Asia

When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was laid to rest in Tehran earlier this month, Indonesia, home to more Muslims than any other nation on Earth, decided to send only its ambassador – at first. The decision raised questions not only about Jakarta’s non-aligned foreign policy but also the tensions at the heart of President Prabowo Subianto’s prized “good-neighbour” diplomacy. One former Indonesian ambassador called the minimal initial presence “a slap in the face” for Iran and asked whether Washington...

Kenneth Jeyaretnam, secretary general of the Reform Party (RP), has died, his wife said on Sunday. He was 67 years old. Jeyaretnam died in his sleep, surrounded by family, on Saturday, said Amanda Jeyaretnam in a post on her husband’s social media. “He was my beloved husband and a loving and devoted father to his son, Jared. He filled our lives with joy and wonder and we miss him so much,” she said. She added that funeral details for a small family service were currently being finalised and a...

India is stepping up engagement with Indo-Pacific middle powers as uncertainty grows over the future of US security commitments in Asia, with analysts saying New Delhi is building a web of partnerships that allows countries with different strategic interests to cooperate without joining a formal alliance. Prime Minister Narendra Modi went on a six-day diplomatic tour of the Indo-Pacific from July 6 to 11, visiting Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand, and signing a raft of agreements to boost...

A long-discussed plan for an Asean power grid is gaining steam, according to investors and Indonesian policymakers gathered in Bali, as surging demand from AI and data centres, as well as the region’s energy transition, fuels optimism over the initiative. On Friday, representatives from sovereign wealth funds, institutional capital and family principals converged on the St Regis Bali Resort for the Nusa Dua Forum, organised by the South China Morning Post with Danantara Indonesia as partner. The...

Asia’s only dedicated exorcism centre – designed to train not only Philippine priests but clergy from across the region – sits just off a busy thoroughfare in Metro Manila. Inside, neatly made-up rooms for visiting priests line warmly lit halls that lead to a chapel where the 400-year-old ritual takes place. Holy relics employed in the proceedings line one wall, another features a one-way mirror that allows family members and novice exorcists to observe. The Michael Centre for Spiritual...

Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency has opened an investigation into losses tied to state pension fund Kumpulan Wang Persaraan Diperbadankan’s investment in failed Indonesian agritech start-up eFishery. A team was formed on Friday to “study and examine the issue thoroughly,” Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Chief Commissioner Abdul Halim Aman said in a statement on Saturday. “The investigation will be conducted fairly, transparently and impartially based on existing legal provisions,” Abdul...

Indonesia’s Danantara must outlive political administrations to prove its worth to investors and most importantly to the people, according to the sovereign wealth fund’s chief investment officer. Pandu Sjahrir said the fund was focused on the demutualisation of Jakarta’s stock market and to support the establishment of the first financial centre in Bali to boost investor confidence. “Investment is almost everything for us. Confidence is the name of the game, and we have to create long-term...

On a clear summer morning at Mount Fuji’s fifth-station trailhead, the crowds look more beach ready than alpine prepared with canvas slip-ons, bare legs and lightweight jackets. Above them, Japan’s most famous peak rises to 3,776 metres (12,389 feet) and into sub-zero temperatures, even in July. For Tatsuo Nanai, a veteran climber and until recently secretary general of the Fuji‑san Club, the scene has become a source of dread. Japan’s official climbing season has only just begun, but he says he...

Authorities in India’s capital Delhi moved social activist Sonam Wangchuk to hospital against his will on Saturday, after his condition worsened on the 21st day of a hunger strike launched to demand the resignation of the federal education minister. Wangchuk, 59, had been fasting since June 28 in solidarity with India’s youth Cockroach Janta Party (CJP), which is demanding Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan step down ‌over exam paper leaks in May that affected millions of students. Wangchuk’s...

India’s first privately built orbital rocket took its maiden flight on Saturday, its company said, marking a significant step for the South Asian giant as it eyes a bigger slice of the global space economy. The Vikram-1 rocket, built by Skyroot Aerospace and designed to carry small satellites into low-Earth orbit, took off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota amid loud cheers. “Hello space, we have arrived!” Skyroot Aerospace said on social media. “Vikram-1’s Test Flight-1 has...

Indonesia is pushing ahead to transform the holiday island of Bali into an international financial centre, with its parliament set to debate new laws this week while a key conference set out targets and cited models such as Hong Kong as an example. Minister of Investment and Downstream Industry Rosan Roeslani, who heads state-owned sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia, said the financial centre was part of Jakarta’s efforts to establish itself as a trusted destination for investors seeking...

What if Wall Street stock prices were to collapse from their current pinnacles under the sheer weight of excessive investment in artificial intelligence (AI)? Would markets in Tokyo and other Asian centres – not to mention Europe and beyond – follow suit? These are questions that are likely to be put to the test before long if US stock prices continue their strong upward trajectory, interest rates and inflation keep rising and, as seems likely, the US-Israel war against Iran drags on. What a...

Not so long ago, the Philippines was bedevilled by warning signs to investors, from its corruption to its groaning infrastructure and a fuel crisis born of a war fought thousands of miles away. Those problems have not simply disappeared, but a flurry of business-friendly reforms – paired with ambitious plans to upgrade the nation’s railways, ports and power grid – now puts it in a stronger position to capture some of the billions of dollars seeking a home outside the region’s recent supply chain...

Homeplus was once a retail haven for millions of South Korean families who shopped for groceries and household goods regularly at its cavernous hypermarkets. But that ritual over almost three decades ended this week when the company closed all its remaining 67 operating outlets nationwide after suspending 37 others earlier as part of its restructuring. The sudden closure of South Korea’s second-largest hypermarket chain reflects not only its financial distress, but also a decline of the shopping...

Officials in Japan’s southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka are facing growing scrutiny over a series of overseas “research trips” that included stays in Paris and London and millions of yen in hotel upgrades, as public frustration builds over political spending during a period of rising household costs. The controversies have put pressure on Governor Seitaro Hattori and the local chapter of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Fukuoka, one of Japan’s most important regional governments and the...

Asia sits atop vast amounts of coal, nearly three-fifths of the world’s known reserves by some estimates. Cheaper and more reliable than imported oil and gas, and far less vulnerable to disruptions caused by foreign wars, coal is also dirty, polluting – and the region’s No 1 “stopgap source” to power the AI infrastructure roll-out. “AI demand is materialising faster than clean energy generation can be commissioned,” said Alexander Kheder, a market research analyst at BMI who tracks global AI...

Negeri Sembilan’s bid to turn itself into Malaysia’s next hi-tech industrial hub is heading into an unusual political stress test, as a royal dispute spills into a snap election on August 1. The vote matters not because existing semiconductor and aerospace projects are expected to flee but because it could slow future commitments, reshape the state’s policy environment and sharpen wider uncertainty over the prospect of a snap national poll, analysts say. Long regarded as an affordable base for...

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...