Asia - South China Morning Post

Malaysia’s transport minister has been accused of victim-blaming after saying that a child seat could have saved a baby who died in a multiple vehicle pile-up at a toll plaza that shocked the country.

One-year-old Amir Husayn was killed at the scene of the Saturday crash at the Bukit Kajang toll plaza, about 30km from Kuala Lumpur.

He was thrown out of his parents’ car and was crushed under another vehicle.

Viral videos showed a three-tonne truck charging at speed towards one of the gates at the...

Thailand’s influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has submitted a petition for a royal pardon for his one-year jail sentence, his lawyer said on Monday.

The former premier was jailed earlier this month after the country’s Supreme Court ruled that he did not serve his initial prison sentence after spending six months in a VIP wing of a hospital following his return from 15 years of self-exile in August 2023.

Thaksin, 76, was initially sentenced to eight years in jail for conflicts...

The streets of Kathmandu have quieted, but the echoes of angry young voices still reverberate through Nepal.

Three weeks after Gen Z-led protests swept away the South Asian nation’s government, the new interim prime minister, Sushila Karki, faces a daunting challenge: channelling the anger of a disillusioned youth movement into lasting institutional reform while contending with constitutional constraints and the lingering grip of old elites.

Karki, a former chief justice and anti-corruption...

Thailand’s new prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, presented his policy platform on Monday, with quick-fix measures to ease the rising cost of living as well as promises to win back tourists, while committing to dissolving parliament in just four months to end the country’s political stalemate.

The country’s third prime minister in two years faces twin challenges: economic woes exacerbated by a stubbornly strong baht and a security threat as the ceasefire with Cambodia threatens to...

The office of Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto on Monday restored access for a CNN Indonesia journalist, Diana Valencia. It had earlier revoked Valencia’s pass after she had asked the leader about a troubled free meal programme, sparking concerns about press freedom.

CNN Indonesia editor-in-chief Titin Rosmasari met the Indonesian palace and confirmed Valencia’s access had been restored, CNN Indonesia reported. The palace had apologised for the revocation and said it would not be repeated,...

The world football governing body Fifa has ignited public outrage in Malaysia after imposing a fine of 350,000 Swiss francs (US$440,000) and a one-year ban on seven footballers for the alleged falsification of nationality documents, with pundits fuelling speculation of the involvement of regional rivals in making the complaint.

The sanctions were levied against the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) last Friday after Fifa claimed the association submitted doctored documents to field seven...

When Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a mutual defence agreement earlier this month, it was widely interpreted as a gesture of Muslim unity in a region roiled by crisis.

But its reverberations are already being felt among policymakers in Pakistan’s perennial rival India, threatening to complicate New Delhi’s delicate diplomatic balancing act in the Gulf.

The agreement, signed in Riyadh on September 17, declares that aggression against either signatory “shall be considered aggression against...

Hundreds of South Korean public services remained offline on Monday after a fire at a data centre disrupted government websites and exposed vulnerabilities in the country’s digital infrastructure.

Authorities said 62 government services had been restored out of 647 systems affected by the fire which broke out during routine maintenance in a server room at the state-run National Information Resources Service in Daejeon on Friday.

President Lee Jae-myung has apologised for the disruption, saying...

East Timor’s recalibration of its stance on Myanmar’s military regime has drawn both scrutiny and intrigue across Southeast Asia, as Dili seeks to smooth its path into Asean ahead of next month’s summit.

Once a vocal critic of Myanmar’s junta, which came to power in a 2021 coup that toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and plunged the country into civil conflict, East Timor has in recent weeks taken a markedly softer line.

Dili reportedly assured the junta earlier this month it...

Typhoon Bualoi made landfall in northern central Vietnam in the early hours of Monday, damaging houses and knocking out power grids, with at least nine people dead and 17 missing as the storm brought flooding rains and huge swells.

By 11am, the typhoon was moving over Nghe An province into Laos, with maximum wind speeds weakening to 74km/h (47 mph) from 117km/h when it made landfall, the weather agency said.

State media said rescue teams were searching for 17 missing fishermen.

Before making...