Whither Malaysia's forgotten revolution?
Richard Heydarian is an Asia-based academic, columnist and author of "The Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt Against Elite Democracy" and the "The Indo-Pacific: Trump, China and the New Struggle for Global Mastery."
Malaysia shocked the world, and itself, three years ago when voters ditched the conservative Barisan Nasional coalition that had governed the country for six decades, upending Southeast Asian politics.
Even more surreal was the fact that the opposition coalition, Pakatan Harapan, was led by no less than 9
COVID a mixed bag for Japan's medical and sanitary goods companies
TOKYO -- The yearlong COVID-19 pandemic presented a mixed picture for medical and sanitary goods makers in Japan, as earnings results from companies such as Unicharm, Takara Bio and big drugmakers revealed last week.
Unicharm, best known for its diapers, on Friday announced a 1% decline in sales for the January to March quarter, while its net profit rose 4.6% from the previous year. The company is a major manufacturer of masks and wipes -- goods in high demand for the fight against infection
MUFG's net profit jumps 47% in fiscal 2020 on digital drive
TOKYO -- Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group expects net profit to increase 9% in the year ending next March as Japan's largest bank accelerates its digitalization drive.
Net profit for the current business year is projected at 850 billion yen ($7.8 billion), the Japanese bank said on Monday.
Nikkei reported over the weekend that MUFG aims to restore net profit to a level of 1 trillion yen under a new three-year business plan that aims to eliminate paperwork, trim branches and shift to smartphone
Gojek and Tokopedia announce Indonesia's 'largest ever' merger
JAKARTA -- Two of Indonesia's largest tech startups, Gojek and Tokopedia, announced on Monday they will merge, a move that will create one of Southeast Asia's biggest tech conglomerates and cover everything from ride hailing and digital payments to e-commerce.
The merger will reshape the competitive landscape of the region's tech scene, which will now become a three-way battle between Singapore-based Sea, Grab and the newly formed Go To Group, which will bring together Gojek and Tokopedia even as the
Indonesian startups Gojek and Tokopedia announce merger
JAKARTA -- Two of Indonesia's largest tech startups, Gojek and Tokopedia, announced on Monday they will merge, a move that will create one of Southeast Asia's biggest tech conglomerates and cover everything from ride hailing and digital payments to e-commerce.
The merger will reshape the competitive landscape of the region's tech scene, which will now become a three-way battle between Singapore-based Sea, Grab and Go To Group, as the newly combined Indonesian companies will be called.
Gojek and Tokopedia
COVID a mixed bag for medical and sanitary goods companies
TOKYO -- The yearlong COVID-19 pandemic presented a mixed picture for medical and sanitary goods makers in Japan, as earnings results from companies such as Unicharm, Takara Bio and big drugmakers revealed last week.
Unicharm, best known for its diapers, on Friday announced a 1% decline in sales for the January to March quarter, while its net profit rose 4.6% from the previous year. The company is a major manufacturer of masks and wipes -- goods in high demand for the fight against infection
Taiwan's coronavirus spike: What went wrong?
TAIPEI -- A jump in local transmissions of COVID-19 in Taiwan has raised questions of what went wrong on an island that has been widely praised as a pandemic success story.
Taiwan reported 29 local cases on Friday, 180 on Saturday and 206 on Sunday. The numbers are low compared to those of many countries, but they are a huge blow to Taiwan, which has boosted its international profile thanks to its deft control of the virus.
Before Friday, it had recorded a total
Myanmar coup latest: Miss Myanmar urges everyone to speak out
YANGON/BANGKOK -- Myanmar's military on Feb. 1 detained State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint in the country's first coup since 1988, bringing an end to a decade of civilian rule.
The Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy had won a landslide in a general election in November . But the military has claimed the election was marred by fraud.
For all our coverage, visit our Myanmar Coup page.
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-- Suu
China rocket debris spurs calls for limiting space junk
TOKYO -- Few think that their backyards will ever be ground zero for junk falling from space, even after parts from one of the world's largest rockets dropped near the Maldives this month, and from another that peppered the Ivory Coast last year.
Still, experts warn you may not always be so lucky. Debris from China's Long March 5B rocket plummeted into the Indian Ocean on May 9, but it could have been anywhere in an area between 41.5 degrees north and south of the
Gojek starts car-hailing service in Vietnam in challenge to Grab
HO CHI MINH CITY -- Gojek says it will add car-hailing and e-payments to its operations in Vietnam, one of the key markets in the Indonesian startup's battle with Singaporean rival Grab.
Vietnamese customers can currently use Gojek to hail motorbike rides, order food and ship parcels, but will be able to request car rides and pay digitally "very, very soon," country manager Phung Tuan Duc said.
"Instead of going after the next shiny technology, we focus on what the market needs