The Hungry Ghost Festival was expected to be a peak sales period for Lee Chuan Wei, 47, who owns a Chinese prayer materials business in Penang. However, Lee said sales of offerings and other ceremonial items in the week leading up to the festival were just 60 per cent of those in the same period last year. “At least there were some inquiries close to the eve last year. Now, there isn’t even a single query. It saddens me,” he told The Straits Times on Aug 6. Observed during the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the festival began on Aug 13 this year and is traditionally an important period for these goods. He blamed the decline on Pinduoduo’s entry into Malaysia in late 2025. The Chinese e-commerce giant retails some items, such as joss sticks, for half of what Lee pays his wholesale suppliers. Pinduoduo operates under the same parent company – PDD Holdings – as Temu, a global online marketplace widely known for its rock-bottom pricing and mass-market, unbranded goods. Mirroring Temu’s high-volume, direct-from-factory strategy, Pinduoduo provides free shipping from China to Malaysian shoppers, even for a single item priced below RM2 (60 Singapore cents). This stands in contrast to established regional e-commerce players such as Shopee and Lazada, which require a minimum purchase to qualify for free shipping. Such direct factory-to-consumer shipping methods, which eliminate middle layers, are increasingly popular among shoppers. In 2025, 54 per cent of Malaysian online shoppers bought from overseas retailers. https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/s...heap-goods-squeeze-small-malaysian-businesses

SG TFR is 0.9 you say le

SINGAPORE: A recent social media post in which the author claimed to have seen only foreign workers at a food court in Singapore received a lot of attention, though netizens who commented said they were not really surprised.    Some even shared similar experiences, which led the post author to lament the loss of authentic Singaporean food. “Went to foodcourt, saw Myanmar worker cooking China food, a China lady cooking Malaysia wanton noodles. The only authentic one is (a) Malay selling Nasi Lemak and Nasi Padang. What happened to the local Singapore workers? Sigh…… #singapore #jobless,” the Aug 12 post on Threads reads.   In response, one commenter shared about an incident when they went to a food court to order Ayam Penyet (spiced deep-fried chicken). They wrote that when they ordered in Melayu, the female stall attendant did not understand, nor did she speak any English, but “insisted I order in Mandarin.” Out of frustration, the commenter told the Malay people in the queue behind them to boycott the stall.  Another shared about an incident when he ordered Char Kway Teow for his wife from Cantine Pasir Ris, and added that he believed a foreign worker had cooked the dish,   “My wife took 2 spoonfuls and stopped. And after that we stick to halal tzechar from our regular shops like Hawa, Rex, Tang Tea House and enak2,” he wrote. The post author replied, “That’s exactly what I meant.” “Noooooo we were hoping Singapore maintains the hawker stalls,” a commenter wrote.   Some Threads users chimed in to say that the same is happening with restaurants in Johor Bahru, where many cooks and servers now come from other Asian countries. Many commenters, however, said that they are hardly surprised that few Singaporeans want to take these types of jobs at all, since they generally do not pay high salaries. “These jobs can’t pay BTO,” one remarked bluntly.   “They only want to pay $1800 for a 6-day shift job in the world’s most expensive country,” commented another.  “Most local Singaporean locals won’t work at hawker stalls! Too hard work n too little $$! Would you work at a hawker stall yourself??” a third chimed in. Another pointed out: “Aside from the young hawkers, you will find it hard to have any Singaporeans who aspire to stand on their feet 10 – 12 hours a day, sometimes behind heat with no air con and no time to take a break, other times having to deal with other entitled Singaporeans who think their money is the biggest in the world and overpaying for whatever they are eating. And don’t get me started on high rents, high food costs, and paying a decent wage without passing the same costs to customers.”

@ExTreMisTxxx can appreciate?