MAS proposes regulatory framework for retail investment in private market investment funds

The Monetary Authority of Singapore ( MAS ) made a recommendation for a regulatory framework for retail investors to make investments in private market investment funds on Thursday ( Mar 27 ). &nbsp,

The regulator said the move would give retail owners more options for making purchases, noting that they are becoming more and more interested in such investments. &nbsp,

Experienced market players are also interested in supplying retail investors with products from personal business investment funds, according to MAS in a media release. &nbsp,

A personal business expense fund is a fund that invests in either personal or non-publicly traded assets. Retail traders in Singapore have “limited access” to secret market investments like private capital, private funds, and infrastructure, according to MAS. &nbsp,

According to MAS in the press release, the proposal will provide investors with a wider range of options for building well-diversified portfolio while opening the door for the potential list of personal market investment money. &nbsp,

Two different finance types are being considered in the plan.

The first is a strong fund, which invests directly in the private sector. According to MAS, this gives the underlying assets greater awareness.

A long-term purchase fund-of-funds structure, which generally invests in other secret market investment funds, is the next option. &nbsp,

Investors who want to evaluate and monitor a diverse portfolio of secret market investment funds may benefit from this. &nbsp,

MAS is looking for opinions on the proposed regulation model, especially considering that the two constructions may require different regulatory protections. &nbsp,

In the media release, it stated that “MAS is also seeking views on the range of personal business purchase assets that can be appropriately offered to retail investors.” &nbsp,

By May 26th, submit opinions via the FormSG website. &nbsp,

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In latest acquisition, Catcha Digital acquires Theta Service Partner to enter banking software sector

  • Conditional agreement for 92.5% in Theta Service Partner for approximately US$7.9m cash
  • Strategic entry into banking software sector for Catcha Digital as it builds out its digital ambitions

From left (standing): Helen Wong (Partner, Messrs Tay & Helen Wong); Lim Cheah Hoay (Associate, Cheang & Ariff); Choy Chong Hwai (Manager, Finance & Administration, Theta); Chan Chong Yoong (Head of Technical Department, Theta); Yoon Ming Sun (Partner, Cheang & Ariff); Chin Yi Hong (Senior Investment Analyst, Catcha Digital); Justin Tee (Associate, Cheang & Ariff); and Eugene Gan (Senior Associate, Cheang & Ariff).  From left (sitting): Hew How Fong (Director & Chief Technology Officer, Theta); Mark Leong (Chief Commercial Officer, Theta); Eric Tan (CEO, Catcha Digital); and Oscar Ong (Vice President of Investments, Catcha Digital).

Catcha Digital Bhd announced on Wednesday its third acquisition in just the month of March, matching the three it made in the entire 2024. Its wholly-owned subsidiary, Catcha Theta Holdings Sdn Bhd has entered into a conditional share sale agreement to acquire 92.5% equity interest in Theta Service Partner Sdn Bhd (Theta) for a cash consideration of approximately US$7.9 million (RM35 million) (subject to adjustments as set out in the conditional share sale agreement), which is split into 4 tranches of RM5.9 million, RM6.6 million, RM11.2 million and RM11.3 million respectively.

[RM1 = US$0.22]

The second, third and fourth tranche payments are tied to expected profit after tax of not less than RM3.5 million, RM4 million and RM5 million for the financial year ended/ending 31 Dec (FYE) 2024, FYE 2025 and FYE 2026, respectively. This strategic acquisition marks Catcha Digital’s expansion into the banking software solutions sector, specifically in loan origination software. In FYE 2023, Theta and its subsidiaries (Theta Group) recorded a profit after tax (PAT) of RM3.4 million. This transaction is expected to contribute positively to Catcha Digital’s earnings.

Theta is a leading provider of loan origination software for financial institutions through its flagship product ORIGINS – a comprehensive lending solution that streamlines operations across retail, SME, and commercial segments.

Theta Group has gained traction among major financial institutions globally, maintaining long-term relationships spanning over two decades with some of Southeast Asia’s largest banking groups (ranked by total assets) for their operations across the region, including one of the largest banks in Singapore, one of the largest banks in Malaysia, and a prominent Pan-Asian bank headquartered in Taiwan.

“This acquisition represents a strategic entry into the banking software sector and is well-aligned with our vision of building a comprehensive digital technology group. What particularly impressed us about Theta Group was their deep domain expertise in loan origination systems, evidenced by their long-standing relationships with major financial institutions across multiple markets. Their proven track record in delivering mission-critical software solutions to its long term customers, combined with a proven management team with deep domain expertise, presents compelling sustainable growth opportunities,” said Patrick Grove, Chairman of Catcha Digital.

“Joining forces with Catcha Digital strengthens our ability to capture the significant opportunities we see in the banking software sector. Over our 25-year journey, we’ve witnessed firsthand how critical robust loan origination systems have become for financial institutions’ operations, alongside the tailwind presented by tighter regulation amongst the banking industry globally. The market is now demanding more sophisticated solutions, particularly around artificial intelligence and cloud capabilities. Catcha Digital’s strategic support and regional network will be instrumental as we accelerate our next phase of growth,” said Leong Kwok Hung, Managing Director of Theta.

The proposed acquisition aligns with Catcha Digital’s vision to diversify its business to include information technology solutions business and build the leading digital group in ASEAN, targeting the region’s fast-growing digital economy, valued at approximately RM1 trillion according to Google, Temasek, and Bain & Company’s 2024 SEA e-Conomy report. The Group continues to seek strategic investments and proposed acquisitions that complement its existing segments while expanding its presence in the digital economy beyond digital media.

Including the proposed acquisition of Theta, Catcha Digital has announced six strategic acquisitions in the last five months, each positioned to strengthen its foothold in the digital economy and contribute positively to future earnings. The aggregate expected profit to be achieved by each target company is approximately RM21.1 million, based on their respective 12-month post-completion periods or FYE 31 December 2025 where applicable.

  1. On 17 March 2025, Catcha Digital announced an acquisition of 51% interest in DS Services Sdn Bhd (Digital Symphony) for RM22.95 million. The payment, to be made in three tranches over 24 months, is contingent on Digital Symphony achieving a PAT of RM4.5 million in the first 12 months post-completion and RM4.2 million in the subsequent 12 months. The acquisition has not been completed as it is pending the fulfilment of the conditions precedent under the conditional share sale agreement.
  2. On 14 March 2025, Catcha Digital announced an acquisition of 60% interest in Framemotion Studio Sdn Bhd for RM37.32 million. The payment, to be made in three tranches over 24 months, is contingent on Framemotion achieving a profit after tax and minority interest of RM6.8 million in the first 12 months post-completion and RM6.8 million in the subsequent 12 months. The acquisition has not been completed as it is pending the fulfilment of the conditions precedent under the conditional share sale agreement.
  3. On 20 Dec 2024, Catcha Digital announced a 60% acquisition of Drive 2 Digital Sdn Bhd (D2D) for RM16.2 million. The payment, to be made in three tranches over 24 months, is contingent on D2D achieving a PAT of RM3.5 million in the first 12 months post-completion and RM4.2 million in the subsequent 12 months. The acquisition has not been completed as it is pending the fulfilment of the conditions precedent under the conditional share sale agreement.
  4. On 19 Dec 2024, Catcha Digital announced a 70% acquisition of Tastefully Malaysia Sdn Bhd for RM7.6 million. The payment, to be made in four tranches over 36 months, is contingent on Tastefully achieving a PAT of RM0.5 million for the FYE 2024, RM1.1 million for the first 12 months after completion, RM1.4 million for the subsequent 12 months, and RM1.6 million for the final 12 months. The acquisition has not been completed as it is pending the fulfilment of the conditions precedent under the conditional share sale agreement.
  5. On 28 Nov 2024, Catcha Digital announced a 51% acquisition of Nexible Solutions Sdn Bhd for RM11.3 million, which was completed on 22 Jan 2025. The purchase consideration are to be paid in four tranches and is tied to the achievement of the profit after-tax guarantee (PAT Guarantee) over the period of 36 months, broken down into PAT Guarantee of RM0.7 million, RM1.2 million, RM2.2 million and RM3.3 million for the 12-month period ended 31 December 2024, 31 December 2025, 31 December 2026 and 31 December 2027 respectively.

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How Elon Musk’s SpaceX Secretly Allows Investment From China – Asia Times

This article was first published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning analytical news website.

Elon Musk’s aircraft large SpaceX allows owners from China to acquire stakes in the business as long as the money are routed through the Cayman Islands or other offshore privacy centers, according to previously unidentified court records.

Recently, a unique instance of SpaceX’s strategy was revealed in a hidden-in-the-radar business debate in Delaware. Both SpaceX’s chief financial officer and Iqbaljit Kahlon, a big investor, were forced to testify in the case.

Because it is a defence contractor, SpaceX prefers to avoid Chinese investors, according to Kahlon in December. There is a big exception, though, he said: SpaceX finds it “acceptable” for Foreign investors to buy into the business through offshore cars.

According to Kahlon,” the main mechanism is that those investors may come through intermediaries that they would create or that others would create.” ” Usually they do set up BVI buildings or Cayman buildings or Hong Kong institutions and various other people”, he added, using the letters of the British Virgin Islands.

Buyers are frequently kept anonymous by offshore cars. Researchers called SpaceX’s view strange, saying they were troubled by the possibility that a defense contractor may take active measures to mask foreign ownership passions.

Kahlon, who has long been close to the company’s authority, claims to be a billion-dollar stockholder. His investment company also acts as a mediator, raising money from investors to buy very sought SpaceX stocks. According to the court files, he has used funds from China to acquire stakes in SpaceX several times through the Caribbean.

The legal dispute centers on an aborted 2021 deal, when SpaceX executives grew angry after news broke that a Chinese firm was going to buy$ 50 million of the company’s stock. The order was finally cancelled by SpaceX.

In separate evidence, the jet company’s CFO explained that the media policy was” not good for our business as a government contractor”. The US government pays the company billions to handle sensitive work, such as creating a classified spy satellite network, and SpaceX’s business is built on those contracts.

Company executives were concerned that coverage of the deal could lead to problems with national security regulators in the US, according to Kahlon’s testimony and a filing from his attorneys.

Perhaps the most significant pillar of Musk’s fortune is SpaceX, which also launches rockets for NASA and sells satellite internet service. His estimated 42 % stake in the company is valued at around$ 150 billion. He would still be wealthier than Bill Gates if he had nothing else to own.

Federal law gives regulators broad power to oversee foreign investments in tech companies and defense contractors. There aren’t hard and fast rules for how much is too much, and companies only have to proactively report Chinese investments in limited circumstances.

However, the government can initiate investigations and then block or reverse transactions deemed national security threats. A foreign investor who only purchases a small percentage of a company typically does not have that authority. But experts said that federal officials regularly ask companies to add up Chinese investments into an aggregate total.

The US government claims that China consistently seeks to gain exclusive access to information about cutting-edge technology by using even minority investments to gain control over businesses in sensitive industries. US regulators view even private investors in China as potential agents of the country’s government, experts said.

The new materials do not contain any claims that China’s investments in SpaceX would be in contravention of the law or were directed by the Chinese government. The company did not respond to detailed questions from ProPublica. The reasons behind SpaceX’s strategy were left open, according to Kahlon.

It’s not uncommon for foreigners to buy US stock through a vehicle in the Cayman Islands, often to save money on taxes. However, experts said it was odd for the US company, the party on the other side of the deal, to favor such a compromise.

ProPublica spoke to 13 national security lawyers, corporate attorneys and experts in Chinese finance about the SpaceX testimony. Twelve people claimed they had never heard of a US company with this requirement and that there was no other reason to do it besides concealing Chinese ownership of SpaceX. The 13th said they had heard of companies adopting the practice as a way to hide foreign investment.

According to Andrew Verstein, a UCLA law professor who has studied defense contractors, “it is undoubtedly a policy of obfuscation.” ” It hints at potentially serious problems. We rely on businesses to be honest with the government about whether they have benefited from America’s rivals.

Elon Musk. Photo: X

The new material adds to the questions surrounding Musk’s extensive ties with China, which have taken a new urgency since the world’s richest man joined the Trump White House. Musk has regularly met with Chinese Communist Party officials to talk about his business interests, which are the basis of the majority of Tesla cars.

Last week, The New York Times reported that Musk was scheduled to get a briefing on secret plans for potential war between China and the US. Trump later claimed that the briefing had been postponed, and that the Times later reported that.

The president told reporters it would be wrong to show the war plans to the businessman:” Elon has businesses in China, and he would be susceptible perhaps to that”, Trump said.

The Delaware court records detail a network of independent middlemen selling SpaceX shares to eager Chinese investors and reveal SpaceX insiders ‘ intense obsession with secrecy in China. ( Unlike a public company, SpaceX exercises significant control over who can buy into the company, with the ability to block sales even between outside parties. )

However, the inquiry into exactly what proportion of SpaceX is owned by Chinese investors remains unanswered.

The Financial Times recently reported that Chinese investors had managed to acquire small amounts of SpaceX stock and that they were turning to offshore vehicles to do so. According to the outlet, the deals were designed to restrict the information investors could access.

The Delaware records reveal additional, previously unreported Chinese investments in SpaceX but do not say how much they were worth. Under$ 100 million was invested in SpaceX by China, making only a small portion of the total.

The experts said the court testimony is puzzling enough that it raises the possibility that SpaceX has more substantial ties to China than are publicly known and is working to mask them from US regulators. They claimed that SpaceX is trying to avoid being scrutinized for perfectly legal investments by the media or Congress. This is a more innocent explanation.

Once a welcome source of cash, Chinese investment in Silicon Valley has become the subject of intense debate in Washington as hostility between the two countries deepened in recent years.

Corporate attorneys told ProPublica they would advise their clients against requiring the use of offshore vehicles because it might give the impression that they are trying to conceal something from the government.

Bret Johnsen, the SpaceX CFO, testified in the Delaware dispute that the company does not have a formal policy about accepting investments from countries deemed adversaries by the US government. Instead, he claimed, SpaceX has “preferences that kind of feel like a policy.”

Sensitive to how such financial ties could make it “more challenging to win government contracts”, Johnsen said that he asks fund managers to” stay away from Russian, Chinese, Iranian, North Korean ownership interest”.

Johnsen wasn’t asked in the public portion of his deposition whether SpaceX was tolerant of routing Chinese money offshore. But he lent credibility to Kahlon, the investor who said that was enough to get the green light.

Johnsen stated that he has a long-standing personal connection with Kahlon and that he has spoken with him about how the business views Chinese ownership. The CFO added that he trusts Kahlon to bring in only investors that the company approves of.

According to a filing from his attorneys, Kahlon has personally assisted Chinese investors in purchasing stakes in SpaceX on” a number of occasions” through “proxies such as British Virgin Islands- or Cayman Islands-based entities. He also knows of “many” other Chinese investors who own SpaceX shares, the filing said. He learned about them from conversations with investors and brokers, as well as “from having viewed investor lists.”

Kahlon is a consummate SpaceX insider. He “has been with the company in one form or fashion longer than I have,” according to Johnsen, who has been with SpaceX for 14 years. Early in his career, Kahlon worked for Peter Thiel at the same venture capital firm that once employed JD Vance, and he first met with SpaceX around 2007 a few years after it was founded.

Kahlon eventually founded his own business, Tomales Bay Capital, and rose to prominence among the middlemen who serve would-be SpaceX investors. He’s helped people like former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos buy pieces of the rocket company. He added that as a result of the company’s efforts to export its satellite internet products to nations like India, he has also served as a “back channel” between SpaceX and international regulators.

Kahlon and Johnsen were forced to testify after the deal with a Chinese firm fell apart in late 2021, sparking years of litigation. In the same year, Kahlon had the option to purchase more than half a billion shares of SpaceX from a private equity firm in West Palm Beach. Kahlon had already brought Chinese money into SpaceX before, he testified, and he again turned to China as he gathered funds to purchase the stake.

Soon after, Kahlon made contact with Leo Group, a Chinese company that stands for” Love Each Other.” As Kahlon made his pitch during their first call, Leo was told that “it would be best not to disclose the name of SpaceX”, an executive at the Chinese company later testified. They thought that the information was extremely sensitive.

Leo quickly sent Kahlon$ 50 million. Then he sent a message to a different business associate in China saying,” Have any folks interested in spcex still?”

Kahlon claimed that he had in mind to inform Johnsen about the Leo investment and that he anticipated the CFO to approve of it. But the deal blew up after Leo mentioned SpaceX in a regulatory filing that generated widespread coverage in the Chinese business press. ( It is disputed whether Leo made the disclosure with Kahlon’s consent. )

In a panic, Kahlon enlisted a Leo vice president to try to get the articles taken down. However, when Johnsen and Tim Hughes, SpaceX’s top in-house lobbyist, saw the stories, they became alarmists.

” This is not helpful for our company as a government contractor”, the SpaceX CFO later testified regarding the press attention. It basically provides our competitors with something to use as a narrative against us.

” In my entire professional career, this was literally the worst situation that I’ve been in”, Kahlon said. ” I failed at what I believed was a fundamental responsibility in the relationship we had.”

SpaceX ultimately decided to let Kahlon buy only a smaller portion of the stake, purchasing much of the half-billion dollar investment itself. He was informed that Musk made the decision, according to contemporaneous messages and Kahlon’s testimony. However, Kahlon continued to have a strong relationship with SpaceX after the mishap, court records say, with the company allowing his firm to keep buying a large quantity of shares.

Republican lawmakers have criticized Musk’s business interests in China, which go beyond SpaceX’s ownership structure. In 2022, after Tesla opened a showroom in the Chinese region where the government runs Uyghur internment camps, then-Senator Marco Rubio tweeted,” Nationless corporations are helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up genocide”.

Nearly 40 % of Tesla’s sales were made in China last year, in addition to its expansive factory in Shanghai. The company has also secured major tax breaks and regulatory victories in the country. The Chinese premier gave Musk the country’s green card in the spring of 2019.

In recent years, the billionaire has offered sympathetic remarks about China’s desire to reclaim Taiwan and lavished praise on the government. At the conclusion of Trump’s first term, Musk said,” My experience with the government of China is that they actually are very responsive to the people.” ” In fact, possibly more responsive to the happiness of people than in the US”.

Josh Kaplan can be reached via email at joshua. kaplan@propublica .org and by Signal or WhatsApp at 734-834-9383. Justin Elliott can be reached via WhatsApp, WhatsApp, or email at justin@propublica .org. Alex Mierjeski contributed research. To receive stories like this one in your inbox, sign up for The Big Story newsletter.

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Why the buzz around investing in China is only getting louder amid US-led trade spats

Growth has recently been a hot topic in the minds of business executives, industry analysts, and investment advisors.

This is in reaction to the government’s decision to impose tariffs of 10 to 25 % on goods from China, Mexico, and Canada. Additionally, it has imposed tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum and pledged to establish mutual tariffs on all US trade partners starting on April 2.

According to Rishi Kapoor, vice president and general investment officer at Bahrain-based other investment company Investcorp, these changes in the US administration have highlighted the benefits of growth.

The value, the benefits of growth, he said to a section at the WEF forum,” This thing that had been shortchanged for a period of time… that’s then up to the fore.”

CHANCES IN CHINA

According to Ziad Chalhoub, chief financial officer of Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim Holding, a company that owns and operates shopping malls, financial, and resort properties in the Middle East and North Africa, America’s policies are also affecting money flows.

” I believe that emerging markets are going to begin growing back up again, and I believe that will open up a lot of opportunities for businesses around the world, especially in Asia,” he said.

Many people, including James Soutar, a companion at Hong Kong-based Pacat Capital Management, today see potential in China.

Chinese stocks have shown themselves to have a much stronger underlying purchase case than their American counterparts, Soutar told CNA.

He noted that the company has found that Chinese firms outperform their international competitors in terms of percentage, returns on capital, and capital, as well as earnings per share growth, across different sectors.

” In addition, the stocks of those Chinese firms are trading at a considerable pricing discount to world peers,” Soutar noted.

In recent months, the industry has begun to recognize those qualities, but we still think there is still a long way to go.

Given the current political environment, economy players said they are on the lookout for road bumps.

Hu from Primavera Capital Group claimed that China is vulnerable because of its trading business and that tit-for-tat tariffs pose a real threat.

He noted that China also has a sizable local business and a sizable middle-class business.

Domestic demand rises, as evidenced by China’s ability to boost the confidence of the ordinary Chinese consumer and their willingness to invest. Whatever pull brought on by taxes, that will more than make up for it.

He did point out that taxes are terrible, especially if they persist for a long time.

” I hope the two governments ( US and China ) will continue to put the intense emotions aside, come to the table to negotiate, come to a deal, and make sure whatever the tariffs are are temporarily ( and be ) lifted in time for each other’s mutual interests ( and ) the world.”

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Trump heralds end of international law – Asia Times

It has been often made up that international law would be severely damaged, particularly in light of the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza, or at the very least vulnerable to significant erosion.

There are numerous different instances of the unrestrained use of power, not all of which are connected to the UN Security Council’s license or in self-defense. The fact that the control appears to be at a critical stage is what is new. According to President Donald Trump,” [ He who saves his country does not violate any law.

International law has always straddled the weakness of gentle organizations born to help it between the vanity of a so-called legal purchase and the weakness of fragile ones since the 17th centuries, when relations between princes came to be regulated by a law of nations.

In terms of its usefulness, validity, or even life, the law itself has been questioned. How could this be various when a de- or re-globalizing, but also interconnected world is confronted by rules and norms that are too simple to break or ignore, as they might initially appear to be?

One of the probable outcomes of current events is the possibility that international law will become constituted vacante. An age of limited cooperation and accumulated elements of conflict, some of which were carefully calculated, are likely to stop the quick reimposition of an international legal purchase necessary to ensure the application of maximum legal standards.

International law would need to adapt to a loose and perhaps ad hoc structure if it were to live perpetually under the crumbling values of a collapsing order. With the stringent regulations and values it allegedly accommodates and values, what should it do?

The philosopher and historian of ideas Isaiah Berlin once said that compromise was all that humanity could hope for. No straight thing was ever made out of the crooked wood of humanity, making a flexible and ambiguous compromise.

According to US President Harry Truman, the United Nations is based on a Charter whose only function was to maintain world peace post-World War II.

In contrast, the current order, which is largely based on a” coalition approach” to multilateralism, requires a lot more flexibility or elasticity and a lot of tolerability when great powers violate the laws. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Above all, not too much zeal! The phrase” Talleyrand” resonates once more in a time when we are collectively anticipating too much from international law and when we are only likely to remember it when we need it.

International law depends more than ever on the shifting power balance between the “liberal West” and the “illiberal rest,” just like Heraclitus ‘ River.

If the goal is to restore trust in the international legal system, international law must first integrate nations that were previously barred from enforcing rules. The price to pay is that commitments may become more generalized as opposed to those from groups with similar interests. However, this inclusive approach is necessary to reduce potential conflicts brought on by competing blocks.

Second, the current international order is based on international laws that not all states find to be comparable to international laws. However, these laws are authoritative expressions of principles that define the goals and course of collective action as well as technical standards that have been agreed to.

Respect for sovereignty, non-intervention, and territorial integrity are already the guiding principles of the UN Charter and other international standards, along with respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and an open international economic system.

The international system also contains the foundational principles for responding to global complex shocks, such as the ones relating to respect for the environment and development or the concept of shared but distinct responsibilities.

Some fundamental principles and conduct have typically been the basis for maintaining international order.

Due to their conflicting effects, it is undeniable that these principles cannot automatically solve a particular problem. They can, however, serve as criteria for discerning solutions by being carefully balanced and weighed. They can be unified to work in harmony despite the inherent tension between principles and pressing needs.

Why is that the case? Because principles are flexible, they don’t give specific procedure patterns or action plans. They are essential for the negotiation opportunities they open up and the beneficial additions they make in international negotiations to resolve conflicts of interest.

They are able to embody opposing tendencies by allowing for adaptation. Power differentials are tempered to create a more predictable environment, allowing diverse actors to have a voice and participate in decision-making, even in a UN system rife with privileges and hierarchy.

Thus, the role of major powers is always taken into account when interpreting the principle of equality among states.

Having a life of their own, those principles work beneath the surface. Contrary to rules and standards that require “long-term thinking and acceptance of short-term costs,” they don’t need maintenance.

Evidently, considerations of principle and law, however rational or justifiable, may not be sufficient to solve the current international law issue.

The straight line may not always hold up the Euclidian definition. In the complex pattern of international political action, such a line, as outlined by the purposes and principles of the Charter, may occasionally intersect with other lines.

Principles can, however, be applied in a less fervent and more cautious way in individual cases and can influence the creation of more frequent ad hoc arrangements and operational measures. Those in charge of” saving a country” will continue to face issues relating to political judgment.

Eric Alter is a former UN agent, dean, and professor of diplomacy and international law at the Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi.

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Bangladesh’s future stuck in an inescapable past – Asia Times

A senior of Bangladesh’s independence war said,” This was a loss not of a home but of our history, of our, of our, of our, of our history.” He was speaking to me of the&nbsp, death on February 5&nbsp, of the Dhaka house of Sheikh Mujib thy Rahman, Bangladesh’s first president. &nbsp, &nbsp,

The target, 32 Dhanmondi, is as well known in Bangladesh as 1600 Pennsylvania in the US. It is where, in March 1971, Mujib was apprehended by Muslim soldiers as they began their violent assault in East Pakistan that culminated in a murder, the second Pakistan-India warfare, and the beginning of a new country.

And it is where Bangladeshi men massacred Prime Minister Mujib and several of his family members on August 15, 1975, in the first military revolution the nation has ever conducted. That it now stands in remains is an indication of how much people rage had accumulated during the 15 years of the increasingly authoritarian rule under Mujib’s daughter, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, which ended drastically on August 5, 2024, after months of student-led demonstrations. &nbsp,

Hasina had turned 32 Dhanmondi into a memorial for her father. Now exiled in India, where she fled after her fall from power, Hasina is plotting a political comeback. She planned to deliver a speech on February 5 to condemn Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus’s interim government and declare her intentions to avenge her ouster, as planned for a gathering of her Awami League party.

The youth leaders warned that if she spoke they would destroy her father’s house. She continued to speak, and the leaders kept their word: The house was destroyed. For people like the liberation war veteran, who sacrificed so much and had seen his own father killed in that conflict, this was a case of a mob indulging in senseless, self-defeating violence against a symbol of their country’s founding.

But for the students who participated, it was another act of freedom in defiance not just of a “fascist” Awami League, but of a particular version of history that enabled Hasina to present herself and her family as the only legitimate custodians of Bangladesh’s independence. &nbsp,

The uprising began last June after a court order revived a quota system reserving a proportion of government jobs for 1971 war veterans and their descendants. This was essentially a spoils system for supporters of the Awami League, the party Mujib founded and Hasina has led since 1981, but it was draped in the memory of the liberation to make objectionable claims about its opponents.

This didn’t matter to a new generation eager for employment opportunities in an unfair economy. When Hasina&nbsp, implied&nbsp, that the protesters were&nbsp, razakars, a Persian word meaning “volunteer” but widely used for Bengalis who collaborated with the Pakistan army during the 1971 genocide, the resulting fury swelled the protesters ‘ ranks to an uncontrollable level. &nbsp,

Symbolism played a vital role in the events around the uprising. The most powerful was Abu Sayed’s body, a 23-year-old man who was fatally shot on July 16 while he was facing a barrage of bullets while he was standing in the middle of a road.

His death was a decisive turning point in the movement, prompting the respected photojournalist Shahidul Alam to declare, &nbsp,” the end is nigh” .&nbsp, Others replicated Sayed’s act of defiance, and a graphic of a young man with outstretched arms, a staff in one hand, has essentially become the youth movement’s logo. &nbsp,

This figure is intended to mock the trigger-happy police, which also forces Bangladesh to enter a new era. Yet for this new era to form, an older one must be settled. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Friend of Bengal&nbsp,

Fifty years later, the 1971 liberation war still serves as a court of appeal in which the main political players try to disenfranchise one another by litigating two unresolved issues: Who was the true custodian of Bangladesh’s independence? What kind of country was the birth of? A third, more essential question emerges from these two: Who stood for and who against the spirit of the liberation? &nbsp,

Outsiders can be forgiven for believing that Mujib’s status as the country’s founding father is as unquestioned as Jinnah’s in Pakistan or Gandhi’s and Nehru’s in India. At home, he is known as Bangabandhu, or Friend of Bengal.

In the first democratic election in Pakistan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan Peoples Party ( PPP ) won against the Pakistan army in 1970, when the Pakistan army agreed to transfer power to civilians.

But he was denied his mandate to form a government by a West Pakistan establishment that couldn’t abide being ruled by Bengalis. In the middle of March 1971, troops from West Pakistan arrived in Dhaka ready for a crackdown amid a stalemate between East and West Pakistan. Their first order of business was to apprehend the Bengalis ‘ &nbsp, leader, which they did on the first day of the operation, 25 March. &nbsp,

A large portion of the Awami League’s lore was based on Mujib’s own account after the war ended. According to him, Mujib, hearing of a West Pakistani plot to kill him and blame it on Bengali extremists ( therefore compelling the army to crush the rebellion in the East ) sent most of his children into hiding while preparing for martyrdom.

The key was for Mujib to be killed inside the residence to make it clear that soldiers, not bandits, were the ones who were to blame. Thus would his blood “purify my people”. Mujib dictated a final message to his people, recorded and later broadcast via secret transmitter, to fight the West Pakistan army for independence, regardless of his own fate.

To stop the bloodshed, he wisely ordered the paramilitary and party members who were defending him. And, most poetically, he recalled how as the soldiers took him away, having decided to arrest rather than kill him, he insisted on retrieving his pipe and tobacco. &nbsp,

If this was a profile of courage for Mujib’s admirers, for his opponents it was proof of something else: that Mujib, removed from the battlefield, was alive and safe in Rawalpindi amid the slaughter in Bengal.

On my first visit to Dhaka many years ago, a retired government official asked me, rhetorically, why the army didn’t kill or disappear Mujib then, given that in the chaos of the moment the top brass could easily have feigned ignorance of what had happened to him. The West Pakistan leadership argued in my interlocutor’s theory that Mujib was still willing to keep Pakistan united and should be kept alive for a future negotiation. &nbsp,

Although it’s difficult to say whether this explanation is accurate, it does indicate a larger debate over the liberation narrative. For the Bangladesh Nationalist Party ( BNP ), led by Hasina’s perennial rival Khaleda Zia, who has twice been prime minister, it was fighters and not politicians who won the country’s independence.

And it was army major Ziaur Rahman, Khaleda’s husband and the BNP’s founder, who&nbsp, declared Bangladesh’s independence&nbsp, over the radio on 27 March 1971, two days after Mujib was arrested. It is no longer taken into account that he did it at the directive and in the name of Mujib. &nbsp,

The BNP has long struggled to develop a brand of its own despite having a large coalition of anti-Awami League constituencies. This may explain why the party gives as much importance to a legitimizing myth around 1971 as it does. &nbsp,

Both narratives have depth in a society that is incredibly divided. For the Awami League, the BNP’s fidelity to an independent Bangladesh is questionable, given its pro-Pakistani sympathies and, above all, its long partnership with the Jamaat-i-Islami that explicitly&nbsp, opposed Bangladesh’s creation, on the grounds of Islamic unity.

Meanwhile, Jamaat supporters accuse Mujib and Hasina of giving India the right to renounce Bangladesh’s sovereignty. The Awami League holds Ziaur Rahman responsible for the assassination of Mujib and that of many of his family members, in the bloody 1975 coup that augured 15 years of military rule, the BNP blames Mujib’s extreme concentration of power in a one-party state for provoking the violent backlash of 15 August 1975.

And on it goes, a tooth for a tooth. &nbsp,

What kind of a nation?

The coup of 1975 also sparked debates about whether religion or geography had a bearing on the country’s fundamental character. Bengal was a major site of British divide-and-rule strategies and resistance to them. In a bid to suppress local resistance to colonial rule, the British partitioned Bengal in 1905 between a Hindu-majority West Bengal and a Muslim-majority East Bengal.

In his virtuoso account of the independence movement, &nbsp, Liberty or Death, the late Patrick French wrote,” Provoked an upsurge of nationalist protest, and the province had become the focus of both the constitutional and revolutionary faces of the freedom movement.”

While the protests forced the British to reunite Bengal in 1911, their effects didn’t stop there. A nationalist Bengali identity gained new strength and became the main threat to the British Empire. The repressive 1915 Defence of India Act was passed specifically in response to agitation in Bengal. &nbsp,

The Second Partition of Bengal is thus frequently referred to in Bangladesh as the 1947 partition. In June of that year, the Bengal Legislative Assembly voted for a united Bengal to join Pakistan. In the event of a provincial division, East Bengal legislators who were Muslim-majority, who still wanted a united province, voted that East Bengal would join Pakistan, where Bengalis would form the popular majority. Later, legislators from Hindu-majority West Bengal voted for the partitioning of Bengal and for West Bengal to become part of India. &nbsp,

Political power would, however, be concentrated in Karachi and, after the federal capital was moved, Islamabad. The predominately Urdu-speaking West Pakistan leadership opined blatantly, and it immediately saw the country’s ethnic and linguistic diversity as a threat. Tensions between the center and the provinces created either secessionist or ethnic nationalist movements in Balochistan, the Northwest Frontier Province, and Sindh—but most prominently in East Bengal.

The Second Partition came about as a result of Jinnah’s 1948 decision to make Urdu, the language of minority West Pakistanis, the sole national language, sparking a movement in 1952 for the promotion of Bangla as a national language. On the movement’s first day, 21 February, police killed four student demonstrators at Dhaka University ( for which a monument, Martyr Tower, was built in central Dhaka in 1963 ).

Although Bangla was ultimately recognized as a national language and enshrined in the 1956 constitution, these killings made reconciliation between the eastern and western wings of the country all but impossible. &nbsp,

The refusal to honor what a wide majority of Bengalis—indeed a majority of the country —voted for in the 1970 national election was the final indignity. Estimates of the number of Bengalis killed in the subsequent violence, which were carried out by West Pakistan, range widely from 30 000 to over 3 million, despite the efforts of many foreign observers and academics to arrive at a figure of around a million.

There is, as the respected journalist David Bergman has argued, &nbsp,” an academic consensus that this campaign of violence, particularly against the Hindu population, was a genocide” .&nbsp, It was only through India’s intervention in December 1971, and the third India-Pakistan war, that the massacre stopped and a new nation was born. &nbsp,

Thus, two independence struggles gave Bengali nationalism a rich history of resistance to colonial and West Pakistani rule. Liberation provided an opportunity to codify that nationalism. The 1972 constitution advocated nationalism and secularism as founding principles, in addition to democracy and socialism, while dissinguishing the new country from the one it had seceded from. It also banned Jamaat-i-Islami and any other religion-based party. &nbsp, &nbsp,

Following Mujib’s assassination, the Awami League’s emphasis on ethnic nationalism and secularism was openly contested when Ziaur Rahman stepped in and supported a different conception of Bangladeshi national identity, one that emphasised its religious and territorial makeup: a Bengali nation that was majority Bengali rather than a Bengali nation that was majority Muslim.

If Bangladesh was essentially Bengali, this argument went, then it would have reunited with West Bengal after 1971. The fact that it hadn’t was sufficient evidence that the two-nation theory, which demanded that South Asia’s Muslims establish a country, still existed. &nbsp,

Rahman’s constitutional amendments replaced” secularism” with “absolute trust and faith in the almighty Allah”, lifted the ban on religion-based parties, and called on the state to” to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations among Muslim countries based on Islamic solidarity”. The Muslim salutation read,” In the Name of Allah, Beneficent, the Merciful,” as the preamble of the constitution’s preamble now begins with this phrase. Islamic studies became a compulsory subject for all Muslim schoolchildren.

A year after Rahman was killed in a mid-level coup, General Hussain Muhammad Ershad later inserted a constitutional provision declaring Islam the state religion. This Islamization drive ran in parallel to the one occurring in Pakistan under General Zia ul Haq’s military regime, albeit significantly more cautiously and gradually. &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

By no means has the Awami League’s ideological balance been harmonious with its adversaries ‘ religious politics. Political expediency and patronage have shaped policy choices at least as much as ideology, if not more. For instance, Hasina’s Awami League made a number of, frequently alarming concessions to Islamists, some of whom are still a powerful force despite her policies, including reintroducing secularism into the constitution in 2011 but keeping Islam as the state religion.

But 1971 remains a potent political weapon, one that Hasina flaunted against her rivals on returning to office in 2009, tapping a still deeply felt wound: the role of Bengalis who collaborated with the Pakistan army in that war. &nbsp,

Accountability and its problems&nbsp,

War crimes were destined to be a major issue. The International Crimes ( Tribunal ) Act of 1973 made it possible to prosecute members of “any armed, defense of auxiliary forces, irrespective of nationality, who commit or have committed crimes against humanity on the territory of Bangladesh.” The purpose was to prosecute Pakistani prisoners of war, some 93, 000 of whom had been captured by Indian troops and transported to India. &nbsp,

After the country’s dissolution, Pakistan’s government, under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s leadership, required that all prisoners of war be released in exchange for recognizing the new Bangladeshi state. Its ally China, acting on Islamabad’s behalf, wielded its first-ever UN Security Council veto to block Bangladesh’s admission to the UN.

Mujib and Indira Gandhi made a concession as Pakistan’s recognition increased: the Delhi Agreement of 1973 mandated the repatriation of all POWs in the three nations. As per the terms of the Simla Agreement between Islamabad and Delhi the year before, this repatriation deal triggered Islamabad’s recognition of Bangladesh. &nbsp,

However, it had to hold someone accountable for the genocide for the country to feel whole. But who? &nbsp, &nbsp, &nbsp,

If the Pakistan army was the main culprit, for many veterans of the civil war the Jamaat-e-Islami’s role was just as malevolent. Two of its armed wings, Al Shams and Al Badr ( the original&nbsp, razakars ), were&nbsp, widely accused&nbsp, of having committed atrocities like murder, rape, arson and looting alongside army soldiers. Little was done in its wake because Jamaat was prominent in politics during the democratic transition from 1990 to 2006.

By the 2009 election, however, which came after the army had suspended democracy in 2007, Sheikh Hasina promised accountability for 1971 at last. Her government reorganized the 1973 law to facilitate the prosecution of Jamaat’s leadership and established the International Crimes Tribunal ( ICT). The tribunal’s work began in earnest in 2010 to significant criticism at home and abroad for the absence of due process and the use of the death penalty. &nbsp,

As a legitimate demand for justice transformed into political theater, the trials quickly turned into the national story. The people convicted include the Jamaat party chief Motiur Rahman Nizami and several other senior party members and office bearers. Salauddin Quader Chowdhury, a well-known BNP figure who was hanged in November 2015, was also present. &nbsp,

The ICT’s most consequential year was 2013. The Jamaat Vice President Delwar Hossain Sayeedi, a well-known preacher, was sentenced to death in February for provoking violent demonstrations that resulted in the deaths of more than 40 people, including several police officers. The same month, another Jamaat leader, Abdul Quader Mollah, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Numerous young people in Dhaka’s Shahbagh Square pleaded for the death penalty for Mollah in exchange for a different form of protest. Their anger grew again that September, when the Supreme Court commuted Sayeedi’s sentence to life imprisonment. One report described the Shahbagh protests as&nbsp,” the biggest mass demonstration the country has seen in 20 years” .&nbsp,

In response, the government changed a law allowing the state to challenge ICT verdicts and successfully appealed the decision to increase Mollah’s death sentence. Mollah was hanged that December. &nbsp,

When I attended an ICT hearing in Dhaka on the invitation of one of the prosecutors in the immediate aftermath of these events, I was a strong critic of the whole process—and I remain one. But interviewing students who took part in the Shahbagh Square protests, I was also aware of how the trials had politicized a new generation of Bangladeshis and familiarized them with the atrocities of 1971. The concerns over the death penalty and due process sounded unrelated to them.

An older activist who had participated in the liberation war informed me that he still believed the Jamaat collaborators deserved whatever the maximum sentence on the books meant, if that meant execution. To be sure, many other rights activists opposed the death penalty and the ICT itself, and they argued that the” Shahbaghis” had undermined the quest for justice and lit a dangerous fuse. &nbsp,

How dangerous quickly became clear. Shahbagh had inspired a counter-movement led by the Hefazat-e-Islam, hitherto a marginal Islamist coalition supported by the Jamaat and others, and fed by a large&nbsp, qaumi&nbsp, ( privately run ) madrasa sector.

An organization that had been focusing on limiting women’s rights to employment and other freedoms was given new life by the ICT. In April 2013, barely two months after Shahbagh began, Hefazat held massive rallies in Dhaka around 13 demands, the third of which was &nbsp,” stringent punishment against self-declared atheists and bloggers”.

Secular bloggers had been the prime organizers of the Shahbagh movement. Ahmed Rajib Haider, a member of an extremist group known as the Ansarullah Bangla Team, who advocated Al Qaeda’s ideology, was killed on February 15th, 2013.

At Hefazat rallies, clerics explicitly called for the bloggers ‘ hanging. Soon, a list of 84 “atheist” bloggers began to appear in the press and elsewhere, with no one claiming authorship at the time. On February 26, 2015, the blogger Avijit Roy was hacked to death outside a book fair in Dhaka. Ansarullah again claimed responsibility. In a similar way, four other secular bloggers, publishers, and commentators were killed the same year. &nbsp,

In recent years, the politics of 1971 have been bloody. Hefazat remains an influential force ( as does Jamaat ), bolstered by concessions Hasina made to appease it, including yielding to the group’s demand in 2018 for qaumi madrasa diplomas to be recognized as the equivalent of a Master’s degree. And now, after several years of dormancy, the ICT has been revived—to prosecute Hasina in absentia for&nbsp, her&nbsp, crimes. &nbsp,

A New Era? &nbsp,

In November 2023, Hasina inaugurated a new site of murals and a large golden statue of her father to honor his role in Bangladesh’s freedom struggle. On the day her government collapsed, protesters demolished it. In the days that followed, Mujib’s sculptures and images were mostly destroyed.

In January, the interim government changed the national curriculum to reflect the BNP version of events, replacing Mujib with Rahman as the recognized founding father—a bid, officials said, to rectify historical inaccuracies. The ending of 32 Dhanmondi seems almost logical, if unsettling, in terms of climax. The youth movement’s more revolutionary elements are also calling for scrapping ( rather than amending ) Mujib’s 1972 constitution and&nbsp, permanently banning the Awami League. &nbsp,

However, within the youth leadership there are other more forward-thinking rumors. It’s worth recalling that student demonstrations over the quota system first occurred in April 2018 and that in July, young people again took the streets after two students were killed in a road accident. What started out as a plea for better road safety turned into a massive outcry against more severe government failures.

These events augured an emergent force in the polity: Organized youth who weren’t allied with a party ideology or a 1971 narrative, as their predecessors in Shahbagh Square had been, but who were focused on bread-and-butter issues. And they clearly rattled the government, which after initial attempts at appeasement&nbsp, cracked down harshly, &nbsp, in a precursor to the events of 2024. &nbsp,

In their engagement with the student leadership, one can clearly see a new generation of activists and political leaders less inclined to fight in the name of old myths. The politics of the nation may be influenced by an open discussion about the allegations that emerged over the year 1971 because they have sown the country’s politics to a certain degree.

But the more compelling struggle ahead may not be between different accounts of the country’s birth, but between those who want a new politics focused on justice, equity, and democratic governance and those who want to stake their claim on high office by summoning the ghosts of liberation past.

Repeating the cycle of vengeance and delegitimizing one’s opponents again may be tempting in a deeply traumatized nation, but it will likely have a bitter afterlife. The past frequently exists.


Shehryar Fazli&nbsp, is a program manager for the Inclusive Democracy in South Asia Opportunity at Open Society Foundations. He has spent more than 20 years covering South Asia in various capacities. He is also author of the novel, &nbsp, Invitation&nbsp, ( 2011 ), which was runner-up in the Edinburgh Book Festival’s 2011 First Book Award. This essay is republished with permission.

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Sovereign fund Danantara Indonesia names ‘dream team’ of former presidents, Sachs, Dalio and ex-Thai PM Thaksin

” Good Device” Danantara will focus on projects in energy and food safety, artificial intelligence development, and natural resources running in its first influx of investment for US$ 20 billion. According to some analysts, the main economy’s largest market saw a market downturn last week when the main share indexContinue Reading

As Hong Kong hosts finance, sports and arts events, some say the city is getting its groove back

Additionally, some businesspeople are hesitant to accept the greater power Beijing officials have over the city.

They don’t think the decades-old “one country, two systems” approach to governance also gives rise to freedom, particularly since a Hong Kong national security law was passed a year ago.

The controversial law, which is also known as Article 23, targets crimes like crime, the theft of state secrets, spying, destroy, sedition, and “external interference.”

There is still hope.

Hong Kong’s once-red-hot property sector is still reeling from a protracted collapse, but its Hang Seng standard has experienced a double-digit rise since Donald Trump took office on January 20, making it the world’s best performer.

Hong Kong operates out of a worldwide brokerage. It’s a good position to do business, according to Oliver Weisberg, CEO of Blue Pool Capital, a multi-strategy investment firm based in Hong Kong.

He was speaking on Monday during an Is Hong Kong Up section. focused on access to the Greater Bay Area, care, employment opportunities, and the state’s education industry.

Goodwin Gaw, his co-panelist, claimed that the American media portrays Hong Kong as having a false image.

Hong Kong is a difficult place to keep investment conferences because it is difficult to get attendees to be focused with you, according to the chair, handling primary, and co-founder of Gaw Capital Partners, one of Asia’s largest real estate private equity firms.

Gaw praised Hong Kong’s natural environment as much as his strong ties to mainland China and its tax-haven position.

He stated in an interview with CNA that the world’s investment in China is the simplest glass. Additionally, Hong Kong is a gateway for Chinese businesses to get international capital.

Hong Kong may have never left, but ( It only needs a little cleaning and shining. ”

SOME STRIKE OTHER CRIMEOUS TONE

Despite the looming effects of price threats and industry wars originating from the Trump administration, other observers expressed more caution in their opinions of Hong Kong’s coming and current.

According to Steve Okun, CEO of APAC Advisors, new American tariffs have been “explicitly applied to both China and Hong Kong, ” with products from both regions then being subject to the same customs attention and trade restrictions.

Washington’s distinction between the two is still ambiguous. A recent example is when CK Hutchison, based in Hong Kong, sold power of two Panama Canal docks to a US-led party, according to Okun.

Businesses and investors should use this as a warning to get a tougher stance to reduce Foreign influence and power. Hong Kong’s political frailty will get worse if this pattern persists. ”

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