Asian Legal Review

In the tumultuous days before Singapore’s separation from Malaysia in 1965, founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew clung to the hope that the city could still be part of the federal government under a looser arrangement, but his deputy had no desire to pursue this ideal.
While Lee was conflicted and even wavered at the eleventh hour when he asked then Malaysian prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman if he was certain there was no alternative, Goh Keng Swee, widely regarded as the architect of modern…

Japan’s struggle to accept outsiders has been exposed once again after a video of a right-wing lawmaker arguing against Muslim burials went viral.
The video showed Mizuho Umemura, a House of Councillors member from the populist Sanseito party, objecting to the burial of Muslim residents during a parliamentary debate late last month.
She argued that cremation was a vital national custom practised by more than 99 per cent of Japanese people and said that approving new burial grounds for Muslims…

Eighteen people were killed in an air strike on a town in central Myanmar, according to a local official, a rescue worker and two residents who spoke to Agence France-Presse on Saturday.
Myanmar has been rocked by civil war since the military snatched power in a 2021 coup, and its battles with numerous anti-coup fighters have brought frequent air strikes that often kill civilians.
Two bombs were dropped on Tabayin township in Sagaing region on Friday evening, with one hitting a busy teashop,…

The tarpaulin barely held against the wind, sagging under days of ceaseless rain.
For the earthquake survivors of San Remigio, in the central Philippines, it was all that remained – a thin sheet of plastic above a patch of mud, standing in for the homes a 6.9-magnitude quake had reduced to rubble weeks earlier.
Then, in early November, Typhoon Kalmaegi barrelled through.
The storm, known locally as Tino, drenched thousands of families still huddled in their makeshift shelters. Roads vanished…

A new plan for accelerating infrastructure in Ireland addresses known barriers to progressing large-scale projects and sends a positive signal to investors, experts have said.

Office Christmas parties can be a great boost for morale, but employers should be aware of potential risks such as sexual harassment, alcohol-fuelled brawls, religious discrimination and post-party absenteeism.

For about two years, six nights a week, performers from mainland China, Taiwan and Malaysia have entertained hundreds of guests at the HaveFun Live Show in Singapore, but its organisers are now in a fix ahead of coming work permit changes.
On Monday, the manpower ministry announced that a scheme allowing foreign performers a work permit of up to six months at public entertainment outlets in Singapore would cease in June after enforcement operations uncovered syndicates abusing the scheme.
A…

The launch of multiple consumer protection investigations by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) shows the agency is serious about using its new direct enforcement powers, an expert has warned.

Much has been written about China’s alleged role in the US opioid crisis. Chemicals from Chinese suppliers have supposedly been used by Mexican cartels to produce fentanyl, which is then trafficked into the United States where it has fuelled a deadly overdose crisis.
Successive US administrations have pressured Beijing to crack down on its chemical industry. China has taken repeated steps to regulate precursors, including most recently last month when it restricted 13 new chemicals at US…

Indonesian authorities on Thursday named a Chinese executive of a metal smelting company as a suspect in a caesium-137 contamination case that resulted in the recall of some exports to the US.
Lin Jingzhang, who is a director of PT Peter Metal Technology (PMT), has been designated as a suspect, Bara Hasibuan, a spokesperson for the investigating task force, said.
“The Certain Crimes Directorate of the Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Unit has named Lin Jingzhang, a citizen of…