Asia - South China Morning Post

A rare case of matricide in Indonesia in which a girl, 12, was arrested for the murder of her mother has put the country’s treatment of juvenile suspects in the spotlight.

The child, identified only as AL due to her age, is suspected of having killed her mother, Faizah Soraya, in the early hours of the morning on December 10, when the older woman was asleep in their home in the North Sumatran city of Medan.

Soraya was found with 26 stab wounds to her body after AL allegedly attacked her with a...

Former army chief Muhammad Hafizuddeain Jantan has been arrested by the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) over corruption allegations.

Also arrested were his two wives after they presented themselves at the MACC headquarters in Putrajaya on Wednesday to have their statements recorded in an ongoing investigation involving military contract tenders.

Another couple was also arrested earlier in the day over the same investigation and remanded for seven days.

Muhammad Hafizuddeain and his...

Foreign money is flowing back into Southeast Asia, and analysts expect the region to remain a draw for global investors even as geopolitical tensions and domestic political risks cloud the outlook.

Emerging Southeast Asian markets recorded US$337 million of equity inflow in December last year, the highest monthly figure since September 2024, according to a Bloomberg report.

These economies include Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Analysts say the rebound points to...

China’s access to Japan’s coveted industrial-use goods – especially a critical chipmaking ingredient – may face hurdles if Tokyo imposes export restrictions in the event of a prolonged political dispute, though trade is holding steady for now, analysts and a trade organisation said.

Beijing’s response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s November 7 remarks about Taiwan has prompted some analysts to ask what cards Tokyo might play should the relationship deteriorate further.

Beijing’s...

For China’s leadership, the most urgent lesson of modern military power comes not from a foreign manual but from its own history books.

Its catastrophic defeat by Japan in 1895, born of internal corruption, forms the invisible backdrop to every Chinese showcase of modern hardware. The recent live-fire drill around Taiwan code-named Justice Mission 2025 – a forceful display of Beijing’s resolve to achieve reunification and deter any challenge to its core interests – was no exception.

To Beijing,...

South Korea’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) has issued a belated apology for Yoon Suk-yeol’s failed attempt to impose martial law – more than a year after it sparked a constitutional crisis that toppled his government.

Yet analysts described the gesture as a tactical retreat by the ex-president’s former party, aimed at salvaging electoral fortunes rather than confronting its role in the fiasco.

Delivered on Wednesday by PPP chairman Jang Dong-hyuk, the apology laid bare the...

At the recent South Korea-China summit, both sides agreed to improve dialogue, rebuild trust and promote regional peace and stability, marking a first step towards a normalisation of relations. While the Beijing meeting produced no concrete agreement for peace on the Korean peninsula, it reaffirmed the peninsula’s stability and peace as a common interest – paving the way for cooperation.

The prolonged stalemate over North Korea’s nuclear programme is no longer just a diplomatic impasse. The...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has ordered his coastguard to inspect dredging vessels operating in Manila Bay after a US-based maritime monitoring group alleged a Chinese ship had used different identities and flags while working in local waters, a tactic it claimed could skirt Philippine law.

On Tuesday, Marcos directed the coastguard to verify the registrations and identities of dredgers – large vessels that excavate and move seabed material – involved in reclamation projects within...

Japan is facing a rampant rise in sextortion ensnaring young men, with a support group reminding potential victims of the near-irreversible nature of digital footprints and urging them to avoid sharing explicit content completely to combat the scourge.

Sexual extortion, or sextortion, involves coaxing victims to send intimate photographs or videos online and then threatening to make them public if the person does not pay money or engage in sexual favours.

Paps, a Tokyo-based NGO, reported 2,200...

Doctors have advised against surgery for Mahathir Mohamad’s fractured hip due to his age, according to his son, Mukhriz Mahathir.

The 100-year-old former Malaysian prime minister was admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) at 9.30am on Tuesday following a fall during his routine morning exercise.

Mukhriz clarified in a video posted on Wednesday that while a hip fracture was sustained, “due to his age of 100 years, an operation is not a wise option”.

Instead, Mahathir is expected to remain...