Explained
Explainer | What you need to know about Singapore’s looming ‘holiday season’ Covid wave
Singapore has embraced a post-pandemic transition, thanks to a high vaccination rate and an imminent mass roll-out of ‘bivalent’ booster shots, and will continue with its plans to open up.
Explainer | Who is PAS, the single biggest party in Malaysia’s new parliament?
PAS, one of the parties in ex-premier Muhyiddin Yassin’s Perikatan Nasional coalition, has long unnerved Malaysia’s minority groups with its hardline Islamist stance.
Explainer | As Malaysia’s PM Anwar builds cabinet, a look at key challenges ahead
Anwar has his work cut out as he aims to keep the peace within his ‘Unity Government’ and steer Malaysia forward after years of political turmoil.
Explainer | Muhyiddin on pole: what you need to know after Malaysia’s deadlocked election
Muhyiddin’s strategy of pitching Perikatan Nasional as conservative alternative to major parties could have worked in rural constituencies.
Explainer | Party coup, angry king, jailed Najib: Malaysia’s tortuous journey to snap vote
Umno is seeking a return to power in Malaysia this week, four years after a crushing defeat in the historic 2018 election and since returning to power in 2020.
Explainer | Malaysia election 2022: A quick guide to what you need to know
Malaysia’s tumultuous political scene, coloured by corruption and politicking, is further complicated by racial policies, the rising cost of living, economic uncertainty and an election held during monsoon season.
Explainer | Man’s world no longer? Meet the women shaking up Malaysia’s politics
Women make up more than half of Malaysia’s registered voters, but in the last general election less than 11 per cent of state assembly candidates were female, meaning women’s issues are often neglected.
Explainer | A look at Singapore and Hong Kong’s property cooling measures
Recent measures in Singapore aim to slow pace of price increase for resale HDB flats, while Hong Kong has stuck to its policies despite home prices being in the midst of a five-year low.
Explainer | Malaysia’s Umno faces fierce fight for Malay and youth vote as polls near
Analysts say it might be a ‘tall order’ for any group to win a supermajority this time, given the larger number of parties and coalitions in the fight.
Explainer | Can crowd disasters like Indonesia’s football tragedy be prevented?
Fight-or-flight response triggered by radical change in environment, crowd density among key factors for disasters, experts say.
Explainer | What does a weaker UK pound mean for Asian tourists, students and businesses?
Asian consumers are snapping up the pound in anticipation of lower-cost holidays but it is a less rosy picture for UK-based workers and for Asian firms dependent on exports to Britain.
Explainer | What Covid travel curbs remain in Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong?
A number of destinations across Asia are looking to welcome tourists after a lengthy period of border restrictions.
Explainer | Singapore’s Section 377A: how attitudes towards gay sex law have shifted
Despite growing indications that the Singapore government could soon strike down a colonial-era anti-gay law, marriage equality is unlikely to be next.
Explainer | Will missing ships scandal sink Malaysian PM’s team, Umno leadership?
Non-delivery of six littoral combat ships adds to crisis facing Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s administration, could implicate top Umno leadership and affect voter sentiment.
Explainer | Is Singapore still a ‘tenant’s haven’ as rents rise, Hong Kong expats arrive?
Rents in Singapore’s private residential market rose by double-digits in the first half of this year, a rate not seen since 2007.
Explainer | Why are the Philippine heirs of a sultan clashing with Malaysia over Sabah?
The heirs are the descendants of the Sultan of Sulu, who entered into a deal in 1878 with a colonial British trading company to exploit resources in his territory.
Explainer | Sri Lanka President Gotabaya Rajapaksa flees to Maldives. What happens next?
Amid the economic crisis, with food, fuel and medicine shortages, the president and prime minister have both said they’ll resign; protesters are refusing to leave government buildings until the men have formally gone.
Explainer | What is Indonesia’s Jokowi hoping to achieve when he meets Putin in Moscow?
Indonesia’s ‘historical nostalgia’, Cold War neutrality means Russia isn’t all that cut off from the world.
Explainer | Can India’s BJP quell Gulf anger after Nupur Sharma’s Prophet Mohammed comments?
Outrage over now-suspended ruling party spokeswoman’s inflammatory remarks on Islam’s founder has forced the Modi government to douse a diplomatic backlash from the Arab world.
Explainer | US-China fireworks, Kishida speech: key facts on the Shangri-La Dialogue
The defence meeting, which began in 2002, is up and running again, in person, for the 19th time after a two-year pandemic-related pause; China’s Defence Minister is among those expected to give a talk to participants this year.