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Klang, Malaysia •

Victims’ Families Call for New Investigation Into Deadly Malaysian Landslide

Families of victims of a deadly December landslide in Malaysia and an environmental development expert are saying a 141-page government report on the incident lacks credibility and are calling for a new and more thorough investigation. Thirty-one people were killed when the landslide swept over their tents at a campsite on Father’s Organic Farm in Batang Kali, a rural community that often draws tourists from the country’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. Families of the victims were pushing for months f

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia •

Documents Reveal Details About Site Struck by Deadly Landslide

The Horizon office park on the outskirts of Malaysia’s biggest city has rows of commercial towers filled with white collar workers whose jobs range from accountants to engineers to lawyers. One company in this urban business park, controlled by one of Malaysia’s wealthiest families, appears to have a connection to a deadly disaster in a countryside community about 50 kilometers away. Thirty-one people were killed last December by an overnight landslide that swept over their tents at a campsite

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VOA •

In Southeast Asia’s scam centers, human trafficking worsens

The young man has been handcuffed to the ceiling, beaten until his buttocks turned purple, and received electric shocks to his feet. That’s how his captors treat him inside a scam compound in Myanmar where he has been trapped since October, according to his mother, who showed VOA a photograph sent by her son’s captors of what she says is his beaten body. The mother, who asked that her name and that of her son not be published for fear of retaliation by the captors, says her 24-year-old Malaysian...

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VOA •

Myanmar Army Deserters Confess on Video to Mass Murders

They show little to no emotion. Their answers may have been rehearsed, but what they say is explosive. Two former foot soldiers, now deserters, from Myanmar’s army say in video-recorded confessions that they participated in atrocity crimes including mass murder and the destruction of entire villages under the orders of senior officers. “Shoot all you see and all you hear,” one former soldier, Private Myo Win Tun, says in a video about the order from a colonel before members of his battalion kil

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Meiktila, Myanmar •

Living in the eye of Myanmar's sectarian storm

Nineteen-year-old Hnin Ei Phyu is on her knees at home, whispering her prayers. It’s a small sign of normality in a community where things have been anything but normal in recent months. This young Muslim woman can’t go inside her family’s mosque because it was shut down after being vandalized. And for more than a month, she had to say her prayers from inside a shelter at a nearby sports stadium in Meiktila, a city in central Myanmar. Fearing for their lives, Hnin Ei Phyu’s family fled their h

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia •

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Accused of Placing Political Power Ahead of Principles

Between bites during his lunch of chicken with white rice, Sam Chin, age 46, frowned and said: “Now that Anwar is in power, he’ll do almost anything to keep it.” Chin was talking about Anwar Ibrahim, a man who spent decades building a reputation as an anti-graft reformer before becoming Malaysia’s 10th prime minister last November. But now many of Anwar’s long-time supporters, including Chin, feel betrayed when it comes to his promises for change. One key controversy stems from prosecutors dro

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia •

Young Voters Poised to Determine Malaysian Election Outcome

Nazri Hashim, 29, came armed with questions Monday night. He’s married with a 2-year-old son. He and his wife together earn about $750 dollars a month, making it a struggle to handle day-to-day living costs. “Food and just about everything has gotten much more expensive,” he told VOA, adding that gentrification is blocking his path to buying a home in Kampung Baru, the neighborhood in Kuala Lumpur where he grew up. “We can’t afford to buy a new house, because the pricing is unaffordable.” Nazr

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Voice of America •

Pandemic Gives Loan Sharks More Prey

Business partners “Noradhiah” and “Shahirah,” who asked that their real names and the type of small business they own not be disclosed, sit nervously, fidgeting in their chairs, as the phone call gets underway. They listen and watch as a case manager for the Muslim Consumer Association Malaysia talks with a loan shark’s henchman. The case manager tells the henchman that they’re going to negotiate a deal that will bring a close to all business between the loan shark and Noradhiah and Shahirah The...

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia •

Malaysian Proposal to Phase Out Smoking Sparks Controversy, Concerns Over Corruption

Shortly after finishing her lunch at a Malaysian food court, Emily Lee, a 21-year-old university student, stepped outside, pulled out a cigarette and lit it up. “I usually smoke one pack per day,” she said. “I almost always smoke right after a meal.” Lee said she started smoking when she was 17, a year below the legal age to smoke in Malaysia. “I had a bunch of friends who were smoking, so I started and quickly got addicted to the nicotine.” Government statistics show that 1 in 5 Malaysians 15

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Depok, Indonesia •

Indonesia Grapples With Obesity Issues

They dance side to side and spin in circles with hips swiveling to music from Cardi B and Guns N’ Roses at Slim Fit Studio. The instructor, R Niken Ayu Larasati, shouts “1-2-3” as everyone’s arms move up and down with feet shuffling forward. Exercising is part of a regular routine for these two dozen women, but this has not always been the case for many of them. Yuliana, 29, who like many Indonesians has a one-word name, is 150 centimeters tall and weighs 110 kilos. “I didn’t get enough exercis

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia •

Malaysian Road Safety Institute Pushes For Better Training Of Food Delivery Riders

Almost every day 26-year-old Amirul Rashid is on his motorbike delivering food. He must deal with traffic, changing weather conditions and sometimes impatient customers who keep sending messages asking when their food will arrive. Rashid says it’s the same situation for most food delivery riders and unfortunately that prompts some of them to disobey traffic rules, whether it’s the speed limit or a stop light. “Pressure usually comes from the customers because usually the customers want their or

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Malabon, Philippines •

Comprehensive Sex Education Remains Controversial in the Philippines

Jomarie Oliva, 33, led an afternoon workshop with 10 teenagers on topics that many in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines consider taboo. The conversation included the reasons that some teens have sex. “Out of curiosity?” Oliva asked the group? “For pleasure,” responded one of the teens, while the rest of the group laughedLater, Oliva talked about the responsibilities of parenthood as well as different types of birth control, including “abstinence, pills, condoms, IUDs, implants, injectables,” she said, before explaining each one. In some countries, in-depth classroom discussions about sex and contraceptives are common for teenagers, but not in the Philippines. “Not every student gets sex education in schools,” Oliva told VOA. “You don’t always learn all the ways to protect yourself from unplanned pregnancies, h

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Petaling Jaya, Malaysia •

Press Climate Shifting in Malaysia

In Malaysia, there’s eagerness and a bit of skepticism about what appears to be the beginning of a new dawn for press freedom. “It’s a long time coming,” Kevin Khor, a 50-year-old IT manager, said while skimming through the day’s top stories on his phone. The change is a direct result of the country’s May elections which marked the first win by the opposition since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957. For decades, the country’s mainstream media were largely under the government’

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Quezon City, Philippines •

Philippine Baristas Serve Heartbreaking Drug War Stories Alongside Java

The words painted on the staircase at the Silingan coffee shop make it clear that this place is about much more than just serving lattes and fruit smoothies. "It's not a war on illegal drugs. It's an illegal war on drugs," the message says. Silingan means neighbor. Most of the workers at this cafe near the capital, Manila, are mothers, daughters, sisters or wives of people killed during former President Rodrigo Duterte's grisly war on drugs. "They didn't have to be killed like animals," head

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia •

Malaysian Volunteers Produce PPE at Home for Front Lines

Dr. Kathreena Kadir pumps sanitizer onto her hands and rubs them thoroughly before proceeding to put on her personal protective equipment, or PPE, including shoe covers, a gown and face mask. It’s standard procedure this oral and maxillofacial surgeon at the University of Malaya Medical Center now follows before meeting patients so she doesn’t contract the coronavirus. “Every patient that comes through the doors is considered positive until proof otherwise,“ says Dr. Kadir. “So, we need to mak

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Voice of America •

Heavy metal music has a home in Indonesia

The sounds from guitars strumming and drums beating sears through the air. Crowds dance in circles while thumping their heads back and forth. Some 38,000 fans attended Hammersonic this past weekend, according to organizers of Southeast Asia’s largest annual heavy metal music festival. Featuring 55 bands, the event is held in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim majority country. One of the groups performing, Lamb of God, was barred from performing in neighboring Malaysia...

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Voice of America •

Malaysian landslide victims sue, accusing officials of negligence

Survivors and family members of campers killed in a 2022 landslide at an agritourism farm in Malaysia have filed a lawsuit contending the disaster was caused by negligence – not only excessive rainfall as an earlier government report concluded. “We want this lawsuit to bring to the public’s attention the real reasons why this tragedy happened,” said Tan Ei Ein, whose 7-year-old son, Zech, was killed in the landslide. The government “is trying to save itself from trouble by blaming it on nature,”...

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