Asia

Prabowo Subianto has brought one of Indonesia’s most prominent labour leaders into his administration, giving organised labour a voice inside the presidential palace while also fuelling concerns that the country’s unions are being pulled away from street-level activism. Said Iqbal, former president of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI), defended his appointment as special adviser on labour affairs in an exclusive interview with This Week in Asia, arguing that workers needed direct...

Four Indonesian soldiers found guilty of an acid attack that left an activist blind in one eye were sentenced on Wednesday to up to three years in prison by a military court, with a judge calling their actions “arrogant”. The four, all members of the military’s Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS), were found guilty of premeditated assault for the attack in March that left Andrie Yunus, 27, blind in one eye. They were arrested shortly after the attack, and BAIS head Yudi Abrimantyo stepped down...

A dismissed high-ranking Filipino police officer convicted of orchestrating the 2016 killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo was arrested in the Philippine capital of Manila after nearly two years on the run, authorities said on Wednesday. President Lee Jae Myung welcomed the arrest, vowing to seek justice for criminals targeting South Koreans abroad and expressing gratitude to officials in both countries for their joint efforts. Rafael Dumlao, who was a top official of an anti-drug unit...

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is set to visit the Russian city of Kazan next week in a trip that would mark the first high-level talks between leaders from both sides since the city state imposed sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, sources have confirmed. Wong will attend the Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit from June 17 to June 19 to mark the 35th anniversary of dialogue relations between Moscow and Asean, according to sources who spoke to This Week in Asia on condition...

Almost 20,000 people have signed an online petition in Japan to protest against US President Donald Trump and the White House using manga and anime characters in posts on social media. In the latest example, a video on Truth Social uploaded on Saturday depicts Trump as ninja Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto, sparking a furious reaction from some fans of the popular series. The clip is part of an AI-generated music video for “Thank You, President Trump”, a song by Anthony Constantino, a Republican from...

The death of a 17-year-old who was filmed after being swept out to sea at a popular tourist spot has prompted soul-searching in Indonesia about the bystander effect. Elmi Febrianti had been visiting the Apparalang tourist site in Bulukumba regency with her family on Sunday when she ventured to a clifftop known as a popular selfie vantage point and was struck by a large wave that dragged her out to sea. Apparalang is known for its turquoise waters and towering limestone cliffs, whose dramatic...

An acid attack against a woman doctor has sent shock waves through Pakistan’s medical sector, sparking strikes and a protest demanding safety and justice for the victim. A man threw acid at Mahnoor Nasir at her hospital in the southern city of Quetta on Saturday, causing burns to 7 per cent of her body, according to the provincial chief minister’s office. Officers killed the suspected perpetrator, Humayun Shah, a lift operator at the medical facility, at a bus station as he tried to...

Sydney’s new A$5.6 billion (US$4 billion) airport will ⁠open to passengers in ⁠October after more than a decade ⁠of planning, adding red-eye flight options from Australia’s largest city as the existing hub operates under night curfew restrictions. The current airport, located closer to Sydney’s central business district, can host take-offs and landings only until 11pm and after ‌6am due to tough noise regulations, limiting airline scheduling options relative to other major Australian cities like...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is raising an uncomfortable question for Asian governments: could the virus travel through the region’s airports before health systems detect it? While experts say the risk of a major outbreak in Asia remains low, the latest flare-up has renewed scrutiny of whether hospitals, contact tracers and border surveillance systems remain ready after years of post-Covid fatigue and strained global health funding. Khoo Yoong Khean, deputy...

A viral post of a couple lying and cuddling in the middle of a public field in Malaysia has drawn outrage and calls for religious authorities to act in the Muslim-majority country, where public intimacy can quickly turn into a morality row. In one of the clips, uploaded to social media on Tuesday, a man and woman lie facing each other at Dataran Kemerdekaan in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor state. Another shows the woman with her head on the man’s lap. Social media users claimed the pair...

India is moving closer to undertaking its biggest military revamp since independence, with the army, navy and air force placed under commanders overseeing specific theatres of conflict, amid concerns over whether such a set-up can simultaneously counter China and Pakistan. Analysts said the debate over the proposed Integrated Theatre Commands was not just about a streamlining exercise but whether India’s military could be cohesive enough to deal with border disputes and evolving threats. The...

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is officially a free man, less than a week after receiving a royal pardon, according to the Department of Corrections. Thaksin, 76, served eight months of a one-year sentence for corruption and abuse of power before being released on parole last month due to his age and health. The Department of Corrections said the former premier was required to wear an electronic monitoring device as a condition of his release. The telecoms billionaire was...

Singapore’s move to ban anti-Indian social media posts reportedly from a China-based platform highlights how foreign actors are preying on racial lines in the city state. Analysts warn that this new battleground for disinformation is being “weaponised” against the country’s multiracial society. On Saturday, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said it ordered social media giants YouTube, Facebook and X to block access to 14 online posts after investigations showed that the content most...

India’s sharp ⁠increase in gold import tariffs is fuelling a resurgence in smuggling that could exceed 100 tonnes this year, as soaring grey market margins allow smugglers to undercut banks and refiners of the precious metal, industry officials and bullion dealers said. India, the world’s biggest gold market after China, more than doubled import tariffs to 15 per cent in May to curb demand, ‌cut the trade deficit and ease pressure on the rupee. But the move has created an opportunity for...

Japan could be heading into one of the worst typhoon seasons in its recorded history, raising fears that stronger, more frequent storms will test not only the country’s disaster defences but also a summer travel industry already stretched by packed trains, hotels and itineraries. Tokyo-based Weathernews, a private meteorological firm providing long-range forecasts across Asia, has predicted that as many as 28 typhoons could affect Japan this year, with up to 14 potentially making landfall – well...

People always talk knowingly about Weimar, a period of extremes: artistic and social-sexual decadence, democratic liberalism and the radicalisation of the left and the right, before Germany’s descent into Hitlerian hell. The city as a symbol, close to the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp, is back in the news, well, at least the op-ed pages of the Western press. That’s rarely a good sign. “The new crisis [in Germany] seems uncomfortably familiar because, in some respects, it...

A summit between Russia and Asean next week promises to ease Southeast Asia’s energy crisis and Moscow’s diplomatic isolation – but not all of the bloc’s leaders are expected to show up. Analysts are also divided on whether Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, the current Asean chair, will travel to Kazan for the meeting, hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin on June 17–18. The summit marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations...

Beyond the diplomatic choreography of last month’s Xi-Trump summit, what are the structural implications of a less confrontational US-China relationship for the Asia-Pacific? The subsequent visits by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to India and US Secretary of Defence Peter Hegseth to Singapore in late May shed some light on the question. Both Rubio and Hegseth had accompanied Trump to Beijing. Perhaps most telling was the switch in the usage of a geographic term by the US administration. In...

Southeast Asia’s extensive supply chains could be disrupted if it faces planned US tariffs over Washington’s accusations of forced labour in 60 economies, as analysts say the proposal is just a way for President Donald Trump to resurrect his trade levy agenda. Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are among the economies flagged by the US for purportedly failing to prevent goods made with forced labour from reaching its market. Washington said the...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. At least 35 dead, 200 injured, after magnitude 7.8 quake hits Philippines At least 35 people were killed and more than 200 injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, toppling buildings, setting off landslides and sending panicked...

Rescuers searched the rubble on Tuesday of a collapsed building in the southern Philippine city of General Santos, the worst hit by a powerful earthquake that has killed at least 37 people and injured hundreds, to reach two people still believed to be trapped inside. Regional fire officer Edgar Tanawan, who was leading the operation, said two people had been pulled out ‌alive from the commercial building, housing a grocery store and other businesses, but a third was found dead. Scanners had so...

Malaysia’s newest “rebel party” has issued a rare public call for election candidates, as former economy minister Rafizi Ramli races to turn his breakaway Bersama outfit into a serious force before a string of state polls. The move comes after Johor dissolved its assembly last Monday, with Negeri Sembilan doing the same on Friday, paving the way for polls in both states well before the next general election, which must be held by early 2028. A date has yet to be set for both state...

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said his government will focus on making life better for families and rely less on incentives to encourage citizens to have more babies, as the city state grapples with a record-low fertility rate. Wong acknowledged the limits of government efforts to reverse falling birth rates, a challenge confronting countries around the world. “Think about it less as procreation incentive,” he said at a Singapore Press Club dialogue on Monday. “Think more about...

Thai shrimp farmers have warned they face being driven out of business after Malaysia banned imports of five shrimp species over apparent safety concerns, as the industry also grapples with disease outbreaks, rising competition and renewed US tariff threats. Malaysia issued a temporary ban on June 1, also tightening import requirements for Thai sea bass. The move was a gut punch for Thailand’s seafood industry, which exports 10,000 tonnes of shrimp across its southern border each year. Bangkok...

Gale-force winds and rough seas battered New Zealand’s capital ⁠of Wellington on ⁠Tuesday, forcing ferry and flight ⁠cancellations and road closures as authorities urged hundreds of residents along the city’s south coast to evacuate. A light aircraft was briefly blown over by strong winds at Wellington airport after a gust ‌of wind tipped the plane onto its wing and wheel, the airport confirmed by email. “Nobody was injured and it was quickly righted,” it said. The New Zealand Herald said the...

Malaysia’s most powerful Islamist party has cut ties with a former electoral ally, blowing open a bitter feud within the country’s main opposition bloc as several key elections loom. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) President Abdul Hadi Awang announced late on Monday that the party’s central working committee had decided to “terminate political cooperation with Bersatu”, endorsing an earlier decision by its Syura Council, the party’s highest religious decision-making body. The partnership had...

Deep underneath Singapore’s northeastern district of Punggol, a 5km (three-mile) network of metal pipes roars as it pumps chilled water to cool offices and classrooms overhead. The 140-year-old concept known as district cooling uses less electricity than centralised air conditioners – a major advantage for a resource-starved tropical island-nation that has to import nearly all its energy and where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the global average. The city state has laid pipes beneath...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ruled out expanding military ties with Japan any time soon, insisting that historical grievances must be resolved first. The two countries have come under growing pressure to strengthen defence ties as North Korea, China and Russia draw closer together. But analysts say such a move remains politically risky for Lee’s government given deep-seated public resentment in South Korea towards Japan. To explain why his country could not yet embrace military...

Singapore will push for connectivity in Asean in its role as bloc chair next year amid a challenging global environment, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said, as he warned about the United States and China navigating a new dynamic. At the Singapore Press Club Eminent Speaker Series on Monday, Wong noted that keeping communication lines open between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Donald Trump was important to reduce the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation, but...

Malaysia ordered a crackdown on Monday against illegal businesses run by foreigners, joining a growing list of Southeast Asian nations rocked by similar operations amid simmering local resentment. In recent years, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia introduced visa-free entry for foreign visitors following the Covid-19 pandemic in a bid to revive their flagging tourism, property and investment sectors. But last month, Thailand removed the 60-day visa-free entry for 93 countries and...