Asia News fra SCMP

A Malaysian lawmaker is offering a 5,000 ringgit (US$1,200) bounty for the person responsible for an arson attack which left an elderly woman in critical condition in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. The 62-year-old counter staff suffered 50 per cent burns to her body after an unidentified individual doused her in what police believe was petrol and set her on fire at a lottery shop in Kepong, a suburb some 14km (nine miles) from the city. Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said the attack was an “act of...

Indonesia’s top Islamic clerical body has warned men not to wear “women’s clothing” for Independence Day festivities despite a long-standing tradition of men in dresses playing football as part of the annual fun. Amid a rising tide of anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation, the influential Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said in a statement such behaviour was “haram” or forbidden. The MUI said its intervention was “an effort to prevent the covert campaign of the...

An Indonesian minister has called for better protection of students after nearly 1,000 weapons were found at a private school in South Jakarta. Police seized 995 airsoft guns and one live firearm from a school run by the Harapan Ibu Islamic School Foundation on Friday, Antara news agency reported. The foundation’s former chair, identified only by the initials IWD, has been called in for questioning. IWD had been dismissed amid allegations of misuse of foundation funds, according to the Jakarta...

A ⁠gunman was arrested after firing shots at a local government office on the outskirts of Thailand’s capital on Monday, officials said, ‌just days after a teenager’s killing rampage at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control. The suspected shooter, a former lawmaker, fired at a senior provincial official and his driver, said Major General Dejrapee Kongdee, the police commander of Nonthaburi, which borders Bangkok. “There were two people wounded, who have been sent to...

Malaysia is seeking to elevate its economic partnership with South Korea beyond traditional manufacturing and trade by positioning itself as a long-term strategic partner in high-value industries, ranging from semiconductors and AI to electric vehicles, renewable energy and the fast-growing global halal economy. Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) director Redzuan Abd Rahman and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) trade commissioner Mohamad Termizi HJ Piee...

The haze is back in Malaysia – with at least two states registering unhealthy air readings on Monday as raging forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia send clouds of smoke northwards. Transboundary haze is a long-standing problem in Southeast Asia, particularly affecting Malaysia and Singapore due to their proximity to Indonesia, where vast tracts of forests and agricultural land become fire hotspots during the dry season. A wildfire scorched 550 hectares (1,360 acres) of land in the Bromo...

A fire in Indonesia’s ⁠Mount Bromo National Park ⁠in East Java ⁠that burnt 550 hectares (1,360 acres) has been extinguished, according to an official on Monday, but there are new hotspots near the caldera. Gatot Soebroto, head of the local disaster mitigation agency, said authorities had found new fires in ⁠areas around the caldera covering some 20 hectares. Mount Bromo is ‌an active volcano, and is a popular tourist destination and best known for its “sand sea” ‌caldera. The national park...

Pakistan’s foreign minister said a new defence agreement his country signed with Saudi Arabia and Turkey was not directed against any country and remained open to other nations in the region. The landmark Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the three countries seek to deepen security cooperation amid heightened tensions between the United States and...

Indonesia’s faster-than-expected economic growth in the second quarter has offered a ray of hope for a sustainable turnaround after months of negative news over the rupiah, investor confidence and global uncertainties. Analysts, however, urged caution about the country’s economic outlook in the coming quarters, saying the latest data also revealed uneven sectoral performance and a reliance on government spending. Southeast Asia’s largest economy grew 5.29 per cent year on year in the April-June...

As China seeks to reshape the global order, Malaysia’s political instability offers a cautionary tale about the challenges Beijing may face abroad. A recent Pew Research Centre survey found that global perceptions of China have improved relative to those of the US, driven partly by the view among some respondents that China under President Xi Jinping is more reliable than a US led by President Donald Trump. As Washington retreats from global leadership roles, Beijing has sought to present itself...