🇮🇩 Monks head towards Borobudur

Hello friends! 

I will be back in your inbox tomorrow for a look at the latest maneuvering in Bangkok following the election last month. We’ll also swing by Manila to try to make sense of the Maharlika Investment Fund, which I have successfully avoided for months but after a late-night vote concluded at 3 am this morning we’ll have to get into.

These regional looks are typically for paid subscribers but it’s been a while since I’ve done a promo! If you’d like to join us with 25% off your first year jump in now:

Asean and Timorese nationals under 30 are always welcome to a free subscription, just hit that reply and let me know a bit about yourself. See you tomorrow,Erin Cook

🇮🇩 Can’t palm us off, Europe

Malaysia and Indonesia continued their double act against the European Union’s palm oil rules, which the two producing countries say will harm small producers at home. Indonesia is putting its money where its mouth is — Economic Affairs Minister (and unpopular presidential candidate) Airlangga Hartarto is happy to delay negotiations on a free trade agreement between the bloc and the emerging regional economic giant. Get real or get comfortable waiting, he says: “We can wait an additional seven years.” 

Indonesia’s foreign ministry has been quietly hard at work repatriating nationals from online scam syndicates across the region. From Myanmar, 26 nationals have been sent home as well as 37 from Laos and some of the 240 trafficking victims identified in the Philippines. Police and other authorities are working with local counterparts to prosecute those behind the syndicates, the Jakarta Post reports. 

A 20-year ban on sand exports has been ditched and that could be good news for Singapore.  According to Reuters ‘before the ban, Indonesia was Singapore's major supplier of sea sand for land expansion, shipping more than 53 million tonnes on average per year between 1997 to 2002.’ Oof. Activists back home, however, say there’s no upside here to relaunching the sector: “It will accelerate the sinking of small islands and coastal abrasion,” Greenpeace Indonesia researcher Afdillah Chudiel told Reuters. 

I’ve been following the journey of 32 monks walking from Thailand to Borobodur in Central Java, in a ritual known as thudong. The photos online have been great as the monks moved down Sumatra and across Java and they’ll soon reach the temple, expected June 4. “Hopefully, I can invite other monks to come here to Indonesia in the coming years. Judging by the people’s enthusiasm, many monks are touched by the tolerance in Indonesia,” Bhante Kathadamo, originally known as Wawan from Cirebon!, told Berita Satu. 

🇲🇾 No snappy tagline here - just pure wtf

What in the heck is happening in Cambodia-Malaysian relations this week? 

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim visited Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh at the end of March, ‘strengthening ties’ and helping to repatriate nationals dragged into the hideous Cambodian scam workhouses. Nothing particularly groundbreaking, a typical inter-Asean bilateral visit. I’m not saying the visit is explicitly linked, just a little background on how normal relations have been particularly compared with the sparring Hun Sen has been doing with leaders from further afield. 

Yesterday, Hun Sen announced opposition figure Sam Rainsy had been expelled from Malaysia after the PM put in a special request to Anwar. “Excellency Anwar Ibrahim has told me clearly that he would not allow him [Rainsy] to enter and I told back ‘if [you] allow him to enter, the relationship between [our] two counties will be hurt,” Hun Sen said, as per Cambodianess. 

What in the world? Is the message from Putrajaya today, via Malaysiakini. “With regard to the presence of the former chief opposition member of Cambodia Rainsy (above) in Malaysia, the Foreign Ministry wishes to reiterate that the prime minister was not informed of his arrival to this country,” the ministry said in a statement, although it also confirmed Sam Rainsy had left the country yesterday. 

Very strange one! Even if Hun Sen hadn’t been spending the last few months trying to fight most foreign missions in Phnom Penh, I would’ve leant towards believing Malaysia’s side of the story. Possibly more to come or maybe just one of those weird events — we’ll see! 

And from weird to weirder. After announcing a renewed push to track down 1MDB financier Jho Low at the start of May, the news is coming thick and fast (and odd). Yesterday, Billion Dollar Whale co-author Bradley Hope said he believed Jho Low is living under house arrest in Shanghai, but noted he is believed to have been in Macau from 2015-2018. That comment came after the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Court suggested the fugitive was hiding out in the casino resort island. 

This information came after the MACC arrested and released 1MDB player Kee Kok Thiam. He had been arrested by officials at the Kuala Lumpur airport on May 3 after deportation from Macau. A MACC statement said he would not yet be charged “at this time” after questioning. This was all revealed by Al Jazeera on Tuesday in an excellent exclusive.  

And then Wednesday it was revealed Kee Kok Thiam had died on Monday after a “sudden massive stroke.” Ah, okay. 

🇸🇬 Think positive, PM

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has tested positive for COVID after having tested negative a few days back. Bummer for him, and for my news alerts. He feels fine, he wrote on Facebook. 

PM-in-the-wings Lawrence Wong took to the stage at Nikkei Asia’s Future of Asia forum last week. He echoed his boss’ usual regional comments on the need to avoid conflict between China and the US and lamented that the superpowers are “entangling us once again in potential conflict and confrontation.” In this respect, at least, expect much of the same for a Wong-led People’s Action Party. 

And when will he take the helm? Elections must be held by November 2025 but he’s not dropping any hints: “​​When I take over as prime minister can be before the election or it can be after the election,” he told the event.