Asia

Malaysia’s government could not interfere in the management of companies and only regulates ⁠shareholding structures, its transport ⁠minister said on Friday, following the appointment ⁠of former DP World chief Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem to lead the country’s largest port operator. Sultan Ahmed, who in February quit his top post at Dubai-based logistics giant DP World amid scrutiny over his alleged ties to Jeffrey Epstein, has taken ‌charge of Malaysian firm MMC Port Holdings. “We regulate only in...

A controversy in Malaysia over a foreign tech community in Johor state has raised questions on whether immigration scrutiny and political sensitivities could slow the country’s push to attract digital nomads and other global talent. Johor authorities are investigating Network School, a private co-living and co-working community based in Forest City and founded by American tech investor and former Coinbase chief technology officer Balaji Srinivasan, following online allegations that Israelis were...

A Philippine coastal defence project in Palawan province could complicate Chinese operations near the Spratly Islands, but is unlikely to close Manila’s military gap with Beijing and could turn one of the country’s most important naval hubs into a more prominent target in a crisis, analysts have said. On Monday, the Puerto Princesa City Council approved a Department of National Defence proposal allowing the Armed Forces of the Philippines to establish Coastal Defence Regiment assets and...

Members of Afghan settlements in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border province hurriedly packed up belongings this week while others hid at home as police launched a “large-scale crackdown” on undocumented residents. Authorities in the northern province carried out housing demolitions, roadside identity checks and told Afghans to leave as part of a broader government pushback, community members and officials said. Residents of Mattani, a short drive from the provincial capital Peshawar, said...

On a 1,620-hectare (4,000 acres) site north of Manila, Philippine and US officials are pitching a hi-tech hub as a global gateway to AI, semiconductors and critical minerals. For critics, however, the proposed development – part of the US-backed global Pax Silica project – is concrete proof of another infrastructure push over contested land at the expense of local communities, threatening their livelihoods and scarce water supplies. It is, they argue, a further example of ambitious investment...

South Korea plans to develop its own cybersecurity-focused artificial intelligence model by the end of this year, after a brief US clampdown on advanced systems exposed the risks of relying on foreign technology for national cyber defence. But Seoul’s more ambitious, longer-term goal of building a frontier model capable of competing with the world’s most advanced systems would require it to overcome a persistent gap in AI software, computing capacity and large-scale training, analysts said. The...

A Singaporean man has been arrested in Bali after a woman was found dead in a rental unit, Indonesian police said on Thursday. The suspect, identified only by the initials MZ, was arrested in less than three hours by a joint police team, according to a post on the Denpasar police’s official social media account. The victim, a 26-year-old woman from Central Java, had been in a relationship with the suspect for about a year, a police spokesperson said. Preliminary investigations indicate that the...

Japan’s parliament approved on Friday a revised Imperial House Law to address the issue of the shrinking royal family, while retaining the long-standing male-only succession system, despite public support for female emperors. The first substantive revision to the 1947 law introduced two changes – permitting the adoption of males aged 15 and over from former branch families descended from emperors through the male line and allowing female members to retain their imperial status even after...

South Korean food exporters are no longer treating Vietnam as just another market for kimchi, instant noodles and premium fruit. As Southeast Asia emerges as one of South Korea’s most important trading regions, Seoul is positioning Vietnam as a logistics and distribution base for a wider push to turn the popularity of Korean culture into sustained demand for Korean food across the region. But analysts said the strategy would depend on more than hallyu-driven curiosity, with exporters needing to...

Japan’s firm support for Ukraine in its war against Russia is expected to be tested after Kyiv expressed interest in working with Tokyo to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Such a move is unlikely because it would require Japan to cross a sensitive line on exports of lethal weapons and complicate its regional relations, according to analysts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Kyiv was keen to work with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture Patriot...

A sudden crowd surge at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India’s Odisha state on Thursday left at least one person dead and many sent to hospital, a news agency reported. The incident occurred as tens of thousands of people gathered in the coastal town of Puri for the annual Rath Yatra chariot festival, according to the Press Trust of India. The festival is considered one of the world’s oldest and largest religious processions. The centuries-old festival involves the idols of Hindu deities...

In a ruling that could expose carmakers to greater liability over India’s ethanol-blended fuel policy, an Indian consumer court has ‌ordered Maruti Suzuki to provide a new car to a customer who alleged mandatory E20 fuel damaged his car. The first-of-its-kind ruling is likely to be closely watched as legal experts said it could embolden other vehicle owners who believe the fuel has caused problems with their cars to seek compensation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and carmakers –...

Senior Philippine officers from the armed forces have emphasised continuity among the military leadership, with the expected retirement of chief of staff General Romeo Brawner Jnr coming at a sensitive moment for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. The transition comes as Manila continues to face pressure from Beijing in the South China Sea and calls from several retired officers for the military to reconsider its support for Marcos. Whoever Marcos appoints to replace Brawner has to ensure that the...

Malaysia’s largest Islamist party was wiped out in Johor’s state election last weekend, but PAS is now trying to turn that defeat into bargaining power. Its argument is that supporters who had no PAS candidate to vote for helped deliver a landslide victory to Barisan Nasional (BN), the coalition led by Umno, its long-time rival for Malay-Muslim voters. The two parties have spent years competing for influence among Malaysia’s Malay majority, but they have also explored cooperation when it serves...

Ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s vow to return to Bangladesh despite facing a death sentence has raised the prospect of a dramatic comeback for her and the Awami League. Her potential return could revive the rivalry between the banned party and the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), while curbing further gains for Islamist political forces, according to analysts. Hasina, who has been living in India since her government was toppled by a student-led protest movement nearly two...

Lured by promises of good money working aboard a foreign fishing vessel, Akhmad left Indonesia and headed out to sea, enduring months of abuse and exploitation while being cut off from the world. Indonesia is one of the top contributors of labour for the global fishing industry with several hundred thousand migrant workers, according to government figures. Many are recruited online and assigned to foreign-flagged ships without being properly informed about their rights, leaving them vulnerable...

Singapore consumers are expected to spend an additional S$1.05 billion (US$815 million) annually in Malaysia’s Johor state once a cross-border rail link connecting the two sides in minutes opens, according to a new study. The study, released on Thursday by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) and the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA), comes amid concerns from local businesses about cash flowing out to the city state’s northern neighbour,...

Jensen Huang, chief executive of US artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, held a “yakitori summit” with Japanese executives from semiconductor materials and components companies while visiting Tokyo – a move appeared aimed at strengthening cooperation with local businesses. According to the Nikkei, Huang headed to a yakitori restaurant near Kanda Station in Tokyo, an izakaya specialising in grilled pork skewers and sake, on Wednesday. Located near Tokyo Station, the area is a popular...

The Retirement Fund Incorporated’s (KWAP) US$47.7 million investment in Indonesian agritech start-up eFishery was the victim of an orchestrated fraud, Malaysia’s finance ministry has confirmed. In a parliamentary written reply dated July 15, the ministry explained that KWAP’s July 2023 investment followed a robust evaluation and governance process. This included internal assessments, independent due diligence and the verification of financial statements by certified international auditors. KWAP...

The UN warned on Thursday that more than 500 people were feared dead following reports of two large shipwrecks off Myanmar since late June. The UN’s International Organization for Migration and its refugee agency UNHCR voiced alarm in a joint statement at reports “that two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days”. Preliminary information indicated that the two vessels in question departed from war-torn Myanmar’s Rakhine state in late June,...

For generations, jeepneys – brightly painted minibuses that are among the Philippines’ cheapest and most widely used forms of public transport – have run on diesel, but recent fuel shocks are forcing thousands of small operators and drivers to weigh volatile prices against the debt needed to go electric. Diesel prices spiked by nearly 5 pesos this week as renewed tensions in the Gulf threatened to strain the country’s public transport sector, adding fresh urgency to the uneven shift towards...

Japan has voiced concern about the United States’ campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), exposing a diplomatic bind for Tokyo as it seeks to defend a tribunal it has long championed without provoking its most important security ally. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday that Japan “places great importance on the eradication and prevention of serious crimes, as well as the upholding of the rule of law”. He added that Japan, the...

On July 12, a coalition of 14 nations – the United States, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Britain, Japan, New Zealand, and seven European states including Germany, Italy and the Baltic nations – issued a statement marking the 10th anniversary of the South China Sea ruling at The Hague in 2016. The document recycled familiar arguments, urging compliance with the ruling and framing it as a cornerstone of the rules-based international order. But beneath it lies a fundamental disconnect from...

Police in Vietnam said on Wednesday they had arrested three executives of a publishing house that released a book on Ho Chi Minh, the revered founder of the country’s Communist Party. The author of Stories with Thanh - A New Account of Light, former telecoms executive Nguyen Thanh Nam, was arrested on anti-state charges in early July, along with an influencer who promoted the book on his social media channels. The book, which has been recalled by its publisher under pressure from authorities,...

Thai police said on Wednesday they had arrested the manager of a boxing camp for trafficking underage boys for sex, and were searching for a Norwegian also believed to have been involved. Police raided the day camp in Rayong province, southeast of Bangkok, on Tuesday and took 12 children into protection, the Central Investigation Bureau said in a statement. The 28-year-old manager has admitted charges of trafficking minors under the age of 18 for sexual exploitation and soliciting sexual...

South Korea’s failed bid for Canada’s next-generation submarine fleet has exposed a growing problem for one of Asia’s fastest-rising defence exporters: price, speed and technology may no longer be enough. Analysts said the loss of the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP) to Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems showed how Nato security ties and pressure on member states to favour allied industrial bases were increasingly outweighing commercial competitiveness in decisions over major...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has threatened to deport any Israelis found at a self-styled “start-up society” in Johor, after online claims about the tech commune triggered a national security investigation. “We will not allow it,” Anwar told reporters on Wednesday. “If there are Israeli nationals, since we do not recognise Israel, they will be deported immediately.” The Network School, a co-living compound founded by former Coinbase executive Balaji Srinivasan in Forest City, came...

Two tankers carrying Iranian oil are signalling Pakistan as their destination – an unusual move that may be an indication they are seeking a safe place to wait as the US blockade takes effect. The Rani and the Amil, which are carrying a combined 1 million barrels of crude, switched their destination signals to Karachi on Tuesday, ship-tracking data show. The two vessels were already outside the Persian Gulf when Washington reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian shipping. It is unlikely the...

Malaysia’s unity government is holding firm in Putrajaya, but its uneasy alliance is fraying at the state level after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) moved into opposition in Melaka, even as it reels from a rout by federal partner Barisan Nasional (BN) in Johor. The split followed a constitutional amendment allowing Melaka’s government to appoint up to seven unelected assembly members with voting rights. PH’s five lawmakers opposed the bill, which passed 23-5 on Tuesday. Four...

The Philippines has begun holding active school shooter drills after a rare act of violence in Tacloban City last month during which two teenage students opened fire, killing three schoolmates and injuring 20 others. On Wednesday, at one educational campus in Manila, hundreds of students and teachers practised barricading classrooms with desks and chairs and staying silent as an armed actor wearing a black hoodie scoured the halls and rooms. “We acknowledge the increasing number of violent...