a toolkit to help identify your companies' strengths, gaps, and determine opportunities to improve their performance on gender equality, using the Gender Gap Analysis Tool.

Join the region’s largest AmCham event of 2021 from 9-11 March for a rare opportunity to engage with industry leaders and government representatives from the U.S. and across the Asia Pacific region.

All morning plenary sessions will be taking place virtually, with afternoon in-person industry breakout discussions for each of the 14 AmCham Committees to be held at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.

Purchase your virtual pass now. Tickets for the afternoon in-person events are pending government approval, and we will notify you once registration for the in-person tickets is live.

In accordance with Article 21 of the AmChams of Asia Pacific (AAP) constitution, Chair Steven Chan appointed the following chambers to serve on the Nominating Committee for the 2021 AAP Chair election: AmCham India, AmCham Indonesia, AmCham Japan, AmCham Korea, AmCham Malaysia, AmCham Okinawa, and AmCham South China. The committee appointed Joseph Dowd from AmCham Okinawa to serve as Chair of the Nominating Committee.

This daily round-up brings you a selection of the latest news and updates on the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, as well as tips and tools to help you stay informed and protected. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 have now passed 106.9 million globally, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The number of confirmed deaths stands at more than 2.34 million.