Malaysian authorities said on Sunday that they were searching for two dozen Rohingya refugees who are feared to have drowned after jumping off their boat off the northern resort island of Langkawi.Zawawi Abdullah, a senior official with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, said initial police information showed that only one of 25 Rohingya men who jumped off the boat had managed to swim ashore.The lone survivor sought help from police late Saturday and has been detained for further…
Malaysia’s best-known commodity is powering fortunes of Top Glove tycoon
Malaysian businessman Lim Wee Chai is certainly the man of the hour. He is going places no Malaysian tycoons have. The boss of Top Glove Corporation Bhd, the world’s largest gloves manufacturer, has found his company placed as third largest market capitalisation listed on Bursa. On Thursday, Top Glove was in second spot, but it slipped to third when Bursa closed on Friday, with Public Bank taking over. Pole position is still Maybank’s, which had a market capitalisation of RM88.244 billion …
Vietnam on coronavirus high alert after first local infection in 100 days
Vietnam was back on high alert for the coronavirus on Saturday after medical officials in the central city of Da Nang detected the country’s first locally transmitted case for three months.Vietnam imposed strict quarantine measures and carried out an aggressive and widespread testing programme during the pandemic, keeping its total tally of reported infections to just 417, with no deaths.It had reported no locally transmitted infections for 100 days until Friday, when the Health Ministry said a…
Malaysia arrests Bangladeshi man for taking part in Al Jazeera documentary on migrants
Malaysian authorities on Saturday said a Bangladeshi man will be deported for his involvement in criticising the government over its treatment of undocumented immigrants in an Al Jazeera documentary.Mohamad Rayhan Kabir had been on the run after police launched an investigation into the July 3 documentary following complaints that it was inaccurate and biased. News broadcaster Al Jazeera has defended its journalism.The Malaysian Immigration Department said Rayhan, 25, was arrested by its…
If a racist attack happens in a supermarket, what should it do?
A visit to your neighbourhood supermarket should be a routine if mildly enjoyable activity. However, for a number of minorities in Australia, stepping out to buy groceries can end in racial abuse and profiling.This month, two video clips emerged showing Asian shoppers being targeted by fellow shoppers at separate Woolworths stores. Woolworths is Australia’s largest supermarket chain, and along with Coles, controls over 60 per cent of the grocery market.Unfortunately, these are not isolated…
US fugitive working as porn actor arrested in Bali
Authorities on the Indonesian resort island of Bali have arrested an American fugitive accused of investment fraud in the United States involving hundreds of thousands of dollars, police said on Friday.Bali police chief Petrus Reinhard Golose said the suspect, Marcus Beam, had been making and selling sex videos in Bali to support his living expenses there.He said Beam apparently escaped from the US by using a passport with a different name and entered Bali in January. Beam was arrested with his…
Japan reports record number of coronavirus cases at start of four-day weekend
Japan reported on Thursday more than 830 new daily coronavirus infections, marking a record for a second straight day in a resurgence since the government lifted a state of emergency about two months ago.The figure brings the nationwide tally to more than 28,700, including some 700 cases from the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship quarantined in Yokohama in February, with the death toll reaching 1,005.Concerns over the worsening outbreak have grown stronger in Japan as a four-day holiday began…
Thailand cremates Chinese immigrant serial killer Si Quey after body displayed for decades
For decades, some parents in Thailand warned their naughty children that if they did not behave, Si Quey would come eat their livers.If the threat of a ghostly visit from the executed child killer, long called a cannibal, proved ineffective, those children could always be taken to see Si Quey. His mummified corpse – gnarled and blackened – for years stood on display in a glass case in the Forensic Museum at Bangkok’s Siriraj Hospital.In recent years, however, doubts were raised about whether…
South China Sea: ‘no sense’ in pushing Philippines’ case at UN summit, Locsin says
The Philippine foreign secretary on Wednesday rejected a call for Manila to press its South China Sea dispute with Beijing at the United Nations General Assembly this September.Teodoro Locsin Jnr said it wouldn’t “make any sense” to revisit the 2016 ruling of a UN arbitral court that sided with Manila against China’s territorial claims as “we won it already”.“Why would you want to re-litigate something that you won? You don’t like you won?” asked Locsin, referring to a suggestion by the former…
Ex-Malaysian PM Najib Razak ordered to pay US$400 million in unpaid taxes
A Malaysian court on Wednesday ordered former prime minister Najib Razak to settle 1.69 billion ringgit (US$397.41 million) in unpaid taxes over seven years while he was still in office, according to a report by national newswire Bernama.Defeated in the 2018 general election amid widespread outrage over allegedly rampant graft in his government, Najib is facing multiple charges of corruption and abuse of power linked to billions of dollars Malaysian prosecutors say was siphoned off from state…