Sunday, January 18, 2026
Be impervious
The data just came out. Malaysia’s GDP rose 4.9% in 2025 and the forecast is lower for 2026 as the full impact of Trumps’ tariffs on the global economy hits. Our government has done a decent job, but we remain vulnerable to external shocks. Meanwhile Trump threatens more tariffs on countries prepared to defend Greenland from a U.S invasion.
The Ringgit has strengthened against the US$ and the Singaporean dollar. Will this trend continue? I remember vividly when George Soros attacked Asia and caused the Asian Financial Crisis in 1997. The KLSE fell 70% and the Ringgit fell from 2.42 to the U.S dollar to an all-time low of 4.88 to the U.S dollar in January 1998.
Many neighboring countries like Indonesia and Thailand collapsed financially and needed IMF bailouts. Then Dr M made a critical decision to peg the Ringgit at 3.8 to the U.S dollar and imposed capital controls to stop speculation. It worked and stabilised the Malaysian economy and the following year we were back to economic growth. In 1999, I was working in Singapore and I remembered putting in a FD in Maybank Singapore at 25% interest rate per annum which was dismantled before it even matured. Eventually the Ringgit refloated and went off the peg in 2005 but its performance has been poor till recently as we were hit by the 1MDB scandals and COVID-19.
The Sunway Group was severely impacted by the 1997/98 Asian Financial Crisis, facing a near-collapse due to high foreign-denominated debt (mainly US$) and the sharp depreciation of the Malaysian Ringgit. The crisis forced a massive restructuring of the conglomerate, which was then heavily leveraged at nearly 2 times, and required the disposal of core assets to survive. I remembered reading that GIC came to the rescue. During the height of the crisis, GIC (Singapore's sovereign wealth fund) recognized the underlying value in Sunway's assets. In 1999, GIC invested in the group, acquiring a 48% stake in Sunway Pyramid and a nearly 12% equity interest in Sunway City Bhd.
WHAT IS IN STORE FOR 2026?
How is this year going to unfold? You look at the world for what it is and not what you want it to be or wished it to be, as Mike Carney said during his state visit to Beijing this week.
So happy new year again and so much for bombing Venezuela and the illegal capturing of Nicolas Maduro. “We want to have peace all over” Trump’s speech when he was running for President back in Sep 2024. “I am not going to start wars, I am going to stop wars” You believe him?
Trump definitely wants that Peace Prize. And absurdly Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has given her Nobel Peace Prize medal to President Donald Trump during a meeting at the White House this week.
But we know from scriptures that his second term is a time of war. We are now living in the time of the red horse. The "red horse" in the Bible refers to the second of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Revelations 6:3-4 symbolising widespread war and bloodshed, as its rider is given a great sword to take peace from the earth, causing people to slay one another.
When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword (Revelations 6:3-4).
Trump, the self-proclaimed "the most anti-war" President in history is seeing wars in Somalia, bombed Nigeria, Caracas, Lebanon, Syria and now he is saying he has to stop Iran. The warmongers are creating many false flags to prepare the world war 3 and this is most evident in Europe.
MILITIRIZATION MADNESS
The weapons being created like Oreshnik, Khinzal. etc make the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima look ancient. Blackrock Merz in his new year address warned that the war in Ukraine is not far from Germany’s borders and could reach Germany. He wants to borrow a trillion dollars to build up the military. Germany has been in a recession for two (2) years. Volkswagen and BASF are shutting down plants in Germany and relocating to the U.S and China, yet he wants to build the army from the current 180,000 to 260,000, and if the new quotas are not met, the government will have the option of mandatory call-ups, where necessary. Europe is run by mad people. But you can't tell insane people they are insane.
Another clown boy called Starmer in the U.K and a little Napolean called Macron are also building up their military. It is all a waste of money as it doesn’t build your economy. Economies are built when the products that are manufactured in your country is consumed by its citizens. This is just enriching the defense contractors whose stock prices are skyrocketing, and the political elites.
GOLD & SILVER
Gold all time high! Gold reached an all time high of 4794.85 an ounce in December of 2025. Silver all time high! The silver all-time high was US$93.77, which it set on January 14, 2026. This trend will continue. It is God’s currency. Money is man-made. Gold and silver are the number one safe haven assets. Their rise also reflect the decline of the worldwide geopolitical and socioeconomic spectrum. People store it for times of uncertainty and wars. I was told by friends that they had to use gold as payment to board on ships to flee the Vietnam war. Many managed to sail to Malaysia as refugees but were relocated to Australia or the United States. I had a few Vietnamese friends in my medical year whose families had fled from Vietnam.
Trump will do anything to keep propping up the U.S economy. When Trump attacked Iran he did it on a Saturday. When he did it to Venezuela he also did it on a Saturday when the equity markets are closed. He hates seeing the U.S markets go down. Trump has been pushing the FED to keep lowering the interest rates but Powell is wary of the consequence of rising inflation. And when you keep lowering interest rates, the dollar weakens. The deeper the dollar falls the deeper the gold price increase. Gold is dollar-based. It will be cheaper for other countries to buy gold as their currency goes up.
LAWLESSNESS
When Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24 that iniquity would abound, He said, “lawlessnesswould abound.” Paul emphasizes the lawlessness of the last days when he says that the Antichrist is called the “man of sin,” literally, the “man of lawlessness” (Thessalonians 2:3), and adds that the Antichrist will be produced by the “mystery of iniquity”—again, of “lawlessness”. The very thing we see today all the world, Jesus and His apostle said would be a sign of the end.
We are seeing increasing global lawlessness in our face. The rule of law is being attacked. Trump has said his morality is the law. Basically he says the gun is the law. He has threatened countries like Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Greenland recently. Internally he has subverted justice in his own country. ICE agents murdered 37 year old mother of three (3), Renee Nicole Good, in Minneapolis.
When the government is lawless, it breeds a lawless generation of citizens. Students rebel against their teachers and against the government itself. Wives rebel against husbands, employees against employers. That’s why there are so many divorces and broken families in these end times.
I would not be surprised that Trump will be impeached before 2026 ends. Or he may abdicate this year in a deal with the Democrats, not to be charged for all his crimes once his term is over. I really think Trump is losing control by the day.
But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
And when Trump reigns end, I believe the black horse of the apocalypse will come (Revelations 6:5-6). This will be a time of global financial turmoil, hyperinflation and famine. So keep your cash as you may be able to acquire asset for pennies on the dollar as we witnessed in 1997/1998 Asian Financial Crisis. During that crisis I knew of people with over RM100 million assets could not raise RM200,000 cash. If we are liquid we can buy stocks and properties at much reduced prices. Time of crisis are also times of opportunity.
HUMANITY TIMELINE
Buddha was around six (6) centuries before Christ. 563-483 BC. BC stands for before Christ.
Prophet Mohamed was six (6) centuries after Christ. 570-632 AD. AD means “after death”.
Why is it not today not called the year 2626 (after death of Buddha) or 1426 (after death of Mohamed)?
The whole humanity timeline is divided by an event. Roman and Jewish historians have recorded the presence of Christ Jesus on this earth. He clearly walked on this earth. If you write a cheque today dated 18 January 2026, it means 18 days, 1 month and 2026 years ago Jesus was here. It is that simple. God made men simple. His complexities are often his own doing.
Jesus was here on earth and he said “I am the way, the truth and life. No one goes to the Father but through me”. There are only 2 options:
a. It is the truth; or
b. It is the biggest lie in history
This you have to decide. There is no in between. There is no such thing that he was here, just a good man who helped the poor and did many miracles. It is that simple. Either Mr.Chen is my biological father or he is not! There is no in between.
Jesus said to him, “I am the [only] Way [to God] and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me (John 14:6 Amplified Bible).
I know the coming year can be rough but take heart that the Lord is with you. I listened to Su Shi’s famous words last night and felt calm 莫听穿林打叶声，一蓑烟雨任平生. Listen not to the rain beating the trees. Be impervious. We keep our eyes on Jesus and not this deteriorating world and its woes.
Keep believing! God Bless!
