Asia

Azizul Kamal has spent a decade building his legal career in Singapore, but half of the time, he was hopping from one contract role to another in the industry. “Every company seems to only want to hire contractors, because we’re cheaper for balance books. It’s very hard to find a full-time role,” the 38-year-old Singaporean said. Azizul did not secure a third extension as a lawyer at his previous firm, after it found a permanent replacement based in Kuala Lumpur, he said. With bills to pay, he...

Thailand is poised to overhaul its liberal visa rules as the government ramps up a crackdown on foreigners who illegally run businesses or commit transnational crimes. Possible measures include reducing the 60-day visa-free stay for tourists to 30 days and reviewing the criteria for categories, including investment, long-term stay, student and digital nomad visas, according to officials. Visitors from 93 countries currently are eligible for the 60-day waiver. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul...

Australia’s mining giants are aiding China’s push to internationalise its currency and reduce the dominance of the US dollar, as they gradually shift towards using the yuan for financing and settlements, analysts said. China has been using its heft as the world’s dominant iron ore buyer to push global mining companies to adopt the yuan. And several firms are already making the switch, with China’s relatively low interest rates becoming an added incentive. BHP, the world’s largest mining company,...

Southeast Asia must brace itself for a punishing spell of climate whiplash, with an expected El Nino threatening drought-like conditions, flash floods, crop losses and haze across the region, experts have warned. The threat is also landing at a fragile moment for emerging economies, analysts add, as geopolitical tensions, higher energy costs and pressure on remittances leave governments and households with less room to absorb climate shocks. Sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific...

Jho Low, the fugitive Malaysian financier accused by the United States of being the mastermind of one of the largest financial frauds in history, has asked US President Donald Trump for a pardon. Low, who was charged in 2018 but has evaded arrest, submitted a pardon application to the US Justice Department this year, according to a notice on the DOJ’s website. He is accused of being the architect of a scheme that siphoned at least US$4.5 billion from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, 1Malaysia...

A clip of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa running through the Senate halls to evade an International Criminal Court arrest warrant has become one of the most startling images in recent Philippine politics. By Tuesday, the former national police chief was still inside the Senate under protective custody, turning the chamber into the centre of a legal and political stand-off over whether one of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s closest allies could be handed over to The Hague. But Monday’s chase...

Indonesia’s latest wave of police raids has exposed signs that online gambling and scam syndicates, squeezed out of traditional hubs such as Cambodia and Myanmar, are trying to turn Southeast Asia’s biggest economy into a new base. Analysts warned that Indonesia’s porous visa regime, weak law enforcement and welcoming attitude towards foreigners had made it an attractive destination for syndicates looking to avoid scrutiny. Authorities have arrested hundreds of foreign nationals in Jakarta,...

An American climber has died in an avalanche on Mount Makalu, officials said on Tuesday, as fatalities mount early in Nepal’s busy spring climbing season. Shelley Johannesen, 53, was killed on Monday while descending from the summit of the world’s fifth-highest peak, expedition organisers said, marking the season’s latest death. David Roubinek, a 38-year-old Czech climber, and three Nepali guides have died in the Himalayas so far this season. Johannesen, co-founder of US-based outfitter Dash...

A planned virtual meeting between Southeast Asian foreign ministers and Myanmar’s junta-appointed representative has analysts predicting a potential normalisation of ties five years after the coup that first caused them to rupture. Asean Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn confirmed on Thursday on the sidelines of the 11-member regional bloc’s summit in the Philippines that a meeting was expected “in the very near future”. Myanmar’s military-backed government has been frozen out of the Association...

A man sent a woman an AI-generated photo of her face on a nude body and set up cameras under her work desk for a live “upskirt” feed. The woman was alarmed by his actions and became fearful whenever she was approached by men as a result. Desmond Han Jiancong, a 31-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty on Monday to one count each of installing equipment to enable voyeurism and insulting the modesty of the victim. Another three charges will be considered in sentencing. The court heard that Han and...

One of Japan’s best-loved snack brands is switching to monochrome packaging for a number of its products due to a shortage of naphtha – a crude-oil derivative used in petrochemicals and printing inks – caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. In a statement issued on Tuesday, Calbee said it would “temporarily revise packaging specifications for certain products in response to supply instability affecting certain raw materials amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East”. The decision by the...

On his last morning in charge of Malaysia’s anti-corruption watchdog, Azam Baki did what he had always done – talked tough and walked away on his own terms. But the man who spent the past six years making the country’s powerful sweat left behind a question he never satisfactorily answered: what do you do when the anti-corruption chief becomes the story? Analysts say Azam’s exit puts Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who stood by him throughout, in a difficult position ahead of the next general...

Malaysian rescuers were searching on Tuesday for 14 Indonesians missing after a boat believed to be carrying undocumented migrants sank off Pangkor Island, the latest emergency along a dangerous sea route used by workers trying to enter Malaysia by boat. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency said 23 people, comprising 16 men and seven women, had been rescued after the boat went down in waters off the resort island in Perak state early on Monday. Authorities believe 37 people were on board,...

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. ‘Foreigner won’: Filipinos divided over pageant winner’s US roots The Philippines has crowned its newest Miss Universe candidate, Bea Millan-Windorski, as the country – known for its penchant for beauty pageants – prepares to send its latest representative to the global...

South Korea is treading carefully in attributing blame for the strike on one of its cargo ships earlier this month, even as preliminary signs point to Iranian drones being the culprit. Seoul has surveillance footage of the incident in the early hours of May 4 – when two airborne objects struck the HMM Namu while it lay at anchor off the United Arab Emirates – but so far has said little. Observers believe the government is biding its time and waiting to deliver a verdict until after a highly...

When a 52-year-old Indonesian woman approached her saying she was broke and needed a place to stay, Lim felt sorry for her. Out of sympathy, the 29-year-old Malaysian rented out her flat in Ampang, Kuala Lumpur, to the Indonesian without signing any formal tenancy agreement in March last year. Now, she is full of regret. Lim said the tenant had used the flat address to secure loans and loan sharks are now harassing the house owner. “The loan sharks threatened to burn down the house and splash...

Hiroshi Suzuki, Japan’s ambassador to Britain, is becoming a social media sensation as followers embrace his unbridled enthusiasm for everything the country has to offer. Videos of him singing the Welsh national anthem, for example, and his valiant attempts to copy local dialects and expressions have generated an outpouring of love for him online. Many comments say Suzuki is reminding often pessimistic Britons of the nation’s achievements and rich heritage. His entertaining efforts have garnered...

Chinese-language videos suspected to be AI deepfakes with different narrators berating Singapore for its treatment of China and sidling up to the United States have caused a stir online and sparked discussion on their source. The clips, each featuring an individual in a different setting and circulating on Chinese platforms such as Douyin and WeChat, were most likely generated by artificial intelligence, according to digital experts, pointing to clues such as identical scripts. A check by This...

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing through legislation to establish the country’s first centralised intelligence agency since the second world war, driven by concerns that its existing set-up is too fragmented to keep pace with espionage, cyberthreats and “grey zone” operations. The plan, recently endorsed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, would transform the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (CIRO) into a central hub, drawing in analysts, technologists and...

With the war in the Middle East entering its third month, questions have surfaced over its geopolitical ramifications in the region and beyond. An entity that has drawn particular scrutiny is Brics. The 10-member grouping is defined less by a clear set of common values and more by contingently overlapping interests. It does not and cannot speak with one voice on the conflict. Two Brics members, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), are at loggerheads: Tehran has launched missile and drone...

Philippine authorities said on Monday they would not arrest for now a lawmaker wanted by the International Criminal Court for his alleged role in ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, capping a lengthy Senate stand-off. Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, who served as police chief and Duterte’s top enforcer during the bloody drug crackdown, will be treated as if in the custody of the Senate, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag told reporters after the politician had taken...

Chinese technology companies and researchers turned out in force at a leading global artificial intelligence conference, despite mounting questions over whether they might avoid the event as a consequence of tense relations between Beijing and Washington. Papers with contributors from mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for over 51 per cent of accepted submissions, compared with just under 32 per cent from the United States, according to statistics compiled from the listed affiliations for...

In the Johor palace where Malaysia’s once-dominant ruling party was born, Umno’s leaders posed on Monday with the country’s king in a carefully staged reminder of the power they commanded for six decades – and the influence they now hope to reclaim. The United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the Malay nationalist party that led Malaysia from independence until its shock election defeat eight years ago, marked its 80th anniversary in its birthplace with a grand show of unity as it sought to...

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives on Monday, but her immediate Senate trial was thrown into uncertainty after a surprise leadership coup in the upper chamber. Analysts told This Week in Asia that the “razor-thin” majority of Alan Peter Cayetano – the newly installed Senate president and a long-time Duterte ally – could set off another Senate coup and even reinstate Vicente Sotto III, the ousted Senate leader who had...

A report from Canada’s spy agency that identifies Khalistani extremism as a national security threat may accelerate a diplomatic reset with India, even as analysts say allegations of interference by New Delhi continue to cloud the relationship. Delhi has long complained that a small number of Sikh separatist extremists have used Canadian soil to organise, raise funds and support violence connected to the push for “Khalistan”, a proposed independent Sikh state in India’s Punjab. The report by the...

Malaysia’s plan to stop wealthier drivers from enjoying cheap subsidised petrol has left Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim facing a politically fraught question: how to define “rich” without punishing households already squeezed by higher living costs. The issue has sharpened as the Middle East energy shock strains government finances, forcing authorities to weigh fiscal discipline against the risk of angering middle-class voters in a car-dependent country. Anwar said the government had agreed in...

A call from the former CEO of Proton for Malays to abandon a “mentality of waiting for aid” has been met with ridicule online, with social media users pointing to the national carmaker’s own long history of government support. Speaking on Sunday at the inaugural Musyawarah Nasional (National Discourse) dialogue platform founded by Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Tahir said Malays needed to replace this perceived reliance on handouts with initiative. “Go for...

Lawmakers in the Philippines started voting on Monday on whether to impeach Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, in what could create a major hurdle for her bid to run for the presidency in 2028. A house justice committee last month found probable cause for her impeachment in ‌a petition from activists accusing her of misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth and of threatening the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, his wife and the former house speaker. With ally-turned-enemy...

A growing number of late-night cafes across Japan are opening their doors to mothers struggling with babies who will not stop crying, offering a rare refuge during the most isolating hours of parenting. The idea of a “nighttime crying cafe”, which appeared in an online comic nearly a decade ago, first resonated with readers and is now gaining real-world traction as spaces inspired by that vision are spreading under small, community-led initiatives. The creator of the original concept said she...

South Korea’s military is exploring a strategic partnership with Hyundai Motor to potentially deploy robotics to the front lines as Seoul accelerates investment in AI-powered, unmanned systems to tackle a deepening troop shortage. The defence ministry said it was discussing cooperation with Hyundai as part of efforts to respond to changes in the battlefield environment and develop a “hi-tech, science-driven force”, though specific details have yet to be finalised. The Korea Economic Daily first...