Asian Legal Review

Senior Malaysian lawmakers are calling for both a royal inquiry and a parliamentary investigation into Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim over alleged irregularities in judicial appointments, warning that such actions risk plunging the country’s judiciary into scandal once again.
Last week, Anwar’s administration declined to extend the tenure of widely respected chief justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat and Court of Appeal president Abang Iskandar Abang Hashim. This leaves the future leadership of the…

Brics leaders have called for stronger cohesion, expanded trade and increased use of local currency to improve the Global South’s clout as an alternative to Western power, even as the bloc of emerging markets maintains ties and partnerships with wealthier countries.
As two new members joined the New Development Bank, also known as the “Brics bank”, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told business leaders and investors on Saturday that this delicate balancing act and bid for greater momentum…

Vietnam breathed a sigh of relief when US President Donald Trump announced a trade deal had been struck between Hanoi and Washington. The Vietnam Stock Index reached its highest level since April 2022, indicating confidence that export stability had been achieved.
On the face of it, the deal is highly unbalanced, with US exports to Vietnam enjoying tariff-free market access, while Vietnamese exports in the other direction now face a 20 per cent rate, slightly over twice last year’s average rate…

Expertly switching between woks as he whips up appam, the coconut and rice batter pancakes that draw morning commuters to his roadside stall in a Kuala Lumpur suburb, Raj Kumar harbours anxieties that simmer away beneath the calm: petrol subsidy cuts are looming and prices may soon rise again.
At 44, Raj feels every shift in Malaysia’s rising cost of living – both in the prices he pays for ingredients and the rueful faces of his customers.
“Our suppliers raised prices after diesel subsidies were…

In his new memoir Ink and Influence: An OB Markers Sequel, Cheong Yip Seng reflects on the intersection of geopolitics, media, and identity through the lens of his long career as editor-in-chief of The Straits Times. In this excerpt, Cheong recounts a revealing moment during an official visit to China in 1976 with then-prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. Among the officials present was S.R. Nathan, later Singapore’s sixth president, who witnessed Lee subtly rebuff a Chinese attempt to influence the…

The development of real estate tokenisation in Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) underscores the unwavering commitment by the region’s regulators to embrace fractional ownership of real estate, experts have said.

EU policymakers have been urged to apply a two-year postponement to EU AI Act rules due to take effect next month.

The rotation to emerging markets in Asia that spurred the US dollar’s worst performance in more than five decades will probably continue, as a de-dollarisation trend outweighs a record rally in US stocks, according to Societe Generale.
Global investors had turned cautious about their estimated US$62 trillion in dollar-based assets – equivalent to the size of the Nasdaq – as the Trump administration’s “reciprocal tariffs” eroded the status of the world’s reserve currency, analysts led by Frank…

Philippine lawmakers have refiled a long-delayed bill legalising divorce in the country just a few days into the new Congress after its passage fell short in the previous term, with divorce advocates hopeful that the legislation will finally see the light of day.
Lawmakers have been trying to pass a divorce law since 2005, but continue to face resistance in the Catholic-majority country.
Nearly 79 per cent of Filipinos are Roman Catholic and the Philippines and the Vatican are the only countries…