Monday 27 March 2023

Singapore’s Lee family feud takes a bitter turn

Sibling squabble over deceased father's residence pushes premier's brother into exile, which may or may not thwart his run for the presidency 


The 18th-century poet Percy Bysshe Shelley famously told of a ruined statue depicting a once powerful king, its fragments buried in desolate desert sands. The vivid poem “Ozymandias” is often interpreted as a warning against the hubris of building monuments to one’s own greatness, as even the mightiest empires wane and eventually crumble.

The message is one that resonated with Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, whose relatives say he cited Shelley’s sonnet as he pondered his legacy. Prior to his death in March 2015 at age 91, the revered elder statesman publicly expressed his wish that his family’s five-bedroom residence at 38 Oxley Road be demolished after his passing.

This was to avoid the cost of preserving the historic colonial-era bungalow and the risk that it would fall into disrepair, with the political patriarch having once remarked how he detested the way the homes of national figures such as India’s founding prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru were left in “shambles” when converted into memorial tourist attractions.

What exactly the late premier wanted and stipulated in his will is at the heart of an acrimonious nearly six-year dispute that has bitterly divided Singapore’s most prominent family, a family feud between siblings that has become part and parcel of the prosperous city-state’s increasingly partisan politics.

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.

Friday 10 March 2023

Corruption tables turn on Muhyiddin in Malaysia

Ex-premier arrested on corruption charges in a move that could blow back on Anwar’s ‘unity’ government at coming state polls


Former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin is the latest Malaysian politician to face legal trouble and potential jail time after a court in Kuala Lumpur charged him with graft and embezzlement on March 10, a day after authorities arrested and questioned him over the alleged misuse of funds from a Covid-19 stimulus initiative.

The 76-year-old faces four counts of abuse of power involving 232.5 million ringgit (US$51.4 million) and two counts of money laundering of 195 million ringgit ($43.1 million), charges that are punishable by up to 20 years in prison and heavy fines. Muhyiddin has maintained his innocence and has described the charges as a political vendetta.

“This selective prosecution is a political ploy done with malicious intent,” the former premier told reporters after being charged, claiming the move intended to “suppress and destroy” the opposition Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition he leads. “It is aimed at embarrassing me by dragging me to court… Therefore, no matter what explanation I provide, I will still be charged,” Muhyiddin said.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had been investigating allegations that beneficiaries of an economic relief program for ethnic Malay contractors had funneled kickbacks to Muhyiddin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) political party, funds that are suspected to have been used for PN’s well-funded general election campaign 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.

Tuesday 7 March 2023

Goldman Sachs and Anwar in 1MDB settlement showdown

Malaysian premier pressing US investment bank to honor agreement guaranteeing the return of $1.4 billion of seized assets worldwide


Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s three-month-old administration won a key legal victory last week when Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) and its Aabar Investments PJS unit agreed to pay US$1.8 billion to settle a legal dispute linked to the sprawling 1Malaysia Development Berhad, or 1MDB, scandal.

The two sides had been locked in proceedings at the London High Court since 2018, when Malaysia challenged the validity of an arbitration award that had been negotiated between 1MDB and IPIC a year earlier during the premiership of Najib Razak, with the then-government arguing that the 2017 settlement was procured by fraud.

Anwar recently called the settlement a “huge success” for Malaysia and heaped praise on the country’s civil servants for their negotiating prowess, remarking that the amount reclaimed had exceeded his expectations. The premier now hopes to claw back even more money in a separate 1MDB-related dispute with Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs.

In January, Anwar called on Goldman to honor a settlement agreement reached in July 2020 under which the US bank, which helped to raise $6.5 billion from three bonds for 1MDB in 2012 and 2013 that would later be misappropriated, agreed to pay $2.5 billion while guaranteeing the return of $1.4 billion of 1MDB assets seized by authorities around the world.

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.