Dewan bandaraya kuala lumpur

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - A Malaysian court on Thursday ordered Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former Prime Minister Najib Razak, to enter a defense in a corruption trial linked to a multimillion-dollar project approved while the ex-premier was still in power. Dozens of graft charges were filed against the couple after Najib lost the 2018 election, amid popular anger over alleged corruption and their opulent lifestyle after police raids revealed Rosmah owned millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry and luxury handbags. The Kuala Lumpur high court ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in proving sufficient grounds for the case to proceed. "This is my finding that the prosecution has produced credible evidence to prove every element of the offense... I now call upon the accused to enter a defense," judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said in his ruling. Rosmah, 69, told the court that she would testify under oath when taking the witness stand during defense proceedings. Rosmah faces three … [Read more...] about Malaysian Court Orders Graft Trial of Ex-PM’s Wife to Proceed

KUALA LUMPUR - The overthrow of Myanmar’s democratically elected government by the military last week is drawing international attention to the armed forces’ vast but murky business empire as pressure builds on foreign companies to break ties with it. The military declared — and took charge of — a one-year state of emergency on Feb. 1, hours after rounding up the top leaders of the ruling National League for Democracy, including the country’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The generals claim, without evidence, that a 2020 general election that gave the NLD a second landslide win was rigged. International rebuke of the coup was swift and by the end of the first week Japanese beverage giant Kirin announced it was pulling out of a joint venture with a military-owned firm behind the country’s most popular brew, Myanmar Beer. On Tuesday, RMH Singapore said it would be giving up its shares in Myanmar’s Virginia Tobacco Company, another joint venture co-owned by the military. … [Read more...] about Myanmar Coup Piles Pressure on Military’s Business Empire

BANGKOK - Thai voters head to the polls Sunday for the first time in nearly five years, and analysts say the results could have an impact on democracy throughout Southeast Asia. Thailand's military junta took power in May 2014, when then-army chief Prayut Chan-ocha led a coup that toppled the government. Observers see the coming elections as a struggle between democracy and military rule. Prayut, now seeking the premiership, has said that if he wins, voters would be returning his junta-led country to a "democracy." Thailand is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and pro-democracy advocates within the trading bloc are paying close attention to the vote, despite its policy of noninterference in members' internal affairs. The ASEAN Post, an independent regional digital media company in Kuala Lumpur, recently noted that freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and press freedom had deteriorated since the junta seized power, initiating the longest period of … [Read more...] about Democratic Hopes in ASEAN Hinge on Thailand, Analysts Say

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - Since Myanmar’s military toppled the country’s democratically elected government Feb. 1, a chorus of activists at home and abroad have called on foreign firms to cut ties with the generals’ sprawling business empire, and a few firms have taken heed . One pressure group is going a step further and taking aim at Myanmar’s murky state-owned enterprises, now that the state is firmly back in the military’s clutch. Justice for Myanmar is urging foreign firms that have invested in the country’s lucrative gas fields to pull out of their partnerships with the state-run Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, including international oil majors Chevron and Total. “If it’s business as usual, foreign investors in Myanmar’s gas will be funding an illegitimate and brutal military regime as they did before 2011, when the country was under full military rule,” it said in a statement last week. The military started easing its vise grip on the state in 2011 after nearly 50 years … [Read more...] about Myanmar Coup Puts French, US Oil Majors Back in Spotlight

KUALA LUMPUR - The United Nations and rights groups are urging Malaysia to reconsider its plans to repatriate some 1,200 Myanmar nationals on Tuesday, saying they include asylum seekers and registered refugees whose lives will be put at risk. Myanmar’s military has been waging a brutal counterinsurgency against a patchwork of ethnic-minority rebel armies since the country’s independence in 1948, a struggle that has scattered thousands of refugees across the region. The military took full control of the country after toppling the democratically elected government on Feb. 1, sparking widespread protests and an increasingly violent crackdown. News of Malaysia’s plans to send the Myanmar nationals in its detention depots back home broke just over a week ago. On Feb. 15, via state-run news outlet Bernama, Malaysia’s immigration chief, Khairul Dzaimee Daud, said they were all picked up for immigration offenses and that none held a U.N.-issued refugee card. The office of the U.N. High … [Read more...] about UN, Rights Groups Pan Malaysia’s Plans to Deport Myanmar Nationals