Category Archives: Malaysia

$800,000 spent at jeweller in one day on Najib Razak’s credit cards, court hears

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Platinum cards of former Malaysian prime minister used for spree at jeweller in Italy, say prosecutors

Credit cards belonging to the disgraced former prime minister of Malaysia were used to spend more than $800,000 at a jeweller in Italy in a single day, a court in Kuala Lumpur has heard during his corruption trial.

The spending spree took place at De Grisogono, a Swiss luxury jeweller, in Italy on 8 August 2014 where items worth 3.3m Malaysian Ringgit ($803,000 or £645,000) were purchased on Najib Razak’s Visa and Mastercard platinum credit cards, the court was told.

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Australia urged to invest in recycling manufacturing after Indonesia sends rubbish back

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Kickstart the domestic market so Asian countries rejecting Australian waste is no longer a problem, industry suggests

Australia could quickly solve the problem of Indonesia and other countries rejecting its waste if governments invested in recycling manufacturing as promised and required the use of recycled material in public projects, industry and environmental groups say.

Jakarta announced on Tuesday it would return 210 tonnes of Australian household rubbish – the latest demonstration of opposition in south-east Asia to receiving exported waste. Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia have each turned back shipments and warned they would not become dumping grounds for developed countries after China banned imports of foreign plastic rubbish.

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Should we build cities from scratch?

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With another 2.5 billion urban dwellers predicted within the next 30 years, should we expand existing cities? Or is there a case for starting afresh?

People have been building new cities from scratch for millennia. From the foundation myths surrounding Athens and Rome, to the clearance of virgin forests in western New York state to create the “garden city” of Buffalo, to scores of purpose-built capitals – Brasília, Canberra, Astana, Washington DC – building new cities is just something that humans do.

When countries rise up, when markets emerge, people build new cities. Today, though, we are taking it to unheard-of levels. We have never before built so many new cities in so many places at such great expense as we are right now.

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1MDB: Wolf of Wall Street producer charged with embezzling millions

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Riza Aziz, stepson of former Malaysian PM Najib Razak, accused of receiving $248m into Swiss bank accounts

The Wolf of Wall Street producer Riza Aziz, who is the stepson of former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, has been charged with embezzling millions of dollars from the Malaysian government.

Riza, who ran a Hollywood production company Red Granite Pictures, appeared in a Kuala Lumpur court on Friday morning charged with five counts of money laundering, accused of receiving $248 million into Swiss bank accounts from the Malaysian state fund 1MDB, which was controlled by Najib. Each charge carries a five-year jail sentence.

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Wolf of Wall Street producer arrested on money-laundering charges

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In Malaysia, Riza Aziz – ex-PM Najib Razak’s stepson – was detained then released on bail

Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency has arrested former prime minister Najib Razak’s stepson, a Hollywood producer who counts Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street among his credits.

Riza Aziz was detained on Thursday but released on bail, according to Malaysia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief Latheefa Koya, who said the film producer would face money-laundering charges on Friday.

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Mystery deaths among indigenous Malaysians prompt speculation

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Infectious disease, pollution and water poisoning among suspected causes of deaths

It was in May that the mysterious illness first took hold.

In their isolated rainforest home in the Malaysian state of Kelantan, members of the Batek tribe, the country’s last indigenous nomadic community, began experiencing a fever and breathing difficulties. Then, one by one, they started dying.

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Malaysia cracks down on imported plastic – video

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The Malaysian government says the country has become a dumping ground for rich nations as it announces it will send as much as 3,000 tonnes of plastic waste back to the countries it came from. Malaysia became the world's main destination for plastic waste after China banned its import last year. 'We will fight back,' Malaysia’s environment minister, Yeo Bee Yin, said. 'We will fight back. Even though we are a small country, we cannot be bullied by developed countries'

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Treated like trash: south-east Asia vows to return mountains of rubbish from west

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Region begins pushback against deluge of plastic and electronic waste from UK, US and Australia

For the past year, the waste of the world has been gathering on the shores of south-east Asia. Crates of unwanted rubbish from the west have accumulated in the ports of the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam while vast toxic wastelands of plastics imported from Europe and the US have built up across Malaysia.

But not for much longer it seems. A pushback is beginning, as nations across south-east Asia vow to send the garbage back to where it came from.

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Teenage girl kills herself ‘after Instagram poll’ in Malaysia

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Police investigating after she asked her followers to choose death or life and 69% voted for death

A 16 year-old girl has reportedly killed herself in Malaysia, after posting a poll on her Instagram account asking followers if she should die or not, and 69% of responders voting that she should.

Police in the east Malaysia state Sarawak said the girl, who has not been named, posted the poll on the photo sharing app with the message: “Really Important, Help Me Choose D/L”. After most responders voted for “death”, she killed herself.

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Malaysia investigates women who discussed their ‘dehijabbing’

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Move by Islamic authorities condemned as attempt to ‘intimidate women activists’

Three women in Malaysia who held an event discussing their decision to stop wearing the hijab are being investigated by Malaysian Islamic authorities.

The event, hosted over the weekend at the Gerakbudaya bookshop in the Petaling Jaya area, was held to mark the launch of Unveiling Choice, a book documenting the author and activist Maryam Lee’s decision to stop wearing the hijab.

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Malaysia sells luxury superyacht seized in 1MDB scandal for £95m

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Government agrees to sell 300ft yacht to casino operator Genting Malaysia

Malaysia has sold a luxury superyacht allegedly bought with funds stolen from the nation’s 1M sovereign wealth fund for $126m (£95.5m).

The 300ft (91.5-metre) yacht Equanimity was seized from the fugitive financier Jho Low off the coast of Bali last year as part of a global investigation into the 1MDB scandal.

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Dramatic water spout forms near Malaysian island – video

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Residents on Penang Island have filmed a huge water spout that formed near the shore at Tanjung Tokong. The spout was seen spinning for about five minutes before it briefly arrived on land and dissipated. It reportedly caused minor damage including blowing roofs off some buildings. There have been no reports of casualties

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Kim Jong-nam murder: suspect Siti Aisyah released after charge dropped

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Indonesian woman had been accused of killing estranged brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Malaysia in 2017

The case against Siti Aisyah, one of two women who were charged with the murder of the estranged brother of Kim Jong-un, has been dropped by a court in Malaysia.

She was released from custody after the decision in Kuala Lumpur on Monday morning.

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MH370 search: glimmer of hope remains with Malaysia open to fresh hunt

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Transport minister’s comments give families glimmer of hope five years after flight’s disappearance

Five years after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Malaysian government has said it is open to renewing the search for the missing plane.

Two large-scale searches, covering a total of 200,000 sq km, have so far failed to find MH370 since it disappeared on 8 March 2014, with 239 people on board.

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MH370: five years of theories about one of aviation’s greatest mysteries

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Years after the plane disappeared with 239 people on board, experts are still unsure where it crashed or why

On 8 March 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing and never landed.

Since then, the most expensive underwater search in history has failed to find it, and authorities are no closer to figuring out why, 40 minutes into what should have been a six hour flight, MH370 diverted and flew towards the southern Indian Ocean with 239 people on board.

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Global war on drugs could harm efforts to abolish death sentences – study

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Iran reforms drive 90% fall in death penalty worldwide, but report warns hardline approach to minor cases violates human rights

Global efforts to abolish the death penalty are in danger of being undermined by anti-drug governments that use capital punishment to enforce a zero-tolerance approach, experts have warned.

The caution comes even though the number of people sentenced to death for drug offences around the world has actually fallen by nearly 90% over the past four years, according to a study by Harm Reduction International, with 91 known deaths last year compared with 755 in 2015.

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Deportation for being single? This shows the real bigotry gay people face | Ben Smoke

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Yew Fook Sam’s case exposes the endemic culture of xenophobia that goes unchallenged in the Home Office

Last week, it was revealed that a 67-year-old man faces deportation to Malaysia because Home Office officials, and a tribunal judge, refuse to believe he is gay. Yew Fook Sam, known as Sam, came out two years ago and spent 10 months in Harmondsworth immigration removal centre. He arrived in the UK in 2005 after his wife found out he had been having sex with ladyboys in Thailand and left him.

The Home Office has suggested the fact that Sam does not have a boyfriend raises suspicions about the legitimacy of his asylum claim, leading to a rejection of his claim. His lack of sexual partners lent weight to their suspicions.

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1MDB corruption trial of ex-Malaysian PM postponed, says lawyer

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Najib Razak faces charges related to multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund

The corruption trial of the former Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, over charges related to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB has been postponed, his lawyer said, citing a court ruling.

The trial was originally set to begin on Tuesday.

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Goldman Sachs plans to cut bonuses as 1MDB scandal deepens

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Investment bank might withhold cash from former boss Lloyd Blankfein over firm’s involvement in Malaysian affair

Goldman Sachs’s decision to potentially cut bonuses for top executives over the 1MDB scandal reflects an acknowledgement of shareholder and public outrage over the debacle.

The prestigious investment bank has announced that it could withhold millions of dollars in bonuses to former chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and two other retired executives depending on the outcome of ongoing inquiries into the Malaysian fund.

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Mugged by macaques: the urban monkey gangs of Kuala Lumpur

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The next 15 megacities #10: As Malaysia’s ever-expanding capital swallows up their rainforest habitat, the macaques are turning to guerrilla warfare

The gang stop and stare, attention spiked by our car doors slamming. Ten pairs of eyes flit between our backpacks and our faces. Is it worth mugging us? Do our bags contain bananas or useless, inedible wallets and cameras? The monkeys of Kuala Lumpur’s Ampang district decide against it and head further down the road in the hunt for victims. The morning joggers here run with sticks.

“Twenty years ago this was jungle,” says Viswa Hattan, an accountant jogging in the area. Gated high-rises loom ahead of us, the roads leading to them flanked by forest too dense to enter without machetes. Four macaques, babies clinging to their chests, loiter on a metal road barrier uphill from a construction site. “This was their area,” says Hattan as a nearby male macaque begins vigorously masturbating. “We’ve taken it from them.”

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