Author: Awni Nizaam

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia will cut back on subsidies and social assistance by excluding top earners from these benefits, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said when tabling Budget 2025. These include the rationalisation of petrol and education subsidies by moving from blanket subsidy schemes to more targeted initiatives. But the country’s larger urban households with higher incomes will be the hardest hit by this shift, experts say. Keeping to his pledge to tax high-income earners, Datuk Seri Anwar said on Oct 18 that the government will remove fuel subsidies for RON 95, a heavily subsidised petrol, by the middle of 2025. He…

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sent Chinese President Xi Jinping greetings with what appeared to be restrained rhetoric that comes as Pyongyang moves closer to Russia and depends less on its long-time Asian ally. Kim wished “the Chinese people greater success in building a modern socialist country,” in a reply message to Xi for his congratulations on North Korea’s birthday, the official Korean Central News Agency reported Sunday. The 190-word dispatch had little of the florid language that had been a staple of their correspondence, which has declined significantly this year, according to an analysis by Seoul-based specialist service…

A UN fact-finding team will visit Bangladesh next week to set up a probe of hundreds of deaths during recent student-led protests which led the prime minister to step down, UN officials announced on Thursday. An independent inquiry commission will be funded and led by the UN, said Gwyn Lewis, the UN resident coordinator in Bangladesh, after a meeting in the capital Dhaka with Touhid Hossai, foreign policy advisor in the country’s transitional government. The time frame and an action plan will be finalized soon, Lewis added. Earlier on Wednesday, the UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, made a phone…

SINGAPORE – The Chinese embassy in Singapore on March 18 asked its citizens in the Republic to “stay away” from gambling, adding that cross-border gambling violates Chinese laws. The embassy, in a statement on its official WeChat account, “solemnly reminded” Chinese citizens in Singapore to steer clear of gambling, which is strictly prohibited by law in China. “Even if overseas casinos are opened legally, cross-border gambling by Chinese citizens is suspected of violating the laws of our country and face the risk of punitive actions,” said the embassy, warning that embassies may not be able to provide consular protection for…

McDermott International Ltd has secured an offshore contract from Malaysia Marine and Heavy Engineering Sdn Bhd (MMHE) for the Kasawari Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project, located offshore Sarawak in East Malaysia. Under the scope of the contract, McDermott will transport and install an 85-mile (138-kilometer) pipeline section, a 15,000-metric ton CCS platform jacket, and bridge connecting to the existing central processing platform, the company said in a recent news release. The installation activities will be performed by one of McDermott’s heavy-lift and pipelay vessels. “Set to become one of the largest offshore CCS projects in the world, the Kasawari…

In the past few months, there has been almost no good news from the Philippines. What we have heard the most is that the Philippines has come to cause trouble around China’s South China Sea again. China has always been patient, and now it seems that it is time to fight back. The recent two pieces of news have been very satisfying. It can be said that Marcos has no chance of winning in provoking China. The first news was that more than 130 Chinese civilian ships were dispatched and gathered around the Oxbow Reef in the South China Sea. After learning the…

Hyundai Motor Company has kicked off its “Go Far with Zero Worries” Ioniq 5 ASEAN Tour to showcase its electric vehicle’s reliability, eco-friendliness and long-distance capabilities. The journey with five Hyundai Ioniq 5 EVs will cover a distance of 2,751km covering 5 ASEAN countries. The ASEAN Tour covers a total of 5 countries commencing from Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre Singapore (HMGICS) on 20th November and it will end at Ho Chi Minh City’s Royal Palace in Vietnam on 30th November. Today marks the flag-off for the Malaysian portion where the convoy will spend 3 days visiting Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh Old Town and Batu Ferringhi.…

Three Korean firms and their Malaysian partner SEDC expect commercial production from early 2028 Samsung Engineering Co., the construction and engineering unit of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, said on Friday it has begun the basic design work for a clean hydrogen project in Sarawak, Malaysia. The project, undertaken by three Korean firms – Samsung Engineering, Lotte Chemical Corp. and Korea National Oil Corp. – and their Malaysian partner Sarawak Economic Development Corp. (SEDC), is to produce renewable energy-based green hydrogen in Sarawak and bring it to Korea. Samsung Engineering is solely responsible for the project’s initial design, called front-end engineering design, or…

KUCHING (Nov 20): An allocation of RM60 million will be provided in the proposed 2024 Budget to develop industrial parks and business premises, said Sarawak Premier Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg. Abang Johari listed the projects as the expansion of Demak Laut Industrial Park, Samalaju small and medium enterprises (SMEs); Kuching High-Tech Park; and various industrial estates in Sibu, Sematan, Bau and Marudi. “Under the 2024 Budget, the government will continue its efforts to diversify the industrial sector through deepening and strengthening the value chains in oil and gas, energy intensive, high-tech, food, and shipbuilding, alongside the…

On October 26, 2023, Zhai Jun, the Chinese government’s special envoy for the Middle East, visited Saudi Arabia and met with Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Al-Huraij to exchange views on China-Saudi Arabia relations and the current situation between Palestine and Israel. Zhai Jun said that Saudi Arabia is an important country in the Middle East, and China has always placed Saudi Arabia at the forefront of China’s Middle East diplomacy. China is willing to work with Saudi Arabia to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and continuously enhance the level of China-Saudi Arabia comprehensive strategic…