Malaysia swears in motorcycle-riding sultan as new king

Malaysia swears in motorcycle-riding sultan as new king
Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar arrives to take part in the oath taking ceremony as the 17th King of Malaysia at the National Palace in Kuala Lumpur on Jan. 31, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 31 January 2024
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Malaysia swears in motorcycle-riding sultan as new king

Malaysia swears in motorcycle-riding sultan as new king
  • Sultan Ibrahim and his family have been estimated to be worth at least $5.7bn
  • He leads an annual motor vehicle tour and commands his own private army

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia installed on Wednesday a billionaire motorcycle-riding sultan as the country’s newest king, a ceremonial role that is expected to gain more significance in governance during his term.

The Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation is a constitutional monarchy with a unique system in which the king’s post rotates between the chiefs of its nine Islamic royal Malay houses every five years.

Dressed in dark blue ceremonial attire, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar, the ruler of the country’s southern Johor state, took his oath of office as he ascended the throne as Malaysia’s 17th supreme monarch.

“With this oath, I solemnly and truly profess to be faithful, to rule fairly for Malaysia in accordance with the laws and constitution of the country,” the 65-year-old royal said at the national palace in Kuala Lumpur.

The ceremony was witnessed by the other Malay sultans, government officials and various dignitaries.

Sultan Ibrahim was elected by his fellow monarchs last year. Appointments to the role follow a rotation held since Malaysia’s independence from British colonial rule in 1957.

He replaces Al-Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of the central state of Pahang — whose reign ended Tuesday — as the nation’s new Yang di-Pertuan Agong or “He Who is Made Lord.”

Thousands of people lined the streets in the state capital of Johor Bahru early Wednesday morning to see off their sultan as he traveled from his palace in a royal entourage toward the city’s airport.

On arrival in Kuala Lumpur, he was greeted by members of Malaysia’s ruling elite and officials as he inspected a guard of honor before taking his oath.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim welcomed Sultan Ibrahim and his Queen Raja Zarith Sofiah in their new stations.

“The people and I will continue pledging unwavering obedience and loyalty to His Majesty,” he said in a Facebook post.

“We pray His Majesty and the entire Royal Institution will be showered with blessings and always be in good health, wellness and sovereignty.”

A powerful and influential figure, Sultan Ibrahim presides over the country’s southernmost peninsular state, which borders Singapore by a causeway.

Holding significant business interests, he and his family have been estimated to be worth at least $5.7 billion, with shares in major Malaysian firms as well as land in Singapore.

A motorcycle enthusiast, he leads an annual motor vehicle tour of the state and also commands his own private army, the only state allowed to do so.

Malaysia’s kings serve as the official head of Islam in the country and commander-in-chief of its armed forces.

While they hold only ceremonial power, they can appoint a lawmaker who has a parliamentary majority as the country’s premier and exercise certain discretionary powers during a national crisis.

A fiercely outspoken royal, Sultan Ibrahim vowed in a December interview with Singapore’s Straits Times newspaper not to be a “puppet king.”

He said at the time: “There are 222 of you (lawmakers) in Parliament. There are over 30 million (Malaysians) outside. I’m not with you, I’m with them.

“I will support the government, but if I think they are doing something improper, I will tell them.”

BowerGroupAsia director Arinah Najwa Ahmad Said told Arab News she expected to see a politically stable administration in the near future, with Sultan Ibrahim exercising a more “hands-on leadership.”

She said: “He would be more hands-on in governance. How hands-on it will be remains to be seen, but there would be a lot more oversight on things.

“He will be a bit more vocal on certain issues and he will try to command a certain kind of order at least.”

She added that Sultan Ibrahim was also expected to focus on more socio-economic development especially in the state of Johor, given its border with wealthy neighbor Singapore.

Malaysia’s royalty has a lineage that dates back to the 15th century, and it commands great respect from the country’s population of 33 million, especially from the Muslim ethnic Malay majority.


Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218

Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218
Updated 54 min 4 sec ago
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Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218

Anger in Nepal over relief delays as flood toll hits 218
  • Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season
  • More than 300 people have been killed in rain-related disasters in Nepal this year

KAVRE, Nepal: Survivors of the monsoon floods that ravaged Nepal at the weekend criticized the government on Tuesday for inadequate relief efforts during a disaster that killed at least 218 people.
Deadly floods and landslides are common across South Asia during the monsoon season from June to September but experts say climate change is making them worse.
Entire neighborhoods in the capital Katmandu were inundated at the weekend, along with villages in remote pockets of the Himalayan country that were still awaiting relief efforts.
“There is no road, so no one has come,” Mira KC, who lives in a village in Kavre district to Katmandu’s east, said.
“Even if they do, those who died are dead already and the damage is done. All they will do is offer condolences, what will they do?”
The floods disproportionately hit Katmandu’s poorest residents living in haphazard slums along the banks of the Bagmati river and its tributaries, which run through the city.
Slum resident Man Kumar Rana Magar, 49, said that authorities had provided shelter for him and his neighbors at a school after their homes were inundated.
However, he said they had been forced to leave before they were ready to return to their homes when the school reopened for classes.
“We are so close to the seat of the government. If they cannot take care of the poor this close, what will they do about others?” he said.
At least 218 people were killed in the floods, with another 27 still missing, according to Nepal’s home ministry. More than 4,000 others were rescued.
Nepal’s weather bureau said preliminary data showed 240 millimeters (9.4 inches) of rain fell in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, the biggest single-day downpour in more than two decades.
Experts said authorities did not prepare adequately for the disaster despite forecasts of intense storms.
“Precautions that should have been taken were ignored,” climate expert Arun Bhakta Shrestha, of Katmandu-based think tank International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, said.
Nepali disaster management expert Man Bahadur Thapa said gaps in coordination and resources had also hindered the rescue process.
“We could have saved a lot more lives if we prepared and built the capacity of our responders,” he said.
Home ministry spokesman Rishi Ram Tiwari said authorities had been “working relentlessly since the disaster began and all our resources are at work.”
Monsoon rains bring widespread death and destruction in the form of floods and landslides across South Asia every year.
Experts say climate change has worsened their frequency and intensity.
More than 300 people have been killed in rain-related disasters in Nepal this year.


Rutte dismisses Trump fears as he takes reins at NATO

Rutte dismisses Trump fears as he takes reins at NATO
Updated 01 October 2024
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Rutte dismisses Trump fears as he takes reins at NATO

Rutte dismisses Trump fears as he takes reins at NATO
  • NATO, whose members have supplied 99 percent of all foreign weaponry to Ukraine, agreed at a summit in July to play a bigger role in delivering those arms

BRUSSELS: NATO’s new chief Mark Rutte on Tuesday downplayed fears over the impact of a potential Donald Trump victory in upcoming US elections and pledged to keep backing Ukraine, as he assumed leadership of the world’s most powerful military alliance.
The former Dutch prime minister steps into the role at a pivotal moment, as Russia presses its war in Ukraine and China flexes its growing might — and just weeks before voters in the United States head to the polls.
Rutte on Tuesday took over the alliance from Norway’s Jen Stoltenberg, who has guided NATO through one of its most tumultuous decades.
The outcome of the November 5 vote is set to be the straight-talking 57-year-old’s first major test — and will shape his initial four-year term at the helm.
On the campaign trail, former president Trump has threatened not to protect NATO members who do not spend enough on defense and promised he can cut a quick deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
“I’m not worried. I know both candidates very well. I worked for four years with Donald Trump. He was the one pushing us to spend more, and he achieved,” Rutte said ahead of a formal handover ceremony.
“I will be able to work with both whatever is the outcome of the elections.”
In opting for the veteran Dutch statesman, a staunch US ally and stalwart backer of Ukraine, NATO’s 32 nations have picked a leader expected to keep pushing support for Kyiv and efforts to bolster the alliance’s own defenses in the face of Russia.
“NATO will be in safe hands with you at the helm,” Stoltenberg said.
Rutte listed backing Kyiv as among his top priorities — along with ensuring NATO keeps on spending more on defense, and bolstering ties with partners in the Asia Pacific.
“We have to make sure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation,” he told journalists.
But uncertainty over future Western support for Ukraine comes as Russian forces advance on the battlefield more than three-and-a-half years after the Kremlin’s all-out invasion.
NATO, whose members have supplied 99 percent of all foreign weaponry to Ukraine, agreed at a summit in July to play a bigger role in delivering those arms and Rutte will be key in stewarding support.


Another central task for Rutte will be to keep pushing NATO members to spend more on their militaries to counter any potential menace from Moscow.
Spurred on by the war in Ukraine — and pressure from Washington — European countries have already ratcheted up defense spending.
This year, 23 countries are set to reach NATO’s target of spending two percent of gross domestic product on their militaries.
But with the threat from Russia expected to last for years — whatever the outcome in Ukraine — there is a clear understanding that more will be needed.
“We have to spend more. We have to increase our collective defense,” Rutte said.
That could prove a tough sell for Rutte — who only saw the Netherlands reach the two-percent goal in his fourteenth, and final year, in office.
Even if he wanted to change NATO’s direction, Rutte would likely struggle to shake up an alliance based on careful consensus between its members.
Stoltenberg, whose mandate was extended three times, trod a careful balancing act as NATO emerged reenergized in the face of Russia’s aggression.
And the former Norwegian premier has told his successor that the greatest challenge he faces is keeping all of NATO’s sometimes truculent leaders on the same page.
“One thing will not change, and that is NATO’s core mission, and that is to make sure that we defend our people, our nations, and, Of course, our values,” Rutte said.


School bus catches fire outside Bangkok and 25 on board are feared dead, government officials say

School bus catches fire outside Bangkok and 25 on board are feared dead, government officials say
Updated 01 October 2024
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School bus catches fire outside Bangkok and 25 on board are feared dead, government officials say

School bus catches fire outside Bangkok and 25 on board are feared dead, government officials say

BANGKOK: A bus carrying young students with their teachers caught fire in suburban Bangkok on Tuesday with 25 of those on board feared dead, according to officials and rescuers.
The bus was carrying 44 passengers from central Uthai Thani province to Ayutthaya for a school trip when the fire started around noon in Pathum Thani province, a northern suburb of the capital, Transport Minister Suriya Jungrungruengkit told reporters at the scene.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said officials could not yet confirm the number of fatalities as they have not finished investigating the scene, but based on the number of survivors, he said 25 people are feared dead. He also said the bus was still too hot for them to get inside safely.
Bodes were still inside the bus hours after the fire.
Videos posted on social media showed the entire bus being engulfed in fire with huge plumes of black smoke pouring out as it was parked on the road.
The age and other details about the students were not yet known.
A rescuer at the scene told Suriya that the fire likely started after one of the tires exploded and the vehicle scraped against a road barrier.
Rescue group Hongsakul Khlong Luang 21 posted on its Facebook page that they found at least 10 bodies on the bus.


Taiwan warns of storm surge from powerful Typhoon Krathon, mobilizes troops

Taiwan warns of storm surge from powerful Typhoon Krathon, mobilizes troops
Updated 01 October 2024
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Taiwan warns of storm surge from powerful Typhoon Krathon, mobilizes troops

Taiwan warns of storm surge from powerful Typhoon Krathon, mobilizes troops
  • As the typhoon approached, helicopters lifted to safety 13 of 19 sailors forced to abandon ship when it took on water
  • Taiwan regularly gets hit by typhoons but they generally land along the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan: Taiwan mobilized nearly 40,000 troops on Tuesday to be on standby for rescue efforts as powerful Typhoon Krathon approached its populous southwest coast, which is bracing for a storm surge.
As the typhoon approached, helicopters lifted to safety 13 of 19 sailors forced to abandon ship when it took on water.
Some flights were canceled, a rail line was closed and in the major port city of Kaohsiung, shops and restaurants shut and streets were mostly deserted.
Taiwan regularly gets hit by typhoons but they generally land along the mountainous and sparsely populated east coast facing the Pacific, but this one will make landfall on the island’s flat western plain.
Krathon is forecast to hit Kaohsiung early on Wednesday afternoon, then work its way across the center of Taiwan heading northeast and cross out into the East China Sea, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said.
Kaohsiung, home to some 2.7 million people, declared a holiday and told people to stay at home as Krathon — labelled a super typhoon by the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center — approached.
Li Meng-hsiang, a forecaster for Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration, said the storm has reached its maximum intensity and could weaken slightly as it moves closer to Taiwan, warning of gusts of more than 150 kph (93 mph) for the southwest.
“The storm surge might bring tides inland,” Li said. “If it’s raining heavily it will make it difficult to discharge waters and as a result coastal areas will be subject to flooding.”
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, speaking to reporters after a disaster management meeting, said the strength and path of the storm were both on par with 1977’s Typhoon Thelma which killed 37 people and devastated the city.
“After the typhoon, the whole of Kaohsiung was without water and electricity, just like a war,” Chen said, recalling the decades-ago destruction. “As much as possible, limit going out.”
Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had put more than 38,000 troops on standby, as Kaohsiung residents made their own preparations.
“It’s going to strike us directly. We must be fully prepared,” said fisherman Chen Ming-huang, as he tightened ropes on his boat in Kaohsiung harbor. “In the worst-case scenario the ropes might snap and my boat could drift away.”
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chip maker and a major supplier to Apple and Nvidia and which has a large factory in neighboring Tainan, said it had activated routine typhoon preparations and did not expect a significant impact to its operations.
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Off the southeast coast, Taiwan rescue helicopters lifted to safety 13 out of 19 sailors from a listing cargo vessel traveling from China to Singapore, with efforts continuing to get to the remaining six, the government said.
The transport ministry said 88 domestic flights and 24 international ones had been canceled, with boats to outlying islands also stopped. It added that all domestic flights — 234 in total — would stop on Wednesday.
The rail line connecting southern to eastern Taiwan was closed, though the north-south high speed line was operating as normal, albeit with enhanced safety checks for wind and debris.
In Kaohsiung, most shops and restaurants pulled down their shutters, and traditional wet markets shut with streets mostly deserted.
At a building in Siaogang district, home to the city’s airport, residents practiced how to rapidly set up metal barriers to stop water flooding into the underground parking lot.
“We will have only a few minutes to react if the flooding is coming,” said Chiu Yun-ping, deputy head of the building’s residents’ committee.
Chen Mei-ling, who lives near the harbor, said in past typhoons high tides reached just a few meters (yards) from her house’s main door and she had made preparations.
“We’ve got torches and emergency food supplies,” Chen said. “It’s a strong typhoon and we are worried.”


South Korea unveils its most powerful missile, which could reach North Korea’s underground bunkers

South Korea unveils its most powerful missile, which could reach North Korea’s underground bunkers
Updated 01 October 2024
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South Korea unveils its most powerful missile, which could reach North Korea’s underground bunkers

South Korea unveils its most powerful missile, which could reach North Korea’s underground bunkers
  • South Korea’s weapons displays and warning come after its northern rival recently disclosed a new uranium-enrichment facility

SEOUL: South Korea unveiled its most powerful ballistic missile and other weapons targeting North Korea during a massive Armed Forces Day ceremony Tuesday, as the South’s president warned the North’s regime would collapse if it attempts to use nuclear weapons.
South Korea’s weapons displays and warning against North Korea came after its northern rival recently rose regional animosities by disclosing its uranium-enrichment facility and tested missiles ahead of the US presidential election in November.
“If North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will face the resolute and overwhelming response of our military and the (South Korea)-US alliance,” President Yoon Suk Yeol told thousands of troops gathered at a military airport near Seoul. “That day will be the end of the North Korean regime.”
“The North Korean regime must abandon the delusion that nuclear weapons will protect them,” Yoon said.
During the ceremony, the South Korean military displayed about 340 military equipment and weapons systems. Among them was its most powerful Hyunmoo-5 ballistic missile, which observers say is capable of carrying an 8-ton conventional warhead that can penetrate deep into the earth and destroy underground bunkers in North Korea. It was the first time for South Korea to disclose that missile.
The US flew a long-range B-1B bomber during the ceremony in an apparent demonstration of its security commitment to its Asian ally. South Korea also flew some of its most advanced fighter jets.
Later Tuesday, South Korea will parade its troops and weapons through the streets of Seoul, the capital, as part of efforts to boost military morale and demonstrate its deterrence capabilities against potential North Korean aggressions.
Also Tuesday, South Korea launched its strategic command that officials say integrates South Korea’s conventional capabilities with US nuclear weapons. South Korea has no nuclear weapons.
Since taking office in 2022, Yoon, a conservative, has put a stronger military alliance with the US and an improved trilateral Seoul-Washington-Tokyo security cooperation at the center of his security polices to cope with North Korea’s advancing nuclear program. In recent years, North Korea has performed a provocative of missile tests and threatened to use nuclear weapons preemptively in potential conflicts with South Korea and the United States.
Last month, concerns about North Korea’s bomb program further grew after it published photos of a secretive facility to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. It was North Korea’s first unveiling of a uranium-enrichment facility since it showed one at the country’s main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars in 2010.
South Korean officials say North Korea will likely try to further dial up tensions with provocative weapons tests ahead of the US election to increase its leverage in future diplomacy with a new US government. Experts say North Korea likely thinks an expanded nuclear arsenal would help it win bigger US concessions like extensive sanctions relief.
Earlier Tuesday, North Korea’s vice defense minister, Kim Kang Il, slammed the US for its temporary deployments of powerful military assets to South Korea and vowed strong responses. He cited the recent visit of a US nuclear-powered submarine and Tuesday’s B-1B flyover.
Kim threatened to bolster North Korea’s “powerful war deterrent,” an apparent reference to its nuclear capability, and take unspecified steps to stoke security concerns to the security of the US mainland. Observers say his comments implies North Korea may consider test-firing an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.