Asia – Page 2400 – Sure A Not

She works round-the-clock to save children: Meet Singaporeâs only female paediatric neurosurgeon at KKH

On: August 19, 2023

Dr Low said she is one of only three paediatric neurosurgeons in Singapore, all of whom are based at KKH – of the three, she is the only woman.

Her patients range from a day old to 19 years old. She treats brain and spine tumours, hydrocephalus, head injuries, and other conditions involving the brain and spinal cord, such as brain cysts, brain infections and certain birth defects.

There is no margin for error in neurosurgery. “If you cause injury to any of the brain or spine structures, the patient might end up being paralysed, in a vegetative state or dead,” Dr Low said, noting that this has not happened at KKH.

It’s also why medical insurance premiums for neurosurgeons are one of the highest amongst all specialties, she added.

Hours also run long. “When I started training, they told me that is one of those specialties where you don’t get to go home,” she laughed.

This is one reason neurosurgery is not a popular choice among medical students. In Singapore, there are only 50-plus neurosurgeons. Of these, roughly 10 per cent are women.

In fact, Dr Low said she is the second female neurosurgeon in Singapore – the first is from the United Kingdom. She started practising in 2016 and three other female neurosurgeons joined the speciality after. So today, there are five female neurosurgeons practising locally, she said.

Thaksin may arrive ‘early next week’

By: Barkar Nash

On: August 19, 2023

In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED : 19 Aug 2023 at 07:03

The Royal Thai Police and relevant agencies reportedly met on Friday to make preparations for the much-anticipated return of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who might arrive early next week.

A source said assistant police chief Pol Lt Gen Prachuap Wongsuk called the meeting with a number of agencies including the Corrections Department, the Immigration Bureau and the Metropolitan Police Bureau to prepare for Thaksin’s homecoming.

The fugitive former prime minister is said to be arriving early next week, possibly on Monday or Tuesday. It is believed Thaksin will arrive via private plane and land at Don Mueang Airport.

The planned return coincides with the planned prime ministerial vote on Aug 22. Pheu Thai which is forming a coalition, plans to nominate former real estate tycoon Srettha Thavisin for the top political job.

Jatuporn Prompan, former chair of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship and a staunch critic of Thaksin, on Friday shrugged off the latest speculation about Thaksin’s return after 17 years in self-imposed exile.

“I’d love to see him come back so that we can move on to address national issues. But given the political situation, his timing doesn’t make sense,” he said.

Anusorn Iamsa-ard, a Pheu Thai list-MP, said Thaksin’s return has nothing to do with the government coalition formation and that the former prime minister can return whenever he feels comfortable.

Thaksin fled Thailand in 2008, shortly before the Supreme Court convicted him for helping his then-wife, Khunying Potjaman Na Pombejra, buy prime land in the Ratchadaphisek area at a discount while he was prime minister.

Thaksin posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had originally planned to return to Thailand by Aug 10, but that plans for a medical checkup meant a delay of two weeks.

His daughter, Paetongtarn, who is a prime ministerial candidate for the Pheu Thai Party, flew to Dubai early this week to take him to see an ophthalmologist. Thaksin faces jail sentences of 10 years in three cases in which he was convicted in absentia by the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions.

PM vote doubts persist

By: Barkar Nash

On: August 18, 2023

In: South-East Asia

Questions remain on support for Srettha

Questions remain over whether the country’s 30th prime minister can be elected on Tuesday as the political situation is still highly volatile, according to observers.

The Pheu Thai Party, which is in charge of forming a new government, now has the backing of the United Thai Nation (UTN) Party, which has agreed to join a Pheu Thai coalition and vote for its prime ministerial candidate Srettha Thavisin.

A group of 40 MPs from the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) earlier also promised to vote for Pheu Thai’s PM candidate, even though the PPPR has not yet announced a formal decision.

However, it is still not clear whether Mr Srettha will receive backing from the 250 senators because some senators have questioned his qualifications following claims made by whistleblower Chuvit Kamolvisit about alleged irregularities at property developer Sansiri while Mr Srettha served as its chief executive.

Some senators have also voiced opposition to Pheu Thai’s push for a new constitution after the new government takes office.

Under the current constitution, a PM candidate needs the support of at least half of the 750 members of both the lower and upper chambers of parliament or 376 votes in total.

Yutthaporn Issarachai, a political science lecturer at Sukhothai Thammathirat Open University, said that Mr Srettha is expected to receive backing from the UTN and the PPRP during the PM vote on Tuesday.

But it remains to be seen whether the senators will also vote for him, Mr Yutthaporn said.

“There are several factors, particu- larly the allegations made by Mr Chuvit,” he said. “These will put pressure on Pheu Thai. Its PM candidate will only have one chance during the vote.”

He cited a precedent set by parliament when it rejected a bid to renominate Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat at a joint sitting on July 19, with opponents citing a parliamentary regulation. They argued that renomination violated parliamentary regulation 41, which prohibits resubmitting a failed motion during the same parliamentary session.

Mr Yutthaporn added that currently, there are four PM candidates from three parties who are likely to be nominated for PM; namely, Mr Srettha and Paetongtarn Shinawatra from Pheu Thai; Gen Prawit Wongsuwon of the PPRP and Anutin Charnvirakul of the Bhumjaithai Party.

If Mr Srettha is not elected during the vote, it is still not clear whether Pheu Thai will nominate Ms Paetongtarn.

“If she is not nominated, the post of prime minister may be taken by those from the old power group,” Mr Yutthaporn said.

“Eventually, Pheu Thai may have to accept conditions from other coalition allies bargaining for cabinet posts,” he said, adding Pheu Thai may also be forced to nominate Gen Prawit for prime minister.

Lt Gen Nanthadet Meksawat, former chief of the special operations centre at the National Security Centre, posted on Facebook that he believed Mr Srettha is unlikely to win endorsement from parliament on Tuesday following the move by Mr Chuvit.

Sen Jadet Insawang previously said several senators have questioned Mr Srettha’s suitability after Mr Chuvit made allegations against him.

Speaking on Facebook Live, Jatuporn Prompan, former chair of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, shared the view that Mr Srettha’s bid for prime minister would fail because the senators would not vote for him.

“Mr Srettha no longer has the backing of the people now Pheu Thai has joined hands with the two ‘uncle’ parties,” he said, referring to the UTN and the PPRP.

Meanwhile, Mr Srettha will not be asked to outline his vision as a PM candidate ahead of a parliamentary vote on Tuesday, according to parliament president Wan Muhamad Noor Matha.

The matter was agreed upon by whips from the Senate and representatives of political parties who met with Mr Wan on Friday.

Mr Srettha did not seek office in the May 14 election as a constituency or party-list MP. There are no rules specifically barring a non-MP from addressing a parliamentary meeting, Mr Wan said.

However, those at Friday’s meeting did not believe it was necessary for anyone nominated for prime minister to give a vision statement because the constitution and parliamentary regulations did not stipulate any such requirement, Mr Wan added.

Made In Heaven: A show taking on all that’s wrong with Indian weddings

By: Marcus Ching

On: August 18, 2023

In: Asia

By Cherylann Mollan

BBC News, Mumbai

In India, weddings are largely grand, boisterous affairs. But a new web show casts a sceptical lens on the event, exposing some of the unsavoury realities that might lie behind the splendour.

The second season of Made In Heaven, streaming on Amazon Prime Video, traces the trials and tribulations of a group of wedding planners who go to great lengths to help Delhi’s elite experience their “dream weddings”.

The team is managed by Tara and Karan, who juggle their own problems along with those of the brides and grooms.

The series is among the most-watched on the platform in India currently, and fans have hailed it for showcasing lavish weddings and stunning outfits, along with a healthy dose of drama. It has also been praised for spotlighting social customs and prejudices that impact marriages but are often not spoken about, let alone shown on screen.

However, the show has also been criticised for its portrayal of Muslims and for not crediting a Dalit writer in an episode that allegedly draws on her work. The makers have denied the latter’s allegation.

India’s obsession with marriage has often been portrayed in reality shows – such as Indian Matchmaking and Band Baajaa Bride – and popular films.

Though things are slowly changing in the metropolitan cities, marrying largely remains the norm and single people, especially women, are often pressured by their families to “settle down”.

A majority of the marriages in India are still arranged by families, who choose partners within the same caste and community. The institution is also seen as uniting not just two people but their families, a belief that can have a bearing on innocuous things like the wedding guest list to more serious decisions a couple may face, like choosing to have a child, call off a wedding or get divorced.

The show spotlights some of these deep-rooted problems plaguing not just marriages but Indian society.

In one episode, a bride is constantly made aware of her “dark skin” by her family and is encouraged to try a treatment that will make her skin “cleaner” and “brighter” – euphemisms carefully chosen to be less offensive. The bride, in turn, cannot get herself to stop applying fairness creams even though her partner tells her she’s beautiful as she is.

In another episode, a groom’s mother asks a bride if she really wants to call off the wedding, despite seeing the blood and bruises on the bride’s face after her son, a life coach, kicks her in a jealous rage. (The bride decides to go ahead with the wedding after her abusive fiancé shows up outside her door, wailing and promising to “be better” with her help.)

Then there’s a father who refuses to attend his lesbian daughter’s commitment ceremony because he’s afraid of what people will say, and a celebrity couple who tie the knot in an opulent ceremony in France, but more for optics and opportunity than for love.

“Each episode in this season takes up one structural social evil that is strengthened by marriage,” says Debashree Mukherjee, a film scholar and professor at Columbia University. “Each episode ends with a gorgeous spectacle of a wedding but each relationship is so fraught with deep tensions that marriage as a social institution starts to unravel from within. Instead we get a vision of marriage as pure spectacle,” she says.

The show has also been praised for depicting a Dalit (formerly known as untouchables) wedding with aplomb, rare in mainstream entertainment. The protagonist, Pallavi Menke, who’s a Dalit academic, has to fight with her upper-caste husband and in-laws to include Buddhist wedding rituals in the celebrations.

Her in-laws are proud of her academic achievements, but not of her caste, while her liberal-minded husband is so blinded by his privilege that he’s unable to see how his own family might be casteist.

But the show has also met with criticism on some fronts; some viewers have taken offence with an episode that aims to address polygamy.

In it, a Muslim man marries for the second time against the wishes of his first wife. One X (formerly Twitter) user criticised the show’s makers for “peddling stereotypes” about the Muslim community.

The drama has also found itself in another controversy after Dalit writer Yashica Dutt accused the makers of using her “life and words” in the Buddhist wedding episode without crediting her. The makers “categorically denied any claim that Ms Dutt’s life or work was appropriated by us”.

Sayantan Ghosh, who works in publishing, said he found the show a tad preachy and would’ve liked for the storytelling to be more nuanced. Film critic Sucharita Tyagi says that some of the storylines were too “on the nose” and sounded like a “20-year-old trying to make it as an activist”.

But despite the controversies and the rather bleak view the show takes of weddings and relationships – many feel that it’s relevant, if only to start conversations around taboo subjects. Through the warm friendship of Tara and Karan, the series also imparts one of its subtlest takes on relationships.

Tara, who’s negotiating a tough divorce settlement with her spouse, and Karan, a gay man who’s struggling to come to terms with his dying mother’s denial of his sexuality, are always there for each other. Through good times and bad, they have each other’s backs.

“Where there is friendship, there is love, solidarity, and companionship,” Ms Mukherjee says.

BBC News India is now on YouTube. Click here to subscribe and watch our documentaries, explainers and features.

Sky the limit for Embraer-Nidec flying EV tie-up

By: Bolen C

On: August 18, 2023

In: Asia

Embraer and Nidec have announced plans to establish a joint venture to produce electric motor propulsion systems for aircraft, a deal that will contribute to Embraer’s development of low and zero carbon emission aircraft and Nidec’s renewable energy-related business. The new company, to be known as Nidec Aerospace, will be owned 51% by Nidec and […]Continue Reading

Srettha accuses foe of sour grapes over deal

By: Barkar Nash

On: August 18, 2023

In: South-East Asia

Says Chuvit still bitter about unsold land

PUBLISHED : 19 Aug 2023 at 06:08

Pheu Thai Party’s prime ministerial candidate Srettha Thavisin posted a video message on his Facebook account on Friday claiming that whistleblower and former parlour tycoon Chuvit Kamolvisit made allegations of improper business dealings against him because Mr Srettha declined to buy some of his land on Soi Sukhumvit 24 last year worth 2 billion baht.

Mr Srettha is attempting to fend off the corruption allegations ahead of the next round of voting for a new prime minister next week.

Parliament will meet on Tuesday to decide whether to vote for him and end three months of political deadlock since the May 14 general election.

Mr Srettha, a wealthy property mogul, said Sansiri — the property developer of which he was CEO — strictly abides by good governance principles and steadfastly observes all legal procedures without seeking to exploit them for self-serving purposes.

He said the company has never faced any such accusations before.

“We are transparent in our work. I come here today to show my innocence to the general public, and to say that my activities were done in accordance with the law,” he said.

Mr Srettha denied all of Mr Chuvit’s accusations. He said Sansiri buys land and has no obligation to intervene with the interior administration of the seller.

As a purchaser, it does not use nominees and never takes out loans, he said, referring to Mr Chuvit’s other claim on Tuesday that the company used four nominees and a 1-billion-baht loan from its subsidiary previously to purchase land in the Thong Lor area of Bangkok.

The 1 billion baht alluded to was the mortgage agreed to and signed by both parties, coupled with the attendant insurance policy, Mr Srettha said.

“I have all the evidence and I insist there was no such loan contract. I am not involved in any illegal activities and neither myself nor the Sansiri employees ever receive any money from corruption,” Mr Srettha wrote.

Mr Srettha claimed Mr Chuvit simply has an axe to grind over a property deal last September that never materialised. Sansiri was not able to buy the land as Mr Chuvit’s land was legally tied to another company, Raimon Land.

“Since then, I have been threatened by Mr Chuvit’s aides via messages demanding that I pay the deposit to buy [Mr Chuvit’s land] at the full price.

“[He wanted] me to sign an MoU on the land purchase deal without any conditions after Pheu Thai decided to nominate me as its prime ministerial candidate,” Mr Srettha wrote.

He also urged Mr Chuvit to stop distorting information about Pheu Thai’s digital wallet policy.

Mr Chuvit posted photos online of one of the alleged nominees to back his claim.

Multiple failures hounding Ukraineâs counteroffensive

By: Bolen C

On: August 18, 2023

In: Asia

Major breakthroughs against Russian forces by Ukraine in its ongoing military counteroffensive are unlikely. Close observers of the battlefield foresee an open-ended war moving forward with little significant battlefield progress by either side.

Analysts as well as visitors to the Ukrainian front lines offer multiple reasons for the developing stalemate. Russia’s laying of formidable and wide minefields along the 600-mile front in eastern and southern Ukraine has provided a catch-all reason for the slow-going.

But minefields are only one cause of battlefield stagnation, expert observers say. Tactical deficiencies on the part of the Ukrainians limit the extent to which they can launch sophisticated attacks that might bring advances. Much like their Russian counterparts, Ukrainian troops have fallen back on bludgeoning cannon fire designed to wear down the enemy defenders over time.

Hubris may also have played a part in the snail’s pace counteroffensive. The failure of Russia’s efforts to capture major cities at the war’s beginning and the subsequent retreat of Moscow’s forces may have raised expectations for a repeat Ukrainian advance. Dug-in Russian forces are staying put this time, though; the Ukrainian advance has not happened.

The Ukrainians had wanted to score significant victories before winter sets in by late October. That now appears unlikely. Frontline troops have described efforts to advance forward as moving from “tree to tree.” The word “attrition” is emerging as the preferred description of the war.

“The most probable outcome,” writes wrote Anthony Cordesman, a leading researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in the United States, “is a war of attrition that has no clear outcome or time limit.”

It is, he says,“a war where both sides fight a long series of relatively static battles, with high levels of attrition, while they increasingly dig in along the entire front.”

Jeffrey Sachs, a Columbia University professor, political activist and critic of US President Joe Biden, suggests that Washington has cynical motives for keeping the war going.

“Ukraine is being destroyed,” Sachs said in a recent television interview. “There’s no strategy … or, at worst, cynically putting on a brave face to ensure some sort of admission of defeat does not get in the way of Biden’s 2024 reelection effort.”

With Russian troops still in Ukraine, Western governments that support Kiev have begun to consider the need for a negotiated settlement of the conflict, even as they publicly pledge open-ended support for Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky insists the Russians must leave Ukrainian territory first. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has predicted a “difficult autumn” of diplomacy for Ukraine in fighting off demands for peace talks.

“These voices that are beginning to be heard in different countries of the world, saying that there are problems and that negotiations are needed. These voices are getting louder,” Kuleba told a Ukrainian news agency.

On August 15, a top NATO official openly broached the idea that Ukraine should negotiate. “I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up some territory but get NATO membership in return,” said Stian Jenssen, an aide to NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. He added that Western diplomats are already discussing Ukraine’s postwar security status.

Ukrainian officials reacted furiously: The country’s forces are suffering daily casualties in the name of recovering all occupied land, they said. Jenssen took his words back and apologized. “It was a mistake,” he declared.

Biden has publicly pledged to support Ukraine’s battle with Russia “for as long as it takes.” But within his administration, too, ambiguity has sometimes surfaced.

Last winter, when the Ukrainians appeared to be winning and Russian forces were in retreat, top general Mark Milley suggested that “you want to negotiate at a time when you’re at strength and your opponent is at weakness.”

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

“There has to be a mutual recognition that a military victory is probably, in the true sense of the word, is maybe not achievable,” he intoned. “And therefore you need to turn to other means.” Milley, too, verbally withdrew his suggestion in the face of Ukrainian complaints.

In any event, the kind of auspicious “moment” Milley described has passed. Ukrainians have made meager progress in a few places along the long front lines. In two months of battle, they have gained as little as ten miles, by some estimates.

Some conquests are measured in terms of yards: about 1,500 yards around the town of Orikhiv, southeast of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant; a bit less than that around nearby Hulyaypole and Velyka Novosilka to the east.

Near Bakhmut, a town lost to Russian mercenaries during fierce combat in the winter and spring, Ukrainian forces have won back only a few hundred yards of high ground.

Ukraine’s inability to conduct maneuvers known as “complex combined arms operations” makes it difficult to break through Russian defenses, military experts say. Under combined operations, different combat branches synchronize simultaneous attacks – for example, tanks firing on enemy positions and launching guided missiles to protect infantry advances.

This tactic takes a level of coordination that the Ukrainians have not mastered, according to Franz-Stefan Gady, a consulting researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a British research institute.

Gady and a group of colleagues recently spent several days on Ukrainian front lines near Zaporizhzhya. He paints a grim picture of the situation facing frontline soldiers. “Among traumatized veterans, there is a common theme with enormous implications: that others cannot possibly comprehend their suffering,” he wrote on Twitter (now known as X).

Somehow, despite formidable intelligence operations, allies have failed to deliver anti-mine equipment that might contribute to a breakthrough on the ground.

Since Russia’s early retreat in a war originally predicted by Moscow and Western officials alike to last only days, Russian forces have scrambled to defend themselves against relatively sophisticated weapons delivered to Ukraine by the US and NATO allies.

Prominent among the deliveries were the US deliveries of mobile HIMAR light multiple rocket launchers, which gave Ukraine the ability to hit targets up to 72 kilometers away.

By late winter 2023, however, the Russians had devised methods to jam the HIMAR’s guidance system, making the projectiles much less effective. “I think it’s fair to say that the HIMARs’ effect from last summer [is] definitely over,” Gady said. He added that the Russian ability to jam the projectile’s guidance system may hinder provision of more advanced weaponry.

“I think we should keep that in mind when we think about other long-range precision-guided munitions… Russia, sooner or later, will find a countermeasure to it,” he said.

Indeed, instead of sending more sophisticated weapons to help the Ukrainians, the Biden administration recently provided hundreds of cluster bombs, which are flocks of unguided weapons launched from artillery shells that are dispersed helter-skelter over a wide area.

Some observers suggest that the sum of problems – unsophisticated tactics, Russian defense improvements, the failure to foresee the effect of minefields and wrongheaded expectations of quick breakthroughs – mean hopes of bringing Russia to its knees are fanciful.

Ukrainian soldier in a mud-filled trench reportedly near Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, in November. Photo: Creative Commons via Radio Free Europe

All this has occurred as the Russians, and in particular President Vladimir Putin, faced their own string of mishaps: battlefield failures, purging of top generals, occasional outbursts of domestic opposition followed by persecution of dissidents and an apparent revolt of Wagner Group mercenaries who fought for months in Ukraine.

Russia has largely turned to peppering the Ukraine interior with rockets and drone attacks to damage Ukrainian infrastructure and morale.

So, if breakthroughs on the ground by either side seem unlikely, what’s next? Perhaps World War I-style immobile trench warfare.

“The big strategic question is whether the front lines will stagnate and eventually turn the war into a frozen conflict,” writes Raphael Cohen, a political scientist at the Rand Corporation, a US think tank. “The answer will ultimately come down to whether Western military aid or the ongoing Russian mobilization gains the upper hand.”

Macabre deity statue to be obscured from public view

By: Barkar Nash

On: August 18, 2023

In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED : 19 Aug 2023 at 05:49

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) is allowing a controversial sculpture of the deity Khru Kai Kaeo to remain on the premises of the Bazaar Hotel on Ratchadaphisek Road for the time being despite a barrage of complaints.

Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt said he ordered the BMA’s permanent secretary to confirm whether or not the statue contravenes any laws or regulations. No violation has been found thus far, he said.

“As the sculpture is clearly visible from Ratchadaphisek Road, its scary-looking appearance might frighten passers-by and commuters. We understand that the sculpture makes some people feel uncomfortable. We will try our best to find a solution,” he said.

The 4-metre-tall gargoyle-like effigy is painted black with red eyes, yellow fangs and long red nails. Some claim it depicts the revered mentor of Jayavarman VII, a former king in the Khmer Empire. But historians have dismissed this as not having any basis in fact.

Pimuk Simaroj, Mr Chadchart’s secretary, said representatives of the BMA and the Bazaar Hotel agreed on Friday in principle that the hotel will build a screen so the statue cannot be seen from the road.

“We have to weigh the needs of two groups of people: those who are displeased at seeing the sculpture and the worshippers who don’t want it to be removed,” Mr Chadchart said.

As the statue is less than 10m tall it does not require a permit from the BMA. It also sits on private property, making its installation the prerogative of the hotel, he added.

To find a solution, the BMA has ordered the hotel to design a screen to make it invisible to road users and submit the design to a district office for approval.

“The screen will prevent passers-by from seeing it but still allow worshippers to pay their respects,” he said, adding the hotel agreed to the move.

The public is welcome to file complaints with the BMA if there are any issues that City Hall needs to address, Mr Chadchart said.

Red-shirt group urges Pheu Thai to help political exiles return

By: Barkar Nash

On: August 18, 2023

In: South-East Asia

PUBLISHED : 19 Aug 2023 at 05:22

A red-shirt supporters group has called on Pheu Thai Party to help bring exiled activists accused of political offences back home after it forms a government.

The group calling itself the Media for Democracy, led by Jutikhong Phummoon, gathered at Pheu Thai’s headquarters on Friday.

Mr Jutikhong said that once Pheu Thai forms a government, it should clear the way for the activists, accused of political offences but not implicated in lese majeste cases, to come home as innocent people and facilitate their return.

He also said the group supported Pheu Thai’s efforts to set up a constitution drafting assembly to draw up a new charter as quickly as possible once the new government takes office.

He said the new government should also reduce water, electricity and fuel prices and speed up its 10,000-baht digital wallet programme referring to a handout for Thais aged 16 and over, delivered to their smartphone. The giveaway aims to stimulate spending in local communities in the administration’s first six months with the help of blockchain technology. The money must be spent within a 4-kilometre radius of the user’s registered address.

Nikhom Boonwiset, a Pheu Thai list-MP, accepted the group’s petition and said the party will step up efforts to implement its election policy pledges.

He said Pheu Thai made the right decision to work with other parties from the opposite end of the political spectrum to form a government to reduce conflict and foster unity for the country’s sake. He was referring to the United Thai Nation Party, which agreed to join the Pheu Thai-led coalition on Thursday.

A source previously said Pheu Thai had also sealed a deal with the Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP), which had agreed to vote for Pheu Thai’s prime ministerial candidate, Srettha Thavisin, in exchange for cabinet posts.

As a result, Pheu This is taking heavy criticism for reneging on its word before the May 14 election that it would not work with “uncle” parties — those linked to military leaders involved in the 2014 coup.

The “uncles” refer to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, the former UTN chief adviser and prime ministerial candidate, and Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, the leader and prime ministerial candidate of the PPRP.

Commentary: The challenges facing Malaysiaâs opposition as it works up to GE16

By: Jing Write

On: August 18, 2023

In: Asia

WHAT NOW FOR BERSATU?

Bersatu’s challenges are more existential.

The party is a breakaway from the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which had ruled Malaysia for more than six decades before being booted out of power in 2018. It was formed in September 2016 after Mr Muhyiddin and former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad abandoned UMNO following a political fallout with Malaysia’s now-jailed former prime minister and UMNO president, Najib Razak.

Without a powerbase, the party now faces an uphill task to remain politically relevant until the next general election.

The party’s leadership is grappling with legal troubles over charges of corruption that are bound to be a serious distraction to performing as a credible opposition and staying cohesive. Apart from Mr Muhyiddin, opposition leader Hamzah Zainuddin and Azmin Ali, a former senior politician in Mr Anwar’s Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) party, Bersatu does not have a second echelon leadership line-up.

Separately, a new dynamic is taking shape in Malaysian politics.

The last two general elections in Malaysia featured contests between three broad political forces. In the 2018 general election, the fight was between the UMNO-led Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition, PH and PAS, while the polls in November 2022, saw fights between PH, BN and PN.

Last weekend’s state assembly elections featured straight fights between Mr Anwar’s unity government that now includes UMMO and BN against the PN.

To emerge as a serious alternative, the PN coalition must find something other than the disenchantment among the Malay community towards establishing a national political footprint.

Leslie Lopez is a senior correspondent at CNA Digital who reports on political and economic affairs in the region.

Asia (Page 2,400)

She works round-the-clock to save children: Meet Singaporeâs only female paediatric neurosurgeon at KKH

Thaksin may arrive ‘early next week’

PM vote doubts persist

Made In Heaven: A show taking on all that’s wrong with Indian weddings

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Sky the limit for Embraer-Nidec flying EV tie-up

Srettha accuses foe of sour grapes over deal

Multiple failures hounding Ukraineâs counteroffensive

Macabre deity statue to be obscured from public view

Red-shirt group urges Pheu Thai to help political exiles return

Commentary: The challenges facing Malaysiaâs opposition as it works up to GE16

WHAT NOW FOR BERSATU?