Malaysia Edition: Anwar touts cash payout, fuel price cuts in ‘appreciation package'
Dear ST reader,
It's been a highlight week for Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim. Just days before the July 26 rally calling for his resignation, Datuk Seri Anwar unveiled a stimulus package aimed at easing the cost of living that included a one-off handout of RM100 to all Malaysian adults and reduced fuel prices. He even threw in an extra day off on Sept 15, a day before Malaysia Day, which is already a public holiday.
Nonetheless, the 'Turun Anwar' (Anwar Resign) demonstration led by Malaysia's opposition in the heart of Kuala Lumpur still went on, seeing an estimated 20,000 people take to the street despite the afternoon heat and evening rain.
Mr Anwar, meanwhile, was already planning his next master stroke, mediating peace talks between Thailand and Cambodia. The eventual ceasefire agreement halted active conflict at the two countries' shared border, which has killed at least 40 people and displaced thousands more since violence broke out on July 24.
Read also about the Shanghai luxury estate where fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, is purportedly hiding out in. Low is widely considered the mastermind behind the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal that saw the fall of former premier Najib Razak.
Despite the tip-off by two investigative journalists, Malaysian authorities insist that there is no credible proof of Low's whereabouts.
Follow ST's coverage as we continue to bring you the latest developments.
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Straits Times
7 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Taiwan cultivates young overseas chip talent with summer camps, university courses
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox People inquire about job positions at the TSMC booth in the semiconductor area of a career fair in Taipei, Taiwan, on June 28. TAIPEI - Dressed in a white protective suit and face mask, Nicolas Chueh listened intently as a guide introduced a series of silver machines used in manufacturing Taiwan's cutting-edge semiconductors. The 16-year-old was among students from eight countries at the summer camp staged to raise interest in Taiwan's most vital industry amid a fast-declining birth rate that could leave tens of thousands of critical jobs vacant. 'I myself really enjoy playing video games. So I'm really just always using these semiconductor products,' said Chueh, whose parents enrolled him after he expressed interest. The camp, organised by US chip design software firm Synopsys, is among several such events staged by chip companies and Taiwanese universities in recent years as demand for semiconductors, which power most electronics and AI servers, surges across the globe. But for the first time in 2025, Synopsys, which has significant operations in Taiwan to be closer to the semiconductor supply chain, hosted the events both in Mandarin and English as Taiwan searches for overseas talent. 'There is an urgent need to strengthen STEM education from an early age,' said Mr Robert Li, Synopsys' Taiwan chairman, who believes the camps can increase interest in the chip industry and help prime some of its future leaders. 'That is why we are launching this initiative in Taiwan, where its strength in semiconductors meets the challenge of demographic decline. Taken together, it is clear we must act here first.' Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Recap: Ong Beng Seng convicted, to be sentenced on Aug 15 Singapore Ong Beng Seng pleads guilty to abetting obstruction of justice in case linked to ex-minister Iswaran Singapore Electric car-sharing firm BlueSG to wind down current operations on Aug 8 Singapore Smooth traffic after Tanjong Katong South Road fully reopens following sinkhole incident Singapore ICA to roll out new group feature in electronic change of address service from Aug 15 Asia Nearly 1,500 Singapore drivers fined for entering Johor without VEP tag since July 1 Singapore The past and future of Choa Bungalow, a 'last reminder' of Marine Parade's former shoreline Multimedia How Singapore is rethinking nature in the city Given limitations posed by Taiwan's ageing population, Synopsys is also considering hosting camps internationally to spur interest in chip making and designing, he added. The company charges NT$33,000 (S$1,420) for the English versions and NT$10,900 for Mandarin. Chueh, a dual Taiwan-Belgian national who lives in Singapore, said he views semiconductors as an attractive career choice. 'I want to lean into it to some extent because I think it will be crucial in the future with AI.' Slumping birth rate Taiwan, which has a population of around 23 million, holds outsized influence over the global semiconductor supply chain, thanks to its chip companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world's largest contract chipmaker, MediaTek, and UMC. Any decline in the industry poses an existential threat to Taiwan, which faces the threat of invasion from Beijing and draws much of its global significance from the chip behemoths. But job openings in the semiconductor sector have risen from 19,401 in the second quarter of 2020 to 33,725 in the same period this year, according to 104 Corporation, a local human resources firm. The industry is grappling with a shortage of both highly skilled professionals, such as IC design and semiconductor R&D engineers, and essential production staff, including operators and assembly technicians. Filling those jobs locally is becoming harder each year as Taiwan's annual number of births has dropped from over 210,000 in 2014 to around 135,000 in 2024, according to government statistics. STEM graduates have also fallen by around 15 per cent in that period, Ministry of Education statistics showed. 'Growth in Taiwan's semiconductor industry has been quite rapid, faster than what our schools can produce in terms of engineering talent each year,' said Mr Leuh Fang, chairman of Vanguard International Semiconductor, a Taiwan-based chipmaker affiliated with TSMC. 'The future workforce' In 2024, the National Taiwan University launched a global undergraduate semiconductor programme for foreign students, which included Mandarin courses to help them reach the proficiency needed to stay and work in Taiwan. The program now enrols over 40 students from more than 10 countries. TSMC also began looking toward foreign talent by throwing its weight behind a programme in Germany's Saxony state, which would send German students to study for a semester at Taiwanese universities before interning at TSMC. Other initiatives are attempting to create interest among children as young as 10. Taiwan's National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) launched an outreach programme in July, backed by TSMC, aimed at making chip science fun through interactive teaching tools and online games. 'The issue everyone is discussing now is where the future workforce will come from,' said NYCU President Lin Chi-hung. 'If they're curious now, they won't reject it later and some may even grow to like this kind of work.' REUTERS
Straits Times
37 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Smooth traffic after Tanjong Katong South Road fully reopens following sinkhole incident
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Residents said they were happy that the affected road had reopened after it was closed for about a week. SINGAPORE – The stretch of Tanjong Katong Road South that has been closed for repairs after a sinkhole emerged there about a week ago was fully reopened as at 5am on Aug 4. When The Straits Times visited the site during the morning peak hour from 8am to 10am on Aug 4, traffic was calm and smooth. Some works were taking place in the vicinity, including the laying of pipes along Amber Gardens Road near Tanjong Katong MRT station and other works on the slip road leading from Mountbatten Road to Tanjong Katong Road South. The affected section of Tanjong Katong Road South had opened gradually, with the section from ECP to Mountbatten Road opening earlier at noon on Aug 2. The opposite bound had opened later from 5am on Aug 4. Residents whom The Straits Times spoke to said they were happy that the affected road had reopened after it was closed for about a week. Mr Ryzky Yuda, 36, who lives at a nearby condominium, said he was happy that he can now return to his daily routine of taking bus service 36 to get to his workplace in Suntec City. Bus services 36 and 48 were temporarily diverted during the road closure and skipped certain bus stops along their route. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Live: Ong Beng Seng convicted, to be sentenced on Aug 15 Singapore Ong Beng Seng pleads guilty to abetting obstruction of justice in case linked to ex-minister Iswaran Singapore Electric car-sharing firm BlueSG to wind down current operations on Aug 8 Singapore ICA to roll out new group feature in electronic change of address service from Aug 15 Asia Nearly 1,500 Singapore drivers fined for entering Johor without VEP tag since July 1 Singapore The past and future of Choa Bungalow, a 'last reminder' of Marine Parade's former shoreline Multimedia How Singapore is rethinking nature in the city World Trump is winning his trade war, but Americans will pay the price The information technology sales executive said that for the past week, he had to take the Thomson-East Coast Line from Tanjong Katong MRT station to Marina Bay station, before switching lines to get to Promenade station. This journey would take around 35 minutes, which was longer than his normal 15-minute bus journey. Some works were taking place in the vicinity, including the laying of pipes along Amber Gardens Road near Tanjong Katong MRT station. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG Likewise, Ms Irene Gn, 69, said she was happy that the bus routes had been reinstated. The retired sales manager was affected by the temporary diversion of the bus services, when she tried taking bus service 36 from the airport back home but did not know that the bus would skip the bus stop along Tanjong Katong Road South. She ended up going to Suntec City then taking the train back to Tanjong Katong. She had also stopped going to Orchard Road to run errands for the past week, as bus service 36 was not operating from the bus stop near her home along Amber Garden Road due to the road diversion. Mr Xie Shi Lin, 36, said he had to take a slightly longer route whenever he drove on weekends and after work on weekdays. Although the information technology executive typically commutes to his workplace via MRT, he said he found it a little inconvenient that he had to take a detour by leaving from the Marine Parade exit from ECP, instead of the usual Tanjong Katong exit, for the past week. But he added that it was not too bad, given that he had alternative routes to take. 'The traffic looks fine now, so I'm quite happy to try it out,' he said. The sinkhole appeared in Tanjong Katong Road South on the evening of July 26, causing a car and its driver to fall in. The driver was rescued by workers on-site and was taken conscious to hospital. It was previously reported that she was experiencing muscular pains, and was still recovering in hospital as at July 29. On July 27, the damaged car was hoisted out of the sinkhole. The sinkhole was refilled early on July 28 with liquefied stabilised soil, which is made of soil, cement and water. Works to test the ground were carried out thereafter. On July 29, Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu apologised to the injured driver as well as those inconvenienced on behalf of her ministry and PUB, adding that the incident should not have happened. The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) will conduct an independent probe into the incident, while the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment will carry out an internal investigation.
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business Times
HPL investors unfazed by founder Ong Beng Seng's guilty plea
[SINGAPORE] Shares of Hotel Properties Ltd (HPL) had tumbled in early trade on Monday (Aug 4) but pared losses as property magnate Ong Beng Seng pleaded guilty in a criminal case involving the Formula 1 night race and former transport minister S Iswaran. As at 9.46 am, the counter had tumbled S$0.07 or 1.3 per cent to S$5.39 from its opening price of S$5.46 amid a strong showing by the wider market. By 11:45 am, it had recovered to S$5.46, unchanged from Friday's close, with 59,000 shares traded. At Monday's trial, Ong admitted to instructing Singapore GP director Mok Chee Liang to bill former transport minister S Iswaran for the business-class ticket from Doha to Singapore in May 2023, as reported by The Business Times. He was charged for obstruction of justice and pled guilty. This is part of the Malaysian businessman's involvement with Iswaran in a high-profile obstruction of justice case, involving the Formula 1 night race. Iswaran was handed on Oct 3, 2024, a 12-month jail sentence , after pleading guilty to four charges under Section 165 and one for obstruction of justice. He is the first former cabinet minister to receive such a sentence. Under Section 165, public servants are prohibited from accepting valuable items for free or inadequate payment from someone connected to business transactions or proceedings they handle. Earlier in April 2025, the business tycoon stepped down as managing director of HPL to tend to existing medical conditions. It was announced that he would also not seek re-election as a director at the company's annual general meeting on Apr 29. Since Ong's exit, HPL's share price has soared over 50 per cent from S$3.60 on Apr 17. The billionaire and his wife Christina hold about 60 per cent of HPL, the company's latest annual report indicated. Founded in 1980, HPL's early ventures included the Hilton Singapore hotel, which Ong bought for S$72 million . The property conglomerate has interests in hotel ownership, management and operations, property development, and investment holdings. Its market capitalisation stands at nearly S$2.9 billion to date. HPL owns a large number of properties in Singapore along Orchard Road such as Forum The Shopping Mall, voco Orchard Singapore and HPL House, in addition to Concorde Hotel and Shopping Mall at Dhoby Ghaut.
