Snap Insight: How will the Johor sultan serve Malaysia as its next king?

By:
On:
In: Asia

What we do know is that Sultan Ibrahim strongly believes in multiculturalism. He has made it clear many times in Johor, that he treats all his subjects as Bangsa Johor – an inclusive Johorean identity – and that he does not like the racial polarisation of Malaysian politics.

In one famous incident in 2017, he reprimanded a Johor laundry operator for a signboard limiting its services to only Muslims, warning business owners with blatant discriminatory practices that their licences may be revoked. “Don’t mess around with your narrow-minded religious prejudices,” he said at the time.

The new Queen, Raja Zarith Sofiah Sultan Idris Shah, is someone who shares her husband’s belief in Bangsa Johor and multicultural Malaysia. Many may not know that she graduated from Oxford University with a major in Chinese Studies.

SAGE ADVICE AND WISE COUNSEL

Although Malaysia is a constitutional monarchy, the sultans are powerful in their own right. As Johor ruler, Sultan Ibrahim is already part of the constitutional body called the Conference of Rulers which is the final arbiter of anything to do with Islam and Malay adat (customs and traditions), including federal laws.

A new role he will take on is to provide the prime minister with advice and counsel. As a tradition inherited from the British, the prime minister regularly meets with the Agong when Cabinet is in session to brief him on all government policies.

The Agong will provide his views on government policy – widely seen to be a non-partisan and non-political view – which will be taken into account by the prime minister. Retired British prime ministers have said that the advice given by the late Queen Elizabeth II was very important in how they made their decisions. There is no reason to think it will be different in Malaysia’s case.

Continue Reading

The sexual abuse scandal at a top J-pop agency that took decades to unravel

By:
On:
In: Asia

SEXUAL ABUSE BEHIND THE SCENES

However, behind the scenes, trainees at the agency – many of them teenagers – were being sexually assaulted by Kitagawa.

Even as early as the 1960s, gossip magazines ran allegations of his sexual exploits, but mainstream media turned a blind eye, noted Prof Kitatani, who is also director of the Institute for Contents & Technology Integration at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology.

“In the 1980s, books were published. In 2004, Johnny’s lost a lawsuit. But Japan’s key TV networks and dailies did not treat them as significant stories,” he said.

Appointed in late May this year, an investigation team interviewed 41 people and found that Kitagawa started sexually abusing boys in the 1950s, even before setting up the agency. He did so again from the 1970s through to the 2010s.

He died in 2019 at the age of 87 without being charged with any crime.

The investigators, made up of a former prosecutor-general, a psychiatrist, a child trauma specialist, and six lawyers, found that Johnny & Associates did not take appropriate actions, such as investigating whether the sexual abuse allegations against the founder were true or not.

Continue Reading

Sultan Ibrahim of Johor to be appointed Malaysia’s king for the first time

By:
On:
In: Asia

KUALA LUMPUR: Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Ismail will be installed as Malaysia’s king from January 31, 2024, the first time he will be holding the post.

The announcement was made in a statement issued by the Keeper of the Royal Seal Syed Danial Syed Ahmad on Friday (Oct 27) after the country’s nine sultans met at the Conference of Rulers to vote on who among them would be the next head of state, also known as Yang di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA), for the next five years. 

“I hereby inform that the Conference of Rulers, during its 263rd (Special) Meeting, held at the National Palace on Friday, October 27, 2023, has agreed to declare that His Royal Highness Sultan Ibrahim, Sultan of Johor Darul Ta’zim, has been chosen as His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong XVII for a period of five years commencing from January 31, 2024,” the statement said. 

It added that Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah, will be appointed deputy king, also for five years from the Jan 31, 2024. 

The term for the current king, Pahang ruler Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, ends on Jan 30, 2024. 

Sultan Ibrahim’s coronation ceremony is expected to be held at a later date. 

The decision to select Sultan Ibrahim as the next king follows the established order of Malaysia’s unique rotational system in which the country’s nine royal households take it in turns to hold the position. The system was agreed to in 1957 when Malaya secured independence from British rule. 

Continue Reading

54 Thai nationals among the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza

By:
On:
In: Asia

“BARRAGE OF GUNFIRE”

Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct 7, killing more than 1,400 people and taking over 200 hostages. Israel responded by pounding Gaza with air strikes, killing thousands.

Some Thai workers were working on Israeli farms near the Gaza border when the Oct 7 attack happened. Thai labourer Kamlue was on his way to harvest courgettes on a farm when the truck he was riding on came under heavy fire.

“They launched a relentless barrage of gunfire from every direction,” he said, asking not to use his full name as he recounted his escape from the Hamas attack.

The driver of the truck managed to steer it to a safe position, but Kamlue was among several workers who were wounded.

“I was shot in my right leg, and I’m still recovering from the injury,” said the 41-year-old, who returned to Thailand on a repatriation flight organised by the Thai government.

The killing of migrant workers has caused alarm among the roughly 110,000 foreign labourers who currently live legally in the country, prompting thousands to line up to leave.

But Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on Thursday said he was concerned that Thai workers were planning to stay in Israel for higher pay, despite escalating conflict.

“We have to improve the state of our economy here … so Thais don’t have to risk their lives,” Srettha said on Thursday in a response to a question in parliament, adding 4,000 Thais had been repatriated so far but others were changing their minds to stay.

Continue Reading

Four Japan nuclear plant workers splashed with tainted water

By:
On:
In: Asia

TOKYO: Four workers at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant were splashed with water containing radioactive materials, with two of them hospitalised as a precaution, the plant operator said on Friday (Oct 27). The incident on Wednesday highlights the dangers Japan still faces in decommissioning the plant that was knocked outContinue Reading

China’s former premier Li Keqiang has died: Report

By:
On:
In: Asia

BEIJING: China’s former Premier Li Keqiang has died of a sudden heart attack aged 68, state media said on Friday (Oct 27). “Comrade Li Keqiang, while resting in Shanghai in recent days, experienced a sudden heart attack on Oct 26 and after all-out efforts to revive him failed, died inContinue Reading

China’s former premier Li Keqiang dies at 68

By:
On:
In: Asia

REFORMIST FACTION WANED Retired Chinese leaders typically keep a low profile. Li was last seen in public during an August private tour of the Mogao Grottoes, a tourist attraction in northwest China. Social media videos showed him in good spirits, walking upstairs unaided and waving to excited crowds. Reuters couldContinue Reading

China’s ex-Premier Li Keqiang dies at 68

By:
On:
In: Asia

“No matter how the international winds and clouds change, China will unswervingly expand its opening up,” Li said at his last public appearance in a press conference in March. “The Yangtze River and the Yellow River will not flow backwards.” He was born in Anhui province in eastern China, aContinue Reading

South Korean court upholds ban on gay sex within armed forces

By:
On:
In: Asia

SEOUL: South Korea’s constitutional court on Thursday (Oct 26) narrowly upheld a law banning same-sex relations within the armed forces, citing a possible risk to the military’s combat readiness in a ruling criticised by activists as a setback for gay rights. Under the country’s military criminal act, members of theContinue Reading