Calls to merge social funds

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PUBLISHED: 5 Mar 2025 at 04: 00

Rukchanok Srinork
Rukchanok Srinork

Bangkok’s Women’s Party MP Rukchanok Srinork requested yesterday that the three interpersonal resources be combined into one.

Ms. Rukchanok met SSO secretary-general Marasri Jairangsee to examine data reporting relating to the management of the Social Security system in her power as the House committee’s spokesperson for the study and monitoring of state fiscal planning and spending for the Social Security Office.

No one present at the meeting was make a decision on behalf of the Minister of Labor, according to Ms. Rukchanok during the meeting regarding the acquisition of the three wellness funds.

But, Ms. Rukchanok noted that the Social Security Board should decide whether to connect, but it’s not clear whether or not the medical panel should be given consideration. The Minister of Labor must, however, sign the bill before going into effect.

Both Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsutin and Labour Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn, who neither are willing to give up their positions, could not make this choice on their own.

Because the two departments ‘ interlocking responsibilities have now sparked a 23-year stalemate, the issue may be brought right up with the prime minister.

” Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is the one who needs to make this happen. She claimed that the consolidation review board has already been established.

There must be a set amount of time for the study’s completion and how long it will take before it is implemented if the state is genuine about solving this problem. Beyond the terms of this administration, the acquisition remains a vital issue that calls for action even if it occurs in four to five years.

When asked how the acquisition would proceed, she said the government would have to wait to see because no one has been available for 23 times.

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Police to quiz 100 in veterans’ hospital graft case

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PUBLISHED: 5 Mar 2025 at 04: 00

More than 100 suspected complicitees in the drug and medical supply corruption case at the Veterans General Hospital (VGH) will be interrogated by the Central Investigation Bureau ( CIB ).

The investigation team met with WVO director-general Gen Detnitit Luangngamkum, VGH director Dr Jittima Preecha, Office of the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission Secretary-General Bhumivisan Kasemsook, National Anti-Corruption Commission officials, and CIB Deputy Commissioner Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat Pankaew said yesterday that after the War Veterans Organization of Thailand ( WVO ), which runs the hospital, lodged a complaint with

They exchanged information about the prosecution and research guidelines, which divided the suspects into three groups: a calm group, a control group, and a party for government officials.

To determine whether the patients were actually patients and what kind of healthcare they were given, Pol Maj Gen Charoonkiat announced he had set up a group of investigators to examine their medical records, including their names and remedy histories.

” We will go to Lop Buri to speak with more than 100 of the case’s participants.” We anticipate spending about two days on the analysis, he said.

He claimed that the incident was a significant violence, citing the involvement of military personnel, doctors, midwives, administrative staff, and patients. He claimed that some of the perpetrators in this case had committed crimes related to those in other state hospitals, and that the research was being developed.

A captain suspected of being a part of the corruption case should be investigated more quickly, according to Tanadej Pengsuk, a People’s Party MP for Bangkok who exposed the VGH fraud case.

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The Arab plan for Gaza sidelines Hamas and PA, but only for six months – Asia Times

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The Palestinian Authority ( PA ), an Arab peace plan for Gaza, is only allowed to remain in the shadow of the Strip’s rulers for six months, “in order to enable the PA to fully return to the Gaza Strip.” A” Gaza Administration Committee is being established in the interim” and will be” composed of technocrats and non-factional figures… to manage the affairs” of the strip during the” transitional phase.”

As Sisi welcomed Muslim leaders in Cairo for the “emergency summit” of the Arab League, which took place on Tuesday, the company of Egyptian leader Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi unveiled the program in 91 webpages divided into” the political framework” and “technical information.”

The non-factional time committee to govern Gaza for a six-month intermediate time was the heart of the plan, even though it was hidden in the language. It was so crucial that Royal regular Asharq Al-Awsat’s headline highlighted the committee’s “non-factional” nature.

The program was dissociated from fact and lacking in information, though.

In the near future, the program directed the “international group to support the attempts of Egypt, Qatar, and the US in consolidating the peace deal in Gaza, supporting the latest quiet, and releasing captives and detainees.”

Cairo’s plea for a” next phase,” which entails” a permanent end to the fighting in Gaza and the restoration of the war-ravaged enclave,” must be sustained while Hamas is still in power.

The Wall Street Journal stated in its article:” If Hamas continues to exist in Gaza, Israel isn’t willing to end the conflict, and Gulf Arab state like the United Arab Emirates aren’t willing to fund its restoration.” So, the Egyptian strategy has failed.

It is highly improbable that the Arab militia will give up control of the strip if the conflict breaks out and Hamas is permitted to remain in Gaza.

Another issue is present in the Egyptian program, which calls for a two-state answer. It postpones disarming Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and various armies until after a Arab state is established. Such a plan is difficult in and of itself.

Since 1993, all two-state peace plans have been built on the Palestinian Liberation Organization ( PLO ) and eventually the PA, who have seized control and delivered on their security commitments to Israel.

All of these plans fell apart because, in spite of the PLO’s efforts to negotiate and obtain area concessions from Israel, Hamas not gained control. In the 1990s and after the Second Intifada broke out, Hamas launched a suicide bombing campaign that tore through Jewish community and security.

The later Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was the main proponent of the two-state option, wanted to have a conversation with Hamas with former US peace minister Dennis Ross. In 1948, the Irgun army received hands on a ship called Altalena. When the Irgun refused to fold and join the young army, the newly formed Israel Defense Forces ( IDF) sank the ship, monopolizing the use of power in the hands of the State of Israel.

In an interview with his best aide Yasser Abd-Rabbu last month, Arafat said in an earlier interview that he used its violence to utilize his demands on Israel.

Israel attempted a second bid for control of the cabinet under Arafat’s leadership, Mahmoud Abbas, but the current PA leader erred as unwilling or unable to impose itself. With Israel losing belief in entrusting its safety to any Arab party, October 7 was the nail in the coffin of the two-state option.

None of the obstacles to peace have previously been overcome by the Arab League in Cairo, which was supported by the Muslim League at its conference. It opens a window for a temporary, non-partisan Arab system to rule Gaza, and even then, it does not train Hamas to subdue while promising the same old, corrupt and incompetent Pato to retake the band.

The Arab League has been the subject of a lot of jokes among the majority of Arabs since its establishment in 1945. The firm has acted as a means for the majority of Arab governments to wash their hands of issues ( in particular the Palestinian one ), taking a few photo ops, and feeling good about having a schedule while convincing themselves that the other side, primarily Israel, was too terrible to grasp the extended Muslim hands for peace.

Similar things happened with the Beirut peace initiative in 2002, and similar things seem to have happened with the Egyptian Gaza plan. Most Arabs have learned from experience that shared Muslim action is just lip service unless Egyptian governments act unilaterally in the name of their own national interests.

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This is about the US national debt but please read it anyway – Asia Times

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One of those topics that Wall Street Journal writers in my day called DBIs is the national debt. It is boring but significant. Headstands were used to illustrate how complex and intangible these subjects are. This is the history of the 27th largest material manufacturer in the western world, according to one Journal article. Oh, study it nonetheless.

I’ve always resisted DBIs. A very obscure economic topic called total factor productivity was the subject of a lengthy WSJ story I once wrote. I wrote a five-part set on the World Trade Organization in my earlier years at DTN. Speak about a topic that is eye-opening.

Commentators today have no choice but to risk glazed-over eyes and address the national debt because it has grown to be so significant that it is becoming so significant.

Even the debt seems uninteresting because we’ve been conned into believing that the future will force the government to impose huge tax increases or print money to stoke runaway inflation, or both. Basically, it’s currently inflicting pain, and paying it back, or halting its growth, will result in problems of a different kind.

The national debt is higher now than it was at the end of World War II, as a percent of GDP. Americans are dealing with this issue. US Department of Treasury Graph

Certainly, the more the debt grows, as it will under Trump and as it did under Harris, the more the pain will become.

Develop it has undoubtedly. The public’s national debt has increased by 12 % to$ 28.9 trillion since 2015, according to the government. It has increased in every political leadership since this decade.

The total federal loan, which includes authorities debt held by various government agencies, is equivalent to 123 % of the gross domestic product, or$ 36.2 trillion. To put that into perspective, we haven’t been in a main battle for the past five years because the amount at the end of World War II was just 106 %.

Consider four possible ways the government may address the debt problem in order to know why the debt will keep rising and the suffering it will produce.

1 ) Allow it to grow. In the near future, this is the least painful and most likely strategy. Totaling$ 4.5 trillion over ten years, the Trump presidency and the Republican House of Representatives plan to cut taxes. No one believes that the state may reduce spending even slightly. Estimates of the debt’s addition by 2035 range from$ 4 trillion to$ 10 trillion.

Pain? Interest rates are already being pressured by the loan. Investors in long-term bonds anticipate higher risk, including having their money repaid in undervalued dollars. Their worries increase costs.

Daily interest rates are also affected by long-term relationship rates. The offer on the 10-year Treasury note is significantly higher compared to the standard rate that the Fed has cut by a full percentage point since September. In consequence, the interest charge on the typical 30-year loan is also affected. Land interest rates have hardly dropped in many areas and continue to be higher.

2 ) Reduce spending. Although the government does some of that, it falls short of maintaining a healthy finances. Only 16 % of the resources, or what is considered voluntary non-defense spending, is being attacked by Elon Musk.

The state is a big contributor because of its obligations to folks, starting with Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, as well as meals stamps and farm applications.

Medicaid and meal mark cuts are being looked at by the House. If they’re made, they’ll be a source of intense problems for many Americans.

Farmers and farmers are not the only ones. Food aid worth$ 4 billion a year was one of the foreign aid initiatives the administration has targeted.

Some producers who contracted with the authorities to improve their farming methods may not receive compensation for the money they’ve spent. Additionally, budget cuts that use food stamps may make it harder to get a new land costs.

3 ) Increase income. Because the GOP has no taste for real tax increases, this won’t happen. As previously mentioned, revenue cuts totaling$ 4.5 trillion are on the board. Although proponents claim that tax breaks promote economic growth, few have so far produced enough progress to “pay for themselves.” Nevertheless, American taxpayers would be in immediate pain if tax increases were to occur.

4 ) Hope for a rise in the performance of the economy. This may result in higher tax revenues and stronger financial growth. As more businesses adopt AI, efficiency may increase, as it did in the late 1990s during the internet boom. This is not an absurd hope.

However, the efficiency gains from the internet boom quickly vanished, just like earlier booms. If the upcoming AI growth is stronger and more persistent, it may in fact increase taxes revenue for a while. But enough to begin reducing the national loan? That puts a lot of pounds on a hope, which is not a plan.

No one is pushing for the incredibly painful changes that would be most important in programs like Social Security and Medicare, despite the fact that today’s debt-inflicted problems is broadly spread. Washington does allow the debt to grow. Long-term attention rates will continue to be subject to higher pressure.

Urban Lehner, a former long-time Asia journalist and director for the Wall Street Journal, is writer professor of DTN/The Progressive Farmer.

This post, which was originally published on March 4th, by the latter news business and is now being republished by Asia Times with authority, is titled” Copyright 2025 DTN/The Progressive Farmer.” All trademarks are reserved. Follow @urbanize, on @urbanize, and on @urbanize.

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New Zealand: MPs told to stop complaining about use of Māori name

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The speaker of the house in the legislature of New Zealand says he won’t take any additional concerns from lawmakers regarding the use of the country’s Mori title in trials.

Speaker Gerry Brownlee stated in a decision in Parliament on Tuesday that” Aotearoa is frequently used as a brand of New Zealand.”

His remarks come after Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters requested that Brownlee ban the use of the label Aotearoa and that anyone using it in parliament need a vote.

Aotearoa, which means “land of the long white cloud,” has long been used in Mori when referring to New Zealand, despite the fact that it is the legal title of the nation and can only be changed by regulation.

According to Brownlee,” Aotearoa appears on our visas and it appears on our money.” The title is also used in the Mori version of New Zealand’s national anthem, which is frequently heard before the English translation.

” They are not required to use certain phrases if other people don’t like them.” However, he continued,” I don’t anticipate any further details of order being raised about it because it’s not a matter of purchase.”

Members are permitted to speak in Parliament in any of the country’s three established languages, including English, Mori, and New Zealand sign language.

When Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March used it during a legislative session next month, Peters, who is Mori, raised the issue.

Why can a person who applied to visit this region in 2006 ask a question to this Parliament that would change the name of this nation without a vote or New Zealand’s citizens’ consent? Peters questioned.

Menéndez March is a native of Mexico but, as all Members are required to be, is a resident of New Zealand.

Another government official, who is a member of Peters ‘ New Zealand First group and also Mori, questioned” the propriety of recent immigrants telling Mori what the name of our nation may be”

Brownlee advocated using the name Aotearoa New Zealand preferably at the time to avoid confusion, but she later said it wasn’t necessary.

Not all Mori have the same affinity with the title Aotearoa, which was formerly used only to describe New Zealand’s North Island. It is frequently used by non-Maori out of regard for indigenous folks, though.

According to Radio New Zealand ( RNZ), Winston Peters stated on Tuesday that he disapproved of Brownlee’s decision.

He continued, saying that he only had a problem with Aotearoa being used in Parliament, no Mori in general, and that he would never respond if a question was posed to him in the future using the name.

In recent years, indigenous officials have been lobbying for the expansion of Mori in people.

The Mori Party, an established political party, launched a petition in 2022 to formally shift the country’s brand to Aotearoa, which received more than 70, 000 names.

” No relationship exists between New Zealand and this country,” according to the Dutch name. How many people in Aotearoa may yet image “old” Zealand? Rawiri Waititi, the Mori Party co-leader, said at the moment.

Since the current administration first gained strength in 2023, it has been mandated that government departments give their British names and communicate mainly in English, unless they have a specific connection to Mori.

Another of the coalition’s members, the Act party, is also seeking to redefine the terms of New Zealand’s founding document, the Treaty of Waitangi, which has been met with fierce opposition.

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US funding cut hands more power to a dictator in North Korea – Asia Times

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The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in North Korea made an appeal to the global community this week. She expressed concern about the impact of civic culture efforts on North Korean individual rights.

The National Endowment for Democracy ( NED), a non-governmental organization in the US, is the cause of concern.

Organizations that document and assist in halting human rights abuses in North Korea are one of the main beneficiaries of funding from the NED.

The money suspension is a possibility to worsen the lives of those who live under one of the most severe authoritarian regimes in the world.

What exactly is a NED?

The US entity known as the “bastion of Republican internationalism,” the NED is a long-standing member of the NED. It was a result of a legislative action passed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983.

The NED is firmly rooted in the fundamental principles of Democratic democracy, which include global cooperation and bipartisan help. It supports humanitarian organizations ‘ activities in more than 100 nations each year.

The effects of cutting off funding miraculously are obvious, but it’s unclear why Elon Musk, in his position in the Department of Government Performance, has unexpectedly taken aim at this organization.

One outcome is likely to be the end of decades-long research into North Korean individual freedom.

How this impacts North Korea

The Citizens ‘ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights is one of the organizations that has been hardest hit by this money ice. The first single-issue North Korean human rights organization, it then intends to shut its doors.

Without NED financing, it claims it is unable to cover its operating costs, such as rent and staff wages.

Additionally, it is unable to carry on its significant labor of examining and documenting human rights violations committed by North Korean citizens.

The Citizens ‘ Alliance is just one of many organizations that rely on the NED for their work, the majority of which are based in South Korea.

North Korean human rights activists face uncertain and precarious social conditions in South Korea. There are few other alternatives despite years of efforts to extend funding sources.

Over the course of more than 20 years, I have spent considerable effort studying this issue. Because it is so greatly embedded, both politically and socially, it cannot be resolved overnight or even in the medium term.

Seoul-based organizations may look elsewhere if they are unable to obtain money in South Korea.

Yet many of the applicable international assistance programs are used to support human rights and reform initiatives.

No effective, open civil society initiatives can be properly carried out in North Korea because the totalitarian regime is so complete. The movements relies entirely on international activism, so it doesn’t neatly fit into current funding initiatives.

Additionally, South Korea is currently in a state of political unrest, which makes the revenue ice come at a particularly bad period. It is questionable what the future holds for the few remaining activities that have already been in place following President Yoon Suk-yeol’s declaration of martial law.

focusing on North Korea

The situation of those who were subject to human rights violations inside the mysterious nation was not widely known to the outside world for a long time.

Civil society organizations have organized partnerships, gathered data, created information, created databases, organized public awareness events, and lobbied on all levels for decades. The UN Commission of Inquiry into North Korea’s Human Rights was therefore established by them.

For more than ten times, this investigation, led by Australia’s Michael Kirby, has been the comprehensive report on North Vietnamese human rights.

Its conclusions of flagrant human rights violations within the nation have served as the justification for global action on North Korea. The study’s findings include some instances:

  • the use of social prison camps, abuse, executions, and other forms of arbitrary detention to curb actual or perceived political discord,
  • a nearly total disregard for the freedom of expression, faith, and connection,
  • the use of community command over access to food.

Non-profit North Vietnamese human rights organizations continue to be at the forefront of this endeavor. They continue to press for greater attention to the human rights situation from the global community, having successfully placed the matter firmly on the global agenda.

The organizations that are funded by NED perform a wide range of tasks. They assist North Koreans who reside in South Korea and other places overseas. Some provide help for formal human rights violations, assisting in the creation of a powerful database of survivors ‘ testimony.

Some continue to support and hold accountable many different advocacy, support, and reporting efforts, while others return in-country accounts from secret North Korean journalists.

However, all of this work may stop sooner than anyone had anticipated.

A despot has more energy, right?

All but its most serious initiatives have been put on hold by the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, and it has launched an attractiveness for gifts. Executive Director Hannah Song characterized the circumstance as” a large and sudden cut to money that threatens the important function of those on the battlefront.”

Another nonprofit organization working in this field, led by Sokeel Park, described it as” by far the biggest problems facing Organizations working on this matter since the movement started in the 1990s.”

This is not an understatement. The international community’s knowledge and understanding of how the North Korean government upholds order and suppresses opposition has grown significantly as a result of the North Korean animal rights movements.

Who then emerges victorious in this? Kim Jong-un, the country’s most powerful leader and tyrant.

In his State of the Union address from earlier this year, US President Donald Trump focused on the human rights violations that the North Korean people have suffered from the autocratic government. Trump said he would:

To understand the nature of the potential nuclear danger, all we need to do is examine the wicked character of the Northern Korean government.

The Trump presidency appears to be allowing one of the world’s most barbarous authoritarian regimes by properly stifling the government’s most vociferous critics.

Danielle Chubb is Deakin University’s associate professor of foreign connections.

This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Learn the article’s introduction.

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Monkeys in Punggol: 50 trapped by NParks in 2024, majority sterilised

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SINGAPORE: Fifty monkeys in Punggol were trapped by the National Parks Board ( NParks ) &nbsp, in 2024 and most of those caught were sterilised as part of efforts to manage the monkey population in the area.

Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said&nbsp, in a written parliamentary answer on&nbsp, Tuesday ( Mar 4 ) that NParks had received several reports of human-monkey conflict and in areas with higher reported cases, the agency intervenes to protect public safety.

This includes long-term population control methods such as google and the removal of primates that display more aggressive or aggressive behavior, he added.

Mr Lee was responding to parliamentary questions from Associate Prof Jamus Lim ( WP-Sengkang ). He had asked&nbsp, whether the google project, in relation to monkeys in Punggol, is conducted solely at certain locations that are confirmed overpopulated, as supported by a research and projected quotes.

Assoc Prof Lim even wanted to know the number of lemurs that had been trapped by NParks in 2024 and of those trapped, how many of them were therefore sterilised and euthanised.

” To maintain the monkey people, NParks conducted extensive research and analysis on the community before implementing google in Punggol”, said Mr Lee.

” In 2024, NParks trapped 50 chimpanzees in the Punggol region, of which the majority were finally sterilised. To safeguard people protection, some monkeys that display more aggressive or aggressive behavior were removed”.

This is part of NParks ‘ research- and community-based approach to manage the monkey people in Singapore, which even includes&nbsp, minimising human sources of food by ensuring appropriate fail management, feeding police and measures to prevent monkeys from intruding into metropolitan areas.

Mr Lee said that the agency has also been working closely with stakeholders, such as grassroots advisers and the town council, to engage Punggol residents on the mitigation measures and what they should do when encountering monkeys.

” We can all play our part to minimise wildlife intrusions by refraining from feeding wildlife, keeping our residential areas clean and appreciating wildlife from a safe distance”, he added.

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Shahzadi Khan: Indian woman executed in UAE for killing baby

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After being found guilty of killing her employer’s girl, an American woman who worked as a private companion in the United Arab Emirates was executed.

Shahzadi Khan, who worked for an American partners, was put to death last month, allegedly by the American government.

According to Abu Dhabi court documents, Khan asphyxiated the boy, but a doctor who testified at the trial could not confirm this as he had not been allowed to perform a post-mortem.

Khan’s home claims she was innocent, and claims the four-month-old died from an inappropriate vaccination on the day of his demise. They claimed that during her test, Khan did not receive “adequate depiction.” The BBC received a request for comment from the UAE government.

The execution took place on February 15; however, after the parents of the deceased’s petition to the Delhi High Court for information, the Indian government merely confirmed the news on March 3.

India, which has close ties to the United Arab Emirates, has been making headlines for the secrecy surrounding the murder. In the Indian community, there are tens of thousands of residents and workers.

She had moved to Abu Dhabi in December 2021 to provide for the Indian family, according to the complaint filed by Khan’s home.

She was entrusted to look after the baby, who was born in August the following year. According to Khan’s father, she would often call her family back in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and show them the baby over video calls.

However, after his death, the names stopped, and the family afterwards learned that Khan was a prisoner. The girl passed away on December 7, 2022, just hours after receiving a vaccine, according to Khan’s family.

Khan was taken into custody by officers two months later. She argued that a video saving of her confessing to killing the child had been made and that she had not been given appropriate legal help in court.

In July of this year, she received a death sentence. In February of this year, her charm was turned down.

Khan’s home claims that they last heard from her on February 13th, when she called from jail and threatened to execute her the following day.

Her father, Shabbir Khan, told the BBC,” She kept crying and said she was put in a separate cell, that she would not come out alive and that it might be her final call.”

After that, Khan’s family requested information from the American state in return for a petition they filed with the Delhi High Court.

Khan’s family claimed that because she did not include “adequate picture,” she was given the death sentence.

Her father, Shabbir Khan, said in an interview with the Press Trust of India,” She didn’t find justice. Since last year, I have tried running about everywhere. However, I didn’t have the money to travel there [Abu Dhabi] to see a solicitor.

Khan’s firm stated in an earlier statement to BBC Hindi that” Shahzadi brutally and intentionally murdered my son, which has already been proven by the United Arab Emirates officials in light of all the information.”

Misleading data has been made available to the internet and other authorities to gain their love and distract attention from the crime she actually committed.

A total of 54 Indians were on death row in foreign places, including 29 in the UAE, the American government informed parliament in February.

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Catherine Wu, the woman at centre of CDL boardroom legal wrangle, resigns as adviser to group subsidiary

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SINGAPORE: Dr Catherine Wu, the woman said to be at the centre of the City Developments Limited (CDL) boardroom struggle, has resigned as an independent adviser to the board of subsidiary Millennium & Copthorne Hotels Limited (MCHL).  

Dr Wu had held the post since August 2024. Before that, Dr Wu had been a director on the MCHL board between June 2022 and January 2024.

In a statement, CDL’s executive chairman Kwek Leng Beng said that the MCHL board on Tuesday (Mar 4) received the “irrevocable resignation of Dr Catherine Wu as an unpaid independent advisor, with immediate effect”. 

The elder Kwek’s son, Sherman, who is the group CEO of CDL, had earlier said that Dr Wu has been “interfering in matters going well beyond her scope”, adding that “she wields and exercises enormous influence”.

Mr Kwek Leng Beng said: “The CDL CEO had sought to justify his board coup and overt breaches of corporate governance with unproven insinuations about Dr Wu.

He said that the “primary reason for the dispute relates to a very serious issue of corporate governance within the CDL group arising from the conduct of one Dr Catherine Wu”.

“Now that Dr Wu has resigned, the CEO and his team of directors no longer have any continuing basis to make such corporate governance allegations about CDL and to justify his Board coup,” the elder Kwek added.

“It is high time that we restore investor confidence and ensure those breaches of corporate governance committed by the CEO and his team of directors (including breaches of the SGX Listing Rules and the Code of Corporate Governance) will never happen again.”

He went on to point out several issues that CDL needs to address, citing several examples under the CEO’s leadership.

One such instance was the Sincere Property “debacle” that ended up in an extraordinary loss of S$1.9 billion for CDL in FY2020, he said.

He attributed substantial financial setbacks in the UK property market to “poorly judged investment decisions” that led to a 94 per cent decline in profits during the first half of 2023.

He also said CDL’s share price has “persistently lagged” behind its peers since his son took the helm in 2018, and that it dropped even further due to the recent breaches of the relevant regulations by the CEO and his team of directors.

“The first step in addressing these challenges should be to strengthen the corporate governance framework in a way that aligns with shareholders’ long-term interests,” he said.

“Our utmost focus on CDL’s core businesses is critical and essential for regaining a stable path of profitability. I am convinced that such an approach will surely restore investor confidence and enhance shareholder value over time.”

CDL is one of Singapore’s largest property companies, controlled by the Kwek family.

The family feud and boardroom tussle was thrust into the public spotlight when Kwek Leng Beng issued a statement, saying he was taking his son to court over alleged governance lapses and an attempted power grab at the board level.

The 84-year-old characterised his son’s actions as an attempted “coup” and said he was seeking to restore corporate integrity.

In a subsequent statement, the elder Kwek announced that his son and other directors acting with him have agreed to cease further action following a court hearing. 

Mr Sherman Kwek had said that his father’s first statement failed to present a “full picture” of the dispute.

He said that the claim that there was an “attempted coup” by the majority directors to consolidate control of CDL’s board was not only incorrect, but it also distracted from the nub of the issue, therefore requiring them to respond to present the full picture.

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