KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian police had called up opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for an interview as part of a probe into police reports lodged by MPs on a list of lawmakers who supposedly support him to become the next prime minister.
The interview was slated to be held at 11am on Monday (Oct 12), but Police Commissioner Huzir Mohamed said later that the meeting had been postponed to a later date, The Star daily reported on its website.
Under Malaysian law, the police are obligated to conduct a probe over an issue once someone has lodged a police report over the matter.
"We were informed by his (Datuk Seri Anwar's) private secretary that he could only do so at 9am on Tuesday," said Mr Huzir, the director of Criminal Investigation Department. "Thus, we have delayed the recording of his statement to a later date that will be determined later."
Several Umno MPs have told the media that they have lodged police reports in the last few days to deny they are backing Mr Anwar's move to topple the government of Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
Malaysia is abuzz with questions whether Mr Anwar, 73, has the support of enough lawmakers to topple the seven-month-old Perikatan Nasional government.
He claimed on Sept 23 that he has a "formidable" number of MPs behind him and that Tan Sri Muhyiddin's government has "fallen".
A list of 121 MPs who supposedly back him has been making its rounds on social media, with at least 15 Umno MPs denying they had anything to do with Mr Anwar's takeover plan and several lodging police reports.
The planned police interview on Monday, if it had been carried out, comes at a sensitive time, as Mr Anwar has an audience on Tuesday with Malaysia's King, who has a key role in determining a change in government.
Mr Anwar has said that he will show his list of MPs to Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin before making it public.
At the last count in Parliament, PM Muhyiddin has the support of 113 MPs in the 222-seat assembly, just two lawmakers above the minimum needed to pass Bills and win a confidence vote.
Commissioner Huzir said the police probe is based on the spread of the list of 121 MPs, after receiving six police reports regarding the matter, The Star said.
He reminded the public not to be alarmed by the spread of the news on the list of MPs.
"We urge all the parties involved not to spread news that has not been verified," he said. "We will not hesitate to take action against any party that spreads fake news or unverified news that could confuse the people," he added.
Mr Anwar is president of opposition Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) with 38 MPs.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution Ismail on Monday called on Malaysians and members of his party to remain calm ahead of Mr Anwar's meeting with Sultan Abdullah.
Datuk Seri Saifuddin told PKR members "to not hold any gathering or to gather in any location, especially along major roads, towards Istana Negara (national palace)".
"I also call upon all Malaysians to keep calm as this audience session takes place, and to remain calm for any subsequent process that takes place thereafter," he said in a statement quoted by Malay Mail online news.
TAIPEI/BEIJING: Taiwan's government has denounced China, citing entrapment and manipulation, after Chinese state television aired a documentary showing a Taiwanese citizen confessing to visiting Hong Kong to support anti-government protesters there.
China, which claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory, has repeatedly denounced Taipei for offering support to Chinese-administered Hong Kong's protest movement, saying the forces of Taiwan and Hong Kong independence are colluding.
Taiwan says it has a duty to stand up for democracy and human rights.
Late Sunday, Chinese state television showed a documentary detailing what it said was a confession by Morrison Lee, who was arrested by police in Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, last year, on suspicion of breaching national security laws.
State television said Lee had gone to Hong Kong to support the protesters, and had then gone to Shenzhen to secretly film Chinese paramilitary police.
"I'm very sorry. I did many bad, wrong things in the past, perhaps harming the motherland and the country," Lee told the programme, dressed in prison garb.
In Taipei, the Mainland Affairs Council labelled the show "complete nonsense".
"This is malicious political hyping up by the other side, entrapping one of our people into engaging in spying activities, deliberately damaging relations across the Taiwan Strait," it said.
China should stop trying to frame Taiwanese citizens, the council added, saying putting Lee on television was contrary to the legal process.
Rights groups and Western governments have expressed anger at China for previous instances where suspects have been put on state television to confess before their trials.
The spying accusations come as relations between Taipei and Beijing continue to nosedive, with China stepping up military drills near the island in recent weeks.
Taiwan says it will not provoke China or seek war, but that it will defend itself and stand up for its democratic way of life.
HONG KONG (BLOOMBERG) - Hong Kong's home-grown investment bankers are rapidly losing their status as the city's go-to dealmakers, supplanted by mainland Chinese rivals who now hold a majority of senior jobs in Asia's biggest financial hub.
While the shift has long seemed inevitable given the expanding pool of mainland talent and dominant role of Chinese issuers in Hong Kong, the recent pace of change has jolted even some industry veterans. They say it's partly explained by a reluctance among Chinese securities firms to hire and promote Hongkongers after anti-government protests rocked the former British colony in 2019.
Locals' share of investment banking jobs in the city has slumped to about 30 per cent from 40 per cent two years ago, with 60 per cent of roles now filled by mainlanders and 10 per cent by overseas nationals, according to Robert Walters, a recruiting company. The trend has been similar in the industry's upper echelons, where mainlanders account for more than half of senior roles, estimates from executive search firm Wellesley show.
The figures underscore the uncertain economic future facing even well-to-do Hongkongers, many of whom thrived for decades by acting as financial intermediaries between a rising China and the rest of the world. While some in the industry have enjoyed relative stability in roles like trading that rely less on client relationships, those jobs also may come under threat as China makes it easier for global firms to bypass Hong Kong and access onshore markets directly.
"With such a vast percentage of deals coming out of mainland China, it's understandable that many of those relationships are owned by mainland Chinese bankers," said John Mullally, regional director at Robert Walters in Hong Kong. He said mainlanders comprised just 15 per cent of the industry 20 years ago, before widespread access to study abroad programmes and other international experience helped China narrow its skills gap with Hong Kong.
The new environment has stymied even some of the most experienced Hong Kong bankers.
Tse, a former managing director at large US and European investment banks who now works at a mid-sized mainland Chinese brokerage, said he's had a hard time cracking the inner circle at his new firm. His salary is about the same now as it was more than a decade ago, while mainland hires outnumber Hongkongers by four-to-one in his division.
"Most of the Hong Kong bankers, including myself, are learning how to toe the Chinese line," said Tse, who asked that his full name not be used because he's not authorised to speak to media. "The cultural shocks and differences are still immense."
As the supply of bankers from the mainland has increased, pay packages across the city have dwindled. Compensation for senior roles has dropped 15-20 per cent over the past five years, said Christian Brun, chief executive officer at Wellesley. Senior managing directors typically take home anywhere from US$850,000 (S$1.15 million) to US$1.75 million, versus US$1 million to US$2 million in 2015, according to a person familiar with the matter who has several hiring mandates with bulge-bracket firms in the region.
And it's not just Chinese firms in Hong Kong that are hiring from the mainland. Morgan Stanley has promoted about 15 managing directors from mainland China since 2016, compared with 11 Hongkongers, according to company announcements analysed by Bloomberg.
Goldman Sachs Group appointed three Chinese nationals to its most recent partner class in 2018, the most ever from the country. The group included Wei Cai, the firm's head of China investment banking. The firm's senior promotions for Hongkongers in recent years have mostly come in areas that are less client facing, such as trading, research and support functions. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.
"More than 90 per cent of the searches we conduct in Hong Kong require mandarin fluency at least and a strong preference for PRC candidates," said Mr Brun, referring to the People's Republic of China, the country's official name. That has also left fewer opportunities for expatriates from places like Britain and America, who accounted for just 7 per cent of senior hires in Asia at the region's eight biggest bulge-bracket investment banks, Mr Brun said.
Hongkongers still hold some of the industry's most prominent roles. Mark Leung is the China chief executive officer at JPMorgan Chase & Co and Pierre Chu is co-head of China mergers and acquisitions at Goldman Sachs. Several heads of China investment banking, including UBS Group's John Lee and Credit Suisse Group's Joe Lai, are also from Hong Kong.
While several of their high-profile peers have left the industry in recent years, they've mostly landed on their feet. Edward Lau, a former director at Deutsche Bank, is now a deputy financial controller at New World Development, one of Hong Kong's biggest property companies. Mervyn Chow, who ran Greater China for Credit Suisse, left in 2018 for investment giant Hillhouse Capital.
One potential advantage for local bankers is that they face a more favourable tax regime in Hong Kong than their mainland peers. China's government recently began imposing a levy on its citizens' offshore income, a decision that could leave mainland bankers in Hong Kong paying triple the local rate as well as footing the bill for the city's sky-high living costs. Some are already considering moves back to China if their employers don't increase salaries to offset the new tax.
The long-term risk for Hong Kong's local bankers is that the city's role as a financial hub starts to fade. China's imposition of a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong has blurred the lines between the two jurisdictions, and the threat of economically crippling sanctions from the Trump administration still hangs over the city. Meanwhile, international firms have recently been given a green light from Beijing to build up their operations on the mainland.
Morgan Stanley has already moved 15 bankers and executives to its China venture from locations including Hong Kong. UBS has relocated about five employees from Hong Kong to Beijing, while Credit Suisse shifted two executives to the Chinese capital to head its securities venture.
Foreign banks will find it much cheaper to hire staff on the mainland, according to Eric Zhu, head of financials at recruiter Morgan McKinley. Employing a first year analyst at bulge-bracket firm in China costs around US$51,000, compared with as much as US$100,000 in Hong Kong, he said.
"The biggest influence on this trend came in the change in regulations allowing international firms to have control of their onshore entities," Mr Brun said. "Everything else, including the Hong Kong protests, the political turmoil, and the US-China grind all simply accelerate and concentrate the move onshore."
SINGAPORE: There is a concept among the business community known as the “China Plus One (+1)” strategy where China remains the main supply source or consumer market for a company but a business diversifies certain operations to other countries.
Companies with a stake in the lucrative Chinese market may find it imperative to diversify their supply chains for a variety of reasons: Rising business costs in China, uncertainties stemming from the US-China trade spat and, more recently, border closures owing to COVID-19.
"It is worth emphasising that China appears ahead of the global curve when it comes to restarting the economy following months of lockdown, and many of the reasons why companies are in China in the first place still hold true today," Alan Beebe, President of AmCham China, was quoted in an Apr 17 press release detailing a joint survey with PwC of 25 US companies in China.
"As a result, we expect to see companies adopting a 'China + 1' strategy as a way to diversify supply chain risks while tapping into China market opportunities."
CHINA’S + 1
However, recent trends point to China adopting its own “+1” strategy. Southeast Asia appears to be at the heart of that approach, particularly for China tech behemoths.
Chinese business ventures are not new to the region as large tech giants such as Huawei and Alibaba, have a considerable presence in the region’s markets directly or through affiliates.
Further, data compiled by the AidData Research Lab, affiliated to the College of William & Mary in the US, titled China’s Public Diplomacy in East Asia and the Pacific 1.0, shows China has contributed to a steady flow of infrastructure investment projects in Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Vietnam between 2001 and 2016.
But the presence of Chinese investments here has intensified within the last two years.
Cambodia's love affair with China has meant sizeable cash injections for the once-impoverished Southeast Asian country. (Photo: AFP/Tang Chhin Sothy)
For instance, just in the first seven months of last year alone, as the trade war with China gained speed, Chinese companies invested approximately US$1.78 billion (S$2.44 billion) into tech start-ups in the region, including Malaysia’s Easy Parcel, Singapore’s livestreaming company Bigo and Indonesia’s Tokopedia by Chinese companies.
According to fintech firm Refinitiv, this was eight times higher than the same period in 2018.
Overall, Chinese investment in the region has almost tripled in value from US$3.5 billion in 2010 US$10.2 billion in 2018, data provided by ASEANstats shows.
Recently, Chinese tech companies such as Bytedance, Alibaba and Tencent have been investing in business initiatives in Singapore.
Bytedance, the company that owns TikTok, announced plans to invest billions of dollars and recruit hundreds of employees in Singapore over the next three years.
Similarly, Tencent will be opening its regional hub in Singapore while Alibaba intends to invest US$3 billion in Southeast Asian-focused ride-hailing company Grab.
What has sparked this increased interest in the region? To comprehend this, it’s worth looking at the business ambitions of Chinese tech companies and the constraints they face.
AMBITION AND CHALLENGES OF CHINESE TECH COMPANIES
First, all of them want to access new markets for revenue growth as domestic competition within China has gotten more aggressive. Many of these firms also have aspirations to be global companies.
The Beijing headquarters of ByteDance, the parent company of video sharing app TikTok AFP/GREG BAKER
Second, to stay ahead of the competition, Chinese tech companies need to acquire strategic resources such as new technologies, talent with the relevant expertise and a larger ecosystem network to elevate them to the next level.
Despite having such strong ambitions, these Chinese tech companies have faced strong headwinds. In particular, the push back from the US through its trade war and decoupling with China.
TikTok and Tencent’s WeChat are some of the Chinese tech companies facing a strong backlash in the US market.
Trust towards Chinese companies in general has deteriorated lately due to China’s perceived lack of transparency in handling COVID-19 outbreak, according to a study by the Brunswick Group.
LOSING HONG KONG AS A GATEWAY
Hong Kong has lost its lustre as the preferred gateway for China to the world. It was the centre where global MNCs and Chinese tech companies collaborated and closed deals until frequent hostile street protests and stronger mainland government intervention disrupted this.
Business travel between China and Hong Kong had been further inhibited. The city was not in the list of countries granted green lane access to the mainland.
Pro-democracy protesters, including veteran activist Leung Kwok-hung, march during a demonstration near a flag-raising ceremony on Chinese National Day in Hong Kong, China, October 1, 2020. The banner reads: "There is no national day celebration, only national mourning". REUTERS/Joyce Zhou
A survey by the American Chamber of Commerce reported that almost 40 per cent of its members had plans to leave Hong Kong. CEO of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce George Leung Siu-kay noted in a radio programme in Hong Kong that the city is no longer a business paradise for enterprises.
Having to move out of the US and Hong Kong, China tech firms’ access to capital markets on Nasdaq and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange will be constrained.
This is not healthy when they need funds to fuel global expansion. They will need a new location where they can gain access to more private or public investors.
HOW CHINESE TECH COMPANIES CAN FULFILL THEIR AMBITIONS
Chinese companies are also trying to evolve their status and establish themselves as international brand to shed negative views that come with being seen as a Chinese firm.
Setting up global operations in a politically neutral country that provide access to talent, financial markets and business networks for growth can help achieve that.
Chinese tech firms also want to access companies they can invest in or acquire to bolster their technology capabilities, regional networks and access to new markets.
For instance, Alibaba’s recent investment in Grab could give it entry into markets in the region where ride-hailing company already established a strong presence.
WHY SOUTHEAST ASIA?
As of November 2019, Chinese companies had already expanded into almost 130 countries in the world. Research by both the Pew Research Centre and The Brunswick Group has demonstrated that emerging markets eager to attract investments are overwhelmingly welcoming to Chinese businesses.
To fortify themselves for future tariffs or political waves, Chinese companies are looking to new markets AFP/Greg Baker
Similarly, developed countries also present equally attractive opportunities for Chinese tech companies.
Bringing in financial and technological investments to local companies, opening up sales channels into China, creating job opportunities and attracting Chinese tourism money are some of the prime appeal for welcoming Chinese businesses into their shores.
By 2030, ASEAN is projected to be the fourth-largest single market economy in the market.
It is thus unsurprising that Chinese investments into the region are projected to reach US$500 billion by 2035 as reported by the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office.
This shows that Chinese companies are aggressively looking for ways to deepen their roots in the Southeast Asian market as the US becomes a more hostile destination.
With attractive benefits from the China-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), Chinese tech companies will be keen to increase their presence in regional markets and form a new ecosystem.
This may attract even more global FDI to the region, especially from western MNCs that are forced to withdraw from China and Hong Kong due to recent geopolitical tensions.
That is why Southeast Asia is seeing strong interest from Chinese companies as they find the region an appealing alternative to compensate for their loss in market growth elsewhere.
The spat between US and China may see more investments shift towards the ASEAN region, driving growth and job creation.
For Chinese companies being hindered from expanding into the US markets, they now have a new lease of life for internationalisation.
Indeed, there is a silver lining for everyone.
Dr Lau Kong Cheen and Dr Vanessa Liu are senior lecturers, Marketing Programme at the School of Business in the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
NEW YORK: Twitter on Sunday (Oct 11) flagged a tweet by Donald Trump in which the US President claimed he was immune to the coronavirus, saying it violated the social media platform's rules about misleading information related to COVID-19.
"A total and complete sign off from White House Doctors yesterday. That means I can't get it (immune), and can't give it. Very nice to know," Trump said in the tweet.
The post was flagged by Twitter with a disclaimer.
"This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules about spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to COVID-19," Twitter's disclaimer read, adding that it had determined that it may be in the public's interest for the tweet to remain accessible.
A Twitter spokeswoman told Reuters that the tweet made "misleading health claims" about COVID-19 and that engagements with the post would be "significantly limited," as is standard in such cases.
Trump said on Sunday he had fully recovered from COVID-19 and would not be a transmission risk to others, freeing him to return to holding big campaign rallies during the final weeks of the race for the White House.
The president first announced that he had had a positive coronavirus test on Oct 2. Trump's physician said on Saturday the president had taken a test showing he was no longer infectious.
The scientific evidence is unclear on how long people who have recovered from COVID-19 have antibodies and are protected from a second infection.
Trump, who is trailing Democrat Joe Biden in opinion polls ahead of the Nov 3 election, is eager to get back on the campaign trail after an absence of more than a week.
He plans to travel to the key battleground state of Florida on Monday, followed by rallies in Pennsylvania and Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.
Singapore is looking to form air travel bubbles with countries and territories that have managed the Covid-19 pandemic well. While most of them have some form of arrangement for business and official travel, especially within their own borders, many are reluctant to open up for mass travel as nations battle a resurgence of the coronavirus. Straits Times correspondents Elizabeth Law, Katherine Wei, Jonathan Pearlman, Chang May Choon, Claire Huang, Tan Hui Yee, Walter Sim and Eileen Ng report on how the region has responded to Singapore's proposal to form air travel bubbles.
CHINA
China is the first country with which Singapore established a reciprocal green lane arrangement - to facilitate essential business and official travel between both countries - in late May. While the world's second-largest economy has gradually relaxed rules to allow certain business travellers and foreigners with residential permits back into the country, it has stopped short of fully reopening its borders.
China will "expand the scale of foreign personnel movements gradually", but virus control and public health remain priorities, the Foreign Ministry said.
The pandemic is largely under control in the country, with most of the dozen or so daily reported cases imported.
Travel firms are especially keen to resume international travel, particularly to places with zero cases.
TAIWAN
As Taiwan is focused on ensuring that its Covid-19 tally remains low (it has 527 cases and has not recorded a local one in months), its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said any travel arrangements between Taiwan and Singapore will depend on Singapore's "epidemic control status".
The ministry said it will continue to monitor relevant information and epidemic developments closely, and keep the Central Epidemic Command Centre informed accordingly. Future discussions will be held based on the centre's decision.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Australia and New Zealand have been cautious about relaxing travel restrictions and have not announced any plans to remove curbs on travellers arriving from Singapore.
On Oct 8, Singapore began allowing Australians - except those from Victoria - to enter without undergoing quarantine. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison stoked excitement yesterday after saying that Australia is in talks with several countries, including Singapore, on resuming travel.
Ms Kate Baldock, executive director of AustCham Singapore, said the resumption of travel would help businesses in both countries a great deal. "There is much to learn from the way Singapore is reopening its borders in a post-Covid landscape. We welcome the comments from PM Morrison and hope to see travel resume between Singapore and Australia in the near future."
New Zealand is unlikely to lift its border restrictions soon. It bars access to non-citizens and non-residents, and requires those allowed to enter the country to quarantine themselves.
SOUTH KOREA
South Korea already has a green lane arrangement for business travellers from Singapore since early last month, and South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it will consider opening up to other travellers after ensuring the "smooth implementation" of fast-track procedures.
The Singapore office of the Korea Tourism Organisation has already received many inquiries from travel agencies, hotels and other tourism-related partners, said its director Charles Lim. He added that his office is making efforts to ensure that an air travel bubble on leisure travel between both countries can be achieved as soon as possible.
HONG KONG
Hong Kong has initiated talks with 11 jurisdictions, including Singapore, Japan, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand, on a travel bubble as the local travel industry has called for residents to be allowed to travel abroad without the need for quarantine at destination countries and upon returning home.
Hong Kong planned to have a travel bubble with Guangdong province in China and neighbouring Macau, but the initiative stalled due to a spike in Covid-19 cases in July and August in the Asian financial hub.
The number of cases has since stabilised and, to boost visitors' confidence in the city, Hong Kong has launched a hygiene protocol for tourism-related industries.
THAILAND
Thailand has among the lowest number of confirmed cases in Asia, with just over 3,600 cases. The kingdom was due to welcome its first batch of foreign tourists this month but this has been delayed due to what tourism officials describe as administrative issues.
Thailand's Foreign Ministry said it has reached out to Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore and Hong Kong to negotiate special travel arrangements. These countries and territories were selected for, among other reasons, their "robust" public health system, success in reducing local transmissions and strong economic cooperation with Thailand.
JAPAN
Japan is unlikely to resume leisure travel - including through a travel bubble - soon, even though observers believe this will give a much-needed fillip to its tourism industry.
While policies like "leisure travel bubbles" will naturally save the flagging tourism industry, Toyo University tourism management expert Kazuaki Sasaki said the industry will immediately become "social pariahs" if there is a spike of Covid-19 cases.
While a relaxation on the ban on leisure visitors is not on the horizon, the Yomiuri daily reported last Thursday that Japan will lower its travel warnings for 12 places, including Singapore, starting next month.
BEIJING: A Taiwanese man detained in China and accused of "endangering national security" appeared on Chinese television on Sunday evening (Oct 11), admitting to illegally filming military exercises in a city bordering Hong Kong during protests there last year.
Relatives of Lee Meng-chu had said he went missing after crossing from Hong Kong into Shenzhen on Aug 19, 2019.
Hong Kong was then in the throes of months-long mass demonstrations against a law allowing extradition to China, the territory's government and the central government in Beijing.
At the time, thousands of Chinese military police had gathered in a stadium in Shenzhen for exercises with armoured vehicles.
The manoeuvres had fuelled speculation that China was going to deploy its forces to intervene in the Hong Kong unrest.
"I took my phone to record some videos," Lee said in the CCTV state television report on Sunday, interspersed with scenes from his alleged actions.
"I am sorry. I have done a lot of bad things," said Lee, his hair cropped short, wearing a blue shirt and an orange vest with his prisoner number.
According to CCTV, he went to Shenzhen for the sole purpose of observing the manoeuvres.
He reportedly shot 16 videos and took 48 photos around the stadium. After he shared some on the internet, he was reportedly arrested by state security.
Human rights organisations accuse China of regularly forcing detainees to deliver public "confessions" broadcast on television, in a country where the opaque judicial system remains subject to the ruling Communist Party.
The Chinese government has accused Taiwanese authorities and activists in recent months of supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong.
