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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Malaysia for the ASEAN Summit on Sunday, where he is set to witness an expanded ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia and oversee pivotal trade talks.
Trump’s first order of business at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit will involve watching over a ceasefire deal between Cambodia and Thailand after he helped broker an end to a deadly five-day border conflict in July.
The agreement builds on a truce signed three months ago after Trump called the then-leaders of the two countries, urging them to end hostilities or risk their respective trade talks with Washington being put on hold.
Both sides blame each other for starting the five-day exchange of rockets and heavy artillery, which killed at least 48 people and temporarily displaced an estimated 300,000 in their worst fighting in recent history.
Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul nearly missed the signing after the death of the kingdom’s Queen Mother Sirikit on Friday, but later decided to fly in for the ceremony.
Trump was greeted by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and a troupe of ceremonial dancers when he landed at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. He stopped on the red carpet to dance with the performers before taking a U.S. flag in one hand and a Malaysian flag in the other and jumping into his limousine to travel to the city with Anwar.
As Trump mingles with other leaders, U.S. and Chinese negotiators will meet on the sidelines to avert further escalations in a trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
Asked by a reporter if rare earths were discussed at the talks, which started on Saturday, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said a broad range of topics were discussed, including extending the truce on trade measures.
“I think that we’re getting to a spot where the leaders will have a very productive meeting,” Greer said.
Trump is also expected to discuss sharp U.S. tariffs with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is among several world leaders attending the weekend summit.
Lula said he plans to argue that the 50% tariffs imposed by Washington on Brazilian goods were a “mistake”, citing a $410 billion U.S. trade surplus with Brazil over 15 years. Trump signalled on his way to Asia that he was open to lowering the tariffs.
EAST TIMOR BECOMES NEWEST ASEAN MEMBER
Asia’s youngest nation East Timor became the 11th member of the ASEAN bloc on Sunday, fulfilling a vision set out by its current president nearly a half-century ago while the country was a Portuguese colony.
Also known as Timor-Leste, the country of 1.4 million people is among Asia’s poorest and hopes to see gains from integrating its fledgling economy, which at about $2 billion represents only a tiny fraction of ASEAN’s collective $3.8 trillion gross domestic product.
East Timor’s accession follows a 14-year wait and though its membership is not expected to be transformative, it represents a symbolic victory for its President Jose Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao, the heroes of its struggle for independence.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff and Trevor Hunnicut; Additional reporting by Danial Azhar and Yukin Zhang; Editing by Kate Mayberry)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -China’s top trade negotiator Li Chenggang and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng arrived on Sunday at a venue in Kuala Lumpur for a second day of trade talks between the United States and China.
The Chinese economic officials are meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit to de-escalate a trade war.
The world’s two largest economies are looking to avert an escalation of their trade war after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on Chinese goods and other trade curbs starting on November 1, in retaliation for China’s vastly expanded export controls on rare earth magnets and minerals.
A U.S. Treasury spokesperson told reporters on Saturday that the first day of talks had been “very constructive”.
A positive outcome for the talks would remove roadblocks for a meeting next week between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.
The White House has officially announced the meeting, but Beijing has yet to confirm that the two leaders will meet.
Trump is expected to arrive in the Malaysian capital on Sunday morning for the summit, as part of a five-day trip in Asia.
(Reporting by Xinghui Kok; Writing by Mei Mei Chu and Yukun Zhang; Editing by John Mair and Sonali Paul)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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President Trump is on his way to Asia for a three-country trip. On Saturday, he also announced new, punishing tariffs on Canada. Willie James Inman has the details.
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Departing for his first Asia trip of his second term, President Trump publicly called for a meeting with a regional leader not on his diplomatic itinerary: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Trump, speaking to reporters on Air Force One en route to Malaysia, reiterated his openness to meeting Kim, asking the media to “put out the word.” Trump concludes his multi-stop trip to Asia in South Korea, where the president would be within roughly 250 miles from the Korean Demilitarized Zone—site of the two leaders’ last face-to-face encounter in 2019.
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -The bloc of Southeast Asian nations will host world leaders at a summit this weekend that will run alongside pivotal trade talks between the United States and China and serve as the first stop for U.S. President Donald Trump’s swing through Asia.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will press for trade multilateralism and deeper ties with new partners, while managing the fallout from Trump’s global tariff offensive at its annual meeting in Malaysia’s capital.
Trump will be in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to begin a five-day trip through Malaysia, Japan and South Korea, aimed at bolstering his diplomatic credentials, as U.S. and Chinese officials work to avert a trade war escalation ahead of his planned meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping in South Korea next week.
WHO’S WHO AT ASEAN SUMMIT?
Leaders will gather on Sunday ahead of engagements with partners including Trump, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.
“This represents a new strategic direction for Malaysia and ASEAN in expanding diplomatic and trade ties with other regions, including Africa and Latin America,” Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the summit’s host, said on Wednesday.
ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, will formally welcome East Timor as its 11th member on Sunday.
Commonly known as Timor-Leste, its accession to ASEAN is seen as a political win for one of the world’s poorest countries, though analysts say the economic benefits remain uncertain.
TRUMP TO WITNESS THAI-CAMBODIA CEASEFIRE DEAL
ASEAN’s regional outreach comes even as its unity remains tested by internal disputes.
Border tensions between Thailand and Cambodia erupted into a deadly five-day conflict in July, killing dozens of people and temporarily displacing about 300,000 in their most intense fighting in recent history.
Malaysia helped secure an initial ceasefire on July 28, aided by decisive calls from Trump to the leaders of both countries.
Thai Defence Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit said this week the two countries have made “meaningful progress” on a broader ceasefire agreement, which will require both sides to remove all mines and heavy artillery from their borders.
The deal is expected to be signed on Sunday in the presence of Trump, Malaysian officials said.
ASEAN, however, remains split over how to end a deadly civil war in Myanmar sparked by a military coup in 2021.
Fighting has intensified despite repeated calls for de-escalation, with ASEAN making little progress in getting Myanmar’s military rulers to adhere to a peace plan it agreed to months after the coup.
ASEAN foreign ministers will discuss on Friday whether to send regional observers to Myanmar’s general election, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said this week.
Critics have derided the election, set to begin in December, as a sham exercise to legitimise military rule.
U.S.-CHINA TRADE TALKS, TARIFFS IN FOCUS
Trump is expected to be accompanied on his Asia trip by top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.
Bessent and Greer plan to hold talks with Chinese officials in Malaysia to iron out issues ahead of the meeting between Trump and Xi, after Beijing expanded export curbs on rare earths. China said the talks with its vice premier He Lifeng will run until October 27.
Trump said he expected to reach agreements with Xi that could range from resumed soybean purchases by China to limits on nuclear weapons.
Trump could also meet with Brazil’s Lula in Malaysia, sources have said, as Rio looks to lower hefty U.S. tariffs on Brazilian goods.
Washington’s levies are expected to remain high on the ASEAN summit agenda, with Southeast Asian foreign and economic ministers due to hold a joint meeting for the first time in the bloc’s history on Saturday.
The United States has imposed tariffs of between 10% and 40% on Southeast Asian imports, with the majority of ASEAN countries hit with a 19% rate.
The countries will seek to formalise trade deals with the United States with Trump present, Malaysian officials said.
Malaysia also plans to host a gathering of leaders of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world’s largest trading bloc, on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit.
The RCEP, which includes all ASEAN members as well as China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, is touted by some analysts as a potential counter to U.S. tariffs, but it is considered weaker than some other regional trade deals due to competing interests among its members.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Martin Petty)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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JAKARTA (Reuters) -Asia’s youngest nation East Timor is set to achieve a decades-long dream when it becomes the 11th member of ASEAN this weekend, which analysts say is a win politically although the economic benefits remain to be seen.
East Timor, Southeast Asia’s poorest nation with 1.4 million people and slightly bigger than Qatar, applied to join the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2011 and was granted observer status in 2022.
The nation gained independence in 2002 from neighbouring Indonesia, following a 1999 referendum overseen by the United Nations, and shares a border with the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara.
Two of its independence heroes now lead the country: President Jose Ramos-Horta, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his efforts, and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
Decades after Ramos-Horta raised the idea of joining ASEAN in the 1970s when East Timor was still a colony of Portugal, the country will be formalised as a member at the October 26-28 ASEAN leaders summit, which Malaysia chairs.
Commonly known as Timor-Leste, East Timor is trying to diversify its nearly $2 billion economy away from its heavy reliance on dwindling oil and gas reserves.
Analysts say the accession to ASEAN will benefit its newest member but they worry about how it will fare as the group’s smallest economy. ASEAN’s collective gross domestic product is $3.8 trillion, with Indonesia alone making up $1.4 trillion of that.
Ahead of the summit, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim recalled other members were also poor when the bloc was first formed.
“I’m very optimistic that ASEAN as a community can continue to engage more and assist, as we have benefited from the assistance of many countries (including) the West and China,” he told reporters on Wednesday.
ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn has said joining ASEAN will amplify East Timor’s “voice in international forums while securing its strategic interests through an established network of diplomatic and economic support.”
Ramos-Horta has called the membership a long-held dream.
“The road to ASEAN is more difficult than the road to heaven,” he said in a speech at the group’s headquarters in August.
Parker Novak, an East Timor expert at the International Republican Institute, said the country’s leadership sees ASEAN “as giving them additional political legitimacy in the region.”
Marty Natalegawa, a former Indonesian foreign minister who oversaw East Timor’s ASEAN application, said the bloc would shield East Timor against the geopolitical push-and-pull among major powers such as the United States and China.
“It provides assurances that Timor-Leste’s position and future development and outlook will be akin to ASEAN’s own,” Marty said.
However, Guteriano Neves, an economic development researcher in East Timor’s capital Dili, worries the country’s low productivity and lower-quality governance will limit the economic benefits of membership.
Neves said membership may pressure East Timor’s government to enact institutional reforms to attract foreign investment.
“Economically speaking, that is the hard question that I think we haven’t really found the answer to,” Neves said. “It’s very hard for Timor-Leste to compete in the ASEAN market.”
(Reporting by Stanley Widianto; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said he and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will head to Malaysia on Wednesday to meet with Chinese officials about what he called “incredibly aggressive” measures by Beijing to curb exports of rare earth minerals.
Bessent told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program that there was still a spot on the schedule for President Donald Trump to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, but it would be a mutual decision if the meeting took place.
Greer said China’s measures violated a commitment their officials had made months ago to keep supplying rare earths needed for high technology, but there was still a “good landing zone” for the U.S. and China to trade in a more balanced way.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal And Susan Heavey; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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BEIJING (Reuters) -Australia’s statements about an incident involving Chinese military aircraft over the South China Sea are an attempt to cover up an Australian “intrusion” into Chinese airspace, the Chinese defence ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry has complained to Canberra about the matter.
The ministry was referring to an incident around the Paracel Islands in which Australia claimed a Chinese fighter jet dropped flares near one of its maritime patrol planes. Australia called the incident “unsafe and unprofessional”.
“We urge Australia to immediately stop infringement, provocation and hype, strictly restrain the actions of front-line naval and air forces,” the ministry spokesperson said in a statement.
(Reporting by Liz Lee and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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(Reuters) -Myanmar’s junta chief acknowledged on Wednesday that the military-backed administration will be unable to conduct an upcoming general election across the entire country, as a civil war triggered by a 2021 coup rages on.
Critics and many Western nations view the election – due to start in late December and the first since the coup – as a sham exercise to legitimise the military’s rule via proxy political parties. Dozens of anti-junta parties are either banned or refusing to take part.
The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the coup, which deposed an elected civilian government and triggered a nationwide armed rebellion that has wrested swathes of territory from the military.
The remarks by Min Aung Hlaing were his first public admission that the polls cannot be fully inclusive, days after he met Malaysia’s foreign minister and ahead of a summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
“We can’t hold the election everywhere 100%,” Min Aung Hlaing said in a speech broadcast on state TV from the capital Naypyitaw, adding that by-elections would follow in some areas after a new government is formed.
The junta was able to conduct a full, on-ground census to generate voter lists in only 145 of the country’s 330 townships, according to a December census report that put Myanmar’s total population at 51.3 million.
Current rules require political parties to meet a high threshold of at least 50,000 members and 100 million kyat ($47,762.33) in funds, leaving only six parties eligible to contest the upcoming polls nationwide.
The junta has invited ASEAN countries to send observers for the election, due to start on December 28 and to continue in phases into January. The bloc is expected to discuss the request during its summit later this month.
Malaysia is the current chair of ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
(Reporting by Naw Betty Han, Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Aidan Lewis)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Malaysia on October 26, Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said on Tuesday, adding that he was “looking forward” to witnessing a ceasefire deal between Southeast Asian neighbours Thailand and Cambodia.
Tension over undemarcated points on the two nations’ 817-km (508-mile) land border erupted into a deadly five-day conflict in July, killing at least 48 and temporarily displacing hundreds of thousands in their worst fighting in more than a decade.
“During the summit, we hope to see the signing of a declaration, known as the Kuala Lumpur Accord, between these two neighbours to ensure peace and a lasting ceasefire,” Mohamad told the media.
He was referring to a meeting of leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations grouping set to run from October 26 to October 28 in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the current chair of ASEAN, has said Trump will attend the meetings but there has been no official confirmation yet from Washington.
Malaysia brokered an initial ceasefire on July 28 that ended the clashes after a sustained peace push by Anwar and telephone calls by Trump to leaders of both nations.
Malaysia and the United States will facilitate a broader ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia, which will require both sides to remove all mines and heavy artillery from their borders, Mohamad said.
On Sunday, the Thai foreign ministry said the foreign ministers of both countries met in Kuala Lumpur over the weekend to discuss the ceasefire, with U.S. and Malaysian officials present.
The East Asia Summit, to be held during this month’s ASEAN meeting, will issue a chairman’s statement, rather than a joint statement, as the United States had objected to use of the word “inclusivity”, Mohamad added, without elaborating.
Leaders of all 10 members of the grouping and trading partners, such as China, Japan, Russia and the United States, will attend the summit.
(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Writing by Danial Azhar; Editing by David Stanway and Clarence Fernandez)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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(Reuters) -Malaysia will send observer teams for Myanmar’s contentious general election, set to be held in phases from December 28, state media said on Friday, a day after talks between the leader of the ruling junta and Kuala Lumpur’s top diplomat.
Myanmar has been in turmoil since a 2021 military coup that overthrew the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered an armed rebellion that has led to large parts of the country slipping out of the junta’s control.
“He advised that the election should be all-inclusive and vowed to send election observation teams to Myanmar,” the Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said, referring to Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan.
The comment came after Mohamad met junta chief Min Aung Hlaing met in Myanmar’s capital of Naypyitaw on Thursday, weeks ahead of an October summit of the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Malaysia’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the Myanmar state media report.
It made no mention of Malaysian election observers in a social media post that said, “The upcoming elections in Myanmar were also discussed.”
Mohamad and Min Aung Hlaing discussed implementing ASEAN’s peace plan, including halting violence, expanding humanitarian assistance and holding talks, the ministry added.
Malaysia and Myanmar are both members of ASEAN, which has barred the latter’s military leaders from its meetings since 2022, citing their failure to adopt a five-point peace roadmap the top general had agreed to, after a coup the previous year.
Critics and many Western nations view the coming general elections as a sham exercise designed to solidify and legitimise the military’s rule via proxy political parties.
The ballot will be held amid a bitter civil war, with key opposition groups banned and new electoral laws that favour parties backed by the military.
In the fray will be 57 political parties that have registered for the polls, six of which plan to compete nationwide, state media have said.
In remarks after a January ASEAN meeting on Malaysia’s island of Langkawi, Mohamad had said the grouping told Myanmar’s junta that an election should not be its priority, and urged instead for dialogue and an end to fighting.
(Reporting by Naw Betty Han; Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Devjyot Ghoshal and Clarence Fernandez)
Copyright 2025 Thomson Reuters.
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A manipulated image appearing to show India’s opposition Congress leader Rahul Gandhi sitting with controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik — a wanted man in India — has surfaced in social media posts alleging the pair met during Gandhi’s September vacation in Malaysia. The original photo shows Naik meeting religious officials in Oman in 2023.
The image of Gandhi sitting next to Naik and another man was shared on Facebook on September 12, 2025.
“Rahul Gandhi met anti-India terrorist Zakir Naik in Malaysia,” reads part of its Hindi-language caption.
The post surfaced after Gandhi was targeted by members of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for taking a holiday in Malaysia’s Langkawi in the middle of campaigning for local elections in Bihar in early September (archived link).
Screenshot of the false post captured September 20, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The purported image of Gandhi and Naik in Malaysia also surfaced elsewhere on Facebook and X.
Naik, a radical television preacher who has called the 9/11 attacks an “inside job”, left India in 2016 and moved to largely Muslim Malaysia, where he was granted permanent residency (archived link).
He is wanted in India for money laundering and terror-related activities, while his Islamic Research Foundation was declared “unlawful” and banned in the country (archived link).
However, the circulating image has been digitally manipulated — it also bears a watermark reading “ChatGPT” in the bottom-right corner, suggesting it was edited using the AI tool.
A Google reverse image search found the unaltered photo in a post on a Facebook page called Arabian Daily on March 23, 2023 (archived link).
The post is captioned, “In pictures: Dr Zakir Naik Interactions with His Eminence Sheikh Ahmad Al Khalili, Grand Mufti of the Sultanate of Oman, Dr Mohammed Al Maamari Minister of Endowments and Religious Affairs, and Assistant Mufti Sheikh Kahlan Al Kharousi.”
Screenshot comparison of the image in the false post (left) and the photo of Naik with Omani religious officials (right)
Arabic-language media outlet Watan also published the photo of Naik with the religious officials in March 23 in a report about the preacher arriving in Oman to deliver a series of lectures (archived link).
Subsequent keyword searches found the image of Gandhi was likely cropped and mirrored from a video uploaded to the Congress politician’s YouTube channel on March 5, 2023 (archived link).
Screenshot of the image in the false post (left) and the YouTube video of Rahul Gandhi (right)
The Congress leader was interacting with journalists during an event in London in March 2023.
As of September 30, 2025, there have been no official reports Gandhi and Naik met in Malaysia.
AFP has previously debunked misinformation around Rahul Gandhi here.
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Selangor police busted an illegal online gambling ring in Malaysia, and have apprehended 34 individuals linked to the illicit activities operating out of a terraced house in Sungai Buloh.
According to The Malay Mail, the suspects comprise 29 men and five women, aged between 19 and 33. Notably, almost all of them are foreigners, as only one of those arrested is a Malaysian citizen. Investigations revealed that members of the syndicate posed as women on Facebook to attract victims, whom they then directed to gambling websites. All betting and withdrawals were conducted via WhatsApp, utilizing foreign bank accounts to process transactions.
The raid occurred at 5:10 am on August 30, targeting what authorities believe was the syndicate’s main operations hub. Selangor police chief Datuk Shazeli Kahar stated that the group ran daily operations from 9 am to 11 pm, allegedly generating up to MYR2,500 (approximately $532) per day.
All suspects have been remanded for four days starting August 31, with police seeking to extend their detention. Authorities noted that the illegal gambling operation functioned entirely online, relying on encrypted messaging apps and international banking networks to conceal its activities.
The most recent action by Selangor police is one of a series of operations that authorities in the state have been conducting recently in order to combat illicit activities. For example, in another operation, not directly related to the case we mentioned above, police detained 39 individuals from locations in Subang Jaya and Rawang for allegedly operating fraudulent investment schemes. The scams, which ran between March and July this year, targeted victims in Hong Kong, Australia, and Singapore.
According to Selangor police chief Datuk Shazeli Kahar, the suspects posed as customer service representatives on various social media platforms, convincing victims to transfer funds for non-existent investment opportunities. Victims typically only discovered they had been scammed after making payments and subsequently losing all contact with the perpetrators. While investigations are still being conducted, Malaysian authorities estimate the total losses at approximately MYR515 million (around $122 million).
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Online scammers in Malaysia have targeted Indonesians looking to apply for immigration documents using AI-manipulated video and imposter WhatsApp accounts of border control officers from both Southeast Asian countries. The accounts dupe users into paying inflated fees for purported passport and visa application services.
“I, Jeya, a Malaysian immigration officer from Kuala Lumpur, would like to share with all of you, for those who are looking to make passports, permits, visas and other documents, please send a message to Pak Anton Helistiawan on WhatsApp, God willing, he can help you all,” says a man dressed in the black uniform of the Malaysian Immigration Department in a TikTok video on July 17.
Anton Helistiawan is Indonesia’s former immigration attache to Malaysia. An image of a stack of Indonesian passports is overlaid on the TikTok video.
Screenshot of the false TikTok post captured on August 21, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
AFP reached out to the phone number provided in the bio of the account sharing the clip, which led to a WhatsApp account with an image of Anton as its profile picture.
The purported officer gave an order form asking for personal details, including full name, delivery address and passport photo. They also provided a list of prices for the purported application service ranging from 700 to 900 ringgit ($213).
AFP found several TikTok accounts masquerading as the Malaysian immigration officer sharing videos that mention the Indonesian immigration official, Anton. All of the accounts linked to the same WhatsApp phone number.
Similar clips featuring other various immigration officers repeated the same claim, urging viewers to reach out to Anton for passport and visa applications.
However, all the videos contained visual inconsistencies that indicate they had been manipulated using AI tools, such as unnatural blinking and mouth movements, as well as glitches in the audio.
Despite the meteoric progress in AI-manipulation tools, such inconsistencies remain a good way to spot visuals that have been altered using AI.
Reverse image and keyword searches found the manipulated clip was first shared as a still photo by a TikTok user who goes by @bpjeya on October 15, 2024 (archived link).
Screenshot comparison between the manipulated clip (left) and a genuine image of a TikTok user (right)
Subsequent searches on the account found the user had posted screenshots of the imposter accounts and labelled them “fake” in a post on August 5 (archived link).
Meanwhile, a spokesperson at the Indonesian embassy in Kuala Lumpur told AFP on August 20 none of its current officers go by the name “Anton Helistiawan”.
“The scam targets individuals who could not tell if the video is AI-generated or not, and those desperate to have Indonesian passports for the purpose of securing a job in Malaysia,” he said.
The standard price to apply for a passport is up to 100 ringgit, far less than the price quoted to AFP by the purported officer on WhatsApp (archived link).
The spokesperson also said that the only channel for immigration services was via online appointment with the embassy, not communications on personal WhatsApp accounts or with any other third party.
AFP has repeatedly debunked imposter accounts offering to make academic certificates and “test-free driving licences“, as well as deepfake videos of Indonesian government officials offering “cash aid” on social media.
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The Resorts World Genting, home to Malaysia’s only casino, could soon be under threat from an Islamic political party.
The government of Malaysia, a Muslim-majority country, granted a casino license to Genting Berhad, a Malaysia multinational best known for its leisure and hospitality business, in 1969. The license has to be renewed every three months.
But the rising influence of Islamic parties in Malaysia could threaten Genting’s more than 50 year history as a purveyor of casino gambling at its resort in the Genting Highlands in the state of Pahang.
“Gambling is harmful, so we have to close it,” Andansura Rabu, deputy commissioner for Parti Islam SeMalaysia (PAS), said Sunday at the political party’s annual gathering.
Genting did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
PAS, as part of an opposition coalition, controls four of Malaysia’s 13 states, and hopes to capture Pahang, the Genting casino’s home, in the next general election which must be held by early 2028.
By coming out against gambling, PAS could be trying to appeal to Malaysia’s Muslim majority. (Gambling is forbidden in the Quran). In the 2022 general election, PAS won 43 out of 222 seats in the lower house of Malaysia’s parliament, making it the single largest party overall.
Yet on Sunday, Andansura admitted even a PAS victory in Pahang may not be enough to ensure the casino’s closure. “The power may not be absolutely on the state’s side, and we may need the federal government as well.”
Malaysia’s federal government has the authority to grant casino and gaming permits. An attempt by Kedah’s state government to close down licensed gaming outlets is caught up in the legal system over a potential conflict between state and federal laws.
Genting’s casino is a moneymaker for the Malaysian government, through taxes on gambling income, duties on casino machinery, and the annual fee.
Genting Group’s revenue for leisure and hospitality in Malaysia reached $6.42 billion ringgit ($1.4 billion) in 2023, with a large part of it coming from gaming revenue. The group also has casinos and resorts in the U.K., the U.S., and Singapore.
Yet the issue is still a touchy topic in Malaysian politics. Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that Genting and fellow Malaysian conglomerate Berjaya were planning to build a casino in Forest City, a real estate project from the troubled Chinese developer Country Garden.
Anwar called the report a “lie,” after it sparked outrage in Malaysia. Later, Anwar added that Malaysia did not need a second casino and said energy transition and AI were industries that would “push the country forward.” Berjaya denied its involvement in any plans to build a casino.
Even if Malaysia closes its casino, other countries in the region are interested in building their own gambling sectors. Casinos can currently be found in Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines.
The Philippines is currently considering new casino projects in a bid to overtake Singapore as Asia’s second-largest gambling destination, after the Chinese city of Macau. Thailand is also moving ahead with plans to introduce casinos as well.
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said Thursday that Malaysia will not bow to demands by China to stop its oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea as the activities are within the country’s waters.
Anwar said Malaysia would continue to explain its stance following China’s accusations in a protest note in February to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing that Kuala Lumpur had infringed on its territory. Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry said Wednesday it was investigating the leak of the diplomatic protest note that was published by a Filipino media outlet on Aug. 29.
“We have never intended in any way to be intentionally provocative, unnecessarily hostile. China is a great friend, but of course we have to operate in our waters and secure economic advantage, including drilling for oil in our territory,” Anwar said in a televised news conference from Russia, where he is on an official visit.
The Philippine Daily Inquirer published the diplomatic note in which Beijing reportedly demanded that Malaysia immediately halt all activities in an oil-rich maritime area off Sarawak state on Borneo island.
The report said China had accused Malaysia of encroaching on areas covered by its 10-dash line, Beijing’s controversial map showing its claims to sovereignty in the South China Sea. The diplomatic note also expressed Beijing’s displeasure over Malaysia’s oil and gas exploration activities near the Luconia Shoals, which is near to Sarawak, it said.
Anwar said it wasn’t the first time China had sent a protest note over the South China Sea dispute but stressed it shouldn’t mar a strong relationship. Anwar had called China a “true friend” during a visit to Malaysia by Chinese President Li Qiang in June to mark 50 years of diplomatic ties.
“We have said that we will not transgress other people’s borders,” Anwar said. “They know our position … They have claimed that we are infringing on their territory. That is not the case. We say no, it is our territory. But if they continue with the dispute, then okay, we will have to listen, and they will have to listen.”
Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan all dispute Beijing’s claims to almost the entire South China Sea. Unlike the Philippines which has had public clashes with China in the disputed area, Malaysia’s government prefers diplomatic channels. It rarely criticizes Beijing publicly, even though Chinese coast guard ships have sailed near Malaysia’s waters. This is partly to protect economic ties as China has been Malaysia’s top trading partner since 2009.
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Petaling Jaya, Malaysia – Looking from behind his counter on a recent Saturday afternoon, computer shop owner Goh Sook Lam surveyed the empty corridors of 3 Damansara shopping mall.
Two levels down, shouts rang out from a taekwondo event on the ground floor of the once-popular shopping centre located on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
“You have a taekwondo competition downstairs, but who is coming up here?” Goh, 48, told Al Jazeera, standing beside longtime customer Rudi Sim, 48, his only spending patron so far for the day.
“My regulars are my business. Walk-ins are less … Sometimes I can’t break even.”
Goh’s experience is far from isolated in mall-crazy Malaysia, where numerous shopping centres are under construction even as many existing complexes struggle to attract crowds.
Home to 33 million people, Malaysia had more than 1,000 shopping complexes at the end of 2023, including centres, arcades and hypermarkets, government data in March showed.
As of 2022, nearly 40 percent of malls and retails centres counted by the Malaysia Shopping Malls Association – 727 in total – were located in the greater Kuala Lumpur area alone, according to data shared by the body.
While many of the Southeast Asian nation’s prime malls enjoy high foot traffic and near-full occupancies, many tenants of less popular malls are finding it difficult to compete amid an explosion in retail space that even the COVID-19 pandemic failed to stymie.
According to a report by the National Property Information Centre (NAPIC), Malaysia’s retail space reached 17.69 million square metres in 2023, up from 16.51 million in 2019.
Despite this expansion, national occupancy rates for retail space were lower than before the pandemic, at 77.4 percent last year, according to the report.
Even before COVID-19, occupancy rates had been in decline, falling from 81.4 percent in 2016 to 79.2 percent in 2019 and 75.4 percent in 2022, the lowest in nearly 20 years, according to the report.
Some of the country’s newest malls have been unfazed by waning demand.
The Exchange TRX Mall, which boasts 125,000 square metres (1.35 million square feet) of leasable space and a 10-acre (4-hectare) rooftop park, opened in November with 95 percent occupancy.
Sitting below Malaysia’s second tallest building, Exchange 106, the mall’s many eateries and premium brand outlets have consistently drawn large crowds since opening.
But not all malls have done as well.
Even in the capital, where occupancies are among the country’s highest, some locations struggle to pull in much-needed footfall.
Opening in early October, the first phase of Pavilion Damansara Heights was relatively empty on a recent weekend visit.
Though its lower floors had dozens of customers, its upper levels had hardly any, with people seen passing by boarded-up lots announcing early 2024 openings.
Outlets declined requests to comment on the state of business.
Some businesses have embraced the challenge of finding ways to stay afloat in less popular malls such as Glo Damansara, which struggles to attract large crowds even on weekends.
Attracted by the “affordable” rent, Veronica David, who runs a bakery-cafe with her husband, said her business has managed to grow despite the mall’s quiet location in the suburb of Taman Tun Dr Ismail.
Focusing first on corporate clients, they expanded operations to include a lunch menu with more items on the way.
“Tenancy (here) was initially low and we thought we were in a wrong location, but within a year we saw positive growth,” the 49-year-old told Al Jazeera.
The couple chose the location as most of their clients are based in the area and Glo’s managers were also “extremely friendly” in meeting their needs.
“We might not get this assistance from other malls since they can be more strict and rigid,” she said.
A restaurant owner at the Hartamas Shopping Centre, who declined to be named, said businesses would only go to malls that were properly built.
“If the developer doesn’t do a good job, you don’t attract the right talent,” the man in his early 40s told Al Jazeera.
Catering to residents of the upmarket Sri Hartamas area, he said the mall had both “extremely” bad and good days.
As such, tenants like him, he said, have to be “very creative” in their marketing to pull in customers.
Hartamas Shopping Centre, Glo Damansara, 3 Damansara and Pavilion Damansara Heights did not respond to requests for comment.
Malaysia Shopping Malls Association president Phang Sau Lian said retailers need to work harder than ever to stand out in Malaysia’s “crowded” retail landscape.
“Consumer trends are lightning fast, and malls must constantly adapt to stay relevant and competitive,” Phang told Al Jazeera, adding that the reasons for underperforming malls include “less than optimum” locations, inaccessibility and oversaturation.
Phang said the most significant shift in consumer trends in recent years has been the emergence of food and beverage outlets as the “key driver” of mall traffic.
“Their percentage of total leased space (has) soared to nearly 30 percent, compared to a single-digit share a decade ago,” she said, adding that the trend is likely to continue.
Foo Gee Jen, an adviser with real estate consultancy CBRE-WTW, said consumers in Malaysia today are often seeking an “experience” beyond just shopping.
“It’s no longer just about buying. All the shopping malls are trying to compete in terms of experience,” Foo told Al Jazeera, pointing to facilities such as TRX Mall’s public gardens and arts and culture centres at other complexes.
“Ageing malls that have not been upgrading are not able to cope,” Foo said.
“If anyone wants to build more malls, they should not be competing against existing ones, but complement (them), because it’s (the scene) very much saturated.”
The difficult environment has led some mall owners to adopt unorthodox approaches to staying in business.
In a since-deleted TikTok video posted in May, a man was shown giving a tour of a Bitcoin mining farm he claimed to be running out of an empty mall in the southwestern state of Malacca.
In September 2021, Malacca-based property developer Hatten Land signed a deal with a Singaporean company to jointly operate at least 1,000 crypto rigs on its properties in the state.
“We (are) re-purposing the malls to include ‘green’ cryptocurrency mining activities,” the developer said on its website, without further details.
Malaysia’s middling economic performance has compounded the challenges facing retailers.
While the economy grew a steady if unspectacular 3.7 percent last year, the ringgit has been on a downslide against the US dollar, sinking to a 26-year low of 4.80 in February.
In an analysis of the Malaysian economy in the second half of 2023, global real estate consultancy Knight Frank said that “overall uncertainties … dampened consumer spending.”
Even so, there are few signs of mall construction slowing down.
There are at least 33 “incoming” complexes with 1.13 million square metres (12 million square feet) of retail space and at least another 10 planned, according to the NAPIC.
Back at 3 Damansara on a recent Saturday afternoon, Goh watched a man browse his shelves for a few seconds before walking away.
Business was a lot better when he first moved to the mall in 2012 under different management, in part due to his shop’s location a few doors from a bustling cinema hall, Goh said.
But in March, the cinema’s owners shut the theatre after 15 years in operation, inviting patrons to frequent its other outlets, the closest of which is located in another mall less than a kilometre away.
With little foot traffic on his floor of the mall, Goh said mall management approached him with the idea of moving to a lower level for a similar rental fee.
“I have no idea,” he said, when asked what the mall should do to pull in customers.
But for him, the options are straightforward.
“Either I move out or see other places here,” he said.
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Khairussaleh Ramli, group president and CEO of Malaysia-based Maybank, says, however, that it doesn’t want to be “the biggest bank by asset in Islamic finance.”
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