Asian Legal Review

A feud within Malaysia’s ruling party has intensified after supporters of former People’s Justice Party (PKR) deputy president Rafizi Ramli alleged they were targeted by the police over social media posts about last month’s party elections.
Rafizi, who served as deputy to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim within the party, lost his post in the May 23 internal election to Anwar’s daughter, Nurul Izzah. Her elevation fuelled accusations of growing nepotism in the party, which is helmed by her…

Many Malaysians may find life’s little indulgences suddenly beyond their reach from next month, when fresh taxes bite on premium goods and services like salmon and silk – and even haircuts – after the cash-strapped government said it would raise revenue from so-called luxury spending.
Taxes of between 5 and 10 per cent will be imposed on “discretionary and non-essential goods” as well as financial and beauty services and private education from July 1, the Finance Ministry said in a statement…

Mounting calls from legal scholars, civil society and protest groups are putting the Philippine Senate under pressure to launch an impeachment trial against Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio – even as her allies move to have the case dismissed.
Duterte-Carpio was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 5 on a wide range of serious charges that include large-scale corruption and plotting to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, his wife and the speaker of the house –…

The passage of three laws mandating special investigations into corruption and abuse of power allegations involving impeached president Yoon Suk-yeol and his controversial wife marks a significant setback for South Korea’s conservatives, according to analysts.
Former first lady Kim Keon-hee was long considered beyond the reach of law enforcement, largely due to her outsize influence over her husband and state affairs.
But that “untouchable” status appears to be fading following a change in…

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1. ‘Don’t kill your successful DNA’: Hong Kong’s John Lee on tariffs, trade war 2. ‘It’s too much’: Chinese students reconsider UK degrees as policies harden 3. Loitering with intent: Beijing’s new silent South China Sea strategy? 4. Japan grows restless for next-gen fighter jets as progress with…

Wang Gungwu – one of Asia’s most respected historians and a pioneering scholar of the Chinese diaspora – explores in Roads to Chinese Modernity: Civilisation and National Culture how China evolved into a modern nation navigating reform and globalisation. In this excerpt, Wang traces how, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reformers and revolutionaries such as Kang You-wei, Liang Qichao and Sun Yat-sen began rallying support from overseas Chinese communities. Once dismissed as disloyal…

They don’t yell or protest. They don’t hold signs or march. But in Singapore, a chorus of concern is rising on their behalf. From living rooms to parliament, the country is facing hard questions about the way animals are seen, protected and valued.
In February, a 32-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to 14 months in jail for abusing five community cats – a spree of violence that culminated in the horrific act of throwing two of them from high-rise public housing blocks in Ang Mo Kio.
Just…

Renowned historian Wang Gungwu’s Roads to Chinese Modernity: Civilisation and National Culture traces China’s transformation from an ancient civilisation into a modern nation-state shaped by revolution, reform and global engagement. Drawing on decades of scholarship and his unique perspective as an overseas Chinese intellectual, Wang reflects in this excerpt on Deng Xiaoping’s legacy and the enduring challenge facing China’s leaders today: how to build a modern national culture that embraces…

Japan has ratified its reciprocal access agreement (RAA) with the Philippines six months after Manila did, with the long-awaited move seen as a signal that Manila has proved its value as a strategic and defence partner to Tokyo.
The ratification by the Diet follows Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s recent visit to the Philippines, with analysts previously observing that the trip suggested his administration was poised to finalise the agreement.
The RAA allows the deployment of Filipino…

The UK’s new carried interest tax rules will not include two qualifying conditions which would have restricted access to a lower tax rate under the regime, the government has now confirmed.