Asia - South China Morning Post

Indonesia’s former president Joko Widodo has begun a nationwide tour that analysts say is aimed at transforming his youngest son’s small political party into a major force before the 2029 elections.

Widodo kicked off the tour in Lampung on Friday, using the visit to appear alongside Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI) officials and accept a local royal title, signalling that he remains a force in Indonesian politics even after leaving office.

He appeared dressed in the colours of PSI – a...

India has asked WhatsApp to justify the implementation of a planned feature covering usernames and to freeze the roll-out in its biggest market, escalating a crackdown on messaging anonymity that began with Telegram, according to a government letter.

The move comes as authorities in India grapple with a spike in cybercrime, with scammers exploiting low digital safety awareness among millions of internet users.

Earlier this week, Meta’s WhatsApp said ‌it had begun a phased global roll-out,...

Singapore is set to acquire additional Hellfire missiles after the United States backed a proposed package valued at US$22.3 million.

The US State Department said on Tuesday that it has approved the potential sale of an additional 24 AGM-114R Hellfire missiles to Singapore, along with related support services and equipment, bringing the total package to 67 missiles.

Hellfire missiles are a type of precision air-to-ground weapon manufactured by Lockheed Martin.

The Ministry of Defence (Mindef)...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s trip to Canada highlights deepening ties at a time when Ottawa is seeking to court middle powers and establish its presence in the Indo-Pacific.

Marcos is in the Canadian capital for a four-day visit that started on Wednesday, where he is set to meet Prime Minister Mark Carney in an effort to strengthen cooperation on trade, labour, energy and tourism, and enhance defence and maritime ties.

He is also slated to meet Canadian business leaders and...

Malaysia’s heritage state of Penang has begun using body camera footage to prosecute litterbugs, widening a national clean-up drive that could see offenders fined or ordered by a court to carry out community service.

The tougher enforcement, which took effect on Wednesday after a six-month grace period, gives patrol teams from the Penang Island City Council and Seberang Perai City Council powers to record offences at public hotspots across one of Malaysia’s best-known tourist states.

Penang...

Some years it comes, and some years it does not. But, drifting up and across the Strait of Malacca, it can hang in the air for weeks on end over cities such as Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – regional economic hubs that host two of the world’s busiest airports.

Southeast Asia’s haze is on the way back and this year’s event is expected to be “severe”, according to the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA), which has been tracking the region’s haze disruptions for almost a...

The arrest of a 65-year-old woman accused of selling abortion pills in Manila has offered a glimpse into the shadow economy growing around ending unwanted pregnancies in the Philippines, one of the few countries in the world where the procedure remains criminalised in almost all circumstances.

For women and girls trying to end unwanted pregnancies, access often depends on online sellers, market vendors, whispered referrals and the uncertain quality of pills bought far from formal medical care,...

Unstaffed coffee ⁠shops, ramen eateries and flower outlets are spreading across South Korea as owners turn to robots and self-service to overcome rising labour costs in a business model that relies on the widespread honesty of users.

Such stores, usually open 24 hours, were estimated to number 9,000 nationwide by the end of 2024, the National Fire Agency said, while payments provider Samsung Card said their number probably grew four times by 2025 from 2020.

“The population of baristas in their...

A court order requiring Japan’s government to compensate the family of a Peruvian man whose arm was broken at an immigration facility has intensified scrutiny of the country’s detention system, with rights experts warning that the case shows reforms are urgently needed.

On June 25, the Osaka High Court ordered the government to pay 880,000 yen (US$5,400) in damages to the family of Vladimir Burgos Fujii, a Peruvian man of Japanese descent who was injured while being restrained at the facility in...

More than 2 million cars could be damaged by tsunami waves in the event of a megaquake along the Nankai Trough off Japan’s Pacific coast, according to a survey by an organisation offering free rental vehicles to disaster victims.

The survey, which covered 12 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, including Aichi in central Japan, showed that at least 2.04 million privately owned vehicles could be hit by tsunami waves following a magnitude-8 or -9 earthquake – about five times the number of vehicles damaged...