Former Malaysian finance minister Lim Guan Eng has been arrested following corruption investigations into a China-linked US$1.5 billion undersea tunnel project, the government said on Thursday.Lim, a key member of the Pakatan Harapan government ousted in March, will spend the night in detention before appearing in court on Friday to face corruption charges.In a brief statement, the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) said Lim faced three separate arraignments on Friday, Monday and…
Malaysian foreign minister sorry after caught vaping in parliament
A video depicting Malaysian Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein vaping during Parliamentary proceedings is making its rounds on social media.The video shows Hishammuddin sneaking a vape behind his face mask while his colleague, Transport Minister Dr Wee Ka Siong, is speaking during Parliamentary proceedings.The eight-second video is believed to have been taken on Monday, when Dr Wee was delivering his winding-up speech. Hishammuddin, however, apologised on Twitter and promised not to vape…
South China Sea: avoid siding with US or China, Malaysia urges Asean
Malaysia on Wednesday warned that the South China Sea dispute that has emerged as a key proxy battle between the US and China could split the Asean bloc if countries gave in to the superpowers’ “narratives and pressure” over the row.The comments by Foreign Minister Hishammuddin Hussein came days after his ministry sent an unusually terse diplomatic note to the United Nations rejecting Beijing’s sweeping maritime claims as part of its “nine-dash line”.‘Only one aggressor here’: Australian rivals…
Coronavirus Singapore: migrant worker’s self harm raises concerns over mental health toll
A migrant in Singapore who self-harmed and was pictured bloodied in a stairwell has heightened concerns over the mental health of thousands of low-paid workers confined to dormitories in the city state because of the coronavirus pandemic.In April, Singapore sealed off sprawling housing blocks where its vast population of mainly South Asian labourers live in crowded bunk rooms, in an effort to ring-fence a surge in virus cases among the workers.Singapore urged to consider migrant workers’ mental…
South China Sea: why did Duterte bar Philippine military from US exercises?
President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered the Philippine navy not to join US-led military exercises in the South China Sea.“The president has a standing order … that we should not involve ourselves in naval exercises in the South China Sea, except in our national waters, [within] 12 miles of our shores,” defence secretary Delfin Lorenzana said on Monday.South China Sea: beware of US ‘sabotage’, Beijing warns Southeast AsiaLorenzana said the ban was aimed at keeping a lid on tensions in the area,…
Indonesia, Singapore stay neutral on US-China dispute despite Pompeo’s South China Sea outreach
Following Malaysia’s unusually strong rebuke last week of China’s “nine-dash line” claim in the South China Sea, the United States has reached out to the Southeast Asian nation’s immediate neighbours to reiterate American support for international law in the disputed waters.
Analysts said US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Monday calls to foreign ministers Vivian Balakrishnan of Singapore and Indonesia’s Retno Marsudi were in keeping with Washington’s bid to denounce Beijing’s expansive claims…
Philippine coronavirus: Manila braces for lockdown, Duterte accuses doctors of seeking ‘revolution’
Metro Manila is gearing up for the return of strict lockdown measures that will force most businesses and metropolitan trains to shut down, putting pressure the country’s faltering economy, as it seeks to prevent its health care system from collapsing under the pressure of the Covid-19 crisis. Under a return to more stringent “modified enhanced community quarantine”, checkpoints will be re-established, requiring travel passes for commuters seeking to leave their houses. Domestic flights will…
British woman jailed in Malaysia for killing husband, avoids death sentence
A British woman accused of stabbing her husband to death at their Malaysian resort home avoided the gallows and was sentenced to 42 months in jail on Monday after she pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo said prosecutors reduced the murder charge against Samantha Jones, 51, to culpable homicide, which is murder without intent, after the defence appealed to the attorney general’s office.A conviction for murder carries a mandatory death sentence by hanging.“I was scared, and…
Red Bull heir crash: Thailand orders second autopsy of key witness
Thailand’s prime minister has ordered a second autopsy be conducted after the death of a key witness in a deadly hit-and-run case linked to the heir to the Red Bull energy drink fortune, amid public anger that the charges were dropped.Jaruchart Mardthong, 40, died in what police said looked like a motorcycle accident on Thursday, amid public suspicion about the exact cause of his death.Results of an initial autopsy have not yet been released. Local media said his family had planned to cremate…
Philippines coronavirus cases top 100,000, amid fears of a ‘losing battle’
Coronavirus infections in the Philippines surged past 100,000 on Sunday in a troubling milestone after medical groups declared that the country was waging “a losing battle” against the virus and asked the president to reimpose a lockdown in the capital.The Department of Health reported a record daily tally of 5,032, bringing the total confirmed cases in the country to 103,185, including more than 2,000 deaths. The Philippines has the second-most cases in Southeast Asia after Indonesia, and has…