The Week Ahead: The hunt is on for Alice Guo

Hello friends!

On the road from Canberra to Sydney, there is an enormous lake that is often devoid of water and perfect for staring out over while listening to sad music in a perfect movie scene. Bus drivers used to love to say that when Lake George was empty, a lake in China was full. And when that Chinese lake was empty, George was full. Doesn’t really make sense to me, academically, but vibes feel right, somehow.

That’s how I feel about Malaysia and Thailand. When Thailand is on the verge of political chaos, Malaysia relaxes. When Malaysia is gearing up, Thailand takes a break. This week in Bangkok is a rare break — last week the Senate election was (largely) completed and the second round of hearings into Prime Minister Srettha Thaivisin’s future and that of the Move Forward won’t be back in court until next week. 

So, take a seat Thailand. Let Malaysia have this week. A nervous Anwar Ibrahim is eyeing the parties as movements within Bersatu has analysts asking the question every dilettante fears: is this a constitutional crisis in the making? 

But first — Alice Guo. 

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Erin Cook

PS I think this week’s episode of Reformasi with Kevin O’Rourke is extra good! We chatted with Nenden Sekar Arum at SAFEnet, an Indonesian group advocating for digital rights and cyber-safety. We began with the big data hack story but Nenden was very generous and let us pepper her with all sorts of tech/digital/online questions!

🇵🇭 Alice Guo is gone — once authorities can find her

Arrest suspended Bamban mayor, Alice Guo. That’s the order from the Senate on Saturday after the embattled politico “unduly [refused] to appear, despite due notices,” to a Senate probe into Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators last week, Rappler reports. It comes after the Court of Appeals granted a petition from the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze her assets on Thursday.  

Acquaintances and family are also named in warrants. Guo’s former accountant Nancy Gamo was nabbed Saturday afternoon and could be held by the Senate for as long as the POGO probe takes, Rappler notes.  

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who is a leading senate critic of POGOs and who catapulted Guo to national infamy with her questioning of Guo’s biographical details, has called on Guo to turn herself in, saying dodging authorities isn’t really helping her case. 

Hontiveros, of course, gave Guo a public pummelling for the ages back in May when she disputed much of Guo’s life story, including finding that Guo may not be a Filipino national at all and instead a Chinese national. This came after a March raid on offices partially owned by Guo, raising questions initially about the providence of Guo’s money and business interests and, eventually, the providence of Guo herself. 

The key for now, however, is that Guo is alleged to be deeply involved in POGOs, a notoriously shady industry in which companies based in the Philippines operate online gambling sites targeting those abroad. Hontiveros and a hell of a lot of Filipinos aren’t enormous fans of the industry and this senate inquiry is aimed at shining some light on what exactly is going on with them.

Guo is scared to front up to the Senate, her lawyers say. She’s been the victim of intimidation and death threats and is suffering unidentified health issues that are exacerbating trauma, lawyer Stephen David said in comments published by PhilStar last week that, on review now, kinda make it clear she was going to dodge. 

For Hontiveros, “the issuance of the arrest order is only the first step to making Mayor Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping accountable to our laws,” she said in a statement Saturday, as per the Inquirer. “Of all the lies and possible crimes of Mayor Alice and all involved in POGO, this is not merely procedural. This arrest order upholds the mandate of the Senate to safeguard the well-being of Filipinos.” 

This week I’ll be glued to the Inquirer and Rappler for updates.

🇻🇳 It won’t go dark in Vietnam, government promises

Northern Vietnam is ready and waiting for heatwaves to hit the area and for the electronic hub, home to factories for Apple and Samsung, electricity stability is crucial. Vietnam Electricity Group says it expects peak demand to hit more than 27,000 megawatts this month. Northern Vietnam copped blackouts last year during the same period, in part due to malfunctions at coal-fired plants, Bloomberg reports. 

Stay cool, everyone. 

🇮🇩 Indonesia to claw back data

After last month’s cataclysmic hack on a national data centre, Indonesian authorities say they’re now in the process of getting back data. More than 160 government agencies were affected by the ransomware attack, in which Brain Cipher demanded US$8 million to hand it back over — though they then apologised and released a decryption key. The whole thing is still very strange to me, listen to last week’s Reformasi for more.

“The communications ministry is using a decryption strategy to recover services or assets from ministries, state agencies, and the regional governments that are affected. We are handling this gradually,” Chief Security Minister Hadi Tjahjanto said in a statement, as per Reuters. 

🇲🇾 Political intrigue in Malaysia is back

After a few months of poor by-election results for the Anwar Ibrahim government, intrigue is back in Malaysia. It may well be the base state of Malaysia in the post-Najib years, but, despite some major hiccups in recent months, things have been relatively solid. But holy smokes are we back!

Last week, Dewan Rakyat Speaker Tan Sri Johari Abdul declared six Bersatu MPs could hold onto their seats despite being booted from the party. This particular calamity — at least from former PM and Bersatu boss Muhyddin Yassin’s perspective — has reignited the party-hopping legislation, which was passed back in 2022 in an effort to stem the tide of MPs jumping all over the place in an endless permutation of coalitions. Article 49A of the law states an MP will lose their office if they ‘resign’ or ‘cease to be’ a member of their party but, according to the Malay Mail, it also states that if an MP is purged from the party they can keep their seat. Bersatu, aware of this loophole, didn’t purge the members but rather rewrote party rules to ‘ceasing’ membership. Good try but no go, said the Speaker. 

While Muhyiddin stews and plots, commentators and analysts worry about where this is going to go next. If other parties change their constitutions to dodge Article 49A, could Malaysia be looking at a constitutional crisis? 

Pakatan Harapan’s comms director Fahmi Fadzil has played down questions that the government is nervous about what six by-elections would mean if the MPs were booted in the end. “This is not a matter of being afraid or not afraid [of elections]. This is about the constitution,” he told media, as reported by Bernama.

This is going to take a long time to shake out, I bet, but I’d still wager we’ve got a busy week of statements and hot takes ahead.  

Interesting reads

Thai banks admit lack of capacity to investigate Myanmar weapon payments (Reuters) 

Major Thai banks defended themselves on Thursday against criticism that they facilitated weapons purchases by the Myanmar junta, saying they lacked the capacity to investigate all transactions that may be used for such purchases.

Representatives of the lenders told a parliamentary committee, however, that they strictly followed existing regulations.

Pattaya residents protest 'sin city' label (Bangkok Post)

Residents in Pattaya have protested against the label "sin city, heaven of prostitutes" used by the Thai media outlet Thairath, demanding that the city's positive aspects be highlighted.

Entrepreneurs and locals gathered at the entrance of the Pattaya Walking Street on Thursday night to protect the city's dignity and reputation.

The entrepreneurs insisted that Pattaya is not solely defined by its entertainment industry but boasts diverse attractions that draw tourists worldwide. They also highlighted the contribution of Pattaya's travel business to Thailand's economic growth.

Singapore hawkers highlight generational challenge to famed culinary traditions (Nikkei Asia)

Tan's death is not the only recent loss for Singapore's famed hawker culture, which was inscribed in 2020 on UNESCO's list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. In March, Song Yancheng, of Hock Kee Fried Kway Teow, also died. His specialty was a wok-fried flat noodle dish featuring cockles, eggs and a distinctive smoky aroma. Song's children subsequently closed the family food stall.

The deaths of the two noodle masters — and tales of other hawkers retiring without successors — have spurred a round of soul-searching in Singapore about its street food heritage. Will the time-honoured culture of hawker centres, food courts and community dining face extinction as a generation of cooks ends its time in the trade?