Singapore’s 2023 hinges on smooth China reopening

City-state’s economic growth as low as 0.5% in 2023 if China’s ‘zero-Covid’ exit fails to produce a fast and strong rebound

Singapore’s export-reliant bellwether economy is bracing for tough times in 2023 with trade expected to shrink or record no growth amid weakening global demand, tighter liquidity and persistent inflation. Accordingly, many economists foresee a possible technical recession in the first half of next year.

Though the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) does not forecast a recession in its baseline scenario, official 2023 projections show gross domestic product (GDP) growth petering to a slow crawl of anywhere between 0.5% and 2.5%. Growth prospects are brightest for tourism and consumer sectors but it remains unclear whether falling export demand can be sufficiently offset.

Singapore’s key non-oil domestic exports, or NODX, which range from petrochemicals and pharmaceuticals to semiconductors and other electronics, tumbled 14.6% year-on-year in November, marking the second consecutive decline following a 6.1% contraction in October. Flagging orders from Hong Kong and China were the largest contributors to the fall.

Beijing eased many of its strict “zero-Covid” rules earlier this month in a policy U-turn following widespread protests, but its reopening has since been complicated by the unchecked spread of the virus and overwhelmed health services. Nonetheless, the potential for a Chinese economic rebound could help Singapore to outperform its downbeat official growth forecast.

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.

Perilous pact keeps Anwar on top, for now

Malaysian leader wins shoo-in confidence vote and cements controversial cooperation deal in bid to steady his ‘unity’ government

Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim won crucial backing for his premiership on Monday (December 19) when parliament passed a motion of confidence, helping consolidate his position as head of a royally-brokered “unity” government formed after last month’s election delivered a hung parliament.

The confidence motion was not a formal requirement but was held at the discretion of the 75-year-old premier in a bid to cement his legitimacy after rival and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin cast doubt on his support, accusing his Pakatan Harapan (PH) bloc of committing the “biggest electoral fraud ever” in cahoots with the former ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

Neither the government nor the opposition pushed for lawmakers to vote individually; the confidence motion instead passed by a simple voice vote. But the government’s command of 148 out of 222 parliamentary seats, enough for a two-thirds majority to table and pass constitutional amendments, was ostensibly demonstrated through votes for the new house speaker and two deputies.

Hafidzi Razali, a senior analyst at the BowerGroupAsia consultancy, said the move “allowed Anwar to officially record his coalition’s numbers in the parliament, and not through untransparent political maneuvering,” a reference to the use of signed statutory declarations (SDs) from individual lawmakers that the two most recent administrations have relied on to shore up support.

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 ‘unity’ government a fraught Faustian bargain

Malaysian leader puts his avowed ‘clean governance’ principles on the line in coalition with corruption-tainted UMNO

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s strategic allocation of key cabinet seats appears to have bolstered the near-term stability of his new royally-brokered “unity government”, but volatile political fault lines and strong economic headwinds will test his leadership in 2023.

While selecting a cabinet of past political foes was never going to be easy, the 75-year-old premier’s choice of graft-accused United Malays National Organization (UMNO) president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as deputy prime minister has been an especially bitter pill for Malaysians who voted for Anwar’s good governance and anti-corruption agenda.

The November 19 election delivered a hung parliament where Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) bloc won the most seats with 82 but fell well short of a majority. The PH chief was appointed by Malaysia’s constitutional monarch to lead a unity government after Zahid’s Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition agreed to back Anwar’s bid, prompting key Borneo-based parties to do the same.

While the UMNO president’s top-level appointment has raised eyebrows, it is widely seen as a compromise of political necessity. Zahid, who served as deputy premier from 2015 to 2018 under the scandal-plagued Najib Razak administration, was not appointed to serve in the two governments preceding Anwar’s due to the various corruption-related court cases he faces.

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.

Micron reveals its big picture growth plans

US chip maker is cutting CapEx now amid a downturn but plans to splurge $150 billion on R&D and new fabs over the next decade

America’s Micron Technology, one of the world’s leading memory and storage chip makers, is making billions of dollars in new global investments to meet anticipated long-term demand for its leading-edge technologies even as the firm scales back spending on chip production amid a worsening supply glut and market downturn.

Surging work-from-home demand for consumer technology products during the Covid-19 pandemic sparked a boom in semiconductor orders but inflationary pressures coupled with a return to the office has put a damper on new personal computer and smartphone purchases, leaving the market awash in chips. New US restrictions on chip and chip-making equipment exports to China are also roiling supply chains.

“The industry downturn is continuing and continues to be pretty severe,” said Sumit Sadana, Micron’s executive vice president and chief business officer, in an exclusive interview with Asia Times. “Our goal is that we quickly get to a point where the demand growth is ahead of supply growth so that the significant amount of… inventory starts to normalize.”

Sadana pointed to an “unusual confluence of events” including rate tightening to rein in decades-high inflation, the Russia-Ukraine war and China’s “zero-Covid” policy and property slump as causing an “unusual level” of supply-demand imbalance in DRAM and NAND memory chip markets that usually account for over 90% of Micron’s revenue.

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 top but risks abound for his staying power

PM Anwar Ibrahim’s new ‘unity’ government brings together strange bedfellows and thus could fall sooner than later

Anwar Ibrahim was sworn in as Malaysia’s tenth prime minister on Thursday (November 23) after the country’s constitutional monarch appointed him to lead a historic unity government, a remarkable reversal of fortunes for a politician seen as a perennial leader-in-waiting who had repeatedly fallen short of the premiership.

After pursuing the top role for three decades and spending nine years in jail for sodomy and corruption on charges he says were politically motivated, the 75-year-old veteran opposition leader now has a chance to lead following an almost five-day political deadlock after the November 19 general election resulted in a hung parliament.

“‘Finally,’ has been everyone’s reaction. He’s been fighting for this job for a long time and people assumed that he would never make it – and now he’s the prime minister. But he’s come in through difficult circumstances and into difficult circumstances,” said Bridget Welsh, an honorary research associate at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Asia Research Institute.

Malaysia’s king, or Yang di-Pertuan Agong, played a central role in resolving the political impasse by meeting with coalition leaders and his fellow rulers, ultimately using his influence to encourage the formation of a unity government. It marked the third time the king has chosen a prime minister in just over two years, though it is the first time it has happened following an election.

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.

No unity, no stability and no PM after Malaysia’s polls

Post-election hung parliament means whoever eventually leads next coalition government will be at perpetual risk of being toppled

Malaysia is in the grip of a political impasse after a general election on November 19 produced a hung parliament with no clear winning party or coalition. More than four days since polling day, prime ministerial contenders Muhyiddin Yassin and Anwar Ibrahim have struggled to substantiate their conflicting claims of majority support.

Opposition leader Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) won 81 seats at the polls, putting it ahead of Muhyiddin’s conservative Perikatan Nasional (PN) bloc’s 73 seats. The once-dominant Barisan Nasional (BN) delivered its worst-ever electoral performance, winning just 30 seats, but its lawmakers have now found themselves in the position of kingmakers.

What is clear is that an election called months ahead of schedule with the intent to stabilize the political landscape has done the opposite, putting the stability of the next government in question. The ringgit currency notably fell against the dollar and the Kuala Lumpur stock market weakened with the prospect of yet another wobbly government.

Coalition and party leaders have since Tuesday (November 22) come and gone from the Istana Negara, or national palace, for audiences with Malaysia’s constitutional monarch. Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah reportedly sought to broker a unity government with PH and PN, a request Muhyiddin claims he rebuffed because his coalition has always explicitly ruled out such cooperation.

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 looking like a comeback kid in Malaysia

Ex-premier’s Perikatan Nasional coalition outperformed election forecasts and is in pole position to form the next government

Former national leader Muhyiddin Yassin is seemingly poised to make a comeback as Malaysia’s tenth prime minister after cobbling together a post-election alliance a day after the November 19 polls resulted in a hung parliament with no party or coalition winning a majority.

It marks the first time in Malaysia’s history that a national election did not deliver a clear winner. The vote did, however, produce a clear loser: the Barisan Nasional (BN) alliance whose United Malays National Organization (UMNO) has been the nation’s dominant political force for over six decades.

BN’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had sought to retake the government in Putrajaya, calling an election eight months earlier than required amid monsoon rains, only for the coalition to suffer the worst defeat in its political history, winning only 30 seats out of the 178 it contested. The polls, which saw a record turnout of 73%, mark the coalition’s second consecutive electoral defeat after initially losing power in a shock result in 2018.

Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) secured a stronger-than-expected 73 seats while pledged support from regional parties in the Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak, namely Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), have boosted its coalition count. Post-election mixed messaging around BN’s support for a PN-led pact, however, has muddied the political waters.

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 snap election could break any number of ways

One-fifth of voters undecided ahead of Nov 19 contest forecasters expect to result in a hung parliament and heavy post-poll horse-trading

Never has the outcome of a Malaysian election arguably been so difficult to predict. That sentiment is one forecasters and analysts might share on the eve of the November 19 general election following a rousing two-week campaign period that has seen the race tighten considerably, putting hitherto perceived frontrunner Barisan Nasional (BN) in uncharted waters.

BN chairperson Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was unmistakably bullish on the coalition’s chances for victory when he pushed incumbent caretaker Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob to call snap polls last month despite warnings of heavy monsoon rain and flooding. The United Malays National Organization-led (UMNO) bloc now clearly finds itself on the defensive.

Coalitions led by former premier Muhyiddin Yassin and long-time opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim are seen to have gained momentum in recent days, strengthening perceptions that the highly competitive vote will result in a hung parliament with no single coalition expected to win a simple majority in the legislature needed to form a government.

Gone is the era when BN predictably won elections; the looming vote may only decide which coalition will be in the strongest negotiation position to lead the next administration. With a fifth of the 21.1 million electorate still projected as undecided and the crucial ethnic Malay vote split by political fragmentation, the jury is out on who will be Malaysia’s next prime minister.

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.

Will a dark horse become Malaysia’s next PM?

UMNO leader Zahid isn’t running for PM at Nov 19 election but that doesn’t mean the corruption-tainted politician won’t end up on top

Campaigning is heating up ahead of Malaysia’s November 19 general election in what is set to be a tight race, with incumbent Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s Barisan Nasional (BN) facing off against coalitions led by veteran opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin as a wide array of smaller parties join the fray.

Fatigued by rising inflation and political instability, voters will decide the winners and losers from among a record 945 candidates vying for 222 parliamentary seats. Apart from BN, Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Muhyiddin’s Perikatan Nasional (PN) – the country’s three main national alliances – a coalition led by two-time former premier Mahathir Mohamad is also making its debut.

Over 210 multi-cornered contests are expected, a factor that could split votes more than in previous elections. Analysts say the polls could yield a hung parliament where no single party or coalition wins a simple majority, an outcome that could result in a scramble for power where opposing alliances come together in a coalition of convenience to form the next government.

“If there is no coalition with a clear workable majority, what would happen is that some of the most opportunistic and Machiavellian elements in Malaysian politics may emerge,” said political analyst Chandra Muzaffar. “You may have people who want to be in power because they’ve got personal agendas, including staying out of prison or making sure that the law does not apply to them.”

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 mulls Anwar’s last chance to rule

Opposition icon says coming polls will be his last as new-generation leader Rafizi Ramli proving to be a worthy successor

Malaysia’s political reformers, now seemingly accustomed to defeat after losing power more than two years ago, are holding out hope for another surprise win when the country goes to the polls on November 19. While victory for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) opposition coalition is not inconceivable, it will certainly be a tall order.

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, 75, has acknowledged the coming polls will be his last attempt at becoming prime minister, an office that has long eluded the leader of Malaysia’s “reformasi” movement. Anwar has hinted he will retire to allow a younger generation of leaders to sustain and lead his party’s struggle if he falls short at next month’s election.

Among them is a figure already seen as his potential successor: 45-year-old Rafizi Ramli, a former Petronas executive turned tech entrepreneur known for his sometimes testy ties with Anwar. He was elected as Parti Keadilan Rakyat’s (PKR) deputy president in May, comfortably beating out a loyalist candidate backed by Anwar, who retained the party presidency unopposed.

“Sometimes I don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with Anwar,” said Rafizi, who spoke with Asia Times earlier this year. During an interview in June, Rafizi said that “political disillusionment” born of PH’s short-lived tenure in government and Anwar’s failed subsequent bids to return to power would be the opposition’s biggest electoral hurdle.

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 dollar the world’s other safe haven

Singapore’s central bank tightens monetary policy in move expected to buoy one of Asia’s already best-performing currencies

In the latest salvo in its fight against inflation, Singapore’s central bank tightened monetary policy on Friday (October 14), allowing the national dollar to appreciate to curb domestic cost pressures in a move likely to bolster the currency’s increasingly favored status as it demonstrates resilience against the fast-appreciating US dollar.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement that it would raise the mid-point of the Singapore dollar policy band “up to its prevailing level,” a less aggressive move than some observers expected. Specifically, MAS refrained from adjustments to the slope or width of the currency band, both closely watched policy tools it could have used.

The MAS uses exchange rates, managed against a trade-weighted undisclosed basket of currencies from Singapore’s major trading partners, as its primary monetary policy tool to ease import costs, the main contributor to inflation in a city-state that imports almost everything it consumes, leaving domestic interest rates to shadow those of the US Federal Reserve.

“By not changing the slope of the band, [the MAS] took the calibrated approach of not allowing the pace of currency appreciation to quicken further. This is especially given the fact that the Singapore dollar is already one of the strongest performing currencies against the US dollar so far this year,” said Cheryl Chan, senior vice president for capital markets at digital securities exchange ADDX.

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.

Ismail floods Malaysia with cash then calls snap polls

Malaysian leader flip-flops his position by calling early elections just days after tabling nation’s biggest-ever ‘feel good’ budget

Malaysia is headed toward a controversial early general election at a time when parts of the nation are expected to face heavy flooding due to monsoon rains. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob confirmed the dissolution of parliament in a televised address on Monday (October 10), paving the way for snap polls to be held within 60 days.

The announcement follows days of speculation that the legislature would be dissolved soon after the tabling of the biggest-ever Malaysian government budget worth 372.3 billion ringgit (US$80 billion) for 2023 on October 7. The record spending plan has not yet been passed, raising questions about the country’s fiscal roadmap in the event of a change in government.

Elections could have been held at the latest by September 2023, but Ismail has been under intense pressure from his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) to call an early vote to capitalize on recent state election victories by the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition and get ahead of economic headwinds that are expected to worsen next year and potentially hit UMNO and BN’s popularity.

The premier said that by dissolving parliament, the public will have a chance to cast off years of political uncertainty by voting in a new, more stable government. But by rushing to hold an election, Ismail is disregarding flood warnings from Malaysia’s Meteorological Department and advice from climate experts who recommend that polls should be held only after the monsoon season.

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.

Top lawyer who busted Najib faces vengeful legal fire

Ex-Attorney-General Tommy Thomas under investigation on PM Ismail’s orders for claims and allegations made in his best-selling memoir

Tommy Thomas, the lawyer who set in motion the landmark prosecution and ultimate imprisonment of an ex-prime minister for massive corruption, could be regarded as Malaysia’s most consequential attorney-general. But a new government probe into a book he published about his time as the nation’s top prosecutor is widely seen as a setback for good governance and the fight against graft.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob ordered an investigation into possible misconduct by Thomas, who served as attorney-general between 2018 and 2020, on September 30, instructing enforcement agencies to further probe various allegations made in his memoir, My Story: Justice In The Wilderness, which sparked a right-wing backlash after its publication last January.

More than 100 police reports were reportedly lodged after the book’s publication. The 500-plus-page memoir shed light on Thomas’ decisions that led to the charges leveled against ex-premier Najib Razak for his role in the multi-billion-dollar 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, among other high-profile cases.

The former private lawyer-turned-government top counsel and public prosecutor was questioned by police about the book, but the Attorney-General’s Chambers did not press charges, nor was the memoir banned. It has since become a national best-seller. But that didn’t stop Ismail from forming a special task force last December to investigate the book and its various revelations and allegations.

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 many ills plaguing Singapore’s chipmakers

Global headwinds, hiring woes and spiking energy prices are conspiring to stunt the city-state’s semiconductor aspirations

Robust demand for Singapore’s electronics and semiconductors during the pandemic fueled the city-state’s fastest economic expansion in over a decade and big-ticket investments in chip-making capacity. Now, the notoriously cyclical semiconductor industry is in the grip of a deepening downturn as geopolitical and inflationary headwinds buffet the global economy.

Chip makers in the island nation are increasingly concerned about the near-term possibility of a recession, with many feeling the sting of soaring electricity prices linked to energy market disruptions worsened by Russia’s war on Ukraine. Singapore-based semiconductor and related firms are also contending with a tight domestic labor market and regulations that have raised the cost of and otherwise discouraged hiring foreigners.

“What is happening with Ukraine, with the shutdowns in China…when the uncertainty of a possible recession is coming up, or even stagflation in some countries, there is a fear that consumer demand will start to drop. Of course, this will have a direct impact on chip demand,” said Ang Wee Seng, executive director of the Singapore Semiconductor Industry Association (SSIA).

Faltering global demand is already being acutely felt in Singapore, with manufacturing sector growth falling to an 11-month low in August. All sector segments saw a fall in output, led by a 19.3% slide in the production of modules and components. It marked the third straight month of contraction in semiconductor production; the broad electronics sector has shrunk for two consecutive months.

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.

UMNO split widens on ‘free Najib’ rally cry

Divisions inside Malaysia’s ruling party over ex-premier’s fate could hit a breaking point ahead of pivotal general elections

Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak’s jailing for corruption has accentuated a deepening divide inside the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO), one that threatens a party-splitting schism with new general elections on the horizon. One UMNO camp seeks to distance itself from the newly incarcerated but still influential ex-leader, while a rival faction embraces his “justice denied” narrative, a persecution theme analysts expect it to play up to win votes on the hustings.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob appears to prefer looking forward and forgoing the politics of grievance in favor of economic deliverables. The premier is expected to personally table what will be the country’s largest-ever national budget next month, which analysts say is likely to presage the dissolution of parliament and calling of early elections.

UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, on the other hand, has made clear he is backing Najib to the hilt. Observers speculate that the party leader, who faces a possible corruption and money laundering conviction that could likewise send him to prison, intends to engineer Ismail’s removal after an expected election victory in his capacity as the Barisan Nasional (BN) governing coalition’s chairman.

“Zahid and Najib remain very influential within the UMNO party hierarchy,” said Francis Hutchinson of the Malaysia Studies Program at Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. “The party machinery has publicly come out in favor of Zahid and Najib, and the ‘old guard’ is sending out the message that aspiring candidates for parliament need to toe the line if they want to be fielded.”

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.

Najib-era ship scandal resurfaces to sink UMNO

Taking a page out of the 1MDB scandal, imprisoned ex-premier is implicated in a similarly massive naval corruption accusation

Another day, another multibillion-dollar corruption scandal in Malaysia. 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), one of the world’s largest ever financial heists, had earlier put the Southeast Asian nation in the global spotlight along with newly incarcerated former premier Najib Razak, who stands accused of pilfering billions of dollars of public funds.

Another Najib-era scandal has since gripped Malaysia, this time involving the country’s largest-ever defense procurement deal. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), a parliamentary oversight body, highlighted in an August 4 report that 1.4 billion ringgit (US$314 million) in government allocations toward the purchase of six littoral combat ships (LCS) was diverted for other purposes.

Envisioned as the lynchpin of the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) transformation program to replace aging foreign-made vessels with locally-built frontline warships, the ships were due to be delivered from 2019. Despite paying 6 billion ($1.3 billion) of the project’s total 9 billion ringgit ($2 billion) cost, not a single ship, nor even their detailed design documents, have been completed to date.

A former defense ministry official who requested anonymity described the deal as “a complete clusterfuck of a procurement” in an interview with Asia Times. “A large part of the LCS fiasco is the fact that the ministry agreed to contractual terms that would otherwise not have ever passed procurement standards in any serious organization with that much money to burn,” the official said.

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.

Justice served: Najib is finally going to jail

Ex-Malaysian premier’s final appeal of his corruption conviction is rejected, making him Kajang Prison’s newest inmate

In a historic unanimous ruling, Malaysia’s Federal Court on Tuesday (August 23) upheld former prime minister Najib Razak’s guilty conviction and a 12-year jail sentence on charges related to a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), sealing the 69-year-old’s fate as Kajang Prison’s newest inmate.

Najib, who simultaneously served as prime minister and finance minister from 2009-18, was found guilty in July 2020 of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering for illegally receiving US$10 million from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB. An appellate court last year upheld the guilty verdict along with a $46.7 million fine, prompting him to appeal again to the nation’s highest court.

“This is a very historic moment for Malaysia,” said James Chin, professor of Asian Studies at the University of Tasmania. “It is the first time in Malaysian history that a former prime minister has been jailed for corruption. There was a lot of suspicion that the judiciary would be influenced by the political class in this case, but the result is an affirmation of the leadership of the judiciary.”

Rejecting his request for a stay of sentence, a five-person bench led by Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat dismissed the ex-premier’s final appeal after Najib’s legal team, which was replaced just three weeks before his appeal began on August 15, declined to present their case in court, citing insufficient time to prepare their arguments due to the purported complexity of the case.

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.

Bellwether Singapore buffeted by global headwinds

Post-Covid economic recovery is already losing steam as Prime Minister Lee warns of ‘more storms and turbulence’ to come

Consumer prices in Singapore are at a 13-year high and are projected to rise higher as the notoriously pricey city-state, a bellwether for global economic growth trends, grapples with imported inflation, heightened geopolitical risks and fears its major trading partners are slowing down or headed for recession.

Since easing most pandemic-related restrictions in early April, the Southeast Asian financial hub has shown relative economic resilience with rebounding aviation and tourism sectors and a rising Singapore dollar trading at record levels against most major currencies.But more Singaporeans are now tightening their belts in the face of costlier services, food, fuel, retail goods and utilities.

The city-state has also revised down its full-year economic forecast, with expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth whittled down to between 3-4% from a previous range of 3-5%. Trade officials announced the revised range on August 11, citing a weaker external demand outlook and significant downside risks to the global economy amid concerns over persistent inflation.

Singapore’s government, meanwhile, has acknowledged that the cost of living is at the top of people’s minds while offering a sobering outlook on the economy. In a televised address on August 8, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that Singapore’s outlook has “clouded considerably” due to global economic challenges while warning of “more storms and turbulence” to come.

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.

UMNO’s grand plan for taking back Malaysia

UMNO info chief tells Asia Times party must overhaul race-based affirmative action policies and take a ‘moderate path’ to reclaim power

If the resurgent United Malays National Organization (UMNO) has any hope of restoring its traditional position at the apex of national politics, the party must win over ethnic non-Malays and the urban constituencies where they reside. That’s according to UMNO information chief Shahril Hamdan, 36, who spoke exclusively to Asia Times in a wide-ranging interview.

His view would likely be disputed by party conservatives who advocate a narrower platform championing the rights and state-sanctioned economic privileges of ethnic Malays, the majority population in Malaysia. But electoral arithmetic, Shahril argues, demands that the country is run “in a way that is relatable not just to the conservative base but to broader Malaysia.”

“UMNO in the past had managed to get support from urban, non-Malay constituencies. For UMNO’s survival, that has to come back because political urbanization is a one-way street and all the maps indicate that if we ever want to go back to some form of majoritarian dominance, we need urban support and non-Malay support, at least a significant minority of it,” he said.

The trouble for UMNO is that few voters, particularly those within urban areas, are actively clamoring to return to a time when the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition governed with a supermajority. But what the electorate would likely agree on is the need for renewed stability after three years of uncharacteristic political dysfunction.

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 Ismail is all talk on press freedom

Malaysian leader isn’t living up to his pledge to protect the press and uphold free expression

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently extended an olive branch to the media on National Journalists Day to reiterate his view that reporters should remain free to operate without any interference from outside parties, thereby ensuring their constitutionally-enshrined freedom of expression.

“I can give an assurance that the government has nothing to hide in the dissemination of information,” said Ismail, who claimed that ministries and agencies under his administration had always cooperated with and never obstructed media reporting, while also acknowledging the press as a “fourth estate” that contributes to national development.

While domestic media workers were Ismail’s intended audience, the premier’s remarks could also be interpreted as a response to Malaysia’s declining position on international press freedom rankings since the reformist Pakatan Harapan (PH) government’s collapse in 2020, which cut short its bid to rescind and amend laws that restrict and threaten the media.

To strengthen journalism in Malaysia, Ismail proposed during his May 29 speech the establishment of a study center to boost media professionalism and formation of a new journalist association, suggestions that media experts have pushed back against amid rising calls for Putrajaya to formalize instead the creation of an independent media council.

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.

Exclusive: UMNO’s No 2 thinks Najib should go to jail

Deputy party leader tells Asia Times that ex-premier must ‘pay his dues’ in prison for 1MDB-related corruption

Mohamad Hasan, deputy president of the United Malays National Organization and deputy chairman of its ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, described Malaysia as a “struggling” country led by a “backdoor” government in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Asia Times.

Mohamad, or Tok Mat as he is popularly known, also claimed the root of the nation’s current malaise stems from his party’s failure to “tell the truth” about the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) financial scandal, adding that ex-premier Najib Razak should not expect special treatment from an UMNO-led government if he is eventually jailed on a slew of graft charges.

“The court is the place where you can prove whether you’re innocent or not. He didn’t prove it. He couldn’t prove it,” said Mohamad, cutting the figure of a maverick unafraid of speaking his mind. “Everybody has to pay their dues. But if we want to pardon, he (Najib) has to go through the process. He’ll have to go inside first.”

UMNO’s second-in-command went on to lament Malaysia’s purported failure to keep economic pace with its neighbors, stating that the formation of two successive governments “not out of a general election” but through parliamentary maneuvers had soured foreign investor sentiment and raised questions about the government’s democratic credibility.

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.

Najib guns for judge who convicted him

Graft probe into judge who convicted former Malaysian premier called intimidation campaign against judiciary

Malaysia’s highest court will soon reach its final and incontestable conclusion on whether to uphold former prime minister Najib Razak’s landmark corruption conviction, a ruling that will leave the influential ex-leader either firmly emboldened as he mounts a political comeback or forced to adjust to life in a jail cell.

Lawyers for the 68-year-old politician recently filed a last-ditch bid to nullify his conviction and 12-year prison sentence handed down in July 2020 over the misappropriation of 42 million ringgit (US$9.5 million) from SRC International, a now-defunct investment vehicle of the infamous 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund.

Najib’s legal team contends that the judge who handed down the historic ruling, Mohd Nazlan Mohd Ghazali, should be disqualified for a purported conflict of interest due to his previous stint as the general counsel of Maybank Group, a commercial lender to 1MDB that had played an advisory role in the establishment of SRC International.

A probe into the same sitting judge by the government’s anti-graft agency in response to unsubstantiated claims leveled by a fugitive blogger that Nazlan had pocketed stolen 1MDB funds has, meanwhile, shaken Malaysia’s legal fraternity and prompted the country’s chief justice to push back against “scurrilous attacks” leveled against the judiciary.

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.

Inflation politics a game of chicken in Malaysia

PM Ismail defying UMNO elder calls for snap polls due to the impact of runaway poultry and other food prices on voters

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has few vote-winning achievements to claim after less than a year in office, which suggests he has little to gain and plenty to lose by calling an early election of which graft-tainted party leaders of his United Malays National Organization (UMNO) are aggressively lobbying.

Pointing to thumping wins in recent state elections and an opposition coalition in disarray, UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says the electoral time is right for the party to reclaim its traditional political dominance. But Ismail has countered that fast-rising food inflation and basic living costs mean snap polls should be delayed until prices stabilize.

Malaysia’s next general election must be called by the third quarter of 2023, but UMNO-led governments have in the past held early elections to capitalize on political popularity or favorable economic conditions. UMNO suffered a historic defeat in 2018 but returned to power through parliamentary maneuvers and is now eyeing a redemptive victory.

Ismail, however, is adamant that the next election should not be held until the country can curb inflation, telling Nikkei Asia in a recent interview that his government would “have to wait for the right time” to dissolve parliament and call new polls. “We are now facing a period of increasing inflation with high prices… do you think this is the right time?”

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.