Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | AFP | Thursday 11/17/2022 Malaysians go to the polls on Saturday after four years of fractious politics that followed the fall of jailed former prime minister Najib Razak. At stake are 222 seats in the lower house of parliament, to be decided by 21 million registered voters. Here are thumbnail portraits of the key personalities: – Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob – Ismail is the vice chief of the ruling United […]
Tag: Malaysia
Malaysia’s nearly century-old Mahathir seeks re-election
Langkawi, Malaysia | AFP | Saturday by Patrick LEE Mahathir Mohamad, the nearly 100-year-old elder statesman of Malaysian politics, filed his candidacy Saturday in what is likely to be his final race, as campaigning for upcoming general elections began. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob called for elections 10 months ahead of schedule, with the graft-tainted ruling party of jailed ex-leader Najib Razak seeking to cement its political comeback four years after it was dramatically voted […]
Malaysia to hold national elections on November 19
Putrajaya, Malaysia | AFP | by M JEGATHESAN Malaysia will head to the polls on November 19, officials said Thursday, after the prime minister called for a snap election to restore political stability. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob dissolved parliament earlier this month and called for the vote a year ahead of schedule to shore up his slim majority in the 222-member legislature. The “election date is November 19”, Election Commission chairman Abdul Ghani Salleh […]
Malaysia PM calls snap elections
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | AFP | by M JEGATHESAN Malaysia’s prime minister dissolved parliament Monday to clear the way for snap elections in a bid to restore political stability as the country emerges from the ravages of Covid-19 and a multi-billion dollar corruption scandal. Elections could be held within weeks, mostly likely in November, following Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s announcement, analysts said. Polls were not due until September next year but Ismail faced […]
Rosmah Mansor, wife of Malaysia’s ex-leader, convicted of corruption
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Rosmah Mansor, the wife of Malaysia’s ex-premier Najib Razak, was found guilty of graft Thursday, just over a week after her husband began serving a 12-year jail term. “The accused is found guilty of all three charges,” High Court Judge Mohamed Zaini Mazlan said as Rosmah sat quietly in the dock. The judge added that her defence was “bare denial and unsubstantiated”. The Kuala Lumpur court began mitigation on […]
Malaysia’s jailed ex-PM Najib back in court for more graft charges
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AFP) Malaysia’s jailed former prime minister Najib Razak returned to court Thursday to face more charges linked to a multi-billion-dollar financial scandal at state fund 1MDB, two days after he began serving a 12-year prison term. Najib, 69, was sent to prison Tuesday after the Federal Court, Malaysia’s highest tribunal, upheld his sentence in the initial batch of charges linked to the scandal that brought down his government in 2018. Najib was […]
Channel migrant crossings hit new 24-hour record: UK govt
London, United Kingdom | AFP | The number of people crossing the Channel to the UK from northern France in small boats has hit a new high, the government in London said on Tuesday. Some 1,295 people were detected on Monday, beating the previous single-day record of 1,185 on November 11, 2021, the Ministry of Defence said. So far this year there have been some 22,670 crossings. At the same point in 2021, nearly 12,500 […]
Top court upholds Malaysia ex-PM Najib’s jail sentence in 1MDB scandal
PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s highest court Tuesday upheld former prime minister Najib Razak’s 12-year jail sentence for corruption in the 1MDB financial scandal. “We find the appeal devoid of any merits. We find the conviction and sentence to be safe,” Chief Justice Maimun Tuan Mat said on behalf of a five-judge panel. “Based on the foregoing, it is our unanimous view that the evidence led during the trial points overwhelmingly to guilt on […]
Pelosi lands in Malaysia as China rages over Taiwan
by Patrick Lee, with Amber Wang in Taipei Agence France-Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, Malaysian state media reported, her second stop in an Asian tour that has sparked rage in Beijing over a possible stop in Taiwan. Beijing views Taiwan as its territory and has indicated through repeated warnings that it would view the visit as a major provocation. Pelosi landed at a […]
Bitter harvest: Malaysian palm oil farmers face labour crunch
by M. Jegathesan Agence France-Presse IJOK, Malaysia (AFP) — Overripe palm oil fruits hang untouched in trees while others lie rotting scattered around a plantation, as Malaysian farmers reap the bitter harvest of a severe labor shortage. The tropical country is the world’s second-biggest producer of the edible vegetable oil, which is found in many everyday goods from chocolate to cosmetics. The sector has long been reliant on migrants from neighboring Indonesia for back-breaking plantation […]
Convicted Malaysian drug trafficker to be hanged in Singapore after court dismisses appeal
SINGAPORE (AFP) — A Singapore court on Wednesday dismissed a last-ditch appeal by a convicted Malaysian drug trafficker, clearing the way for him to be hanged within hours. Kalwant Singh, 32, is due to be put to death early Thursday, two months after the execution of a mentally disabled man in Singapore sparked international outrage. Kalwant, who was convicted in 2016 of trafficking heroin into the city-state, had lodged a last-gasp attempt with the […]
US unveils Asia-Pacific trade framework
https://youtu.be/9bx5onRYzx0 US President Joe Biden launched a new Asia-Pacific trade initiative Monday in Tokyo, with 13 countries including India and Japan signed up. Biden formally unveiled the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, or IPEF, on his second day in Japan, where he held talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of a regional Quad summit on Tuesday. Unlike traditional trade blocs, there is no plan for IPEF members to negotiate tariffs and ease market […]





