Malaysian police probing case of helicopter flying to Ipoh to collect nasi kandar, say travel permit was for maintenance - CNA

IPOH: Malaysian police were investigating an incident where a helicopter landed in an open field in Ipoh, Perak, last Friday (Jul 23), reportedly to collect packets of the popular rice dish nasi kandar for a customer in Kuala Lumpur.

Perak police chief Mior Faridalathrash Wahid said police had recorded the statements of the police station chief who gave the green light as well as the complainant, the food premises owner, and the helicopter company owner.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mr Mior Faridalathrash said that the helicopter was only given permission to travel interstate for maintenance.

A helicopter was spotted at a field in Ipoh, Perak, on Jul 23, 2021, reportedly to collect 36 packets of nasi ganja from a popular nasi kandar shop there. (Photo: Bernama) 

The permit was not to pick up nasi ganja order, the statement read. 

“Police are still investigating and the findings would be referred to deputy public prosecutor for further instructions soon,” Mr Mior Faridalathrash said, according to Bernama.

READ: Malaysia expects most states to enter final phase of COVID-19 recovery plan as early as October, says PM Muhyiddin

The issue surfaced following a viral clip that shows the helicopter landing at Padang Ipoh, believed to collect 36 packets of the rice dish, also known as nasi ganja (cannabis), from a popular eatery in Ipoh for a customer in Kuala Lumpur. 

The famous rice dish was nicknamed such for its addictive taste. The mixed rice dish, which usually included chicken, meat, fish or other seafood and salted eggs, is mostly served by Indian Muslim restaurants in the northern states of Peninsular Malaysia.

Members of the public unhappy over the issue questioned whether the flight was authorised by the relevant agencies at a time when movement restrictions were in place.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia (CAAM) in a statement on Saturday said the helicopter operated by Systematic Aviation Services left Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport, Subang, for Ipoh around 9am before returning to Subang at 11am.

The case was being investigated under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Regulations.

LEAVE IT TO POLICE TO INVESTIGATE: HELICOPTER OWNER 

Meanwhile, Free Malaysia Today reported that the owner of the helicopter said he would leave it to the police to investigate the legality of the flight, and that “all papers were in order”.

“I have nothing much to say except that it was a quick pick-up. I have appointed my lawyers to handle the matter and we will give our full cooperation.” Mr Mohamed Raffe Chekku was quoted as saying on Monday. 

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2021-07-27 11:26:42Z
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Singapore, US affirm 'vital' American presence in region as defence chiefs meet - CNA

SINGAPORE: The United States' presence in the region is "vital for its peace, prosperity, and stability", Singapore and the US affirmed on Tuesday (Jul 27) during the inaugural visit of Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III to Singapore.

Mr Austin is on an introductory tour of Southeast Asia, where he is the first member of US President Joe Biden's Cabinet to visit. The retired four-star general is in Singapore from Monday to Wednesday, when he leaves for Vietnam and the Philippines.

READ: With eye on China, Pentagon chief heads to Southeast Asia

After a welcome by the Guard of Honour on Tuesday morning, Mr Austin met Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and separately called on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Call on Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore (right) by United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III at The Istana, Singapore, on Jul 27, 2021. (Photo: MCI)

Dr Ng and Mr Austin reaffirmed the "excellent and long-standing" defence relations between both countries in their meeting, said Singapore's Ministry of Defence (MINDEF).

Both sides expressed "satisfaction" that military cooperation continued to be strong despite the COVID-19 pandemic, said the ministry.

They also exchanged views on geopolitical developments and regional security issues, and agreed on the importance of the US' continued engagement in the region, said MINDEF.

In a joint statement issued after the meeting, the defence chiefs highlighted the signing of the 2019 Protocol of Amendment renewing a 1990 memorandum of understanding (MOU) that facilitates US forces' access to Singapore's military facilities for transit and logistics support.

Along with the signing of an MOU establishing a Republic of Singapore Air Force fighter training detachment in Guam, these underscored the long-standing and multi-faceted defence ties, read the statement.

United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd J Austin III (right) signing the Ministry of Defence guestbook with Minister for Defence Ng Eng Hen. (Photo: MINDEF)

"Secretary Austin thanked Singapore for the logistical support that it provides to US military aircraft and vessels, as well as for facilitating the regular rotational deployment of US Littoral Combat Ships and P-8 Poseidon aircraft.

"This support is anchored on the shared belief that the United States' presence in the region is vital for its peace, prosperity, and stability," the statement continued, adding that Dr Ng and Mr Austin also committed to continue discussions on US "force posture initiatives".

BILATERAL TRAINING

The defence chiefs stressed the "strong" bilateral training relationship between their countries in the joint statement, noting that Singapore and US armed forces have trained together in recent bilateral and multilateral exercises such as the 3rd Exercise Pacific Griffin.

The Republic of Singapore Navy frigate RSS Tenacious firing a harpoon anti-ship missile during a coordinated strike with RSS Stalwart and the RSAF fighters, in the waters off Guam during Exercise Pacific Griffin 2021. (Photo: MINDEF)

Mr Austin also "emphasised that the Department of Defense values Singapore's training presence inside the United States", according to the statement.

Both said they looked forward to "new high-end bilateral training opportunities, including future cooperation as the United States hosts Singapore's future F-35B fighter aircraft detachment".

Last month, both countries announced that Ebbing Air National Guard Base, Arkansas had been selected to host Singapore's F-35B detachment as well as the F-16 fighter training detachment, relocated from Luke Air Force Base, Arizona.

READ: US base in Arkansas selected for Singapore's F-35B training detachment, F-16s to relocate

Dr Ng also thanked Mr Austin for the US' "strong support" facilitating Singapore's overseas training and exercises, helping to overcome the country's space constraints.

Both commended growing areas of defence partnerships in counter-terrorism and artificial intelligence, and expressed hope for more cooperation in areas such as cyber defence, strategic communications and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

The defence chiefs also "discussed the regional security environment and agreed on the importance of sustaining a rules-based order", read the joint statement.

"They also agreed to continue finding ways to expand the role of the US-Singapore partnership in maintaining regional stability, such as through increased exchanges and training opportunities for the region's young defence leaders."

Mr Austin's visit continues on Tuesday evening when he delivers a lecture on "The Imperative of Partnership". The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which is organising the event, describes Mr Austin's speech as one in which he will "make the case for the US' role as a reliable partner in helping nations in the Indo-Pacific make their own choices and 'build back better' after COVID-19".

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2021-07-27 07:28:34Z
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First person charged under Hong Kong security law found guilty of terrorism, inciting secession - CNA

HONG KONG: The first person charged under Hong Kong's national security law was found guilty on Tuesday (Jul 27) of terrorism and inciting secession in a landmark case with long-term implications for how the legislation reshapes the city's common law traditions.

Former waiter Tong Ying-kit, 24, was accused of driving his motorcycle into three riot police while carrying a flag with the protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times", which prosecutors said was secessionist.

As the first national security case conducted in open court, Tong's case could set precedents on the handling of security law cases for the more than 120 other people charged under it, including prominent democrats and activists.

The verdict was delivered by a panel of three judges: Esther Toh, Anthea Pang and Wilson Chan - who were picked by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam to hear national security cases.

"GRAVE HARM TO SOCIETY": JUDGE

Toh read out a summary of the ruling in court, saying "such display of the words was capable of inciting others to commit secession."

She added that Tong was aware of the slogan's secessionist meaning, and that he intended to communicate this meaning to others. His actions caused "grave harm to society".

In a detailed judgment published on the judiciary's website, the judges also said Tong's motorcycle was potentially a lethal weapon.

"The defendant’s failure to stop at all the police checklines, eventually crashing into the police, was a deliberate challenge mounted against the police, a symbol of Hong Kong’s law and order," the judges said.

An alternative charge of dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm was not considered.

Tong faces up to life in prison, as set out in the national security law. Someone convicted of a "grave" national security offence could be jailed for at least 10 years, the law says.

Tong's lawyer Clive Grossman told Reuters outside the court no decision had been made on an appeal. He declined further comment.

Nathan Law, an activist who has been given asylum in Britain after leaving Hong Kong, said in a message on Twitter: "The judicial system in Hong Kong is weaponized to suppress."

Benedict Rogers, chief executive of rights group Hong Kong Watch, called the ruling "a blow to free expression" and said the global financial hub was "now little more than a police state."

READ: 117 people arrested in Hong Kong in a year under national security law

The court had cited the safety of jurors and their family members in denying trial by jury. Defence lawyers argued that the right to a jury was a "hallowed principle" of the common law system.

On Jul 1 last year, a day after the law came into effect, Tong rode a motorcycle with the protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times" fluttering on a flag from the back as he drove into a group of riot police, injuring three of them.

He was arrested and charged with "incitement to secession" as well as terrorism and dangerous driving.

Tong had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The interpretation of the protest slogan, which was spray-painted on walls and chanted regularly during anti-government demonstrations that roiled the city in 2019, has been at the heart of the trial.

In his closing submission, government prosecutor Anthony Chau argued that Tong had displayed the flag to incite others to commit secession, including protesters gathered nearby, some of whom clapped as Tong rode past.

He also said that Tong had used his motorcycle as a “lethal weapon” and the slogan on his flag showed he was “pursuing a political agenda”.

TRADITIONS

The government has long held that the slogan suggests a call for independence, which would violate the security law, though no legal ruling has been made on that interpretation.

Tong's lawyer had argued on Tuesday it was a phrase with "multiple interpretations", including the desire for freedom and democracy.

Much of the trial involved debate between professors drawing on a range of topics including ancient Chinese history, the US civil rights movement and Malcolm X, to ascertain whether the "Liberate Hong Kong" slogan is subversive.

Two expert witnesses called by the defence to analyse the slogan's meaning, drawing upon sources including an examination of over two million online posts, found "no substantial link" between the slogan and Hong Kong independence, Grossman said.

Prosecutor Chau, however, challenged, that, saying this "empirical data analysis is irrelevant, and not reliable” and could not assist the court in understanding the meaning of the slogan.

READ: Crowds gather for hearing of two Apple Daily executives on national security charge

Tong's case has been closely watched in the city of 7.5 million. Critics say it shows Hong Kong’s rule of law is under strain with the upending of common law traditions that had been a bedrock of the city's success since Britain handed it back to China in 1997 under a "one country, two systems" formula aimed at preserving its freedoms and role as a financial hub.

Those traditions include the presumption of bail, the presumption of innocence and the right to a jury, according to submissions by defence lawyers reviewed by Reuters.

The government has said that all prosecutions have been handled independently and according to law and that legal enforcement action has nothing to do with the political stance, background or profession of those arrested.

The defence argued that Tong had not undertaken a terrorist act with his motorcycle. A shield allegedly thrown by a policeman as he rode by, Grossman said, could have been a reason for the "accident or a collision" with the officers.

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2021-07-27 07:58:59Z
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'Success story': Bhutan vaccinates most of population against COVID-19 after donations - CNA

THIMPU, Bhutan: Bhutan has inoculated most of its eligible population with second doses of COVID-19 vaccinations in a week, in a speedy rollout hailed by UNICEF on Monday (Jul 26) as a "success story" for international donations.

More than 454,000 shots were administered over the past week in the remote Himalayan kingdom - just over 85 per cent of the eligible adult population of more than 530,000 people - after a recent flood of foreign donations.

UNICEF's Bhutan representative, Will Parks, hailed the ambitious vaccination drive as a "great success story for Bhutan".

"We really need a world in which the countries which have surplus vaccines really do donate to those countries that haven't received (shots) so far," he told AFP in the capital Thimpu.

"And if there's anything that I hope the world that can learn, is that a country like Bhutan with very few doctors, very few nurses but a really committed king and leadership in the government mobilising society - it's not impossible to vaccinate the whole country."

READ: Vietnam says more US vaccine donations expected after first 5 million doses

READ: EU has shipped tiny percentage of planned COVID-19 shot donations: Source

The tiny nation had quickly used up most of the 550,000 AstraZeneca jabs donated by India in late March and early April for first jabs, before the neighbouring country halted exports over a massive local surge in infections.

Faced with a growing time gap between first and second doses, Bhutan launched an appeal for donations.

Half a million Moderna doses donated by the United States via Covax - the distributor backed by the World Health Organization and the Gavi vaccine alliance - and another 250,000 AstraZeneca shots from Denmark arrived in mid-July.

More than 400,000 AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Sinopharm shots are also expected to arrive in the South Asian nation of 770,000 people from Croatia, Bulgaria, China and several other countries.

The government has meanwhile bought 200,000 Pfizer doses that are expected to be delivered later this year.

Bhutan, wedged between India and China and famous for measuring gross national happiness, has reported just under 2,500 COVID-19 infections and two deaths so far.

The country's rapid roll-out of jabs stands in contrast with other South Asian nations, which have also been hit by India's suspension of vaccine exports.

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2021-07-26 21:51:56Z
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In first high level meeting since March, China sets out three red lines for the US - The Straits Times

BEIJING - China has spelt out three red lines for the United States and warned Washington not to cross them.

The conditions were set out on Monday (July 26) in the first high-level talks between the two countries since their testy meeting in Alaska in March.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman that the Biden administration had continued its predecessor's "extreme and erroneous" policy against Beijing and that attempts to thwart China's development will come to nothing.

He also called for the US to roll back sanctions and visa restrictions against Chinese officials, companies and students, as well as trade tariffs imposed by the previous Trump administration.

The two officials met on Monday in Tianjin, about 100km southeast of Beijing, because of Covid-19 precautions.

A readout released by the Chinese foreign ministry late on Monday night said Mr Wang urged the US to continue dialogue to find a way for the two major powers to co-exist despite their differences.

To prevent fraught relations from dipping further, Mr Wang set out three red lines for the US. These were related to not challenging China's political system, not disrupting China's development and not interfering in China's sovereignty issues such as matters in Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang and Taiwan.

Ms Sherman had earlier in the day met another senior Chinese diplomat who also hit out at the visiting US counterpart for treating China as an "imagined enemy"

Describing the bilateral relationship as being in a stalemate, vice foreign minister Xie Feng complained to Ms Sherman that Washington was demonising his country, and said it had no right to lecture the East Asian giant on democracy and human rights.

A summary of the meeting released by the foreign ministry said the vice foreign minister told Ms Sherman that the US could divert public discontent and shift the blame over domestic problems by making China its imagined enemy.

"It seems that a whole-of-government and whole-of-society campaign is being waged to bring China down," he was quoted as saying.

Mr Xie also accused the US of imposing its own rules-based international order on other countries, and called for a "new type of international relations" that values mutual respect, equity and "win-win cooperation" among others.

Citing the hundreds of thousands of deaths lost to the Covid-19 pandemic in the US and the wars it has waged overseas, Mr Xie said the US was in no position to lecture China on democracy and human rights.

Last week, China announced sanctions on seven individuals, including former US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in retaliation for the move by Washington on July 16 to punish seven Chinese officials for supposedly undermining Hong Kong's autonomy.

The China-US relationship has been in the doldrums since former US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on a range of Chinese goods in early 2018. Those tariffs remain in place, and China has also introduced tit-for-tat tariffs.

Since taking office earlier this year, President Joe Biden has kept up America's toughened policy towards Beijing, tightening the noose on Chinese companies and criticising what he described as human rights abuses in Xinjiang and China's crackdown on democracy in Hong Kong.

The two governments clashed during a meeting in Alaska in March, the first between the two sides since Mr Biden took office.

On Monday night, US State Department spokesman Ned Price, in a more conciliatory statement, said that Ms Sherman and Mr Wang had a frank and open discussion on a range of issues, including terms to properly manage the bilateral relationship.

The statement said Ms Sherman emphasised that the US does not seek conflict with China, but welcomes the stiff competition between the two major powers and that the US will "continue to strengthen our own competitive hand".

Ms Sherman was also said to have raised in private concerns including Beijing's "anti-democratic crackdown in Hong Kong; the ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang; abuses in Tibet; and the curtailing of media access and freedom of the press".

She also spoke about Beijing's conduct in the Taiwan Strait, East and South China Seas and in cyberspace, as well as China's unwillingness to allow a second phase investigation into Covid-19 origins, said the statement.

The statement said that Ms Sherman had also spoken to Mr Wang about cooperating in areas such as climate change, counter-narcotics and the political crisis in Myanmar.

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2021-07-26 16:14:30Z
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China, US draw lines in sand at top-level meeting but agree to keep talking - South China Morning Post

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1. China, US draw lines in sand at top-level meeting but agree to keep talking  South China Morning Post
2. Beijing urges Washington to stop 'demonising' China as US official visits  CNA
3. In first high level meeting since March, China sets out three red lines for the US  The Straits Times
4. Sino-US rivalry must be fair and healthy  The Straits Times
5. China urges Washington to stop "demonising" it during US official visit  The Online Citizen Asia
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2021-07-26 15:00:12Z
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Malaysia reports record 207 new coronavirus deaths, SE Asia News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR (REUTERS) - Malaysia reported on Monday (July 26) a daily record of 207 coronavirus deaths, amid a surge in infections. Its previous high was 199 deaths on July 21.

The health ministry also reported 14,516 new Covid-19 infections, bringing the cumulative total to 8,201 deaths and 1,027,954 cases, the health ministry said.

Malaysia, has one of South-east Asia's highest per capita infection rates, despite a being under lockdown since June.

Hospitals and medical staff have borne the brunt of the outbreak amid shortages of beds, ventilators and oxygen.

Thousands of Malaysian contract doctors on Monday staged a walkout over the terms of their employment, though they pledged patients would not be affected by the protest.

The doctors, who want permanent postings, as well as better pay and benefits, said an offer by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to extend their contracts did not go far enough.

Malaysia's vaccine roll-out, however, has outpaced that of many neighbours, with about 16.9 per cent of its 32 million people fully inoculated.

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2021-07-26 10:48:55Z
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