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This Year in Asia: money laundering in Singapore, Taylor Swift’s snubs, Robert Kuok at 100 and other highlights of 2023

arifnsn December 31, 2023

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Dubbed “run” culture, the trend saw many members of China’s middle class jump at the chance to flee to freer Southeast Asian pastures and embrace the plethora of more-affordable investment opportunities available.

‘Run’ culture: China’s well-off plot emigration to Southeast Asia

Indian cuisine’s world No 5 ranking rankles

Indian foodies took to social media at the start of the year to defend their favourite dishes after a controversial ranking placed their country’s cuisine below that of Japan, Spain, Greece and Italy.

Some blamed “ignorance” and “racism” for the disappointing showing – while other spicy takes pointed out that India – much like China – doesn’t have a single, unified cuisine, with myriad regional variations instead.

Indian cuisine’s world No 5 ranking leaves a bad taste in Indians’ mouths

04:22

Philippines in Focus: Jeepneys in Jeopardy

Filipino drivers lash out at e-jeepneys

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s move to scrap all of the country’s iconic jeepneys was met with a fierce backlash in March, as protesting drivers said the costly modernisation drive would “ be the death of us”.

Several thousand drivers went on strike to protest against the removal of the iconic diesel-powered vehicles, which have for decades been the most popular form of public transport in the Philippines since they were modified and reproduced from US military jeeps left behind after World War II.

Philippine drivers signal anger as Marcos makes U-turn on jeepney promise

Malaysia’s Hollywood dreams turn to dust

As Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund in April sold its stake in an “amazing” film studio complex to a Singapore-based media firm for a fraction of its initial investment, Malaysian creatives mourned the loss of a facility that never really lived up to its promise.

Insiders partly pinned the blame for the studio’s lacklustre performance on the unhelpful attitudes of conservatives in the country towards its creative industries.

As Malaysia’s Hollywood dreams crumble to dust, a Singapore firm swoops in

Taylor Swift is set to perform in Singapore on March 2, 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9. Photo: AP

Taylor Swift’s sole Southeast Asia stop

Swifties in Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines were left feeling dejected after the American songstress announced in June that her sell-out Eras Tour would be calling into Singapore in March 2024 – but nowhere else in Southeast Asia.

It came as British band Coldplay similarly sold out six Singapore dates, leaving many of the region’s music fans envying the city state’s ability to draw major international stars – and wondering whether rival hub Hong Kong had fallen behind.

Taylor Swift’s Singapore shows leave Malaysian, Thai, Filipino fans dismayed

02:17

China’s telecoms fraud crackdown with Myanmar may help workers trapped in scam rooms

Inside the Chinese-run scam hubs of Myanmar

In July, This Week in Asia took an exclusive deep dive into the brutal criminal enterprises dotting the Moei River that forms Myanmar’s border with Thailand.

Interviews with survivors revealed how they had been ensnared by promises of legitimate, well-paid work, before being trafficked into compounds in the lawless border region where they were tortured – and threatened with death – as their captors forced them to defraud strangers online.

‘We can kill you here’: inside the lawless Chinese-run scam hubs of Myanmar

A worker uses a mobile phone at a park in Hanoi in December. Not all Vietnamese have shared equally in the spoils of the country’s recent economic boom times. Photo: AFP

Vietnam’s ‘flexers’ lay bare increasing inequality

Flexing – slang in Vietnam for bragging – is on the rise, as the economy booms and more young people seek out qualifications from respected US universities with salaries to match.

But not everyone has been part of the success story, as plenty of the country’s poorest still struggle to keep their heads above water – and even those not on a subsistence wage find the high cost of education prohibitive, as dark economic clouds gather on the horizon.

In Vietnam, ‘flexers’ have US degrees, status, wealth. Others barely sleep

Massive money laundering case rocks Singapore

It’s been called one of the “ most serious, if not the worst” money-laundering cases in Singapore’s history, with a laundry list of seized assets ranging from millions of dollars in cash to ultra-exclusive properties, luxury cars and jewellery.

The case led to the arrest in August of 10 suspects of Chinese origin who held a cornucopia of other nationalities, casting a spotlight on the phenomenon of “citizenship for sale” and exposing the latest must-have in criminals’ tool kits to cross borders, evade jail and wash the billions of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

Singapore’s money laundering probe exposes Chinese criminals’ paid-for passports

Robert Kuok pictured in 2018 surrounded by reporters as he leaves a Council of Eminent Persons meeting in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Xinhua

Malaysian tycoon Robert Kuok turns 100

Hong Kong magnate Robert Kuok, the Malaysia-born ‘Sugar King of Asia’, turned 100 in October, being feted with congratulatory messages from a string of luminaries including fellow tycoons Lee Shau-kee and Hong Kong’s richest man Li Ka-shing.

Kuok is among the handful of Southeast Asian entrepreneurs tempered by the horrors of war who built businesses that evolved with the region’s newly independent nations.

Malaysia-born Hong Kong billionaire Robert Kuok feted on 100th birthday

Protesters carrying placards hold a rally in solidarity with Palestinians outside the US embassy in Jakarta on December 17. Photo: EPA-EFE

Anti-Israel boycotts sweep Indonesia, Malaysia

In Muslim-majority Indonesia, rage at Israel over the conflict transmuted into a wide-ranging boycott encompassing McDonald’s and Pringles in November, while Malaysians took to social media in their droves to proclaim they were quitting the Singapore-based Grab app because of a post the CEO’s wife had made on social media.