Politics

Singapore's Health Minister Ong Ye Kung, left, and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong are both using TikTok to connect with the public. (Screenshots from TikTok accounts) 
Politics

Singapore PM hopefuls take to TikTok as clock ticks on decision

Finance, health ministers jump on video app ahead of key ruling party vote

13 April 2022
Anwar Ibrahim once held the premiership runner-up position between 1993-1998, with then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad openly naming him as a successor.
Politics

Malaysian opposition hit by doubts over leader Anwar as polls loom

Missteps in state elections cast shadow over longtime prime ministerial hopeful

8 April 2022
A containership off Singapore: Europe accounts for 9% of ASEAN exports, according to Maybank.
Ukraine war

ASEAN faces 'collateral damage' from Ukraine war's Europe impact

From Singapore to Thailand, spillover threatens COVID-hit economies anew

27 March 2022
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, center, and Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin mingle with delegates at UMNO's general assembly on March 18. (Photo by P Prem Kumar)
Malaysia in transition

Malaysia's UMNO assembly amps up pressure on PM to call election

'How long do we want to wait?' emboldened ruling party chief tells delegates

18 March 2022
Political parties' flags hang at a junction ahead of the Johor state election in Johor Baru, Malaysia.
Politics

Malaysia's UMNO wins in Johor, raising odds of early national polls

State election success expected to embolden party heavyweights to pressure PM

13 March 2022
Johor Bahru, the capital of Johor: The state is seen as a key political bellwether. (Source Photo by Reuters and Keiichiro Asahara)
Politics

Malaysia's Johor polls offer a window on next general election

An UMNO win on Saturday could hasten national vote

10 March 2022
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 2020: Still a member of parliament at age 96, he has announced that he does not intend to seek re-election.
Politics

Mahathir declares he will not run in next Malaysia election

Former PM, nearly 97, still wants to 'advise' younger politicians

9 March 2022
Malaysia will reopen its international border on April 1, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced, a month later than the national recovery council advised.
Coronavirus

Malaysia to reopen border April 1 in move toward 'endemic' COVID

PM Ismail Sabri says transition phase will help restore 'an almost normal life'

8 March 2022
A 1Malaysia Development Berhad billboard in Kuala Lumpur, pictured in February 2016: it takes a warped, opaque and stuck-in-time political system to produce a scandal like 1MDB.
Opinion

1MDB trial shows the depths of Malaysia's economic woes

Martin Scorsese would bow in face of scandal playing out in New York

2 March 2022
Kuala Lumpur's central business district, pictured on Jan. 30: the shortfall of homegrown, dynamic Malay enterprises remains unfinished business.
Opinion

Ismail Sabri's Malay action plan is a big deal

Policy is not a game changer but it can make a difference

15 February 2022
Four decades after its "Look East Policy" deepened ties with Japan, Malaysia is increasingly seeking economic cooperation with China.
Asia Insight

Malaysia eyes China 40 years after it 'looked east' to Japan

Nation faces COVID, 1MDB and value chain hurdles on path to high-income status

15 February 2022
Malaysia Airlines planes parked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in 2020: The country is getting ready to welcome back tourists.
Coronavirus

Malaysia poised to 'completely' reopen borders from March

Eyeing economy, task force advises quarantine-free entry for vaccinated tourists

8 February 2022
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, left, and Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen spoke by video conference on Jan. 25. (Source photos by Singapore Press/AP and Cambodia Government House/Reuters) 
International relations

Malaysia to Hun Sen: Myanmar regime still not welcome at ASEAN

Ismail Sabri, Cambodian counterpart speak amid spat over latter's Naypyitaw trip

25 January 2022
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Kuala Lumpur, in March 2020.
Politics

Malaysia's former PM Mahathir admitted to cardiac unit

96-year-old recently had elective procedure; daughter says condition is 'stable'

22 January 2022
Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob speaks in parliament last October. His term lasts until August 2023, but observers say he could come under pressure to call polls earlier.
Malaysia in transition

Ismail Sabri faces brewing tensions over Malaysia election timing

Sources say PM under pressure from within own party to dissolve parliament

20 January 2022
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, with Myanmar State Administration Council Chairman Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on Jan. 7. His visit has provoked an angry backlash among critics, who say he is legitimizing the army's seizure of power. (An Khoun SamAun/National Television of Cambodia via AP)
Myanmar Crisis

Malaysia says Hun Sen's Myanmar visit did no good

Cambodian leader should have consulted ASEAN leaders: foreign minister

14 January 2022
A worker carries a palm oil fruit bunch at a plantation in Slim River, Malaysia, in August 2021.
Commodities

Malaysia to go on 'attack' to counter palm oil critics: minister

Commodities chief says strategy will look to Middle East, other markets

13 January 2022
Najib Razak, pictured in August 2020: the former prime minister is cooking up a second act as leader with the help of his United Malays National Organization.
Opinion

Najib's return is the last thing Malaysia needs

Disgraced former prime minister is plotting an unlikely comeback

6 January 2022
The eruption of Mount Semeru in the east of Java island killed at least 51 and displaced over 9,000 after it began on Dec. 4.
Natural disasters

Disaster mitigation under scrutiny in ASEAN hot spots

Volcanoes, typhoons decimate lives as climate change increases threats

27 December 2021
Xi Jinping on screen at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, pictured on Nov. 12: the future price China's 1.4 billion people will pay for Xi's myth-building campaign rose exponentially in 2021.
Opinion

Asia's 2021 bull market in emperor-has-no-clothes moments

Xi Jinping happier than most to see this year stagger to a close

22 December 2021
Volunteers rescue stranded flood victims in Shah Alam, in Malaysia's state of Selangor, on Dec. 19.
Natural disasters

As flood water rises, Malaysian leader faces storm of criticism

Ismail Sabri blasted for 'delayed' action after 3 die and 40,000 are displaced

20 December 2021
Former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad remains an active figure in politics at age 96. (Photo by Wong Ying Xian)
17 December 2021
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, is hosted by Malaysian Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah on Dec. 15. (Photo courtesy of Malaysia's Foreign Ministry)
International relations

U.S. weighing more action on Myanmar, 'genocide' label: Blinken

In Malaysia, top diplomat lays groundwork for special Biden summit with ASEAN

15 December 2021
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport near Jakarta on Dec. 13.
International relations

Blinken kicks off ASEAN tour with China and Myanmar in focus

U.S. secretary of state visits Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand through Thursday

13 December 2021
Malaysia's former Prime Minister Najib Razak during an earlier court appearance: The judge presiding over his appeal called his actions "a national embarrassment."
Malaysia in transition

Malaysia's Najib loses appeal of 1MDB-linked convictions

Facing 12 years behind bars, former PM set to take case to apex court

8 December 2021