Author: viking

Asia’s oil buyers are facing the risk of a second maritime chokepoint being disrupted after Iran-aligned Houthi militants threatened to impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, even as shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remain severely disrupted by the US-Iran conflict.
Analysts said any serious disruption in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could leave Asia with fewer alternatives for Middle Eastern crude, threatening Saudi shipments and increasing the risk of oil prices rising above US$100 per…

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has appointed army chief Lieutenant General Antonio G. Nafarrete as the next head of the armed forces, placing a veteran of the country’s internal conflicts in charge before a sensitive election in the Muslim south and amid continued maritime tensions with China.
The choice points to continuity in security policy and puts the Armed Forces of the Philippines under an officer whose career has been closely tied to Mindanao, which is preparing for its first…

Singapore’s acting minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim resigned about a month after the prime minister learned of his improper interactions with a woman, a move observers say shows Lawrence Wong’s swift handling of the first scandal under his watch to contain any political fallout.
They told This Week in Asia that while there was no affair in Faishal’s case, it made sense for the party to deal with the consequences quickly in case of leaks as the woman was a member of…

Malaysia is stepping up surveillance on its eastern flank, pushing ahead with plans for a long-range radar at a frontline South China Sea outpost and launching newly operational drones.
The upgrades reflect Kuala Lumpur’s bid to improve its ability to detect threats as the Philippines revives its claim over Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo and Chinese patrols persist near its offshore energy fields.
Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said on Sunday that the radar would be installed on Swallow…

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…

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…

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…

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…