Lee family still just can’t get along in Singapore

Singapore’s simmering ‘first family’ feud could come to a new head as related court verdicts are handed down in 2021

When the fifth anniversary of the death of Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew was observed earlier this year, his estranged children mourned apart. An acrimonious dispute among the siblings that began over the fate of their late father’s estate has not yet been put to rest and has since taken on political dimensions.

Related legal proceedings are set to be heard in 2021, including a defamation case brought by the late Lee’s eldest son, incumbent Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 68, against a local news editor who repeated an allegation made by his younger brother Lee Hsien Yang and sister Lee Wei Ling, neither of whom the premier has sued directly.

With the prime minister now expected to retain power and push back a leadership transition that was set to happen by 2022 in order to see the nation through the Covid-19 crisis, it remains to be seen how a bitter family feud could play out in the final years of Lee’s litigious rule.

Unprecedented public sparring between members of Singapore’s first family began in earnest in 2017 when the premier’s siblings accused him of abusing his executive powers to impede their efforts to demolish the family bungalow, a five-bedroom residence at 38 Oxley Road, as their elder statesmen father had wanted and stipulated in his will.

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. 

Global Britain ditches EU for an Asian future

UK has clinched Singapore and Vietnam free trade deals that will serve as templates for its post-Brexit Asian trade relations

With the future of Britain-European Union (EU) trade on a precipice, simmering post-Brexit uncertainty hasn’t deterred the United Kingdom (UK) from projecting itself as a re-emerging force in global and particularly Asian trade.

Ahead of what some fear will be a chaotic end to the five-year Brexit process, with the UK set to break with the EU’s single market on December 31, London is already casting its gaze eastward, eyeing bilateral deals and membership in a regional trade bloc.

Last week, the UK announced new trade pacts with Singapore and Vietnam, which International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said would be “vital for the UK’s future as an independent trading nation,” and help make Britain a “global hub for services and technology trade.”

Touted as symbolically extending the UK’s foothold in Asia, both deals largely replicate existing trade agreements that Singapore and Hanoi have with the EU, and could pave the way for similar pacts with nations in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as Britain pledges to take a more active role in regional affairs in the Indo-Pacific.

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. 

First notes of Anwar’s swan song in Malaysia

Opposition leader's strategic missteps and questionable tactics have his coalition partners looking for new leadership ahead of polls

Anwar Ibrahim, long seen as a champion of national reform and multiracial unity, is under pressure from his coalition partners to step aside as frustration with his strategies and leadership mount in the aftermath of a watershed budget vote in Parliament that failed as promised to topple the government.

After pillorying the government’s expansionary 2021 budget and intimating he would not cooperate with Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s “back-door government”, opposition leader Anwar allowed the draft expenditure bill to pass in a walkover as per an eleventh-hour strategy shift that has apparently ignited an intra-coalition revolt.

The Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition had intended for the bill’s November 26 vote to serve as a do or die test of Muhyiddin’s nine-month-old administration, which has clung to power with a razor-thin two-seat majority. Instead, the vote has resulted in a legitimacy crisis for the opposition, one that could knock Anwar out as PH’s prime ministerial candidate at the next election.

“The mood in the last week since the vote is one of anger and frustration,” said a senior figure from Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR). “Everyone is angry, especially with Anwar’s last-minute U-turn. And until now, Anwar has failed to provide a satisfactory explanation to his coalition partners about why he did that.”

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.

Malaysia looks high, China hides Low

China denies but Malaysia insists fugitive 1MDB fraudster Jho Low is living quietly and comfortably in Macau

When will Jho Low finally be brought to justice? It’s a question many in Malaysia are asking since new revelations about the country’s most wanted man came to light, including China’s apparent role in providing him refuge to evade global authorities seeking his arrest.

Low, whose full name is Low Taek Jho, has been on the run for nearly five years and is widely viewed as the mastermind behind the multi-billion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal.

Earning infamy for his extravagant spending and penchant for partying, the elusive 39-year-old financier has avoided the limelight and kept largely silent as a fugitive, spending millions on legal fees and public relations services. He has continued to travel internationally despite having two Interpol Red Notices and an active US arrest warrant out against him.

The long-running search for Low hasn’t let up amid a year that has seen Malaysia gripped by political turmoil and an ongoing health crisis. Police officials have lamented making no discernible headway in repatriating the Penang-born fugitive at the center of one of the biggest ever financial heists, though they claim to know where he is.

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.

Vote puts Anwar’s takeover bluff to bed in Malaysia

PM Muhyiddin Yassin sees down opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's challenge in what was billed as a make-or-break budget vote

With his political survival on the line, Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin overcame a key hurdle when lawmakers approved on November 26 his government’s expansionary 2021 budget, the first in a series of votes that will ultimately determine whether the spending plan is passed.

By failing to seize a golden opportunity to put the spending bill through a formal count in Parliament, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim dismayed his supporters and had little to show for his oft-repeated claims of commanding the parliamentary numbers needed to bring down Muhyiddin’s nine-month-old government.

Passage of the 322.5 billion ringgit (US$78 billion) annual budget, the nation’s largest-ever at 20.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), had been in question with legislators on both sides of the aisle – including those within the premier’s ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration and its allies – voicing opposition to various components of the spending proposal.

Pitched as essential to the nation’s post-pandemic economic recovery, the budget ultimately passed in a voice vote in the policy stage of the voting process. Prior to its approval, Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz announced last-minute concessions aimed at meeting certain government backbencher demands.

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.

How China won and US lost the trade war

RCEP trade pact marks beginning of China's and end of America's centrality in Asia-Pacific trade

Signed and sealed in a video conference ceremony after nearly eight years of grueling negotiations, the world’s largest free trade bloc was forged on November 15 in a show of collective defiance against protectionism that sets the stage for China to supplant the United States as the Asia-Pacific’s main trade engine.

Proclaimed as a win for the multilateral trading system, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) harmonizes regulatory standards and allows member countries to offer themselves as an integrated market for investment, providing a confidence boost to aid a regionwide post-pandemic recovery.

Apart from the promised benefits of trade liberalization, the RCEP has been acknowledged more for its symbolic significance in relation to the world’s two largest economies, only one of which is a signatory to the deal. China’s inclusion in the pact will expand its economic reach and arguably help to solidify its position as a standard-bearer for globalization.

“What the RCEP clearly does is entrench China as the leading player within the free trade architecture of the Asia-Pacific, and it comes at a time when the United States is painted as a regressive force on free trade under Donald Trump,” said Harrison Cheng, an associate director with consulting firm Control Risks.

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.

Muhyiddin faces make or break budget vote

Crucial vote in coming days will double as a no-confidence motion that could upend Malaysian leader's eight-month-old rule

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will face a political moment of truth when Malaysian lawmakers vote on proposals for the nation’s largest-ever annual budget in Parliament later this month. A defeat of the spending plan would be equivalent to a no-confidence vote and could plunge the country into a leadership crisis.

Muhyiddin’s eight-month-old government intends to spend a record 322.5 billion ringgit (US$78 billion) in 2021 as it seeks to offset the economic ill-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and bring Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy back from the brink after gross domestic product (GDP) plunged 17.1% year on year in the second quarter.

The expansionary budget, a 2.5% increase in spending from 2020, aims to hasten an already evident recovery from the worst effects of business activity restrictions enacted under an earlier nationwide lockdown. Third quarter data announced by Malaysia’s central bank on Friday (November 13) showed a smaller 2.7% contraction.

A resurgence of coronavirus infections since September has seen infections triple to nearly 44,000 cases. Authorities have in response imposed targeted movement curbs in parts of the country, threatening an economic turnaround that the budget, the first to be presented since Muhyiddin was appointed premier by the nation’s king in March, is designed to spur.

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.

Southeast Asia eyes US democracy stress test

Region looks on as contested election underscores notion America's political system is broken and US leadership is in decline

A bitterly contested US presidential election that is still too close to call has the world on tenterhooks. In Southeast Asia, a strategic region at the center of an escalating rivalry between the United States and China, the contest is being closely watched for signals of what the next four years of American foreign policy will bring.

Mail-in ballots continue to be counted in crucial battleground states, which have given Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, 77, a clearer path to victory in a knife’s edge election that has failed to deliver the clear repudiation of US President Donald Trump that Democrats had hoped for and national polling had projected.

In a break with presidential norms, Trump, 74, pre-emptively declared victory at the White House in the early hours of November 4 with millions of votes yet to be counted, repeating assertions made throughout the campaign that widespread mail-in voting motivated by the Covid-19 pandemic would lead to rampant voter fraud without presenting evidence.

State-by-state litigation could bring days or possibly weeks of legal uncertainty in an attempt by the president to push the US Supreme Court to weigh in on the race if he is unable to eke out a path to victory as he did in 2016. An eruption of violent protests and civil unrest over disputed election results could occur amid the uncertainty.

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.

Muhyiddin hanging on by a fraying thread in Malaysia

Embattled premier failed to impose an emergency and forestall snap polls that will be triggered if Parliament rejects his 2021 budget

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is under rising pressure to resign after Malaysia’s king rejected his request to declare emergency rule on Sunday (October 25), a pivotal setback for the premier as he faces a leadership challenge from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and divisions within his fragile Perikatan Nasional (PN) ruling coalition.

Parties supporting PN, including the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which earlier this month threatened to withdraw support for Muhyiddin, have since thrown the premier a political lifeline by continuing to prop up his government. But with a key vote on the 2021 budget looming, doubts remain as to how long his administration will last with a narrow majority of 113 out of 222 seats in Parliament.

Under Malaysia’s parliamentary system, failure to pass the budget would be equivalent to a loss of confidence in Muhyiddin, who fears the prospect of rebel lawmakers within his government voting against the bills to collapse his administration and trigger a snap election. Debate on the forthcoming budget is set to commence on November 6.

Muhyiddin met with the nation’s king, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, on October 23 to present his case for the proclamation of a state of emergency, purportedly to combat the worsening Covid-19 pandemic. Coronavirus infections are sharply on the rise across Malaysia, with the total number of cases more than doubling to 28,640 in the past month.

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.

Goldman spends itself free of 1MDB guilty plea

US investment bank agrees to settlement to resolve Malaysian scandal, but sidesteps institutional culpability

Goldman Sachs, one of Wall Street’s most powerful investment banks, agreed to a US$2.9 billion settlement with US federal prosecutors and the Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday to resolve a sprawling money laundering and bribery probe involving state investment fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB.

The agreement brings closure to one of the biggest scandals ever faced by the bank, one which saw the looting of billions raised in bond offerings arranged by Goldman and stolen funds landing in the personal bank account of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, who lost re-election in 2018 due in large part to public anger over corruption.

But whether the long-awaited settlement has delivered justice is another question. The bank has consistently denied institutional culpability in 1MDB’s fraudulent dealings. Though humbling, the multi-billion dollar settlement is less onerous than investors had previously feared and shields Goldman from the consequences of a parent-level guilty plea.

Under the terms, the bank will pay a $2.3 billion fine for violating anti-bribery laws and will disgorge $600 million of ill-gotten gains as part of a deferred prosecution agreement for its violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans companies in the United States from paying foreign government officials for help in gaining or retaining business.

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.

Anwar’s political coup faces moment of royal truth

Opposition leader's claim he has numbers to form new government is still a matter of heated speculation after meeting with king

Amid frenzied speculation and unsubstantiated claims of game-changing political defections, Malaysia may or may not be on the cusp of a change of government. That is where things stand following opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s closely observed Tuesday (October 13) morning audience with Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, the country’s constitutional monarch and ceremonial head of state.

After claiming to command support from a “solid and convincing majority” of lawmakers in Parliament at a September 23 press briefing without furnishing evidence or naming those allegedly supporting his power grab, the monarchal meeting was Anwar’s opportunity to substantiate his leadership challenge and seek royal assent to form a new government.

Though there were more questions raised than answers supplied as the day’s events unfolded, the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president declined to furnish new details about his bid to take over Putrajaya, as he had pledged he would after meeting the king. He also appeared to contradict earlier claims of having “close to” a two-thirds majority in the legislature.

Addressing reporters at the Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where Anwar had three weeks earlier sensationally declared that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government had fallen, he claimed to have the backing of more than 120 lawmakers in the 222-member Parliament, sufficient numbers – if substantiated – to form a government.

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.

Muhyiddin losing his luster amid Covid-19 third wave

Malaysian leader suffers reversal of political fortunes amid perceptions his government is largely responsible for new viral outbreak

A record rise in Covid-19 infections in Malaysia is piling pressure on Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and members of his Cabinet, with public anger mounting over a soaring caseload that began to multiply after politicians and voters returned from the state of Sabah where polls were held last month.

The uptick of coronavirus cases and deaths is a blight on what until now had been regarded as an effective overall pandemic response, one that had bolstered Muhyiddin’s popularity. Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, meanwhile, has signaled that he is not letting up on a bid to unseat the premier’s eight-month-old government. 

Grappling with the highest number of infected patients under treatment since the start of the pandemic in January, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah declared on October 8 that the country had entered a “third wave” and called on Malaysians to do their part to flatten the curve by staying indoors and adhering to existing health protocols.

Spiraling infection rates in urban centers across Malaysia have been traced to individuals with recent travel history to Sabah, which has become the epicenter of the new outbreak with hundreds of daily cases reported. Multiple clusters have since emerged at schools, universities, shopping malls and government offices nationwide.

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.

Singapore Airlines lives to fly another day

City-state's flag carrier has cashed up and downsized to hit post-pandemic new heights in a consolidated global aviation industry

Singapore’s aviation industry icons, Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Changi Airport Group (CAG), are weathering an unprecedented crisis caused by Covid-19. And it’s unclear if and when the companies, both synonymous with the city-state’s role as a transit hub, will regain their past heights.

The national carrier secured one of the biggest state rescue packages in the global airline industry in March and has thus far raised S$11 billion (US$8 billion) in funds since the start of the 2020-21 financial year through secured financing, loans, and a rights issue backed by state investment company Temasek Holdings, its majority shareholder.

“Without the recent major capitalization exercise, there would not be an SIA today,” said Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung in an address to Parliament on October 6. While analysts see the airline as being better-positioned to ride out the turbulence given the amount of finance it now has at hand, further losses and downsizing appear inevitable.

In September, SIA announced the largest retrenchment in its history with 4,300 positions, or around 20% of its staff, affected. A subsequent agreement between the flag carrier and its pilot union saw some 400 jobs saved in exchange for pilots taking salary cuts of between 10% to 60%. Foreigners have so far been among the first to be let go.

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.

Malaysia teeters towards another political convulsion

PM Muhyiddin's coalition is near a breaking point but it's not clear yet opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim will emerge on top

With a leadership challenge from opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and threats from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO) to withdraw from his ruling alliance, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s hold on power has never been so precarious.

Though a narrow win for Muhyiddin’s informal Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) alliance at bellwether state elections in Sabah on September 26 somewhat boosted his political clout, a subsequent internal tiff over the grouping’s chief ministerial candidate now threatens to collapse his Perikatan Nasional (PN) governing coalition.

UMNO and Muhyiddin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) were in a deadlock over who should be appointed as Sabah’s next leader, with UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi insisting that candidate come from his party. The position was unexpectedly conceded to Muhyiddin’s preferred choice, Hajiji Mohd Noor, earlier this week.

While the 73-year-old premier described the outcome as reflecting consensus within GRS, Zahid claimed that UMNO’s candidate had been pressured from within into accepting a compromise that was “too costly” a concession.

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.

Muhyiddin’s Sabah win sets stage for snap polls

Malaysian leader's alliance wins pivotal state election seen as referendum on his popularity amid opposition challenge to unseat him

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s political alliance emerged victorious in closely contested elections in the state of Sabah on Saturday (September 26), an outcome that is likely to strengthen the premier’s position as he faces down an attempt by opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to unseat his government.

Widely seen as a litmus test of Muhyiddin’s ability to keep parties aligned with his loose Perikatan Nasional (PN) governing coalition unified as an electorally cohesive bloc, the state elections were seen as a gauge of his personal popularity that will guide decisions as to when snap polls could be called.

Official results from the Election Commission of Malaysia showed that Muhyiddin’s informal Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) opposition alliance clinched a simple majority in the 73-seat state assembly with victories in 38 seats. Winning parties within the grouping, however, failed to reach a consensus on their chief ministerial candidate, leading to an impasse.

Muhyiddin, 73, who is president of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM), or Bersatu, had proposed Hajiji Mohd Noor, the party’s chief in Sabah, as GRS’ candidate for chief minister, while Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, president of the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), insisted that the state’s next leader come from his party.

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.

Sabah polls could decide Malaysia’s next leader

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's bid to form a new government may hinge on this weekend's state poll

Skepticism and uncertainty hang over Malaysia in the wake of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim’s bold declaration on September 23, in which he claimed to command support among a “majority” of lawmakers needed to topple Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government.

Hours after announcing that the premier’s nearly seven-month-old government had fallen, Muhyiddin addressed a campaign rally in Sabah, where a bellwether state election is due to be held on Saturday (September 26). Casting Anwar’s bid as an attempt to destabilize the country’s politics, his message to voters was clear: “I’m still your prime minister.”

Insisting he would remain the country’s legitimate leader unless Anwar could substantiate and act on his assertion through “processes and procedures” set under the Federal Constitution, Muhyiddin, 73, called for calm and stressed the opposition leader’s statements remain “a mere claim.”

Anwar, who during a Wednesday press conference emphasized that he has the support of individual lawmakers rather than parties, has yet to reveal the names of those allegedly supporting his bid to take over Putrajaya. Parties within Muhyiddin’s loose Perikatan Nasional (PN) alliance have denied that their members are defecting to back Anwar.

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.

Anwar on the verge of a countercoup in Malaysia

Malaysian opposition leader claims he has secured enough defections to unseat PM Muhyiddin Yassin’s government

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim claimed to have secured the parliamentary majority needed to form a new federal government in a surprise announcement on Wednesday afternoon (September 23), signaling that another change of government could soon be afoot in the Southeast Asian nation.

“With a solid and convincing majority, it means that as of this moment, the government of [Prime Minister] Muhyiddin Yassin has fallen,” said the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) president during a surprise press conference at the Le Meridien Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. He refused to reveal the exact number of lawmakers supporting him.

The bombshell declaration has been met with skepticism from analysts and observers and is the latest twist in what has been the most politically turbulent year in Malaysia’s recent history, which saw the collapse of the previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) administration helmed by Mahathir Mohamad less than seven months ago.

The political implications of Anwar’s hastily convened press conference – in which he stated he had been approached to take over the government by “a number of MPs from various parties who expressed deep dissatisfaction with the current leadership” – continue to be unclear given that he not yet provided proof of having the majority support of lawmakers.

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.

Foreigners not as wanted as before in Singapore

City-state's openness to foreign talent could be closing as rising unemployment pushes government to prioritize local hiring

Record job losses are testing Singapore’s openness to global talent, magnifying local unease with foreign job seekers that was already apparent before Covid-19 drove the wealthy city-state into its deepest-ever recession.

Under pressure to revive the economy and create jobs, policymakers are responding cautiously with new measures to shore up local hiring while leaving the door open to skilled foreign workers needed to compete in various advanced industries.

Total employment in the city-state fell 129,100 in the first half of 2020, while the overall unemployment rate rose to 2.8% as of June. Retrenchments rose sharply to 11,350 in the first half of the year, with the likes of Singapore Airlines recently announcing plans to cut 4,300 jobs, or around 20% of its staff.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed in an address to Parliament that while his government would “always be on the side of Singaporeans”, the city-state must resist pressures to “turn inward” as policies to safeguard Singaporean jobs are adjusted in the wake of the pandemic-induced economic crisis.

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.

The changing face of Singapore democracy

Opposition leader Pritam Singh is well-placed to challenge the PAP's long-time stranglehold on the city-state's politics

When Singaporeans went to the polls on July 10, voters handed the long-ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) another landslide general election victory with 61.2% of the popular vote and all but 10 of 93 seats in Parliament.

But when party leaders addressed the media in the early hours of the following morning, the winners weren’t smiling. Instead, those rejoicing the loudest were supporters of the opposition Workers’ Party (WP) as jubilant crowds spontaneously gathered to wave party flags and honk horns, rare sights and sounds in politically placid Singapore.

WP clinched 10 seats, up from six previously, unexpectedly capturing two group constituencies in addition to their stronghold single-seat Hougang ward. Prime Minister and PAP secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong conceded that the results showed “a clear desire for a diversity of voices in Parliament.”

Two months on, the city-state’s unicameral legislature now features the largest opposition presence since Singapore’s independence and, for the first time in its history, a Leader of the Opposition (LO) formally appointed by the premier.

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.

Malaysia set to let UAE off the 1MDB hook

Closed door settlement could result in a hugely diminished payout without scandalous details ever aired in an open court

When the Malaysian government announced a US$3.9 billion settlement deal with Goldman Sachs in July, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin used the opportunity to reiterate his administration’s commitment to recovering assets linked to the sprawling multi-billion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal.

Prominent detractors, though, panned the deal, despite it paving the way for the largest yet recovery of pilfered state funds, with Goldman committing to a $2.5 billion cash payout and a guarantee to return at least $1.4 billion in assets linked to three bond transactions worth $6.5 billion that the US investment bank had structured and arranged for 1MDB.

Leaders of Malaysia’s previous Pakatan Harapan (PH) government, which oversaw charges brought against Goldman and its executives, have suggested that Malaysia was shortchanged in the settlement, which also saw pending criminal charges against the bank dropped. To critics, the outcome amounted to a veritable slap on the wrist.

Reports indicate that another such settlement is in the works, this time with an Abu Dhabi state investment fund over 1MDB-related transactions linked to a legal challenge filed by Malaysia in a London court. Observers say the settlement could lead to a smaller-than-expected payout without details of the controversial case ever being aired in an open court.

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.

Malaysia’s shapeshifting politics signal trouble ahead

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's tenure could be brief with shifting political winds and snap polls on the horizon

Six months since his appointment as Malaysia’s premier, Muhyiddin Yassin now finds himself between a rock and a hard place. With his ruling coalition of convenience mired in internecine strife, a new party launched by his bitterly estranged predecessor, Mahathir Mohamad, threatens to weaken further his standing ahead of anticipated snap polls.

Though a general election is not due until late 2023, speculation is rising that a vote could be held within the next six months. Electoral considerations have already forced Muhyiddin to find new footing within a tangle of overlapping political alliances as he seeks a racially inclusive strategy to broaden his party’s appeal.

While Muhyiddin’s popularity has grown on his perceived as competent handling of Covid-19, open divisions in his informal Perikatan Nasional (PN) governing pact, the pandemic’s economic fallout and discontent over controversies involving ministers flouting virus control measures have ended his political honeymoon.

With a mere two-seat parliamentary majority, Muhyiddin found himself up against a wall when leaders from the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the largest bloc in his coalition, said they would not formally join the PN coalition following the sentencing to jail of former UMNO leader and ex-premier Najib Razak for corruption in late July.

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.

Singapore’s migrants still captive to Covid-19

Migrant workers ringfenced in overcrowded dormitories continue to bear the brunt of the city-state’s viral outbreak

Passing their days within a ringfence, Singapore’s foreign workers have spent the past four months coping with fears of contracting Covid-19 and the associated dread of being quarantined in perpetuity.

Confined to the cramped living conditions of their dormitories, signs abound that the pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the mental health of low-paid laborers in the island republic, which nonetheless has earned global praise for its comprehensive coronavirus handling.

Mass dormitories housing some 323,000 foreign workers emerged as the epicenter of the city-state’s outbreak after being put on lockdown in April when clusters were first identified. While cases remained low among the population at large, infections in the dormitories rose dramatically and pushed Singapore’s caseload to one of the highest in Asia.

Singapore’s total number of Covid-19 cases now stands at 56,099, with dormitory infections accounting for around 95% of the total caseload. The asymmetric impact of the outbreak, moreover, has spotlighted the need for broader reform of dormitory standards and the uncomfortable realities of severe inequality in the wealthy city-state.

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.

Cause for contempt of Malaysia’s politicized courts

Malaysia's politics descends into duel of tit-for-tat corruption charges that threatens to strain judicial credibility

When Najib Razak became the first former Malaysian prime minister ever to be convicted for corruption, the Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition coalition that brought the charges against him while in power hailed the verdict as a “big victory” for Malaysians.

Sentenced to 12 years behind bars and fined nearly US$50 million in the first of several cases linked to multi-billion-dollar corruption allegations at the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund, the landmark ruling vindicated those who had spoken out against rampant graft as Najib’s scandal-plagued rule lurched toward authoritarianism.

By ostensibly allowing the judiciary to operate independently under his watch, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin managed to allay concerns that charges against Najib and other senior leaders from his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) – a linchpin in the premier’s fragile ruling coalition – would be dropped or subverted.

Opposition lawmakers, however, are raising new questions about Malaysia’s legal process following the August 7 arrest of former finance minister and senior opposition leader Lim Guan Eng, with PH leaders labeling bribery charges leveled against him in connection with a $1.5 billion China-linked infrastructure project as barefaced “political persecution.”

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.

Why Malaysia’s Muhyiddin fears a free press

Malaysia's new government is harassing and intimidating journalists in a fierce new clampdown on media freedoms

Advocates are sounding the alarm over a rapid deterioration of press freedom conditions in Malaysia following a series of police raids, arrests and interrogations of whistle-blowers and reporters who risk being jailed for years under draconian legislation often used to target the media.

Six journalists from Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera are among those currently under criminal investigation for alleged sedition, defamation and transmitting offensive content after the network aired on July 3 a documentary chronicling Malaysia’s controversial treatment of undocumented migrants during the coronavirus pandemic.

In a separate case, Steven Gan, the editor-in-chief of the news organization Malaysiakini, widely considered the most popular independent media portal in Malaysia, faces contempt of court charges in connection with reader remarks posted in the comments section of an article that authorities said had threatened public confidence in the judiciary.

“We are already seeing a pattern where media freedoms are really being affected purely through the way certain media outlets or journalists are being targeted,” said Centre for Independent Journalism (CIJ) executive director Wathshlah Naidu. “This pattern can already show that there is a certain concerted effort by the government.”

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.

The face of Chinese spying in Singapore

Singaporean Jun Wei Yeo faces prison in US for serving as an illegal Chinese agent targeting American defense contractors and lobbyists

An espionage case involving a Singaporean national who recently pled guilty to spying for Chinese intelligence services in a US federal court has stoked concerns that citizens of the ethnic Chinese majority city-state be regarded with greater suspicion by the United States amid a new Cold War atmosphere.

Tasked with obtaining non-public information about politics, economics, and diplomacy, 39-year-old Singaporean academic and doctoral degree candidate Jun Wei Yeo admitted to establishing a fake consultancy and using social networking site LinkedIn to cultivate ties with US military and government employees holding high-level security clearances.

Yeo, a former PhD student at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), an autonomous postgraduate school of the National University of Singapore (NUS) which trains some of Asia’s top civil servants and government officials, now faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison after confessing to acting as an illegal agent for Chinese intelligence.

Though analysts believe the spying case isn’t likely to have a major impact on Singapore’s ties with either the US or China, most agree that the island-state’s efforts to maintain a delicate diplomatic balance between the two major powers will be more difficult as US-China relations deteriorate sharply ahead of the US presidential election in November.

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.

Malaysia’s Najib sentenced to jail for 1MDB scandal

Ex-premier found guilty in landmark ruling on multi-billion-dollar scam while Goldman Sachs escapes criminal sanction for a fee

Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was found guilty and sentenced to prison by a high court judge on Tuesday (July 28) in the first of several trials linked to multi-billion-dollar corruption allegations at the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund. The verdict makes the 67-year-old the first and only ex-national leader ever to be criminally convicted.

In a long-sought day of reckoning, the scandal-plagued former premier was ruled guilty on all seven charges that include money laundering, criminal breach of trust and abuse of power in connection with the misappropriation of 42 million ringgit (US$9.8 million) from 1MDB unit SRC International Sdn Bhd, which was funneled into his personal bank accounts.

“After considering all evidence in this trial, I find that the prosecution has successfully proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt,” Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Mohamad Nazlan Mohamad Ghazali said. Najib’s defense lawyers contended that he was a victim of a scam and are applying for a stay of execution pending the hearing of his appeal.

The former prime minister was sentenced to 12 years in jail and handed a fine of 210 million ringgit ($49.3 million). If Najib fails to pay the fine, he will serve an additional five years in prison by default. “The sentence is not only to punish offenders but to deter other people from repeating the offense,” said the high court judge.

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.

AirAsia in the eye of a Covid-19 storm

Asia's premier budget airline faces severe financial turbulence that won't easily be course corrected

When Tony Fernandes acquired AirAsia nearly two decades ago, the then- music industry executive paid a mere 1 Malaysian ringgit (23 US cents) to take the bankrupt carrier off a state-owned conglomerate’s hands.

Against the odds, Fernandes lifted AirAsia into Southeast Asia's largest budget carrier on a “Now everyone can fly” motto that pioneered the low-cost aviation industry by leveraging strategically into the region’s rapidly-emerging middle class.

But in a world now ill with Covid-19, the opposite is true: one of Asian aviation’s best-known brands now simply aims to stay aloft at a time when everyone, in fact, cannot fly. “This is by far the biggest challenge we have faced since we began in 2001,” Fernandes, AirAsia’s chief executive, said in a July 6 statement.

Lockdown measures and travel restrictions imposed earlier this year in most of AirAsia's key markets, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, among others, resulted in the grounding of nearly its entire fleet.

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.

PAP scores pyrrhic victory at Singapore’s polls

Long-ruling party wins big but not as overwhelmingly as expected, casting doubt on PM Lee’s plan to hand reins to new generation leaders

Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) comfortably won a 15th consecutive term in office and retained its legislative supermajority in Parliament at July 10 elections, prevailing handily over smaller opposition challengers that cast their campaigns as a check and balance on the risks of single-party dominance.

Clinching 83 out of 93 parliamentary seats, a majority that ruling parties in more contested democracies would envy, the results represent by any measure a rousing PAP win. But in the context of the ruling party’s past electoral showings, the polls’ outcome marks one of its worst performances since first taking power in 1959.

On the hustings, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appealed to voters to hand the PAP a “strong mandate” to see through the twin crises of the Covid-19 pandemic and the worst recession in the island nation’s history. With another PAP win a forgone conclusion in the eyes of analysts, the margin of its victory had been the key indicator to watch.

The PAP’s overall vote share fell to 61.2%, a whisker above their record-low general election showing of 60.1% in 2011. Poll results showed a surprise swing for opposition parties, with the Workers’ Party (WP) securing ten seats, the most ever held by non-ruling party’s lawmakers since the city-state gained independence in 1965.

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.