ASEAN – President Rodrigo Duterte has declined an invitation to attend the United States-ASEAN summit in Washington DC to be held after the May 9 Philippine elections. During his Talk to the People aired on Wednesday morning, Duterte said it would not look good for him to attend the May 11 to 13 summit because by the time his successor …

Malaysia – Former deputy prime minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has sued former prime minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for defamation over allegations that he requested the latter’s aid to resolve or delay his court matters. Ahmad Zahid, 69, filed the complaint in the High Court on April 4 through Messrs Shahrul Hamidi & Haziq, naming Muhyiddin, 74, as the …

Malaysia – According to PKR secretary-general Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, the party’s weak performance in the state elections between 2020 and 2022 would be on the topic at the party’s National Congress, which is likely to take place in June. According to him, the sequence of setbacks prompted changes to their methods, narrative to the public, election instruments training, …

Malaysia – In principle, the government has agreed to allow Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) to negotiate with the agent chosen by FIFA to gain broadcasting rights for the 2022 World Cup. Tan Sri Annuar Musa, Minister of Communications and Multimedia, said the outcome of the negotiations will be known shortly. “InsyaAllah, we need a little more time to finalize it …

Malaysia – Irene Chang, the Democratic Action Party’s (DAP) candidate in Bukit Assek, has criticized her opponent Joseph Chieng of the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) for what she describes as “misleading” campaign videos. According to her, some of Chieng’s videos featured comments that may be regarded as defamatory. In a news conference yesterday, she said that despite the fact that …

ASEAN – According to a research published recently, Facebook misidentified tens of thousands of advertising labeled under its political ads policy, raising concerns that the mistake might lead to political manipulation. Researchers from KU Leuven University in Belgium and New York University looked at 33.8 million Facebook advertisements that appeared between July 2020 and February 2021. In a summary of …

Malaysia – Although she has been labelled a ‘traitor’, this has not dampened the spirits of Masjid Tanah Member of Parliament, Datuk Mas Ermieyati Samsudin to continue to serve her constituents. In fact, she is determined to repay her party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) trust in her to contribute one seat to Perikatan Nasional (PN) in the upcoming Melaka …

Hong Kong’s political elite begin selecting a powerful committee on Sunday that will choose nearly half the legislature. It is also decided that later on a new leader will be selected too under a new patriot system imposed by Beijing. The first poll under that new system, dubbed patriots rule Hong Kong, will take place today as members of the …

KUALA LUMPUR – After losing the 2018 general election, 15 Umno MPs defected to the ruling coalition’s leading party, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu). With a new general election on the horizon, Bersatu decided to talk to Umno about seat allocations in 13 of these constituencies. However, Umno has stated that it will challenge all of these wards, arguing that …

Two senators want the 18th Congress to be assembled by the Senate and the House of Representatives as a constituent assembly to bring restricted changes to the 1987 Constitution. Senators Ronald dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino shared in the filing of Resolution of the two houses (RBH) No. 2 that changes are required to implement the 33-year-old Constitution in order …