Asia - South China Morning Post

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has given Malaysia’s top enforcement officials a week to prove they are serious about stamping out corruption and smuggling, warning that those who feel they are unable to deliver should step aside.

“My patience is wearing thin,” Anwar said, urging the officials to declare within seven days whether they were “not yet ready” to carry the responsibility entrusted to them. “If you don’t think you can do it, step aside so others can.”

The warning, delivered in a...

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) has voiced its opposition to the coming water musical festival set to take place in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

Selangor PAS Youth chief Mohamed Sukri Omar said having an open large-scale event involving “free mixing and a festival-like atmosphere” should be reviewed.

“It should be reviewed in terms of values, decorum, local cultural sensitivities and social harmony, as Malaysia is a multiracial nation with Islam as the religion of the federation,” he said...

The site at 38 Oxley Road was gazetted for acquisition on Thursday, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Heritage Board (NHB) said in a media release.

This follows the gazetting of the site as a national monument on December 12, 2025.

The site was the home of Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew. It was also where events took place that shaped the country’s independence movement and national history.

“The site was gazetted for acquisition today in order to safeguard...

Tokyo police have arrested the suspected head of one of Japan’s largest tokuryu organised crime groups after a year-long manhunt, but analysts have warned that such gangs are typically resilient and can operate without their leaders.

Horaki Obata, 40, was arrested on Monday on the island of Amami in Kagoshima prefecture in southern Japan following a tip-off, police said.

Obata is accused of leading Natural, a tokuryu that scouts women on the streets of Tokyo for the sex industry. He has denied...

As Asean tourism leaders met this week to discuss regional matters, observers say a common visitor visa for the bloc and aligned digital connectivity will even out tourism growth and help lagging countries like the Philippines catch up.

The 63rd Asean National Tourism Organisation Meeting, held in Cebu in the Philippines on Monday, was also attended by tourism chiefs from Japan, China and South Korea – countries that were instrumental in boosting tourism in the region.

In 2024, 20 million...

The number of children in Japan who died by suicide in 2025 hit a record high for the second consecutive year, rising by three from a year earlier to 532, preliminary government data showed on Thursday.

The highest figure since records became available in 1980 came despite an overall reduction in suicides across the country, with the number of people taking their own lives declining to 19,097, falling below 20,000 for the first time.

Suicides among children have remained above 500 cases annually...

Malaysian police broke up a drug processing syndicate following a raid at a luxury condominium unit in Kuala Lumpur.

Sentul police chief Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Sukarno Mohd Zahari said a couple from China, aged 46 and 39, were arrested in the raid last Thursday after police found a packet containing ketamine weighing 34.90 grams (1.23 oz).

“Further checks in a second room led to the discovery of a drug processing laboratory and material suspected to be used for processing, packaging and...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has revealed his struggle with an abdominal ailment all while grappling with a string of political woes that would churn even the strongest of stomachs – impeachment complaints, plunging ratings and simmering public anger over corruption.

Yet he has assured Filipinos there is nothing to worry about on the health front.

But on Wednesday, almost a week after his disclosure, the president missed an event at the palace: an awards ceremony for outstanding...

A record share of the Japanese public now supports strengthening the country’s Self-Defence Forces, a new government survey shows, highlighting how sharply attitudes on national security have shifted amid Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s expanding military activities and rising tensions on the Korean peninsula.

Analysts said the shift reflects a growing sense that diplomacy and alliances alone may no longer be sufficient to guarantee Japan’s security.

According to a Cabinet Office survey...

Just days after a court in Tokyo ordered the North Korean government to compensate Japanese citizens who it had lured with the promise of “paradise on Earth”, the victorious plaintiffs are drawing up a strategy to force Pyongyang to pay up.

The Tokyo District Court ruled on Monday that three plaintiffs and the family of another claimant who died before the case was concluded should each receive 22 million yen (US$144,000) in compensation for the suffering they endured before escaping from the...