Mother of all scams coming to light in Malaysia

While court hearings expose the extent of 1MDB corruption, authorities move to prevent a repeat of the massive scandal

Since hearings in the main 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state development fund trial commenced in August, prosecutors have presented jaw-dropping accounts of alleged top-level corruption and abuse of power.

Ex-premier Najib Razak stands accused of looting hundreds of millions of dollars from 1MDB for self-enrichment and actively interfering with an anti-corruption probe launched after the first hints of the scandal broke in July 2015.

Prosecutors have leveled 42 charges against Najib, who faces the possibility of life in prison for graft, money laundering, abuse of power and criminal breach of trust.

The latest trial, one of a scheduled five, brings 21 charges of money laundering and four of abuse of power for receiving illegal transfers of about 2.3 billion ringgit (US$550.8 million) between 2011 and 2014.

While observers wait for justice to be served in what some have referred to as the biggest heist in financial history, Malaysia is slowly but surely putting in place new mechanisms to prevent a repeat of the massive scam.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

As protests boom, Hong Kong’s economy busts

Hong Kong headed for recession amid triple whammy of civil unrest, US-China trade war and falling global growth

Hong Kong’s economy faces an unprecedented triple threat as four months of increasingly violent protests, an escalating US-China trade war and a dip in global growth all take a downward-pulling toll.

With tourism and retail sectors tumbling, analysts believe the semi-autonomous Chinese city may have already tipped into its first recession in a decade. Hong Kong stocks, meanwhile, have reportedly suffered their worst quarter in four years as wary investors count their costs.

Financial analysts still doubt that the Asian financial hub’s fixed currency system pegged to the US dollar could falter, if hitherto modest capital outflows accelerate in coming weeks. But recent market activity suggests certain speculation is rising, despite stability in the overnight call rate, about a still unseen liquidity crunch.

Speaking at a news conference, Chief Executive Carrie Lam on October 8 lamented that, compared to last year, visitor numbers to Hong Kong plunged 53.6% in the first six days of October, when mainland tourists usually cross the border for shopping deals during China’s National Day holidays, otherwise known as “golden week” for merchants in the city.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a writer and journalist with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

Hong Kong protests rain on China’s big parade

Escalated violence on Hong Kong’s strife-torn streets stole the show from China’s highly anticipated 70th anniversary event

As China commemorated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic in Beijing, replete with a made-for-television gala military parade, Hong Kong’s strife-torn streets arguably stole the show with some of the worst violence seen since protests first erupted 17 weeks ago.

Turmoil engulfed the Asian financial hub with intense clashes and bloodshed in various areas and districts of Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories. Street fires burned as masked protesters hurled petrol bombs at riot police officers, tore down national banners and defaced portraits of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Tens of thousands thronged the streets chanting slogans “Fight for Freedom” and “Stand with Hong Kong” at a peaceful march early in the day, which later descended into chaos after standoffs with law enforcement personnel. Police pushed back against the crowds with volleys of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and water cannons laced with blue dye.

Marking a potentially pivotal escalation, an 18-year-old man wielding what appeared to be a metal rod was filmed being shot at point-blank range during a frantic altercation with police alongside other masked protesters.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a writer and journalist with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.

As China celebrates, HK an island and people apart

While China proudly touts the 70th anniversary of its modern founding a poll shows only 11% of Hongkongers see themselves as Chinese

With celebrations underway to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the October 1 festivities are set to culminate in a massive, chest-thumping military parade down Beijing’s main ceremonial thoroughfare.

Some 1,200 miles away in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory in the throes of a historic struggle against the perceived erosion of its autonomy by Beijing, the occasion will more likely be marked by pitched street battles than patriotic pomp.

The former British colony faces its biggest political and constitutional crisis since returning to Chinese rule in 1997 under the “one country, two systems” principle, which in theory allows the city to have its own governmental system largely independent of Beijing.

But as China celebrates its emergence as a global power, the widening gulf of identity and ideology between those two systems looks more and more difficult to bridge, causing many Hongkongers to increasingly view their home as a place apart.

Read the full story at Asia Times.

Nile Bowie is a writer and journalist with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.