Asian Legal Review

Even in hiding, disgraced financier Low Taek Jho is costing the Malaysian public dearly.
His seized superyacht, the Equanimity, has cost Malaysian taxpayers RM3.5 million (US$835,000) – and counting – in maintenance costs, port services, crew and legal fees since it was seized by the government in August.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng disclosed the figure – which does not include costs incurred since October 10 – in an answer to a parliamentary question on Wednesday. He…

ANALYSIS: Multinational companies experiencing a major data breach face significant challenges in co-ordinating co-operation with investigating authorities around the world. 

A Thai government official on Wednesday defended a sweeping cybersecurity bill which experts have decried for allowing the wholesale seizure of private computers and property, saying that “every country has a need” to protect itself.
The bill has drawn widespread criticism for authorising a newly created committee to access and seize computers and hard drives of individuals and private companies without a court order in cases of “reasonable suspicion” and “…

A dead whale that washed ashore in eastern Indonesia had a large lump of plastic waste in its stomach, including drinking cups and flip-flops – causing concern among environmentalists and government officials in one of the world’s largest plastic polluting countries.
Rescuers from Wakatobi National Park found the 9.5-metre sperm whale late on Monday in waters near Kapota Island, southeast of Sulawesi, after receiving a report from environmentalists that villagers had surrounded the…

Most residents of Banyuwangi’s 189 villages, in Indonesia’s east Java, have access to free internet as part of a government initiative to boost local economic development.
Under the “Smart Kampung” – or “smart village” – scheme started two years ago, the population of about 1 million has been able to access public services online and get technical training so entrepreneurs can sell products over the internet.
Banyuwangi is an example of how…

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has proposed the creation of a new ‘express’ regulatory sandbox to aid innovation in financial services.

Sri Lanka’s president ordered the removal of a police chief investigating alleged crimes by the family and associates of his preferred candidate for prime minister Mahinda Rajapakse, officials said Monday.
The Indian Ocean nation has been paralysed since October 26 when President Maithripala Sirisena controversially sacked prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replaced him with former rival Rajapakse.
Wickremesinghe insists he is still prime minister and has refused to step down,…

UK business secretary Greg Clark and EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier have both spoken in support of extending the Brexit transition period by two years, ahead of confirmation of the draft withdrawal agreement between the UK and EU.

It was a rarity in the era of US President Donald Trump – a diplomatic summit season in Asia where the iconoclast, late-night tweeting leader was not the one providing the high drama.
Within Washington’s think tank circles, there had been some bellyaching that the president’s decision to dispatch Mike Pence as a stand-in for him would hurt American diplomacy in the region – especially with China’s top leaders gracing these events.
But as Pence returned to the…

Flash floods and landslides killed at least 12 people in central Vietnam, officials said on Sunday, as hundreds of troops were dispatched to clean up destroyed villages and washed out roads.
Heavy rains pounded the central Khanh Hoa province over the past few days as tropical depression Toraji blew in from the South China Sea, triggering landslides that wiped out houses and destroyed a small reservoir.
At least a dozen people have been killed so far while a search was ongoing for several others…