Timeline Malaysia
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Malaysia’s population is about 60% Muslim. About 69% of the 32 million people are bumiputras: Malays and other indigenous groups. 24% are ethnic Chinese and 7% are Indian.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.42)(Econ., 2/29/20, p.31)
The island of Borneo, the 3rd largest in the world, was divided among the sultanate of Brunei, Indonesia, and the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, whose capital is Kota Kinabalu. Other states of 9 included Selangor and Trengganu.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, p.T10)
1.83Mil BC In 2009 Malaysian archeologists reported that prehistoric stone axes found in Perak state in 2008 were the world's oldest dating to about this time. The result had a margin of error of 610,000 years.
(AP, 1/30/09)
c65000BC Geneticists in 2005 used DNA evidence to conclude that human emigration from Africa took place about this time from the southern end of the Red Sea and then pushing along the coast of India and Southeast Asia. The Orang Asli people of Malaysia likely descended from this 1st migration.
(SFC, 5/13/05, p.A7)(Econ, 12/24/05, Survey p.5)
c500 AD The first settlers of Madagascar began arriving from the Malay Archipelago in the middle of the first millennium. DNA studies in 2012 indicated that the number of women in the first group of settlers numbered about 30.
(Econ, 3/24/12, p.84)
600-1200AD Ceramic shards at Kampong Sungai Mas in the Bujang Valley date to this time. Brick foundations and a block of shale with a Buddhist mantra inscribed in Sanskrit was also found.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
671 Chinese monk I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in for 6 months during this year. Srivijaya (also written Sri Vijaya) was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srivijaya)
1400 The Malaysian city of Malacca was founded and it was soon used by Zheng He, a Chinese Muslim from the Ming court, as a base for his treasure ships.
(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1511 Malacca (Melaka), the center of East Indian spice trade, was captured by the Portuguese. When the Dutch gained influence in Indonesia and Jakarta they took over Melaka and built the fortress A Famosa. St. Paul’s Church, originally called Our Lady of the Hill, was built by the Portuguese following their takeover of Malacca.
(TL-MB, p.10)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T8)(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1641 The Dutch pushed the Portuguese out of Malacca and renamed Our Lady of the Hill church to St. Paul’s.
(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1658 The sultan of Brunei gave Sabah, the northeastern part of Borneo, to the sultan of Sulu, who ruled a part of what later became the Philippines.
(Econ, 2/23/13, p.39)
1646 The Cheng Hoon Teng Buddhist temple was built in Malacca.
(SFEC, 3/19/00, p.T8)
c1700-1800 Monosopiad, an 18th cent. warrior, collected some 42 human skulls. His house near Sandakan is known as the House of Skulls.
(SFEC, 10/17/98, p.T11)
1710 St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church was built in Malacca.
(SFEC, 3/19/00, p.T8)
1728 The Muslim Kampung Hulu Mosque was built in Malacca.
(SFEC, 3/19/00, p.T8)
1786 Capt. Francis Light landed in Penang (Malaysia) and built Fort Cornwallis. Light, acting on behalf of the East India Company, swindled the island from the ruling sultan with a promise of protection. The British usurped the land to break the Dutch monopoly on the spice trade.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T8)(SFEM, 12/19/99, p.8)(SFC, 12/8/05, p.E7)
1819 The British claimed Malacca from the Dutch. They used St. Paul’s church as an ammunition dump and put a lighthouse in front.
(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1832 Pres. Jackson sent the frigate Potomac to bombard the pirate lair of Kuala Batu.
(WSJ, 10/9/01, p.A22)
1839 Britisher Sir James Brooke arrived in an armed schooner to Sarawak, Malaysia, and helped the Sultan of neighboring Brunei subdue rebel, headhunting Iban (Dayak) tribes. As a reward he was made the Raja of Sarawak, and his heirs continued to rule until 1946.
(Hem, 6/96, p.133)
1841 Britisher Sir James Brooke was made the Raja of Sarawak (Borneo). His heirs continued to rule until 1946.
(Hem, 6/96, p.133)(Econ, 2/15/14, p.35)
1848 It was discovered that palm oil, a native of West Africa, grew well in the Far East. By 2010 Indonesia and Malaysia produced 90% of the world’s palm oil.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.71)
1860s Prospectors for tin founded the city of Kuala Lumpur ("muddy confluence") at the confluence of the Kelang and Gombak rivers.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T3)
1873 Britain sent an agent, Henry Wickham, to Brazil to get rubber seeds. The Seedlings were cultivated in Kew Gardens and transplanted to Malaysia.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
1878 The sultan of Sulu leased Sabah in perpetuity to the British North Borneo Company. In 1946 the company ceded control of Sabah to Britain.
(Econ, 2/23/13, p.39)
1888 In Malaysia the Lake Gardens opened in Kuala Lumpur.
(SSFC, 3/29/15, p.L4)
1890s A tin rush was on and the elite gathered at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T3)
1902 Thailand annexed 3 southern provinces, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, that had been part of a Malay Muslim sultanate called the Kingdom of Pattani.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.A7)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.40)
1902 The Khoo Kongsi, a Chinese clan house on Penang, burned down the night it was completed. The temple was rebuilt.
(SFEM, 12/19/99, p.30)
1910 Royal Dutch Shell began pumping oil out of Sarawak, a British colony on Borneo. Sarawak became part of Malaysia in 1963.
(Econ, 6/9/12, p.46)
1915 By this year Malay plantations produced 107,860 tons of rubber compared with 37,200 tons in Brazil.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
1921 China’s Xiamen University was founded by Tan Kah Kee, a business tycoon, who made his fortune in Southeast Asia, including what is now Malaysia. In 2013 Xiamen University, based in eastern Fujian province, announced plans to open a branch in Malaysia by 2015.
(AP, 6/11/13)
1925 A young Chinese woman walked into a welfare office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and tried to blow up two British functionaries.
(Econ., 11/28/20, p.76)
1938 British expatriates in Kuala Lumpur converted a hunting tradition to a drinking and running event called Hashing, named in reference to the bad food at the Selangar Club where they hung out.
(SFC, 8/11/00, WBb p.7)
1941 Dec 1, British declared a state of emergency in Malaya following reports of Japanese attacks.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1941 Dec 6, Dutch and British pilots saw Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1941 Dec 8, Japanese bombers attacked Malaya.
(AFP, 2/6/12)
1945 Aug, A British Royal Air Force B24 Liberator bomber crashed in Malaysia. Later research showed that it was carrying supplies for Force 136, a British Special Operations unit.
(AP, 2/6/12)
1945 At the end of World War II Thailand was compelled to return territory it had seized from Laos, Cambodia and Malaya. The exiled King Ananda returned.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1243059.stm)
1945-1949 A series of wars for independence during this period spread from India to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In 2007 Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper authored “Forgotten Wars: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia."
(WSJ, 8/9/07, p.D7)
1948 Dec 12, British soldiers surrounded the Sungai Rimoh rubber estate in Batang Kali, shot 24 Malaysian rubber plantation workers and set the village on fire. In 1970 Britain’s incoming Conservative administration dropped a police investigation, claiming a lack of evidence. In 2012 relatives of killed workers lost their High Court battle for a full inquiry by the British government.
(AFP, 9/4/12)
1957 Aug 31, The Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) gained independence from Britain (National Day). Malaysia established itself as a constitutional monarchy. Article 11 in the constitution gave every person “the right to profess and practice his religion." Pro-bumiputra (sons of the soil) discrimination was laid down in the constitution to ease Malays’ fears of being marginalized by Chinese and Indian migrants. A 1988 amendment denied the regular courts all jurisdiction over matters dealt with by the Muslim sharia courts.
(YN, 8/31/99)(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)(AP, 8/31/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.11)
1957 The Barisan Nasional Coalition began ruling Malaysia.
(Econ, 8/13/11, p.40)
1959 Malaysia adopted a Banishment Act allowing the government to expel non-citizens.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.53)
1960 Malaysia introduced the Internal Security Act (ISA) to stem a communist insurgency. It allowed authorities to detain people indefinitely without trial.
(SFC, 4/25/01, p.A12)(Econ, 9/24/11, p.52)
1960s US pres. Lyndon B. Johnson visited the country. In honor of his visit a new plantation was named LBJ. The plantation was later sold for the development of an information technology zone called the Multimedia Super Corridor.
(WSJ, 1/8/97, p.A12)
1961 May 3, A British Colonial Office telegram stated the general guidance for keeping papers out of the hands of newly elected independent governments. Items should be disposed of if they "might embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers; might compromise sources of intelligence" -- or might be used "unethically" by incoming ministers. Under "Operation Legacy", officials in Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Tanzania, Jamaica and other former colonial territories were briefed on how to dispose of documents that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government." This was only made public in 2013.
(AFP, 11/29/13)
1963 Sep 16, The Federation of Malaysia was formally established. Sabak (Sabah) and Sarawak, Britain’s colonies on Borneo, joined the Malayan peninsula to form Malaysia with Tunku Abdul Rahman (60) as prime minister. The federation formed under bitter opposition from Indonesia, which refused to recognize the country and waged a guerrilla war against it. Race riots erupted between ethnic Malays and the Chinese majority.
(PC, 1992, p.988)(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.C10)(Econ, 9/20/08, p.60)(Econ, 2/23/13, p.39)
1964 Sep 2, Indonesian paratroopers landed in Malaysia.
(MC, 9/2/01)
1965 Aug 9, Singapore proclaimed its independence from the Malaysian Federation.
(AP internet, 8/9/97)
1965 Malaysia was seated on the UN Security Council. Indonesia became the first nation ever to withdraw from the United Nations in protest of the seating of its neighbor refusing to recognize it and waging a guerilla war against it. In 1966 a peace agreement with Malaysia was reached and shortly thereafter Indonesia resumed its membership in the UN.
(HNQ, 5/14/98)
1966 Malaysia and Indonesia reached a peace agreement and shortly thereafter Indonesia resumed its membership in the UN.
(HNQ, 5/14/98)
1967 Mar 26, Jim Thompson, American ex-serviceman, disappeared while on holiday in the Cameron Highlands of Northern Malaysia. He revived the Thai silk industry after WW II. He was one of the first to adopt a classic Thai house to the requirements of modern life, and his home is now a museum in Bangkok, Thailand.
(Hem, Mar. 95, p.63)(SFEC, 7/16/00, p.T14)
1967 Aug 8, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
(www.aseansec.org/64.htm)
1969 May 10, Malaysia held its 3rd general election since independence. Opposition advances at the polls were followed by bloody race riots. Smoldering racial tensions erupted between the Malays and the Chinese with riots that killed dozens.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_general_election,_1969)(SFC, 11/24/97, p.A11)
1969 May 13, In Malaysia deadly race riots took place in Kuala Lumpur.
(Econ, 5/16/09, p.49)
1969 Malaysia adopted an Emergency Ordnance that allowed people to be detained without charge.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.53)
1970 Sep 22, Abdul Razak (1922-1976) became Malaysia’s 2nd prime minister.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tun_Abdul_Razak)
1971 Nov 1, The Five Power Defense Arrangements were concluded by the defense ministers of Australia, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. In 2017 it was upgraded to deal with terrorism threats and new security concerns.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.54)(AP, 6/2/17)
1971 Malaysia’s UMNO party introduced a New Economic Policy (NEP). It was meant to reduce absolute poverty provide affirmative action for people of indigenous decent. The temporary bill expired in 1990, when it was renamed and hardly changed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_New_Economic_Policy)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.51)
1974 Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil firm, was given exclusive rights to the nation’s hydrocarbons. Until this year all of Malaysia’s oil was pumped by foreigners.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.69)
1974 In Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim was detained for 22 months for organizing political opposition groups and for distributing a book by Dr. Mahathir Mohamed.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A11)
1975 Apr 4, The first group of boat people from Vietnam began arriving in Malaysia. More than 1 million people fled from the close of the war to the early 1980s.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-9)
1975 Aug 4, In Malaysia the Japanese Red Army raided a building in Kuala Lumpur that housed US, Swedish, Japanese and Canadian embassies. 52 hostages were exchanged for Red Army members.
(http://www.ioss.gov/docs/julytodecember.html)
1976 Jan 14, Abdul Razak (b.1922), Malaysia’s 2nd prime minister, died. His son Najib Razak (23) was soon elected to parliament.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tun_Abdul_Razak)(Econ, 11/8/08, p.60)
1977 Sep 27, Japan Airlines Flight 715, a DC-8, crashed into a hill in bad weather while attempting to land at the Kuala Lumpur Subang Airport. 34 people, including 8 of the 10 crew members and 26 of the 69 passengers, were killed when the aircraft broke on impact.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines)
1981 Mahathir Mohamed was named prime minister. He led the United Malays National Organization party.
(SFC, 11/24/97, p.A11)
1982 McDonald's, the US fast food giant, began operations in Malaysia.
(AP, 4/29/09)
1983 In Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamed initiated Proton, the Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional (National Car Project). Production of the 1st model, Saga, began in 1985 in association with Mitsubishi of Japan.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.61)(WSJ, 7/14/04, p.B2B)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.68)
1983 Malaysia passed an Islamic banking law and set up Bank Islam. Takaful Malaysia, an Islamic insurance company, was set up in 1984.
(WSJ, 4/4/07, p.A13)
1984 Daim Zainuddin became chairman of the main investment arm of United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
(WSJ, 3/24/04, p.B5B)
1985 Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamed and government colleagues conceived the idea of a national highway about this time.
(Hem., 1/96, p.97)
1986 A law was enacted that prohibited publications of "malicious allegations" against the government.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A15)
1987 Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamad (b.1925) locked up more than 100 critics under the colonial-era Internal Security Act.
(Econ, 12/5/15, p.42)
1987 In Malaysia Sultan Iskandar (1932-2010), the 24th Sultan of Johor, was accused of causing the death of a golf caddy in Cameron Highlands by assault. He could not be prosecuted due to the immunity that was accorded to the rulers.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iskandar_of_Johor)
1987 In Malaysia women’s groups began campaigning for a law against wife-beating. A weak law was passed in 1994.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1988 May, In Malaysia construction of the North-South Expressway was begun.
(Hem., 1/96, p.97)
1988 In Malaysia an amendment to the constitution denied the regular courts all jurisdiction over matters dealt with by the Muslim sharia courts.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.42)
1990 In Malaysia the 1970 New Economic Policy (NEP), which ushered in affirmative action for Malays, expired. It was renamed and hardly changed.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.34)
1990 Malaysia’s poverty rate stood at 22.8%.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.42)
1991 In Malaysia authorities banned Mak Yong, a traditional form of dance theater.
(WSJ, 4/19/06, p.A1)
1992 In Malaysia a rare earths plant in northern Perak state was forced to shut down over protests from residents who blamed it for birth defects in nearby populations.
(AFP, 2/26/12)
1992 Panama disease, caused by the fusarium fungus, mutated to a form capable of attacking the Cavendish variety of banana and wiped out plantations in Malaysia. The disease had previously destroyed the popular Gros Michel variety, which was left growing only in remote parts of Uganda and Jamaica.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.85)
1994 The North-South Expressway of Malaysia was completed. It spans the western side of the Malay Peninsula from Singapore to the Thailand frontier for 520 miles.
(Hem., 1/96, p.97)
1994 Malaysia passed a Domestic Violence Act. It made wife-beating unlawful but only after a cease-and-desist order and went into effect in 1996. Women’s groups had begun campaigning seven years
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1994 Malaysia under PM Mahathir Mohamed awarded the Bakun Dam concession to Ekran Bhd. The government took over the project following the financial crises of 1997-98.
(WSJ, 1/8/04, p.A14)
1994-1997 Malaysia engaged in a tight money policy as the economy grew at a breakneck speed.
(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A13)
1995 July, Irene Fernandez, head of the human rights group Tenaganita, published a report after interviewing immigrant inmates on prison conditions. 71 deaths have been caused by alleged abuse.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A15)
1995 Sep, A Fokker-50 operated by a Malaysian airline crashed on arrival at Tawau, Malaysia airport, killing 34 people. The plane touched down 500 yards short of the runway, pulled up and crashed into a shantytown.
(AP, 2/10/04)
1995 Danny Ooi launched The Malaysia Book of Records.
(WSJ, 12/1/99, p.B1)
1995 Kuala Lumpur. High trade deficit. Money is denominated in "ringgit". [It reached 4.7 billion dollars on annualized basis.]
(WSJ, 10/30/95, p.A-11A)
1996 Apr 18, Malaysia was to send about 1200 Vietnamese boatpeople back home.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-9)
1996 May 20, In Malaysia timber exports have reached $1.5 billion from the state of Sarawak in north-central Borneo Island. The lives of the local Penans and other forest peoples have been forever fractured. Half of Sarawak is zoned for logging, 8% is to be permanently protected, and 42% is to be stripped away for development.
(SFC, 5/20/96, p.A-8)
1996 Jun, Malaysia’s Domestic Violence Act went into effect. Women’s groups had begun campaigning nine years ago and a weak version was passed in 1994.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1996 Jun 10, In Malaysia Irene Fernandez, head of the human rights group Tenaganita, went on trial for her 1995 published report on prison conditions of immigrant inmates. 71 deaths have been caused by alleged abuse. She was charged under a 1986 law that banned the publication of "malicious allegations" against the government. Seven years later, she was sentenced to one year in prison but appealed. In 2008 she was acquitted.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A15)(SFC, 5/29/96, p.A8)(AP, 11/24/08)
1996 Jun 13, A report from Kuching told of Borneo’s 2nd high tech plant being cut out of the tropical rain forest.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A6)
1996 Jun 14, Issues that had blocked the building of the $6.02 billion Bakun hydroelectric dam in Sarawak state on Borneo were resolved.
(WSJ, 6/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun 19, A court order stopped work on the $5.4 billion Bakun Dam due to violation of environmental laws.
(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A10)
1996 Jul 7, The average cost of a Big Mac in Malaysia was $1.51.
(SFC, 7/7/96, Parade, p.17)
1996 Jul 10, Entrepreneur Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun was backing a new development to rise above the Kelang River in Kuala Lumpur. Called KL Linear City the plan called for a 24 year project that would consist of a 1.24 mile-long, 10-story, tube-like structure. It was disclosed as a footnote in Malaysia’s 75 year plan released in April.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 3-4, There was a nationwide power blackout that lasted 16 hours in some areas.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A5c)
1996 Sep 15, In Singapore all 120,000 internet subscribers will have to go through proxy servers which will screen them from dozens of sites that contain nudity and sexual topics.
(SFC, 8/15/96, p.B2)
1996 Dec 25, Tropical storm Greg killed at least 163 people in the northern Borneo state of Sabah.
(WSJ, 12/27/96, p.A1)(SFC, 12/30/96, p.A8)
1996 Abdullah Sungkar (1999) and Abu Bakar Baasyir, self-exiled Indonesian clerics, together with Riduan Isamuddin, established Jemaah Islamiyah in Malaysia.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A1)
1996 In Malaysia the Pergau hydroelectric dam, supported by British aid, was commissioned. The project involved at least 3 separate scandals. In 2012 Time Lankester authored “The Politics and Economics of Britain’s Foreign Aid: The Pergau Dam Affair."
(Econ, 11/17/12, p.77)
1997 Jan, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad went to Silicon Valley to describe a new "multimedia supercorridor" which would include a new airport and two new cities with high technology centers.
(Hem., 4/97, p.42)
1997 Feb 28, It was reported that the Dayaks were killing the Madurans in the rain forest of West Kalimantan, Borneo. The indigenous Dayaks had killed as many as 300 Madurans in fierce hand combat after a peace treaty was broken. The Madurans were moved in by the government from an overpopulated area.
(SFC, 2/28/97, p.A16)
1997 May 12, It was reported that the Pudu Prison in Kuala Lumpur was opened as a public attraction last week. It was scheduled to be demolished in 6 months.
(WSJ, 5/12/97, p.B1)
1997 May 31, The 7-member ASEAN alliance, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, met in Kuala Lumpur and agreed to allow Burma to become a member in July. Laos and Cambodia were also to be admitted. The members were Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.D3)
1997 Aug 9, In Indonesia huge fires in tropical forests and plantations on Sumatra and Borneo and Java were blamed on slash-and-burn farming techniques. Fires originally set by developers to clear forest for palm plantations in Borneo and Sumatra ran out of control and darkened skies across much of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The World Bank estimated that 8% of total global emission of greenhouse gases for the year were due to the fires.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A12)(SFC, 9/25/97, p.A11)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.74)
1997 Sep, American billionaire George Soros, vilified by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad as the cause of the national financial crises, defended himself and called his accuser "a menace to his own country."
(SFC, 9/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 1, Asian currencies dived in foreign exchange markets in part because of comments by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir: "I would like to suggest that we do away with trade in currency as a commodity."
(WSJ, 10/2/97, p.A12)
1997 Dec 8, The Rupiah dropped 10% on rumors that Pres. Suharto had suffered a stroke.
(WSJ, 12/10/97, p.A16)
1997 Dec 19, A Singapore operated Boeing 737 jet crashed by the Musi River north of Palembang on its flight from Jakarta to Singapore. All 104 people on board were feared dead.
(SFC, 12/20/97, p.A10)
1997 Malaysia banned the export of sand hurting Singapore’s efforts to secure supplies for its booming construction industry and sea-fill plans. Indonesia followed suit in 2007 and caused a surge in the price of sand.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.46)
1997 In Malaysia a virus struck the village of Nipah and killed 105 people, most of whom were involved in the hog-farming industry. Some 1.2 million hogs were destroyed and the Nipah virus epidemic ran its course over 7 months. The epidemic was later related to burning rain forests and bats seeking new food sources that passed the virus to pigs that passed it to humans. Most animals recovered but it was lethal to 40% of humans.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.A9)(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A4)(WSJ, 6/19/03, p.A1)
1998 Mar 15, Random drug testing at all Malaysian schools was to be instituted with urine testing equipment.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A9)
1998 Mar 26, In Malaysia riots flared in 4 detention camps that housed mainly Indonesian illegal immigrants. The Internal Security Act allowed the detention without trial of people caught helping illegals. 8 inmates and one policeman were killed. Over 200 inmates escaped from one camp.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 21, Skydivers from Malaysia parachuted the national car, the Proton Wira sedan, onto the North Pole this week.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 May 15, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin (b. 1962) became the 17th Sultan of Terengganu and the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the constitutional head of state of Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizan_Zainal_Abidin_of_Terengganu)
1998 Sep, Malaysia was scheduled to host the Commonwealth Games.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T3)
1998 Jun 27, The new $3.61 bil airport in Sepang north of Kuala Lumpur was scheduled to open. The new $2.25 [$2.5] billion int’l. airport covered 25,000 acres and was opened by King Tuanku Jaafar.
(WSJ, 8/30/96, p.B8B)(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 30, In Malaysia the new Kuala Lumpur Int’l. Airport (KLIA) began operations.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T3)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.35)
1998 Sep 1, Capital controls were imposed on the stock market. Foreigners holding stocks were not allowed to take their money out of the country for one year. Dr. Mahathir ordered that the austerity measures of Anwar Ibrahim be rolled back.
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A11)
1998 Sep 2, Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad ousted deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim after the deputy disagreed with the free-spending policies of his boss.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A12)(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998 Sep 7, The market index rose 22.5%.
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 8, The market index fell a record 21.5%, 95.5 points to 349.56. A regulatory reprieve gave foreigners their first chance to sell since capital controls were imposed on Sep 1.
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 9, The reprieve to sell stock under the old rules was withdrawn. The market closed at 389.65.
(WSJ, 9/10/98, p.A19)
1998 Sep 20, In Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim (51) was jailed following charges of sexual hijinks. His arrest coincided with protests calling for the resignation of the prime minister and with the end of the competition of the Commonwealth Games and a state visit by Queen Elizabeth II. Ibrahim was beaten by police chief Abdul Rahim Noor. Noor was sentenced to 2 months in prison for the assault in 2000.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A12)(SFC, 3/15/00, p.A10)
1998 Sep 21, In Malaysia thousands of protestors clashed with police as the finale to the Commonwealth Games proceeded. The Suaram human rights group said that 34 people were arrested.
(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998 Sep 25, In Malaysia Abdul Malek was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), at the height of the "Reformasi" (Reforms) demonstrations following the sacking and arrest of deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. In 2007 a Malaysian court awarded Malek 740,000 dollars for his wrongful arrest and assault in custody. It was the first time that a Malaysian court had awarded significant compensation for illegal detention and abuse.
(AFP, 10/18/07)
1998 Sep 27, In Malaysia about 10,000 people gathered in Kuala Lumpur to protests a crackdown on dissent by the Mahathir regime.
(WSJ, 9/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 17, In Malaysia Azizah Ismail, wife of Anwar Ibrahim, joined some ten thousand protestors demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Mohamad.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, p.A20)
1998 Nov 2, In Malaysia the sex-and-politics trial of Anwar Ibrahim began.
(SFC, 11/2/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 14, In Malaysia thousands gathered to criticize Prime Minister Mahathir as world leaders gathered for the 6th APEC forum.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.A17)
1998 Nov 16, VP Al Gore spoke in Malaysia at the APEC conference and accused the government of suppressing freedom.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.C2)
1998 Dec 9, Azizan Abu Bakar, the ex-driver of Anwar Ibrahim, repeated in court his allegation that he was sodomized by Ibrahim in 1992.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C7)
1998 The 1,482-foot Petronas Towers were completed in Kuala Lumpur as the world’s tallest buildings. They were built by Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia’s national oil company. The twin buildings stood 88-stories with 241-foot spires. They stood 29 feet taller than the Sears Building in Chicago, and remained the tallest in the world until Taipei 101 was completed in 2004.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Twin_Towers)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B2)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.69)
1998 In Malaysia the government of PM Mahathir Mohamad pegged the ringgit at 3.80 at to the dollar in order to bring stability to the economy.
(Econ, 4/10/04, p.64)
1998 Hong Kong suffered a slump in GDP of over 6% as did Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.
(Econ, 11/22/08, p.51)
1998 In Malaysia pirate attacks rose to 67 as compared to 51 in 1997.
(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A12)
1999 Jan 5, Malaysia admitted that former Deputy Premier Anwar was beaten by police after his arrest in September.
(WSJ, 1/6/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 7, Police inspector general Abdul Rahim Noor announced his resignation effective Jan 8.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A16)
1999 Jan 8, In Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir named Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (59) as his heir apparent.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 18, In Malaysia an outbreak of encephalitis caused an order for the extermination of 64,000 pigs and the evacuation of 11,000 people.
(SFC, 3/19/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 21, In Malaysia soldiers began killing the pig population to control an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis. The number of pigs to be killed rose to at least one million.
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A11)(WSJ, 3/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar, Malaysia gave the green light for the development of the Port Klang Free Zone as a regional trans-shipment hub to rival Singapore. After 10 years the project was stalled and close to default with cost overruns at $987 million.
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.47)
1999 Apr 4, In Malaysia Azizah Ismail, the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, announced the formation of the People’s Justice Party (PKR) and called on opposition forces to topple Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A9)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.54)
1999 Apr 8, In Malaysia it was reported that some 111 people had died in the last 6 months from a new virus that was believed to be spreading from pigs to humans.
(SFC, 4/9/99, p.A16)
1999 Apr 13, In Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim was convicted on 4 charges of corruption by High Court Judge Augustine Paul. He was sentenced to 6 years on each charge with the sentences to run concurrently.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A14)
1999 May 3, It was reported that Prime Minister Mahathir said that his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, would succeed him after elections in 2000.
(WSJ, 5/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 8, In Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad unveiled phase one of Cyberjaya, a futuristic high-tech city expected to cost some $5.3 billion.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.D2)
1999 Sep 10, Anwar Ibrahim was hospitalized after lawyers claimed that he had been poisoned with arsenic. Ibrahim had lost 26 lbs and suffered hair loss, numbness in his fingers, erratic blood pressure and migraines.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.C16)
1999 Sep 19, In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over 10,000 people protested against PM Mahathir Mohamad on the one-year anniversary of the arrest of ex-Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was reported to be suffering from arsenic poisoning. Police responded with tear gas and water cannons. Protesters wore red and adopted the battle cry of “reformasi" from neighboring Indonesia.
(SFC, 9/20/99, p.A9)(WSJ, 9/20/99, p.A1)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.53)
1999 Oct 5, A judge ordered the sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim to proceed and said medical tests showed no evidence of arsenic poisoning.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.C16)
1999 Oct 11, Murray Hiebert, Canadian journalist, was released after 4 weeks in jail. He had been sentenced to 6 weeks for a 1997 article about a court case.
(WSJ, 10/12/99, p.A21)
1999 Nov 9, In northern Malaysia Carolyn Janice Ahmad (35) was allegedly killed as a sacrifice to obtain lottery tips from the Hindu goddess Kali. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a shallow grave at an oil palm plantation in June 2001. In 2004 a court acquitted 3 Malaysians charged with killing the American woman
(AP, 8/16/04)
1999 Nov 11, In Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir (73) dissolved parliament and planned early elections.
(SFC, 11/11/99, p.A24)
1999 Nov 29, In Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad and his ruling National Front coalition won over a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Wan Azizah Ismail, wife of Anwar Ibrahim, led the newly formed National Justice Party (Keadilan) and won her husband’s former seat. The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Pas), whose leaders favor strict Islamic law, won control of Trengganu state and kept control of Kelantan state.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A12)
1999 King Salahuddin Abdul Aziz assumed the throne as the nation’s 11th king since independence in 1957. He introduced a rotating royalty system whereby the sultans of the 9 states choose the king by secret ballot. Each sultan than takes a turn as monarch for 5 years.
(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)
1999 Malaysia began moving government departments from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, its new 11,300-acre $5.3 billion administrative capital, 25 miles away.
(SSFC, 7/18/04, p.D12)
1999 Malaysiakini, an independent online newspaper in Malaysia, was founded as a free site. In 2002 it was forced to start charging for use.
(Econ, 3/15/08, p.52)
2000 Jan, In Malaysia terrorists held a meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The US CIA informed the FBI that Khalid Al-Midhar had a US visa. Midhar was later one of the Sep 11, 2001, terrorists.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.A10)
2000 Mar 13, CBS began filming its "Survivor" show on the Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga. Filming lasted to April 20 and the last survivor was to be awarded a $1 million prize.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.C15)
2000 Apr 23, Philippine gunmen abducted 20 people from a Malaysian resort on Sipadan Island. Islamic insurgents took credit for the attack. They later freed 2 hostages and demanded $2.4 million in ransom for 19 captives.
(SFC, 4/25/00, p.A10)(WSJ, 4/27/00, p.A1)(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A13)
2000 Apr 29, In Malaysia a court upheld the 1999 corruption conviction against former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A17)
2000 Apr, Steven Gan (35) founded Malaysiakini.com, an online newspaper.
(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Jul 6, In Malaysia commandos ended a 4-day standoff and forced the surrender of 27 militants of Al-Ma’unah (Brotherhood of Inner Power), led by Amin Razali. 2 non-Muslim hostages were slain in the process. 19 cult members were found guilty Dec 27, 2001.
(SFC, 7/7/00, p.D6)(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.B9)(SFC, 12/28/01, p.A4)
2000 Aug 8, Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister, was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 9 years in prison. Sukma Dermawan, Ibrahim’s codefendant and adopted brother, was also found guilty.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A11)
2000 Aug 8, Some 29 members of the Al-Ma’unah Islamic sect were charged with treason for the July looting of 2 army camps in Perak.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.B9)
2000 Aug 22, In Sarawak 15 people including 13 children were killed when a tractor-trailer rig collided with a school van.
(SFC, 8/24/00, p.A13)
2000 Aug 23, The final winner of the "Survivor" TV contest set on Pulau Tiga island was broadcast to as many as 40-50 million viewers. Richard Hatch (39), a corporate trainer from Newport, R.I., won the $1 million grand prize. In 2006 Hatch was convicted on three counts related to tax evasion and was sentenced to 51 months in Federal prison plus three years of supervised probation.
(SFC, 8/23/00, p.A1)(SFC, 8/24/00, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/4sna5j)
2000 Aug, 78 4-man teams in the Eco-Challenge Sabah encountered flooded rivers over a 2-week race in Malaysian Borneo. A number later found themselves infected with leptospirosis.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 10, Abu Sayyaf rebels kidnapped 3 men from Pandanan Island off Borneo and took them to Jolo island in the Philippines.
(WSJ, 9/12/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 5, In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, thousands of people protested the rule of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A15)
2000 Nov 24, It was reported that recent monsoon flooding killed 10 people in Malaysia and at least 5 people in Thailand. The death toll from flooding in Thailand reached over 30, mostly children. At least 49 died from mudslides in West Sumatra.
(SFC, 11/24/00, p.D8)(WSJ, 11/27/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov, A Malaysian politician was assassinated. The militant group Jemaah Islamiyah was believed to be involved.
(WSJ, 8/13/02, p.A14)
2000 Dec 31, 15 parachutists planned to leap from the Petronas Towers just before midnight and land in the new year.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B2)
2001 Mar 11, Ethnic violence between Malays and ethnic Indians continued for a 4th day. Five people were killed in the last 4 days.
(SFC, 3/12/01, p.A15)
2001 Apr 10, Malaysia arrested at least 4 opposition leaders as the 2 year anniversary approached of jailed former Deputy Premier Anwar’s conviction.
(WSJ, 4/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 25, The government accused Nik Adli Nik Abdul Aziz (34), an Islamic school teacher, for plotting to overthrow the government. His father served as the chief minister of Kelantan state. Nik Adli allegedly belonged to the Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia militant group.
(WSJ, 9/26/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 21, King Salahuddin Abdul Aziz died at age 75.
(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)
2001 Dec 8, Malaysian authorities said that would expand a policy of caning illegal immigrants to include 1st-time offenders.
(SSFC, 12/9/01, p.A18)
2001 A Malaysia bank introduced a corporate bond that complied with Islamic prohibitions on interest. The bonds were benchmarked to interest rates, but technically based on profit sharing, leasing or trading By 2007 the global Islamic bond market reached an estimated $50 billion in outstanding securities.
(WSJ, 4/4/07, p.A1)
2001 Tony Fernandez (b.1964), Malaysian entrepreneur, acquired AirAsia and soon re-launched it as a low-cost domestic carrier with 2 B737 planes purchased from a Malaysian conglomerate. Ryanair signed on with a 5% stake. By 2009 the company had 76 planes. By the end of 2004 the low cost airline planned to have 30 planes.
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.63)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.35)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.72)(http://tinyurl.com/cxf3hz)
2002 Jan 6, It was reported that Malaysia authorities had arrested 13 suspected members of extremist groups since Dec 9 with possible links to the Sep 11 attacks.
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 12, Malaysia announced the arrests of 2 more suspected militants tied to al Qaeda and linked to a cell in Singapore.
(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A11)
2002 May, Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamed met with Pres. Bush in Washington, DC. In 2006 it was revealed that lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize the meeting. Mahathir later said that at the time he had been persuaded by the Heritage Foundation to meet with Bush because the conservative think tank believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding US policies."
(AP, 2/21/06)
2002 Jun 23, In Malaysia Fadzil Noor, the leader of the main opposition, Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), died after failing to recover from emergency heart surgery nearly two weeks ago.
(Reuters, 6/23/02)
2002 Jun 25, Malaysia's ruling party said on Tuesday Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, one of Asia's longest-serving leaders, will hand power to his deputy late next year in a move investors praised as an orderly transition.
(Reuters, 6/25/02)
2002 Jul 2, Malaysia said it had not reached any new agreements with Singapore on the sale of water to the island state and other issues after two days of talks.
(Reuters, 7/2/02)
2002 Jul 31, Thousands of illegal immigrants headed for Malaysia's ports to meet a midnight deadline for them to leave the country or risk a caning.
(Reuters, 7/31/02)
2002 Aug 2, Australia and Malaysia signed a counter-terrorism pact which pledged them to work together to fight suspected Islamic militants in the region.
(Reuters, 8/2/02)
2002 Aug 31, Malaysia said it has agreed to temporarily halt deportation of Filipino workers and their families amid public outrage over reports of their mistreatment.
(Reuters, 8/31/02)
2002 Sep 7, Indonesian officials say 35 deportees from Malaysia have died at sprawling makeshift camps in Borneo as they await the arrival of a navy vessel bringing medical help.
(Reuters, 9/7/02)
2002 Nov 4, China signed a landmark agreement, “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," with ASEAN (Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam) on avoiding open conflict in the disputed South China Sea Spratly Islands. Indonesia objected and Taiwan was barred from signing.
(Reuters, 11/4/02)(Econ, 5/22/04, p.40)(www.aseansec.org/13163.htm)
2002 Dec 17, Malaysia won control of two tiny palm-fringed islands when the World Court ruled in its favor in a long-running dispute with Indonesia.
(Reuters, 12/17/02)
2002 Malaysia issued the world’s first sovereign sukuk, an Islamic bond.
(Econ, 1/5/13, p.60)
2002 Abdul Razak Baginda helped Malaysia negotiate the purchase of French submarines.
(WSJ, 3/29/07, p.A13)
2002 Oil was found in 4,400 feet of water off the coast of Sabah state in Borneo, Malaysia. The filed dubbed Kikeh was contested by Brunei.
(WSJ, 6/27/03, p.A11)
2003 Feb 25, In Malaysia a summit of 116 developing countries suspicious of US military dominance united behind calls to give Baghdad more time to disarm.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 May 20, Malaysia launched its government sponsored BioValley complex at a cost of $150 million. In 2005 the journal Nature reported it as a failed project.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioValley_%28Malaysia%29)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.78)
2003 May 24, Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad met with Brunei's 29th Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah to address the issue of the Kikeh oil find off Borneo.
(WSJ, 6/27/03, p.A11)(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.C6)
2003 Jun 25, The Malaysia Parliament passed a post secondary school National Service Bill to encourage nation building by integrating participants in a state-run summer camp.
(Econ, 10/23/04, p.44)
2003 cAug 4, Pres. Putin visited Malaysia to seal a $900 million sale of Sukhoi fighter jets and tout Russia's liberal sale policies.
(WSJ, 8/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 10, Pirates in the Strait of Malacca struck a small tanker near the Port Klang, Kuala Lumpur. They looted the ship and took it into Indonesia waters and sought $100,000 ransom for the top 3 officers.
(SFC, 8/15/03, p.A8)
2003 Sep 29, In Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad presided at the inauguration of the Berjaya Times Square, a $460 million project that was derailed by the 1997-98 Asian financial crises.
(AP, 9/29/03)
2003 Oct 5, In Malaysian Borneo armed kidnappers riding in a speedboat raided a remote resort, seizing six people before escaping.
(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Oct 11, In Malaysia delegates from Islamic nations gathered in the new administrative capital of Putrajaya with Iraq as a center piece of discussion.
(SSFC, 10/11/03, p.A3)
2003 Oct 16, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a summit of Islamic leaders that "Jews rule the world by proxy" and the world's 1.3 billion Muslims should unite, using nonviolent means for a "final victory."
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 20, President Bush personally condemned the Malaysian prime minister for his statement that Jews rule the world, pulling Mahathir Mohamad aside at an international economic meeting to tell him the remarks were "wrong and divisive."
(AP, 10/20/03)
2003 Oct 31, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became Malaysia's first new prime minister in a generation, succeeding Mahathir Mohamad.
(AP, 10/31/03)
2003 Nov 30, In Malaysia 2 passenger buses collided on a windy road in the Kuala Lipis district, killing at least 14 people.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2004 Jan 7, Najib Razak, a veteran politician, was named as Malaysia's deputy PM.
(AP, 1/7/04)
2004 Jan 13, Thai and Malaysian military forces began joint land and air patrols along their jungle border for the first time since the 1970s.
(AP, 1/14/04)
2004 Jan 27, In Malaysia an Iranian asylum seeker set himself on fire in an apparent suicide attempt outside the Kuala Lumpur headquarters of the UN refugee agency.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Feb 9, In Malaysia anti-corruption officers arrested the former head of scandal-plagued steel company Perwaja.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2004 Feb 12, Malaysia's land minister was arrested and charged for his involvement a deal to sell millions of dollars worth of shares his government agency owned in the second high-profile anti-corruption case this week amid a government crackdown.
(AP, 2/12/04)
2004 Mar 3, Malaysia's new PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called a snap national election that will pit the long-ruling secular coalition government against a fundamentalist Islamic opposition.
(AP, 3/3/04)
2004 Mar 21, Elections were held in Malaysia. An Islamic leader implied that those who backed government candidates would go to hell. Malaysia's secular government won a sweeping victory in two Muslim-dominated states and looked headed for a nationwide rout of the fundamentalist Islamic opposition.
(WSJ, 3/8/04, p.A1)(AP, 3/21/04)
2004 Mar 22, In Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was sworn in as prime minister, a day after scoring a landslide election victory that handed the fundamentalist Islamic opposition its worst defeat in more than a decade. The national Front Coalition won 199 out of 219 seats in parliament.
(AP, 3/22/04)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.53)
2004 Apr 7, In Malaysia 3 men armed with firebombs, machetes and an ax attacked Myanmar's embassy, hacking one senior official and starting a fire that destroyed the building.
(AP, 4/7/04)
2004 May 28, Malaysia issued a detention order for Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman, on charges that in 2002 he brought 7 Libyan technicians to Malaysia to be trained to operate machines to produce centrifuge parts for Libya’s nuclear weapons program. Tahir was a key associate of Abdul Qadeer Khan, former head of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.
(WSJ, 6/4/04, p.A10)
2004 Aug 31, The $4 million film “Princess of Mount Ledang," directed by Saw Teong Hin, opened on Malaysia’s 47th anniversary of independence.
(SFC, 8/26/04, p.E5)
2004 Sep 2, Anwar Ibrahim was set free after his sodomy conviction was overturned by Malaysia's highest court. This was six years to the day after the one-time heir apparent to the country's premiership plunged into a divisive fight with his political mentor.
(AP, 9/2/04)
2004 Sep 15, Malaysia declared its entire northern Kelantan state a quarantine zone to halt the spread of bird flu.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Azman Mokhtar was appointed as head of Khazana, a Malaysian government passive holding company, with a mission to overhaul some 40 partially state-owned firms.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.50)
2004 Producers and users of palm oil, 90% of which is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, set up a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
(Econ, 8/1/15, p.59)
2005 Jan 1, Malaysia was forecast for 4.7% annual GDP growth with a population at 25.9 million and GDP per head at $4,750.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.91)
2005 Feb 26, Malaysia's PM Badawi told Proton to set its sights abroad as he launched the national carmaker's 1.8 billion ringgit (474 million dollar) new manufacturing plant.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Apr 4, A minister said Malaysia plans to hire 169,000 foreign workers to overcome an acute labor shortage after a crackdown on illegal migrants.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 May 25, Japan and Malaysia agreed to key elements of a free-trade pact, to be launched in December, covering automobiles and most other economic sectors.
(WSJ, 5/26/05, p.A10)
2005 Jun 24, Malaysia's ruling UMNO party suspended cabinet minister Isa Samad for six years for corruption.
(AP, 6/25/05)
2005 Jun 29, In Malaysia Hamisa Abu Hassan Saari (22) was arrested after police found some drugs on a friend. A police officer secretly recorded her with a cell phone as she was forced to strip and do squats, though she had no drugs. The recording got on the Internet and led to a special commission that denounced the police procedures and led to significant changes.
(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A34)
2005 Jul 3, Police in Malaysia raided the compound of Ayah Pin, born as Ariffin Mohammad, in Terengganu state, and arrested 21 followers. Pin claimed divinity as the earthly incarnation of what he called the Sky Kingdom. The ruling UMNO party tracks “deviant sects" and refuses to endorse the idea that Muslims should interpret and observe their faith as they see fit.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.34)
2005 Jul 4, In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, UN agencies met for a 3-day conference on bird flu virus and said the disease remains as dangerous as ever and nations must do more to prepare for a pandemic among humans.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 18, Malaysia launched its first bond fund on the stock exchange as part of an Asian scheme to augment underdeveloped capital markets.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Oct 9, It was reported that dengue fever was causing concerns in Malaysia and Martinique. Malaysia reported 71 deaths so far this year from over 27,000 cases. Martinique reported almost 1,000 cases a week since mid-September.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, p.D2)
2005 Oct 19, Malaysia’s government unveiled a policy draft to eliminate disparities in the treatment of local and foreign auto makers.
(WSJ, 10/20/05, p.A13)
2005 Oct 21, Indonesian police said they had arrested four people allegedly involved in smuggling hundreds of pounds of explosive materials from Malaysia into Indonesia.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Nov 19, It was reported that the Nipah virus, naturally found in bats, had moved to Malaysian pigs. It killed about 40% of the 265 people it had infected.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.85)
2005 Nov 22, Ministers from the 114 members of the Nonaligned Movement ended a 2-day conference in Malaysia and agreed to launch an Internet-based news network to counter what they called prejudiced reporting by Western media. Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency, will oversee the network.
(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 3, Malaysia's state media said Southeast Asian lawmakers want Myanmar expelled from the ASEAN regional grouping unless it frees democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners within a year.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Malaysia Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which calls for signatories not to interfere in each other's internal affairs. The treaty was born within the 10-member ASEAN, which made signing the pact a condition for entry into next week's inaugural East Asian summit.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 14, The 1st East Asia Summit was held successfully in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
(www.aseansec.org/18104.htm)(Econ, 12/17/05, p.40)
2005 Malaysia opened its $1650 million Bio Valley project. By 2012 it was known as the “Valley of the Bio Ghosts."
(Econ, 1/21/12, SR p.14)
2005 Malaysia’s $5 billion Bakun Dam on the Balui River was expected to be completed.
(SFC, 5/22/01, p.A10)
2006 Jan 15, In Malaysia a homemade bomb filled with nails and bullet casings exploded outside a shopping mall on Penang Island, killing one man and injuring another.
(AP, 1/16/06)
2006 Jan 17, Subur Sugiarto, an alleged key aide to a Malaysian fugitive blamed for a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Indonesia, was captured in the central Javanese town of Boyolali en route to Jakarta. A local officer alleged that Sugiarto was "a henchman" of Noordin Top, who is believed to be a senior member of the al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 27, Malaysian dissident politician Anwar Ibrahim sued former PM Mahathir Mohamad for defamation after Mahathir refused to apologize for calling him a homosexual.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan, The Lord Murugan Statue, the tallest statue of a Hindu deity in Malaysia and second tallest statue of Hindu deity in the world, was unveiled after 3 years of construction during Thaipusam festival at the Sri Murugan Perumal Kovil at the foot of Batu Caves. It was second place to the Kailashnath Mahadev Statue in Nepal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Murugan_Statue)
2006 Feb 3, Malaysia's national carmaker Proton renewed its alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. with a technical pact that involves jointly developing new vehicles.
(AP, 2/3/06)
2006 Feb 9, President Bush outlined details of an alleged plot to hijack an airliner and fly it into a skyscraper in Los Angeles. The next day security officials and terrorism experts in Southeast Asia said Malaysian engineer Zaini Zakaria (38) was among three men al-Qaida was preparing to take part in an attack on Los Angeles. Zaini has been detained without trial under the Internal Security Act in Malaysia since he surrendered in December 2002.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 24, A prominent Malaysian newspaper avoided punishment for publishing a cartoon about the Prophet Muhammad drawings controversy, offering an apology that was accepted by the government.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 28, The Malaysian government sharply raised fuel prices to trim a ballooning fuel-subsidy bill. Interest rates and inflation were expected to rise as a result.
(WSJ, 3/1/06, p.A7)
2006 Mar 5, Malaysian PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched an information offensive to counter public dismay after the government imposed the country's biggest ever fuel price hikes.
(AFP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 7, Malaysia said it has lifted a ban on US beef imports in place for more than two years, to make up for a shortage after it restricted access to Australian and New Zealand beef.
(AFP, 3/7/06)
2006 Mar 8, Malaysia and the US announced that they have agreed to begin negotiating a free trade deal to eliminate trade barriers between the two nations.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 27, Malaysia’s government said it will end subsidies to flag carrier Malaysia Airlines and let it operate only 19 domestic routes, in competition with budget carrier AirAsia, under a major restructuring that will shed thousands of jobs.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Mar 31, Malaysia’s PM Abdullah Badawi introduced a new 5-year plan. It hoped to slash the poverty rate from 5.7% to 2.8% by 2010.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.42)
2006 Apr 12, Malaysia abandoned plans to build a controversial new bridge to Singapore, saying that the city-state's demand for airspace access in return for its agreement was unacceptable.
(AFP, 4/12/06)
2006 Apr 26, Malaysia’s central bank raised its main interest rate by a quarter point to 3.5%.
(WSJ, 4/27/06, p.A8)
2006 May 25, PM John Howard increased Australia’s contingent to Timor-Leste to some 1,300 troops. 500 Malaysians and troops from New Zealand and Portugal were also deployed.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.15)
2006 May 31, Malaysia’s PM Abdullah Badawi announced a national 5-year plan. An elderly woman and three children were feared dead following a landslide in Kuala Lumpur that destroyed 43 homes.
(AFP, 5/31/06)(Econ, 6/17/06, p.50)
2006 Jul 14, Malaysia's government declassified documents on negotiations with Singapore over an aborted bridge in a bid to counter criticism from defiant ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad.
(AFP, 7/14/06)
2006 Jul 24, A Malaysian princess was stabbed to death by her son as she tried to stop him from attacking her husband (74). The son (21) later died of an apparent drug overdose. Tengku Puteri Kamariah, whose brother is Sultan Ahmad Shah, ruler of the eastern state of Pahang, died at her home in Pekan town, Pahang.
(AP, 7/25/06)
2006 Aug 3, In Malaysia the Islamic world's largest organization of countries demanded on that the UN implement an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and investigate what it called flagrant human rights violations by Israel.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 14, Malaysia said it would issue a "big fat no" to any nation or group that asked it to dismantle a system of positive discrimination for its majority ethnic Malays as part of trade talks.
(AFP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 25, Japanese officials said Kazusaku Tezuka, the president of precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp., was arrested along with four other Mitutoyo executives and employees for the alleged export to Malaysia of equipment that can be used in making nuclear weapons.
(AP, 8/25/06)
2006 Oct 11, Indonesia apologized to Singapore and Malaysia for the choking haze over both countries and agreed to convene a meeting of regional environment ministers to tackle the problem. This was the worst smog since 1997 and 1998, when tens of thousands of people were hospitalized.
(AP, 10/11/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.47)
2006 Oct 19, In Malaysia Altantuya Shaariibuu (28), a Mongolian model, was kidnapped outside the house of Abdul Razak Baginda (46), who heads the Malaysian Strategic Research Center think-tank. Shaariibuu was allegedly extorting Baginda following an affair that had begun in 2004. She was killed and her remains blown up with military-grade C-4 explosives and later found in an isolated area south of the capital Kuala Lumpur. In Nov. Malaysian PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi vowed there would be no cover-up over her murder. Abdul Razak allegedly abetted two policemen, Azilah Hadri (30) and Sirul Azhar Umar (35), to commit the murder. In 2008 a court acquitted Razak of charges of abetting the murder of Shaariibuu. In 2009 a Malaysian court sentenced two policemen to death on charges of murdering Shaariibuu. An Appeals Court acquitted the men in 2013. On Jan 13, 2015, a Federal Court unanimously ruled that the Appeals Court was wrong in reversing the findings of the trial court.
(AFP, 11/9/06)(AFP, 11/16/06)(WSJ, 3/29/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/1/08, p.A8)(AP, 4/9/09)(AP, 1/13/15)
2006 Nov 3, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin (44), a sultan in northeastern Malaysia, was elected the country's next constitutional monarch under a unique system where traditional state rulers take turns on the throne for five years. Mizan, whose state has significant offshore oil and gas resources, will assume the throne on Dec. 13 as Malaysia's 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Malay title of the monarch.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 14, The ninth Chief of Defense Forces' conference opened in Malaysia. It brought together officials from 23 nations including the United States, France, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 28, Malaysia's PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said ties between Muslims and Christians are under "extreme stress" and the growing divide between the faiths is threatening international stability.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Dec 12, Malaysia's twelfth king, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (63), stepped down from his post after a five-year reign to make way for the next monarch in a send-off steeped in color and tradition.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 13, Malaysia's unique revolving monarchy was passed to Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin (44), the youthful sultan of oil-rich Terengganu state. Mizan was a keen rider who has represented his country at international equestrian events.
(AFP, 12/13/06)
2006 Dec 18, Venezuela's ruling party took the first step Monday toward creating a single pro-government party, a move opponents criticized as a push to consolidate more power in the hands of President Hugo Chavez after his landslide re-election. Chavez met with Malaysia's PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to discuss expanding trade and deepening ties.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 20, Officials said flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains has forced more than 20,000 people to flee their homes in the southern Malaysian state of Johor.
(AP, 12/20/06)
2006 Dec 23, Officials in Malaysia said 7 people had died and more than 90,000 displaced during the last week as the country recorded heavy rainfall.
(AP, 12/23/06)
2006 Dec 24, Officials said at least 94 people were killed and dozens left missing by floods in Indonesia and Malaysia. Looting broke out in areas of Malaysia abandoned because of rising waters.
(AP, 12/24/06)
2006 Malaysia’s Home Ministry banned the book "March 8," written by Malaysian author K. Arumugam, which recounts clashes between ethnic Malay Muslims and ethnic Indians. The strife killed six people on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in 2001. In 2010 The Kuala Lumpur High Court upheld the ban saying its publication could upset ethnic sensitivities already strained by recent attacks on places of worship.
(AP, 2/12/10)
2006 Malaysia’s northern state of Terengganu counted 5 leatherback turtle nests, as compared to some 6-10 thousand 50 years earlier and 800 in 1984. Local eating of the turtle eggs and ocean fishing were said to account for the drop. In 2007 experts considered cloning to raise the turtle count.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.43)
2006 In Malaysia the murder rate this year increased 22%.
(Econ, 3/24/07, p.47)
2007 Jan 24, A study released about the trade in Malaysia found that catches of some grouper species and the endangered Napoleon wrasse fell by as much as 99% between 1995 to 2003, a period coinciding with soaring economic growth in countries where the exotic fish are a delicacy.
(AP, 1/24/07)
2007 Feb 2, Malaysia said it is ready to halt free trade talks with the United States after a US lawmaker called for a suspension in protest over an energy deal with Iran signed in January.
(AFP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 21, Human Rights Watch condemned Malaysia's plan to introduce tough laws that curb the movements of migrant employees and allow employers "to lock up workers."
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 22, A court ordered Malaysia's government to pay a 69-year-old British man $857,000 for seizing his passport and preventing him from leaving the country in Dec, 1981.
(AP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 26, Malaysia's securities watchdog said it has frozen two local bank accounts, shut down two Web sites and questioned several people suspected to be involved in a global Internet investment scam. In March 3 men were indicted by the US for securities fraud. The indictment named Jaisankar Marimuthu (32) of India, Thirugnanam Ramanathan (34), an Indian residing in Malaysia, and Chockalingam Ramanathan (33) of Chennai, India. The 1st two were arrested in Hong Kong, while the 3rd remained at large.
(AP, 2/26/07)(WSJ, 3/13/07, p.B5)
2007 Feb 27, A report said Malaysian environmental and residents' groups are joining forces to buy swathes of forest in a desperate bid to save them from developers.
(AFP, 2/27/07)
2007 Mar 15, The European Commission and the UN Development Program said Malaysia should empower its forest-dependent indigenous people to alleviate poverty and safeguard their environment.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 22, Malaysia and Thailand agreed to map out a series of socio-economic measures to end rising sectarian tensions and violence in the kingdom's insurgency-wracked south.
(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Mar 27, The US offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of a US-trained Malaysian engineer accused of involvement in a series of deadly bombings in the Philippines.
(AP, 3/27/07)
2007 Mar 31, A report said Malaysia's top anti-corruption official, who is facing a police investigation into graft allegations against him, will not have his contract renewed.
(AP, 3/31/07)
2007 Apr 7, Malaysian ministers issued fresh attacks on bloggers, threatening to take away their rights and accusing them of trying to overthrow the government, according to reports.
(AFP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Malaysia the Negeri Sembilan state government closed down a museum exhibition on ghosts, ghouls and supernatural beings after Islamic clerics claimed it was detrimental to Muslims' faith.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 26, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia's 13th king, formally ascended the throne, pledging to reign wisely and safeguard the sanctity of Islam in a ceremony marked by traditional Malay rites and imperial pageantry. Malaysia's system allows each of its hereditary state rulers to take turns reigning as the country's constitutional monarch for five years each.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 May 1, It was reported that Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 10, The armed forces of Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to step up cooperation to boost security along shared borders after successful patrols in the Malacca Strait.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 14, Malaysia’s PM Badawi hosted Singapore’s Premier Lee Hsein Lloong for a 2-day talk on economic cooperation.
(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A8)
2007 May 30, Malaysia's top civil court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country. A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card. Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Lina Joy, saying it was "unreasonable" to ask her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal prosecution there.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Malaysia Nyambang Entuhan (37) shot and killed five people during a wedding reception on remote Borneo island. In 2010 he was sentenced to death as well as to 22 years in prison for wounding nine others and illegal firearm possession.
(AP, 5/8/10)(http://tinyurl.com/22qhgzv)
2007 Jun 12, A senior official said security cameras are monitoring government workers in northeastern Malaysia to keep them from slacking off or vanishing for extended tea breaks.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jul 17, Najib Razak, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, said Malaysia is an Islamic state and not a secular one, while carefully assuring members of minority faiths that their rights will be protected. More than 60% of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays and Islam is the official religion under the country's constitution. But while the constitution defines the ethnic majority Malays as Muslims it also guarantees freedom of religion.
(AFP, 7/17/07)
2007 Aug 13, In Malaysia 20 people died after an express bus overturned on the main highway, tearing off the vehicle's roof and flinging seats into the air in what officials said was the country's worst traffic disaster. The toll rose to 22 after 2 injured people died later.
(AP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 13, Armed pirates attacked a Malaysian barge in the Malacca Strait and kidnapped 2 Indonesian crew, in the first high sea abduction in the busy waterway in more than 2 years.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Sep 8, A late night riot broke out in Malaysia’s northeastern state of Terengganu after a group of opposition parties, including the main Islamist party, held an illegal rally. Malaysian police fired live rounds to quell the riot wounding two men.
(Reuters, 9/9/07)
2007 Oct 10, A Russian rocket blasted off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur launch pad, carrying 3 astronauts to the international space station. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, an orthopedic surgeon and university lecturer from Kuala Lumpur, left Earth alongside Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and American astronaut Peggy Whitson. Shukor was selected from among 11,000 Malaysian candidates to fly aboard the ISS in a deal his government arranged with Russia as part of a $1 billion purchase of Russian fighter jets. Whitson will be the first woman to command the outpost.
(Reuters, 9/20/07)(AP, 10/10/07)(SFC, 10/11/07, p.A8)
2007 Oct 23, Lim Goh Tong (b.1918), Chinese businessman, died in Kuala Lumpur. The casino king of Malaysia had made a fortune in gambling casinos and a cruise fleet. His family fortune was estimated at $4.2 billion.
(AP, 10/23/07)(WSJ, 10/27/07, p.A6)
2007 Nov 6, Singapore presented its case regarding sovereignty of three disputed islands in the Pacific Ocean at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, a claim disputed by Malaysia.
(AFP, 11/6/07)
2007 Nov 10, Malaysian police unleashed tear gas and water cannons on protesters as tens of thousands, wearing canary-yellow shirts, defied a government ban and rallied in Kuala Lumpur to call for clean and fair elections in the biggest anti-government street protests in nearly a decade. Some 245 people were detained.
(AP, 11/10/07)(AP, 11/11/07)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.53)
2007 Nov 11, Proton, Malaysia’s national car maker, said it planned to team up with companies in Iran and Turkey to produce "Islamic cars" for the global market.
(http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/12/news/international/bc.mi.malaysia.islamicc.ap/)
2007 Nov 25, In Malaysia some 10-20 thousand ethnic Indians clashed with police at a rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur to demand economic equality.
(AP, 11/27/07)(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Dec 5, A Tibetan woman said that she pulled out of a beauty pageant in Malaysia after organizers, reacting to pressure from Beijing, told her halfway through the event that she could only participate if she added "China" to her "Miss Tibet" title.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 13, Malaysia said it has arrested five leaders of ethnic Indian rights group Hindraf under controversial security laws that allow for detention without trial.
(AFP, 12/13/07)
2007 Dec 16, Malaysia’s Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi intervened to head off rising anger among the Southeast Asian country's ethnic Indian population after a rare public rally on Nov 25 led to violent clashes with police.
(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Dec 24, Malaysia's government unveiled a major initiative to protect Hindu temples, hoping to pacify ethnic Indians who complain that hundreds of their places of worship have been demolished in this Muslim-majority country.
(AP, 12/24/07)
2007 Dec 26, Iran and Malaysia signed a $16 billion agreement to develop two Iranian gas fields, in a deal described as the largest energy contract in Iran.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Malaysia’s Prince Naquiyuddin Jaafar founded the EntoGenex biotech company. It took a pre-existing protein called the Trypsin Modulating Oostatic Factor (TMOF) and by 2012 developed it into what he called a fatal "diet pill" for mosquitoes. The firm combined the TMOF with bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) bacteria, which eats holes in the guts of larvae but is non-toxic to people. He hoped it could potentially become a weapon in the even larger fight against malaria, which kills an estimated 650,000 people per year.
(AFP, 6/6/12)
2007 The population of Malaysia numbered about 27 million people.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.42)
2008 Jan 5, Malaysia’s New Straits Times said Malaysian police have arrested a beauty parlor owner and a farmer suspected of distributing a sex video showing a former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek committing adultery. Soi Lek resigned Jan 2 after admitting he was the man in the video.
(AP, 1/5/08)
2008 Jan 23, In Malaysia tens of thousands of ethnic Indian Malaysians gathered at the Batu Caves temple outside Kuala Lumpur to celebrate Thaipusam, one of Hinduism’s biggest festivals. In past years over a million have turned out. The reduced turnout was due to a boycott called by the Hindu rights Action Force (Hindraf), despite PM Badawi’s promise to make Thaipusam a public holiday in the capital.
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.42)
2008 Jan 26, Malaysian police detained 53 activists in a crackdown on a planned opposition-led protest over inflation ahead of national elections expected within weeks.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Feb 13, Malaysia’s government dissolved Parliament, opening the way for elections.
(WSJ, 2/14/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 8, Malaysia's ruling coalition was dealt a shock rebuke in elections that looked set to deliver the key state of Penang to the opposition as well as a slice of its majority in parliament. The National Front won only 140 seats, or 63 percent of the constituencies, losing its two-thirds majority for the first time since 1969 and slumping from its 2004 landslide victory when it won 91 percent of the seats. An alliance of three opposition parties also secured control of 5 of Malaysia’s 13 state administrations. The Democratic Action party won the Penang legislative assembly, becoming the first opposition party to win in Penang in over 40 years.
(AFP, 3/8/08)(AP, 3/9/08)(WSJ, 3/10/08, p.A3)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.40)
2008 Mar 10, In Malaysia PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was sworn in for a new 5-year term despite calls for his resignation. Malaysian stocks fell over 10% and triggered for the first time a limit-down rule established after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crises.
(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.C7)
2008 Mar 11, Top leaders Malaysia's opposition-ruled states will no longer follow a longtime affirmative action program that benefits the majority Malays, in the wake of an election upheaval that clipped the ruling coalition's powers.
(AP, 3/11/08)
2008 Mar 31, Malaysia's Islamic opposition party delivered a protest note to the Netherlands' embassy over the release of an anti-Islam movie by a maverick Dutch lawmaker, while hard-line Muslims in neighboring Indonesia demanded the death of the filmmaker.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Mar, Malaysian police arrested 2 Mexican brothers at a secluded meth factory along with a Singaporean and a Malaysian. Police seized more than 60 pounds (nearly 30 kg) of methamphetamine worth $15 million.
(AP, 4/25/11)
2008 Mar, The population of Malaysia numbered about 28 million people. About 3.9 million had dial-up internet subscriptions and 1.2 million had broadband.
(Econ, 3/15/08, p.52)
2008 Apr 16, The Malaysian government shut down the Tamil-language Makkal Osai, or People's Voice, a newspaper catering to ethnic minority Indians. The next day the daily's news editor slammed the move as punishment for its critical coverage of social and political issues.
(AP, 4/17/08)
2008 Apr 21, Malaysia's leg of the Olympic torch relay passed off largely without incident with a heavy police presence netting just five protesters and thousands of well-wishers braving torrential rain.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 May 8, A Malaysian Islamic court allowed a Chinese convert to renounce Islam in a rare decision for this conservative Muslim-led nation. Siti Fatimah, or Tan Ean Huang (38), said she had never practiced Islamic teachings since she converted in 1998 and only did so to enable her to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian.
(AFP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 23, The International Court of Justice awarded Singapore sovereignty over a disputed island at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Straits. The ICJ ruled in favor of Singapore in the 28-year dispute with Malaysia over Pedra Branca, a tiny but strategic uninhabited island the size of half a football field. The court, however, gave Malaysia ownership of the Middle Rocks formation, a smaller uninhabited outcropping. Sovereignty over a third disputed cluster of rocks was left to be determined later between the countries when they sort out their territorial waters.
(AP, 5/23/08)(Reuters, 6/1/18)
2008 Jun 3, A Cabinet minister said Malaysia will remove price controls on gasoline and diesel, allowing stations to sell fuel at world market prices in an attempt to reduce the government's ballooning subsidy bill.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 5, Malaysia's government faced street demonstrations and public outrage over its decision to hike petrol prices 41 percent overnight, in a bid to curb its massive subsidies bill.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 18, A party in Malaysia's 14-party ruling coalition called for a vote of no confidence against the prime minister, in a serious blow to the embattled government.
(AFP, 6/18/08)
2008 Jun 28, In Malaysia a male volunteer, working for the political campaign of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, lodged a police report accusing him of sexual assault.
(Econ, 7/5/08, p.51)
2008 Jun 29, Malaysia's de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim took refuge at the Turkish embassy due to fears he could be assassinated after fresh accusations of sodomy.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2008 Jul 1, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim vowed to seize power from a "corrupt" government at a rally of some 15,000 supporters as he fights back against new sodomy accusations.
(AFP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jul 8, At Developing Eight summit of Islamic nations, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the leaders of Indonesia and Malaysia called for boosting world food production and finding a permanent solution to skyrocketing oil prices, saying the twin problems have become "grave threats" to the world economy.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 14, Malaysian police locked down Parliament with roadblocks and massive security to prevent opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters from attending a key debate.
(AP, 7/14/08)
2008 Jul 15, Malaysian police issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in connection with a sodomy accusation by a male former aide.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 16, Malaysian police arrested opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on suspicion that he sodomized a male aide, pre-empting his voluntary appearance at the police headquarters to answer the allegation. He was interrogated for more than eight hours and made to sleep on a "cold cement" floor in a holding cell before being released the next day.
(AP, 7/16/08)(AP, 7/17/08)
2008 Aug 19, Armed pirates seized the MT Bunga Melati Dua, a Malaysian palm oil tanker with 39 crew, off the coast of Somalia, the fourth hijacking in a month.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 26, Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim won a "landslide" victory in a by-election to return him to parliament, and said he was on track to oust a weakened government. The Malays National Organization (UMNO) and its allies had ruled since independence in 1957.
(AFP, 8/26/08)(Econ, 8/30/08, p.39)
2008 Aug 29, Pirates, believed to be Somali, hijacked the Malaysian MT Bunga Melati 5 tanker and its 41 crew members off Yemen's coast in the Gulf of Aden. It was the second tanker owned by MISC Berhard to be hijacked in the gulf in the last 10 days.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Sep 5, Malaysia said it is dispatching three navy vessels to the Gulf of Aden to protect its merchant ships following a sharp surge in pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia.
(AP, 9/5/08)
2008 Sep 10, Ahmad Ismail, a member of Malaysia's ruling party, was suspended for three years for "stoking racial tensions" with incendiary comments about ethnic Chinese that shook the governing coalition.
(AFP, 9/10/08)
2008 Sep 29, Somali Islamist insurgents attacked government forces and African Union peacekeepers overnight in Mogadishu. At least four people were killed in the clashes. Somalia pirates released Malaysia’s palm oil tanker, MT Bunga Melati 2, two days after its first vessel was released.
(AP, 9/30/08)(AFP, 9/29/08)
2008 Oct 8, Malaysia’s PM Badawi said he will step down in March and hand over power to his deputy in order to prevent a split in the UMNO party.
(WSJ, 10/9/08, p.A13)
2008 Oct 15, A Malaysian court ordered Tuanku Jaafar Tuanku Abdul Rahman (86), the country's former king (1994-1999), to settle a $1 million debt to a bank in a landmark verdict that ended a centuries-old tradition shielding the country's royal sultans from legal prosecution.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 16, An influential council of Malaysia's state rulers warned people not to question the supremacy of Islam or the special privileges enjoyed by the country's ethnic Malay majority.
(AP, 10/17/08)
2008 Oct 16, Authorities in Malaysia and Singapore said they will guarantee all foreign currency and local currency bank deposits.
(WSJ, 10/17/08, p.A5)
2008 Nov 1, Malaysia defended its recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, a move that caused Serbia to expel the Southeast Asian nation's ambassador.
(AP, 11/1/08)
2008 Nov 10, Malaysia's Scomi Engineering said its consortium with an Indian company has won a 1.85 billion ringgit ($523 million) state contract to build the first monorail in India.
(AP, 11/10/08)
2008 Nov 22, Malaysia's top Islamic body ruled against Muslims practicing yoga, saying it has elements of other religions that could corrupt Muslims. On Nov 25 Malaysia's leader assured Muslims they can perform yoga if they do not chant religious mantras, an apparent effort to assuage public anger over an Islamic body's ban of the ancient Indian exercise.
(AP, 11/22/08)(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Nov 22, In Guatemala the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia was among three people killed in a boat accident on Lake Atitlan.
(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Nov 24, Malaysia released suspected terrorist Yazid Sufaat, an alleged biological weapons expert who was also linked to the September 11 attacks in the United States.
(AFP, 12/10/08)
2008 Dec 7, In southern Malaysia a bus skidded off a highway, smashed into a tree and plunged into a ditch, killing nine people and injuring 19 others.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 11, Malaysia's government drew flak after admitting it spent 1.68 million dollars a year on PM Badawi’s sprawling residence in the administrative capital Putrajaya.
(AFP, 12/11/08)
2008 Dec 11, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to heighten intelligence cooperation to anticipate rising cross-border crime due to the impact of the global economic crisis.
(AP, 12/11/08)
2008 Dec 27, In Malaysia Tuanku Ja'afar Tuanku Abdul Rahman (86), a royal state ruler, died. He became Malaysia's king for five years (1994-1999) under the country's unique monarchal system.
(AP, 12/28/08)
2008 Dec 28, Malaysia reported that it is zooming in on forests with a satellite in order to fight illegal logging, which its government says is harming the major timber exporting country.
(AFP, 12/28/08)
2008 Malaysia founded Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), a sovereign wealth fund aimed at ensuring economic development for the state of Terengganu. In 2009 it was renamed 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia_Development_Berhad)(Econ., 3/7/15, p.41)
2008 Singapore sentenced Yong Vui Kong (19) of Malaysia to hang for smuggling 47 grams (1.65 ounces) of heroin into Singapore. His third and final appeal was rejected on April 4, 2012.
(AFP, 4/4/12)
2009 Jan 1, Somali pirates seized the Blue Star, an Egyptian cargo ship, and its 28 crewmembers. A Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked in the new year's first attacks by pirates in the dangerous Gulf of Aden. A crew of the French warship "PM L'Her" dispatch boat intercepted two speedboats carrying 8 Somali pirates as they were preparing to board a Panamanian cargo ship. The Blue Star and its crew of 28 were freed on March 5 after a ransom was dropped from a plane.
(AP, 1/1/09)(AP, 1/2/09)(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Jan 7, Wildlife activists said the box turtle is disappearing across Malaysia because of increased illegal hunting for its meat and use in traditional Chinese medicine.
(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 17, Malaysia's opposition snatched a parliamentary seat from the beleaguered coalition government, in a by-election seen as a test of the nation's political mood.
(AFP, 1/17/09)
2009 Feb 15, Authorities in Malaysia arrested 26 unmarried Muslim couples in hotel rooms during Operation Valentine, aimed at curbing illegal premarital sex in this conservative country.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 19, About 12 pirates armed with guns attacked the tug and barge in the Malacca Strait and kidnapped two crew members as the vessel was en route to Singapore.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Mar 1, Officials said the Malaysian government will issue a new decree restoring a ban on Christian publications using the word "Allah" to refer to God.
(AP, 3/1/09)
2009 Mar 10, Malaysia’s government unveiled a 60 billion ringgit ($16.26 billion) economic stimulus plan amounting to 9% of GDP.
(WSJ, 3/11/09, p.A16)
2009 Mar 17, In Malaysia a battle for senior leadership posts in the ruling party was hit with a bombshell as 15 members including several top figures were found guilty in an anti-corruption probe.
(AFP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 30, Malaysia's national car maker Proton and Detroit Electric, a Dutch-based company, signed a $555 million deal to make zero emission electric cars that they said would be more powerful that any existing model.
(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Apr 1, In Malaysia Mas Selamat Kastari, an Islamic militant suspected of plotting a Sept. 11-style air attack, was arrested in Johor state, more than a year after his dramatic escape from a high-security jail in Singapore. He was arrested by Malaysian authorities with the cooperation of Singaporean and Indonesian intelligence agencies.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 Apr 2, Malaysia's PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (69), in office for 5½ lackluster years, resigned to make way for Deputy PM Najib Razak, who must now fix an economy close to recession, heal the country's deep racial divisions and revive a moribund ruling party.
(AP, 4/2/09)
2009 Apr 3, Malaysian PM Najib Razak, in his first act after talking office, freed 13 people being held under a law that allows indefinite detention and lifted a ban on two opposition newspapers.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 12, Malaysian police rushed to a robbery scene only to find the suspects were fellow officers. 3 men of a special elite police unit were allegedly caught robbing five men at a house. One of the officers was armed with a pistol.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 23, The editor of a Malaysian anti-government news Web site, charged with sedition, went into hiding, prompting a court to order his arrest. Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, who runs the popular Malaysia Today Web site, failed to appear for a court hearing on a sedition charge stemming from an article he wrote that allegedly implied the prime minister was involved in the murder of a Mongolian woman.
(AP, 4/23/09)
2009 Apr 24, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak vowed to investigate a scathing report by US lawmakers saying thousands of Myanmar refugees were handed over to human traffickers and ended up working in Thai brothels.
(AP, 4/24/09)
2009 May 6, Malaysian officials said 2 political activists have been arrested ahead of a parliamentary showdown between the government and the opposition over control of northern Perak state.
(AFP, 5/6/09)
2009 May 7, Animal welfare activists said more than 300 stray dogs, dumped on isolated islands in Malaysia’s Selangor state, turned to cannibalism after weeks of starvation.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 May 8, Malaysia said it will free 13 people detained under internal security laws, including three ethnic Indian activists, members of the banned ethnic Indian rights group Hindraf, held without trial since organizing anti-government protests in 2007.
(AFP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 15, In Indonesia 6 Asia-Pacific countries, meeting at the World Oceans Conference, agreed on a management plan to protect one of the world's largest networks of coral reefs, promising to reduce pollution, eliminate overfishing and improve the livelihoods of impoverished coastal communities. The Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security covered an area defined as the Coral Triangle, which spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 18, Somalia's war-torn government appealed for international help to set up a coast guard, saying it would guarantee that sea piracy near its shores is wiped out once it has such an agency. In Malaysia representatives of the government, attending an international conference on piracy, ruled out allowing foreign forces on Somali soil to destroy pirate bases.
(AP, 5/18/09)
2009 May 27, Malaysian police rescued three men shackled to the wall of a filthy room for two months by illegal moneylenders after failing to repay their debts.
(AP, 5/28/09)
2009 Jun 16, In Malaysia Teoh BEng Hock, a young aide to a state councilor, fell from a window where Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officials had been questioning him. The MACC had been created earlier this year from the ashes of another agency.
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.48)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people, and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun, In Malaysia Hau Yuan Tyng (44), a single mother of two, pleaded innocent to charges of assaulting Siti Hajar Sadli, her Indonesian maid, in one case allegedly using hot water; in another, a hammer; and in a third, a pair of scissors. In 2010 a court sentenced Tyng to eight years in prison for the abuse, but allowed her to remain free on bail pending an appeal.
(AP, 5/20/10)
2009 Jul 8, Malaysian education officials announced that they will abandon the use of English to teach math and science, bowing to protesters who demanded more use of the national Malay language.
(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 20, In Malaysia Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno (32), a Muslim woman, was sentenced to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) for having a beer in a nightclub in Dec 2007. She would become the first woman in Malaysia to be given the punishment under Islamic law. Her caning was delayed on Aug 24 because of the holy month of Ramadan. On Mar 30, 2010, the state's sultan spared her the caning and instead ordered her to do 3 weeks of community service.
(AP, 7/21/09)(AP, 8/19/09)(AP, 8/24/09)(AP, 4/1/10)
2009 Jul 22, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said a decision to expand TIA (1MDB), a regional development fund for oil-rich Terengganu state, into a federal entity was made to enable its benefits to reach a broad spectrum of Malaysians rather than to the residents of only one state. Tycoon Low Taek Jho helped set up 1MDB.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia_Development_Berhad)(Econ, 3/5/15, p.34)(Econ, 7/23/16, p.61)
2009 Aug 1, Police broke up Malaysia's biggest street protest in nearly two years, firing tear gas and chemical-laced water at thousands of opposition supporters demanding an end to a law that allows detention without trial.
(AP, 8/1/09)
2009 Sep 1, Malaysian police arrested Alain Robert (47), a French climber nicknamed "Spiderman," after he scaled the iconic 88-story Petronas Twin Towers.
(AP, 9/1/09)
2009 Sep 9, A Malaysian government report said indigenous tribal girls have been sexually abused by loggers in remote jungles on Borneo island, in the first official verification of rape accusations involving timber companies.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Sep 11, Malaysian authorities seized a consignment of 10,000 copies of the Bible sent from Jakarta to Kuching in Sarawak state, because the Indonesian-language books contained the word "Allah," a translation that has been banned in this Muslim-majority country. Another 5,100 Bibles, also imported from Indonesia, were reportedly seized in March. Church officials said Allah is not exclusive to Islam but is an Arabic word that predates Islam.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Sep 28, In Malaysia news reports said a judge has upheld a court verdict to cane a Muslim woman for drinking beer, re-igniting a controversy over Islamic justice in this moderate Muslim-majority country. The chief Shariah judge of Pahang state ruled that a Shariah High Court's verdict against Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno (32) was correct and should stay.
(AP, 9/28/09)
2009 Nov 18, Islamic authorities in Malaysia charged a popular Muslim scholar with delivering an illegal lecture in what critics considered an attempt by conservative clerics to silence a leading moderate preacher. Asri Zainul Abidin (38) has cultivated strong support among young people in the Muslim-majority country for criticizing what he called overzealous efforts by Islamic officials to clamp down on immoral behavior.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Dec 17, Malaysian marine police rescued 62 pangolins. 2 days later Malaysian wildlife authorities said they rescued 130 pangolins and arrested two men attempting to smuggle the protected species. They were expected to be illegally exported to China, Japan and Hong Kong, where animal's meat is considered a delicacy with medicinal qualities.
(AFP, 12/20/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin)
2009 Dec 31, A Malaysian court ruled that a Catholic weekly, the Herald, had a constitutional right to use the word Allah to refer to God, striking down a government ban as illegal. On Jan 6, the High Court suspended its ruling following an appeal by the government and with the consent of the Catholic church.
(AP, 12/31/09)(Econ, 1/16/10, p.44)
2010 Jan 1, Malaysia’s Islamic morality police arrested 52 unmarried couples for sexual misconduct following raids in hotel rooms on New Year’s Day. The detained couples were expected to be charged with khalwat (close proximity), and faced a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and a fine.
(SFC, 1/5/10, p.A4)
2010 Jan 6, A Malaysian court charged an air force sergeant and a businessman with stealing two fighter jet engines. The engines, each worth 50 million ringgit ($14 million), were stolen while they were undergoing repairs and were allegedly shipped toward Argentina before being offloaded to another vessel bound for Uruguay.
(AP, 1/6/10)
2010 Jan 8, In Malaysia 3 churches were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged to prevent Christians from using the word "Allah," escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country. On Aug 13 a Malaysian court sentenced two Muslim brothers to five years in prison for torching a Christian church during the height of the dispute.
(AP, 1/8/10)(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Jan 9, In Malaysia a fourth church was hit by firebombs, stoking concern among Christians as a dispute rages over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims.
(AP, 1/9/10)
2010 Jan 10, In Malaysia firebombs were thrown at 3 more churches and another was splashed with black paint, the latest in a series of assaults on Christian houses of worship following a court decision allowing non-Muslims to use "Allah" to refer to God.
(AP, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 15, Malaysian student Mohamad Tasyrif Tajudin (25) was charged after allegedly posting comments on Facebook about throwing a gasoline bomb amid a recent spate of attacks on churches, most of which were hit by Molotov Cocktails. He was charged under Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act for improper use of the Internet, which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a fine if found guilty.
(AP, 1/15/10)
2010 Jan 20, Malaysian police announced the arrest of eight Muslim men who allegedly attacked a Christian church with a firebomb, the first suspects in a spate of assaults on churches after a court ruled that non-Muslims could use the word "Allah" to refer to God.
(AP, 1/20/10)
2010 Jan 21, In Malaysia vandals tried to burn down two Muslim prayer rooms, following a string of arson attacks on churches amid a dispute over the use of the word "Allah" by Christians.
(AP, 1/21/10)
2010 Feb 9, Authorities in Malaysia caned three Muslim women for having extramarital sex, making them the first women in the country to receive such punishment under Islamic law. Each woman reportedly received between four and six strokes of a rattan cane.
(AP, 2/17/10)
2010 Apr 20, In Malaysia ruling party lawmaker Bung Mokhtar Radin (50) and actress Zizie Ezette A. Samad, his second wife, pleaded guilty to entering into a polygamous marriage without official consent amid a debate over Islamic morality among politicians.
(AP, 4/20/10)
2010 Apr 25, Malaysia's government scored a narrow win in a tense by-election billed as a referendum on PM Najib Razak's planned economic reforms and his first year in office.
(Reuters, 4/25/10)
2010 Apr 26, In Malaysia a policeman fired a shot that killed Aminulrasyid Amzah (14). On May 10 prosecutors charged officer Jenain Subi with fatally shooting the teenager, an incident that triggered a national outcry over claims of police brutality. Activists say Malaysia's police have fatally shot more than 180 suspects, half of them Indonesians, since 2007.
(AP, 5/10/10)
2010 May 13, The UN General Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Human rights groups criticized the poor human rights records 7 of the candidates: Angola, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Qatar, Thailand and Uganda.
(SFC, 5/14/10, p.A2)
2010 May 31, A Malaysian government official, Malacca Chief Minister Mohamad Ali Rustam, defended an Indian company's plans to build an animal testing medicine lab in his state, saying that God created monkeys and rats for experiments to benefit humans.
(AP, 5/31/10)
2010 May, Malaysia's Islamic Shariah courts appointed their first female judges. The news was not made public until July.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jun 10, A Malaysian businessmen, Badrul Zaman P.S. Mohamed (58), who was held without trial for three years (1991-1994) under the harsh Internal Security Act won 3.3 million ringgit ($1 million) in damages from the government in a landmark court verdict.
(AP, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 25, Malaysia banned three works of political cartoons that criticize the government, but one of the artists, Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque (aka Zunar), said he was obligated to highlight issues other cartoonists would not.
(AP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jun 25, Malaysia's government scrapped a plan to let non-Muslims bet on international sports, bowing to public criticism that it would promote gambling. PM Najib Razak announced authorities have revoked their approval for Ascot Sports, a company linked to Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan, to run betting on sports.
(AP, 6/26/10)
2010 Jul 13, In Malaysia a police raid for stolen vehicles found 42 of them at a warehouse in Malaysia along with and hundreds of birds and other protected wildlife. Officers found some 700 birds and caged leopard cats, albino pygmy monkeys and other animals. They included about 20 protected species.
(AP, 7/14/10)
2010 Aug 2, Malaysia set itself a historic precedent as 2 female sharia judges began working for the first time.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.39)
2010 Aug 12, In Malaysia gold coins came into circulation and could be purchased at various locations in Kelantan state. Their worth is currently about $180 per dinar and $4 per dirham. The gold dinar and silver dirham coins provide an alternative to Malaysia's currency, the ringgit, in northeastern Kelantan state, which is governed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, a conservative opposition group that promotes religious policies in its rule.
(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 26, A Malaysian man was arrested after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Keng Liang "Anson" Wong (52), who had been previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the United States, later pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling.
(AP, 9/4/10)
2010 Sep 13, In Malaysia Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra was proclaimed the new sultan of northern Kelantan state following a decision by the Council of Succession, which determines who ascends to the throne. Faris has been embroiled in a public dispute with his brother, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry, since their father, Tengku Ismail Petra, fell ill more than a year ago. 9 of Malaysia's 13 states are ruled by hereditary royal families, who are widely respected among the Muslim Malay majority though their responsibilities are largely ceremonial. The executive power lies with elected state and national representatives.
(AP, 9/13/10)
2010 Sep 24, A Malaysian political cartoonist said he has been arrested under the Sedition Act and his offices raided by police over his new book, "Cartoon-O-Phobia," just hours before its planned launch. Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar, used cartoons to highlight contentious issues such as the sodomy trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and police shootings.
(AFP, 9/24/10)
2010 Sep 25, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak launched the country’s Economic Transformation Program, formulated as part of Malaysia's National Transformation Program.
(http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/[email protected]_of_ETP.aspx)
2010 Sep 28, In Malaysia Kylie Tanti Marion (42), an Australian woman, fell to her death when her parachute failed to open after she jumped off the Alor Setar Tower to practice for the KL Tower International Jump on Oct. 7.
(AP, 9/29/10)
2010 Oct 6, In Malaysia a newborn baby died after being snatched by a monkey from her family's living room in Negri Sembilan state. Wildlife authorities fatally shot the monkey, which had remained near the house and might have been attracted by a female pet monkey the family kept in a cage.
(AP, 10/7/10)
2010 Oct 13, Malaysia criticized the WHO for failing to tackle the spread of dengue in the region, which saw 242,000 cases of the mosquito-borne disease in 2009 and 831 deaths so far this year.
(AFP, 10/13/10)
2010 Nov 10, In Malaysia "Dalam Botol" (In A Bottle), a Malay-language film, earned applause from movie bloggers invited to its first public screening, three months before its scheduled nationwide release. It is about a man who gets a sex change operation because he thought it would satisfy his male lover, but ends up regretting it. Censors now say depictions of homosexuality are no longer barred, as long as being gay isn't condoned.
(AP, 11/11/10)
2010 Nov 21, A global tiger summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, approved a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022 backed by governments of the 13 countries that still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia. Experts said wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching.
(AP, 11/21/10)
2010 Dec 16, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and three of his allies were suspended from parliament for six months in votes that triggered pandemonium and an opposition walkout.
(AFP, 12/16/10)
2010 Dec 20, In Malaysia a double-decker bus carrying Thai tourists overturned on a highway, killing 28 people on their way back from a hill resort.
(AP, 12/20/10)
2010 Dec 22, In Australia Kok Loong Wong of Malaysia appeared in a Sydney court charged with possessing 200 pounds (90 kg) of crystal meth in his home, the seventh-largest "ice" haul in Australian history.
(AP, 12/22/10)
2010 Dec 26, In Malaysia 3 Singaporean tourists drowned and two others were missing after an overloaded passenger boat capsized near Sibu island.
(AP, 12/26/10)
2010 Barry Wain authored “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times." The book covered the 22 years that Mohamad spent as Malaysia’s prime minister (1981-2003).
(Econ, 1/23/10, p.79)
2011 Jan 21, The Royal Malaysian Navy commandos wounded three pirates in a gunbattle and rescued the 23 crew members on the Malaysian-flagged chemical tanker MT Bunga Laurel, shortly after the pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Aden with assault rifles and pistols. On Jan 31 Malaysian police took custody of 7 captured Somali pirates.
(AP, 1/22/11)(AP, 1/31/11)
2011 Feb 1, New satellite imagery showed Malaysia is destroying forests more than three times faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster.
(AP, 2/1/11)
2011 Feb 11, Malaysian prosecutors filed charges carrying the death penalty against seven suspected Somali pirates accused of attacking a Malaysian-operated ship in the Gulf of Aden, in the first such charges in Asia against the African sea bandits.
(AP, 2/11/11)
2011 Feb 14, In Malaysia Islamic morality police detained 40 unmarried Muslim couples in hotel rooms during Operation Valentine, aimed at curbing illegal premarital sex. The main Islamic body issued an edict in 2005 banning Muslims from celebrating what it said was a day synonymous with vice.
(AP, 2/15/11)
2011 Feb 27, Malaysian police arrested dozens of ethnic Indians in a clampdown on a protest against a high school literature book that was slammed for denigrating the minority community.
(AP, 2/27/11)
2011 Mar 8, Former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad released his memoir, "A Doctor In The House," defending decisions he made during a 22-year rule that critics say was marred by human rights abuses.
(AP, 3/8/11)
2011 Mar 10, In Malaysia the main Christian grouping in the Muslim-majority country said it was "fed up" with the government's refusal to allow the distribution of tens of thousands of Bibles, saying this was an affront to religious freedoms.
(AP, 3/10/11)
2011 Mar 15, Malaysia's government agreed to release some 35,000 imported Bibles seized by customs officials amid a dispute over their use of the word "Allah" as a translation for God. A statement assured Muslims that the announcement would not jeopardize their interests in an ongoing court case on whether non-Muslims have the constitutional right to use "Allah."
(AP, 3/15/11)
2011 Mar 18, Malaysian police said that they had found equipment they suspect could be used to make nuclear weapons smuggled on board a ship headed to Iran. On March 8 police confiscated two containers from the MV Bunga Raya Satu traveling from China to Tehran.
(AP, 3/18/11)
2011 Mar 30, Malaysia's main Christian grouping rejected a government attempt to settle a protracted row over seized shipments of Malay-language Bibles, calling instead for the right to freely practice its religion.
(AP, 3/30/11)
2011 Apr 2, Malaysia's government said it would allow Malay-language Bibles to be printed locally, in a major concession to the country's minority Christian community to soothe anger over seized shipments of their holy books.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 4, In Malaysia detainees set fire to an immigration center and about 100 of them escaped as the blaze partially gutted the facility in central Negri Sembilan state.
(AP, 4/5/11)
2011 Apr 19, A Malaysian official said authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay.
(AP, 4/19/11)
2011 Apr 20, Regulators said Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to slash roaming charges for voice calls and text messaging over the next two years in a landmark accord.
(AFP, 4/20/11)
2011 May 7, Australia’s PM Julia Gillard said Malaysia has agreed to take hundreds of asylum seekers who land in Australia illegally and called this "big blow" to people smugglers.
(AFP, 5/7/11)
2011 May 9, Malaysian police said they have arrested Abdul Majid Kunji Mohamad, a Singaporean businessman, suspected of channeling funds to southern Philippine militants.
(AP, 5/9/11)
2011 May 10, Malaysian local papers highlighted how underworld groups were using Facebook and other social media to recruit members, the majority of whom are still at secondary school. The next day the government announced a major crackdown on criminal gangs using social networking sites to enlist teenage recruits as "street fighters."
(AFP, 5/11/11)
2011 May 12, In Australia two Malaysians were arrested and charged with importing heroin into Australia with a street value of more than Aus$50 million (US$53 million), the country's biggest haul in a decade.
(AFP, 5/12/11)
2011 May 16, The Israeli military blocked a Malaysian anti-war group's ship from reaching the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Malaysian group, the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, said its ship was fired at when it tried to reach Gaza. The military denied firing at the ship.
(AP, 5/16/11)
2011 May 21, In Malaysia a landslide left 15 boys and one adult dead at an orphanage for ethnic Malay Muslim boys in a village in central Selangor state. 9 people survived.
(AP, 5/21/11)(AP, 5/22/11)
2011 Jun 3, A global maritime watchdog warned ships traversing the South China Sea bordering Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore following the hijack of three tugboats and a barge in recent weeks.
(AFP, 6/3/11)
2011 Jun 4, Malaysian lawyers, politicians and activists lambasted the police, accusing them of abusing their power in chaining up and marking the bodies of 30 foreign women detained for alleged prostitution.
(AP, 6/5/11)
2011 Jun 4, In Malaysia the "Obedient Wives Club" was launched. The new club said it can cure social ills such as prostitution and divorce by teaching women to be submissive and keep their men happy in the bedroom.
(AP, 6/5/11)
2011 Jun 16, Malaysia opened an investigation into allegations that two immigration officers forced a pair of Singaporean women to do squats naked. The officers were suspended.
(AFP, 6/17/11)
2011 Jun 25, Malaysian police detained about 60 opposition supporters amid efforts to prevent a massive rally seeking electoral transparency.
(AP, 6/26/11)
2011 Jul 2, In Malaysia an activist group said police have detained six members of an opposition party, including a lawmaker, were arrested last weekend together with 25 others on the way to a party rally in northern Penang state. They were being held on accusations of "inciting people to wage war against the king." The detentions and arrests were said to be part of a government crackdown to prevent people from attending a July 9 rally by the electoral reform group Bersih.
(AFP, 7/2/11)
2011 Jul 7, In Malaysia a man carrying a machete barged into a kindergarten and held children and teachers hostage for six tense hours before police shot him in the head. The unidentified man was in hospital after sustaining a single bullet wound to the head.
(AP, 7/7/11)
2011 Jul 9, Malaysian police fired tear gas and detained hundreds of activists as more than 20,000 demonstrators massed across Kuala Lumpur demanding electoral reforms in the country's biggest political rally in years. Police said that they detained 1,667 people in a clampdown called "Operation Erase Bersih," referring to the Bersih coalition of civic groups that organized the rally.
(AP, 7/9/11)
2011 Jul 18, The Vatican and Malaysia established diplomatic relations in the wake of tensions between Muslims and religious minorities in the Southeast Asian nation.
(AP, 7/18/11)
2011 Jul 23, Nguyen Cao Ky (b.1930), the flamboyant former air force general who ruled South Vietnam with an iron fist for two years (1965-1967) during the Vietnam War, died in Malaysia. In 2002 he authored "Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam."
(AP, 7/23/11)
2011 Aug 3, Conservationists urged Malaysia to impose a national ban on the trade and consumption of turtle eggs to ensure the survival of the marine creatures. Turtles once arrived in their thousands to lay eggs on Malaysian beaches but are now increasingly rare due to poaching and coastal development.
(AFP, 8/3/11)
2011 Aug 31, Australia's High Court dealt a heavy blow to the government by blocking its plans to send asylum-seekers to Malaysia, ruling they could not go to a nation lacking legal safeguards.
(AFP, 8/31/11)
2011 Aug, In Malaysia the first turbine from French giant Alstom began producing electricity at the Bakun dam in the Malaysian portion of Borneo island. The reservoir has swelled to the size of Singapore since impoundment began a year ago. The project was first approved in 1986. A 2005 report, anti-graft watchdog Transparency International termed the dam one of the world's "Monuments of Corruption," citing years of delays, ownership changes, and overall costs that more than doubled. Tribal residents said warnings about the dam's ecological and human impact are coming true.
(AFP, 10/27/11)
2011 Sep 2, In Somalia Malaysian cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor was killed in Mogadishu by 4 Burundi peacekeepers. The 4 were later discharged from the force and faced trial in Burundi.
(AP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 9, Malaysia’s Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas sent a letter to his Indonesian counterpart about hundreds of suspected fires on Sumatra island.
(AFP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 15, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak promised to repeal many of the country’s security laws including the Internal Security Act (ISA).
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.52)
2011 Oct 23, In Malaysia Italian rider Marco Simoncelli (24) died after crashing and being hit by two other riders at the Sepang MotoGP motorcycle race. This raised the number of recorded deaths in MotoGP to 47 since it was founded in 1949.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Nov 3, Malaysia’s deputy national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said a decision to halt the three-year-old "Seksualiti Merdeka" (Sexuality Freedom) festival set for November 9-13 has come after Muslims called for it to be banned. Organizers slammed the move as proof of the repression homosexuals face in the socially conservative Muslim country.
(AFP, 11/3/11)
2011 Nov 22, In Malaysia former US president George W Bush and British ex-prime minister Tony Blair were found guilty at a mock tribunal for committing "crimes against peace" during the Iraq war. The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, part of an initiative by former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, a fierce critic of the Iraq war, found the former leaders guilty after a four-day hearing.
(AFP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 24, Malaysian PM Najib Razak repealed another security law, setting the stage for hundreds detained without trial to be freed or face criminal charges.
(AFP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 26, Malaysia reportedly said it will amend a new law banning street demonstrations, amid further protests by critics who say the bill clamps down on their right to peaceful assembly.
(AFP, 11/26/11)
2011 Nov 29, Malaysia's parliament enacted a ban on street protests. Demonstrators denounced the law as a violation of constitutional protections of free speech and a sign that PM Najib Razak was breaking his pledge to bolster civil liberties.
(AFP, 11/29/11)
2011 Dec 13, In Malaysia Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah was officially installed on the throne, making him the first ruler to hold the ceremonial kingship twice since it started rotating every five years among heads of the country’s 9 states.
(SSFC, 4/8/12, p.N3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Halim_of_Kedah)
2011 Dec 16, Malaysian shipbuilder Boustead Naval Shipyard says it has won a 9.0 billion ringgit ($2.8 billion) deal from Kuala Lumpur for six naval patrol vessels developed by French manufacturer DCNS.
(AFP, 12/16/11)
2012 Jan 1, In Malaysia 17 people were arrested after police broke up a student gathering for greater academic freedom, in what the opposition and activists said was a campaign to stifle dissent.
(AFP, 1/1/12)
2012 Jan 9, In Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was acquitted of sodomy charges.
(SFC, 1/10/12, p.A4)
2012 Jan 20, Malaysian prosecutors filed a notice of appeal against the acquittal of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges, sending the long-running divisive case back to court.
(AFP, 1/20/12)
2012 Feb 12, Malaysia deported Hamza Kashgari, a young Saudi journalist wanted in his home country over a Twitter post about the Prophet Mohammed, defying pleas from human rights group who said he faced execution. His tweet: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you. "I will not pray for you."
(AFP, 2/12/12)
2012 Feb 15, Malaysia police arrested Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, a third Iranian suspect sought after explosive blasts in Bangkok.
(AP, 2/15/12)
2012 Feb 15, Hajah Noraihan, the Malaysian consul to Uganda, said that more than 600 Ugandan girls are currently trapped in Malaysian prostitution rings. Uganda's honorary consul in Kuala Lumpur said that at least three Ugandans have been killed there in the last two years.
(AP, 2/20/12)(http://allafrica.com/stories/201202150018.html)
2012 Feb 21, Malaysia's Home Ministry said in a statement that bookstores were no longer allowed to sell "Where did I come from?" by British author Peter Mayle pending a review.
(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 26, In Malaysia thousands rallied in Kuantan against an Australian miner's rare earths plant in the biggest protest yet over fears it will produce radioactive waste harmful to them and the environment.
(AFP, 2/26/12)
2012 Mar 1, In Malaysia Dominic Jude Christopher Bird (32), a truck driver Perth, Western Australia, was arrested in Kuala Lumpur in possession of 225 grams (7.9 ounces) of methamphetamine. He faced a possible death sentence.
(AFP, 3/5/12)
2012 Apr 5, Malaysian police arrested 137 people, mostly from China and Taiwan, in a raid in the city of Kajang on a crime ring that bet on English football, arranged Internet gambling and carried out online scams.
(AFP, 4/5/12)
2012 Apr 10, Malaysia's government introduced legislation to stop arrests based on their political beliefs and indefinite detainments without trial. The Security Offenses Bill would replace the 52-year-old Internal Security Act, which was enacted to give the government preventive powers against national security threats.
(AP, 4/10/12)
2012 Apr 23, Philippine coast guard and fisheries bureau operatives arrested 12 Vietnamese fishermen for poaching endangered marine turtles, black corals and reef fishes in southern Philippines waters. Other foreign fishing boats spotted in the same area managed to flee toward Malaysia.
(AP, 4/25/12)
2012 Apr 27, Malaysian authorities took action to prevent a mass political rally calling for electoral reform from going ahead this weekend, sealing off a square in the capital and serving a court order banning the protest.
(AFP, 4/27/12)
2012 Apr 28, Malaysian police unleashed tear gas and chemical-laced water at thousands of demonstrators who staged one of the country’s largest street rallies in years. The Bersih demanded fair rules for national elections expected soon. News organizations estimated the number of demonstrators at 80k-100,000.
(AP, 4/28/12)(Econ, 7/14/12, p.33)
2012 Apr 29, Malaysian police freed all 471 people arrested a day earlier during a demonstration for free and fair elections, including senior opposition lawmaker Tian Chia.
(AFP, 4/29/12)
2012 May 1, Malaysia said it will introduce a minimum wage for the first time in a move to bolster incomes amid rising living costs and speculation of a snap general election. Private sector workers in peninsular Malaysia will receive a minimum salary of 900 ringgit ($297) a month while workers in the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island will get 800 ringgit.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 4, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said a quashed election reform rally was being used to topple the government ahead of polls expected in June.
(AFP, 5/7/12)
2012 May 6, Malaysian clerics issued a fatwa against demonstrations.
(AFP, 5/6/12)
2012 May 19, In Malaysia a Canadian Muslim gay activist launched her controversial new book on liberal Islam despite a government minister's attempts to shut down the event. Irshad Manji launched "Allah, Liberty and Love" at a hastily arranged event in Kuala Lumpur after two other venues pulled out of hosting her. Her previous internationally acclaimed book, "The Trouble with Islam Today," was already banned in Malaysia.
(AFP, 5/19/12)
2012 May 30, Indonesian maids began returning to work in Malaysia three years after a ban was enforced because of numerous abuse cases. Fewer arrived than had been expected.
(AFP, 6/3/12)
2012 Jun 25, A Malaysian court ruled that Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, an Iranian man accused of plotting to attack Israeli targets in Bangkok on Feb 14, must be extradited to Thailand.
(AP, 6/25/12)
2012 Jun, MyTeksi, a ride hailing service, was initially established in Malaysia and later headquartered in Singapore. The company, which began life at the Harvard Business School where founder Anthony met co-founder Hooi Ling Tan, soon across Southeast Asia. In May 2014, the company launched GrabCar in Malaysia and Singapore.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grab_(application))(Econ, 2/11/17, p.54)
2012 Jul 5, Malaysia reported that police have detained 100 people in nationwide raids on international crime syndicates who bet millions of dollars on the Euro 2012 championship. Police conducted almost 150 raids across the country in May and June in collaboration with officials from China, Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore among other nations.
(AFP, 7/5/12)
2012 Jul 5, London's iconic but derelict Battersea Power Station was acquired by a Malaysian consortium for £400 million ($620 million, 501 million euros).
(AFP, 7/5/12)
2012 Jul 9, A Malaysian official said customs officers have made the country's biggest drug bust so far this year, seizing nearly three million party drug pills worth 58.28 million ringgit ($18.4 million). The Erimin 5 pills were hidden in 20 boxes along with some goods including chewing tobacco. 5 people including a woman and her Bangladeshi husband have been arrested and faced a possible death sentence on suspicion of drug trafficking.
(AFP, 7/9/12)
2012 Jul 14, In Malaysia conjoined 15-month-old twins attached at the pelvis and sharing three legs were successfully separated at a hospital in a complex 24-hour operation.
(AFP, 7/28/12)
2012 Jul 17, In Malaysia an Australian woman and a Nigerian man were arrested after one kg (2.2 pounds) of methamphetamine was discovered in a car they were driving in Kuala Lumpur.
(AFP, 7/28/12)
2012 Aug 5, In Malaysia a three-year-old girl suffocated in a suspected exorcism ritual. A court on Aug 17 charged seven family members, including the parents, over her death.
(AFP, 8/17/12)
2012 Aug 14, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak said he would review a legal amendment that critics claim threatens free expression online after they staged a one-day "Internet blackout." NGOs, bloggers and opposition politicians staged the protest earlier in the day by replacing their homepages with black screens featuring messages attacking the new section of the Evidence Act, which went into effect in April despite widespread opposition.
(AFP, 8/14/12)
2012 Sep 15, The Merlin entertainment group opened a Legoland theme park in Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legoland_Malaysia)(Econ, 11/16/13, p.72)
2012 Oct 15, The Philippine government and Muslim rebels overcame decades of bitter hostility and took their first tentative step toward ending one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies with the signing of a preliminary peace pact brokered by Malaysia.
(AP, 10/15/12)
2012 Dec 7, Canada’s PM Stephen Harper approved China's biggest ever foreign takeover, a $15.1 billion bid by state-controlled CNOOC Ltd for energy company Nexen Inc., but drew a line in the sand against future buys by state-owned enterprises. He also approved a smaller deal for a Canadian gas producer by Petronas, Malaysia’s state energy company.
(Reuters, 12/7/12)(Econ, 12/15/12, p.38)
2012 Abu Dhabi’s IPIC sovereign wealth fund offered to guarantee loans that Malaysia’s state investment firm 1MDB needed to acquire two power firms. In 2016 IPIC said it never received collateral and other monies supposedly due to it under the deal. 1MDB appears to have wired payments to an unrelated shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Investigators at America’s Justice Dept. said former officials from IPIC and 1MDB benefited and that more than $200 million of missing money went to an account controlled by Riza Aziz, the stepson of Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, and that $30 million went to Najib himself. Both men denied wrongdoing.
(Econ, 4/29/17, p.30)
2013 Jan 29, Malaysian wildlife officials said 10 endangered Borneo pygmy elephants have been found dead at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve under mysterious circumstances. Officials said that they probably were poisoned over the past 3 weeks. The remains of 3 more were found the next day bringing the total to 13.
(AP, 1/29/13)(AP, 1/30/13)
2013 Feb 9, Members of a Muslim royal clan from the southern Philippines landed in Malaysia’s coastal village of Lahad Datu, Sabah state to claim the territory as their own, citing ownership documents from the late 1800s.
(AP, 3/1/13)
2013 Feb 27, In the Philippines Pres. Benigno Aquino III warned Jamalul Kiram III, the Sultan of Sulu, that he would face the full force of the law unless he withdrew his armed followers from Sabah, Malaysia.
(SSFC, 2/3/13, p.A4)
2013 Feb, Malaysian restaurant manager Riduan Masmud (40) was charged with committing statutory rape with a girl (13) in a parked car in Borneo. He later defended his actions by saying he has married the girl.
(AP, 5/22/13)
2013 Mar 1, In eastern Malaysia 14 people were killed in a shootout as authorities tried to end a three-week standoff with about 200 members of a Filipino clan occupying a village in Sabah state.
(AP, 3/1/13)
2013 Mar 2, In Malaysia gunmen ambushed and killed six policemen as fears mounted that armed intruders from the southern Philippines had slipped into at least three coastal districts on Borneo island. 6 gunmen were also killed in the fighting.
(AP, 3/3/13)(Econ, 3/9/13, p.51)
2013 Mar 5, Malaysia unleashed airstrikes and mortar attacks on nearly 200 Filipinos occupying a Borneo coastal village but could not declare an immediate end to a three-week siege that has turned into a security nightmare for both Malaysia and the Philippines.
(AP, 3/5/13)
2013 Mar 6, Malaysian security forces battled a group of Filipino intruders in the rugged terrain of Borneo after they escaped a military assault with fighter jets and mortar fire on their hideout. One Filipino was shot and believed killed.
(AP, 3/6/13)
2013 Mar 7, Malaysian security forces gunned down 31 Filipino intruders in Borneo, the highest number of casualties in a single day since nearly 200 members of a Philippine Muslim clan took over an entire village last month. At least 60 people, including 8 Malaysian police officers, have been killed in the conflict.
(AP, 3/7/13)(SFC, 3/8/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 9, Malaysia police said they have detained 79 suspects linked to the Filipino intruders in Borneo.
(SSFC, 3/10/13, p.A6)
2013 Mar 19, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak reported economic growth of 5.6% for 2012. He also announced that a scheme to give cash handouts to poorer households will become an annual event.
(Econ, 3/23/13, p.45)
2013 Mar 20, Malaysian prosecutors charged 8 Filipinos with terrorism-related offenses following an armed siege in Borneo that killed 71 people.
(SFC, 3/21/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 25, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak announced the creation of the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone. Authorities said they will resettle people out of the area of Borneo where fighting in Sabah has left 74 people dead.
(SFC, 3/26/13, p.A4)(SSFC, 3/31/13, p.A4)
2013 Apr 3, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak dissolved Parliament to call for general elections that will pit a coalition that has ruled for nearly 57 years against a resurgent opposition whose pledge to form a cleaner government has resonated with millions of citizens.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 May 5, Malaysia held national elections. PM Najib Razak's National Front coalition (Barisan Nasional) faced opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance. At least 112 of the 222 parliamentary seats at stake were needed to win federal power. The National Front coalition won the parliamentary elections despite losing the popular vote.
(AP, 5/5/13)(AP, 5/6/13)(Econ, 5/11/13, p.14)
2013 May 6, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak appeared before the media to somberly acknowledge that his coalition had won general elections for the 13th time in a row. However the National Front polled only 5.24 million votes to the opposition's 5.62 million votes.
(AP, 5/6/13)
2013 May 14, Malaysia-based Genting Group, a major casino operator, accused Phil Ivey (37) of amassing millions of dollars in winnings by cheating at baccarat. Ivey, an American, is one of the world's top professional poker players. The game in question took place on Aug 20-21, 2012, at Crockfords, one of London's oldest and most respected casinos.
(AP, 5/16/13)
2013 May 23, Malaysian authorities detained 3 anti-government figures, charged a student activist with sedition and seized hundreds of opposition newspapers, raising political tensions after recent national elections triggered claims of fraud.
(AP, 5/23/13)
2013 May 28, In Malaysia an overloaded ferry capsized after hitting rocks in a remote river in Borneo island, leaving 21 people missing and feared trapped inside the vessel.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 May 29, Malaysian prosecutors filed sedition charges against another five opposition politicians and activists who urged Malaysians to protest what they insist was a fraud-tainted victory by the long-ruling coalition in recent national elections.
(AP, 5/29/13)
2013 Jun 16, Smoke from fires in Indonesia, an annual result of land clearing for palm oil production, again began to smother Singapore and large parts of Malaysia.
(Econ, 6/29/13, p.39)
2013 Jun 20, In Singapore the Pollutant Standards Index, surged to a record reading of 371. People were urged to remain indoors as a smoky haze wrought by forest fires in neighboring Indonesia worsened dramatically. Nearby Malaysia closed 200 schools and banned open burning in some areas.
(AP, 6/20/13)
2013 Jun 30, Malaysia urged Myanmar to take stronger action to prevent persecution of Muslims and bring the perpetrators to justice, the latest sign that the inter communal violence is straining ties in Southeast Asia.
(Reuters, 6/30/13)
2013 Aug 8, In Malaysia Mr. K. Veerappan, a convicted drug dealer, was shot and killed whiled stopped at a traffic light in the Georgetown section of Penang. He was said to have been a member of “Gang 36."
(Econ, 8/17/13, p.37)
2013 Aug 21, In Malaysia a bus travelling from the hilltop gambling resort of Genting Highlands to the capital Kuala Lumpur plunged 200 feet into a ravine, killing 37 people. 16 people survived.
(Reuters, 8/21/13)(SFC, 8/22/13, p.A2)
2013 Sep 14, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak announced steps to further boost the economic participation of the ethnic Malay majority, entrenching race-based policies seen as shoring up Malay support ahead of a key ruling party meeting.
(Reuters, 9/14/13)
2013 Oct 4, China and Malaysia agreed elevate bilateral ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership", aiming to boost military cooperation and nearly triple two-way trade to $160 billion by 2017.
(Reuters, 10/4/13)
2013 Oct 24, Hundreds of Malaysian tribespeople blockaded the construction site of a new dam which is set to force them from their homes in Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 24, Malaysia’s HELP University faced public criticism for awarding an honorary doctorate degree in economics earlier this month to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
(SFC, 10/25/13, p.A2)
2013 Nov 5, It was reported that US Navy Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz had passed confidential information on ship routes to Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis, who in turn overcharged the Navy millions in suplies and services.
(SFC, 11/5/13, p.A10)
2014 Jan 2, Islamic authorities in Malaysia seized 321 Bibles from a Christian group because they used the word Allah to refer to God.
(Reuters, 1/2/14)
2014 Feb 28, In Malaysia Abdul Taib Mahmud, the chief minister of Sarawak, retired after ruling the state for 33 years. Environmentalists said Sarawak under his rule has lost 90% of its virgin rainforest, mostly due to conversions to lucrative palm oil concessions.
(Econ, 2/15/14, p.35)
2014 Mar 7, A Malaysian court sentenced opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to five years in jail on sodomy charges, overturning a 2012 acquittal and throwing his political career into jeopardy.
(AP, 3/7/14)(Econ, 3/15/14, p.40)
2014 Mar 7, Malaysia banned an Ultraman comic book because it uses the word "Allah" to describe the Japanese action hero. The Home Ministry said that the Malay-edition of "Ultraman, The Ultra Power" contained elements that can undermine public security and societal morals.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 fell off radar screens less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Vietnamese air force planes spotted two large oil slicks close to where the Boeing 777 went missing early today. The aircraft carried 239 people. Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirmed that names of two nationals listed on the manifest matched passports reported stolen in Thailand. The flight was carrying 154 people from China and Taiwan, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians and six Australians among the 227 passengers.
(AP, 3/8/14)(Reuters, 3/8/14)
2014 Mar 13, Malaysian police arrested 62 people who had illegally crossed the porous border between Thailand and Malaysia.
(Reuters, 3/14/14)
2014 Mar 15, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said the missing Malaysian Flight 370 was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after severing contact with the ground on March 8.
(AP, 3/15/14)
2014 Mar 16, Malaysia's government asked for help from nearly a dozen Asian countries that the missing jetliner may have flown over, saying that finding the plane would be very difficult without additional data on its final movements.
(AP, 3/16/14)
2014 Mar 22, A satellite image released by China offered the latest sign that wreckage from a Malaysia Airlines plane lost on March 8 could be in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean.
(AP, 3/22/14)
2014 Mar 23, France provided new satellite data showing possible debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, missing since March 8, as searchers continued combing a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean.
(AP, 3/23/14)
2014 Mar 24, France-based Airbus Defence & Space captured images showing 122 potential objects, possible debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, in a 400-sq-km (155-sq-mile) area in the southern Indian Ocean.
(AP, 3/26/14)
2014 Mar 28, Australian officials moved the search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, that disappeared March 8, 1,100 km (680 miles) to the northeast following a new analysis of radar data, and planes quickly found multiple objects in the new zone.
(AP, 3/28/14)
2014 Mar 28, Sweden sentenced a Malaysian couple to prison for beating their four children with sticks and clothes hangers. The abuse occurred from 2010 until December 2013, when Swedish police arrested the couple. The children, aged 7-14, were taken back to their home country following a massive social media campaign calling for their return.
(AP, 3/28/14)
2014 Apr 2, Suspected Filipino Abu Sayyaf insurgents seized Gao Huayuan (29) a Chinese tourist, and Marcy Dayawan (40), a hotel receptionist, from the Singamata Reef Resort in eastern Malaysia and then fled in a speed boat. The kidnappers soon demanded a ransom of 500 million pesos ($11.3 million). On May 30 Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said both victims have been freed.
(AP, 4/3/14)(AFP, 4/5/14)(AP, 4/10/14)(AP, 5/30/14)
2014 Apr 6, The Australian navy ship Ocean Shield picked up two separate signals late last night and early today in seas far off the west Australian coast. Confirmation that the signals belong to Malaysia’s Flight 370's black boxes could take days.
(AP, 4/7/14)
2014 Apr 7, Film censors in Indonesia and Malaysia banned the biblical epic "Noah," saying that the portrayal of the ark-building prophet by Russell Crowe was against Islamic laws. Depictions of any prophet are shunned in Islam to avoid worship of a person rather than God.
(AP, 4/7/14)
2014 Apr 9, Malaysia awarded a manufacturing license to a $618 million venture that will assemble fuel-efficient SUVs for China's Great Wall Motor Co. Privately owned Go Automobile Manufacturing will invest 2 billion ringgit ($618 million) over the next four years to expand its manufacturing plant in northern Kedah state.
(AP, 4/9/14)
2014 Apr 11, Australian PM Tony Abbott said search and rescue officials are confident they know the approximate position of the black box recorders from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, missing since March 8.
(Reuters, 4/11/14)
2014 Apr 13, A Malaysian man (54), who went on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, became the first death in Asia from Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
(AP, 4/16/14)
2014 Apr 14, Australian search crews sent a robotic submarine deep into the Indian Ocean for the first time to begin scouring the seabed for the missing Malaysian Flight MH370 after no signals from its black boxes were detected for six days. The submarine aborted its first mission after only six hours, surfacing with no new clues when it exceeded its maximum depth along the floor of the Indian Ocean.
(AP, 4/14/14)(AP, 4/15/14)
2014 Apr 17, An oil tanker sailing from Singapore to Cambodia was boarded by 16 pirates about 26 nautical miles off Aur island on the east coast of the Malaysia peninsula. The pirates damaged the ship's communication equipment, transferred part of the fuel cargo into a smaller unknown tanker and stole the ship and crews' belongings before fleeing.
(AP, 4/24/14)
2014 Apr 22, Armed pirates raided an oil tanker off the coast of Malaysia and took three crew members with them.
(Reuters, 4/23/14)
2014 Apr 26, President Barack Obama began the first visit to Malaysia by an American president in nearly half a century. Trade, defense and maritime security were among the issues Obama and PM Najib were expected to discuss during talks in the 2-day visit.
(AP, 4/26/14)
2014 Apr 27, President Barack Obama pressed the Malaysian government to improve its human rights record and appealed to Southeast Asia's teeming youth population to stand up for the rights of minorities and the rule of law.
(AP, 4/27/14)
2014 Apr 28, Malaysian police detained nine people during raids in and around the capital Kuala Lumpur and the northern state of Kedah on suspicion of involvement in terrorist acts or forming links with terrorists inside the country and abroad. Two more were soon arrested in an operation to break up Islamic terror groups posing as humanitarian organizations.
(Reuters, 4/28/14)(AFP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 6, In eastern Malaysia a Chinese fish farm manager in Sabah state was kidnapped by gunmen and believed taken to the southern Philippines, where suspected insurgents are holding another Chinese and a Filipino also seized from Malaysia.
(AP, 5/6/14)
2014 May 9, In New Zealand Malaysian diplomat Mohammed Rizalman Bin Ismail followed a 21-year-old woman, later identified as Tania Billingsley (21) and assaulted her. New Zealand charged the man with assault and attempt to rape, but Malaysia claimed diplomatic immunity and he returned home on May 22. On July 2 Malaysia's foreign ministry said that Muhammad Rizalman would return to New Zealand "to assist in the investigation for the charges".
(AP, 6/30/14)(AP, 7/1/14)(AFP, 7/2/14)(AP, 7/9/14)
2014 May 27, In Malaysia Gareth Huntley (34), a UK backpacker disappeared when he went on a trek to a waterfall on Tioman Island. His body was found on June 4 close to where he was living.
(AP, 6/7/14)
2014 Jun 18, An apparently overloaded boat carrying Indonesian illegal migrants heading home for Ramadan sank overnight in rough seas off western Malaysia. 27 people were missing and 9 were confirmed dead. Nine people were missing after a boat carrying 27 Indonesian workers overturned off Malaysia's west coast in a 2nd similar accident. By the weekend the confirmed death toll from two boat accidents rose to 16 with dozens of others still missing.
(AFP, 6/18/14)(AP, 6/19/14)(AFP, 6/22/14)
2014 Jun 20, A US State Department blacklist included Thailand and Malaysia for their failure to meet minimum standards in fighting human trafficking.
(AP, 6/20/14)
2014 Jul 4, Malaysian police said they have arrested four foreign nationals suspected of having links to Sri Lanka's defeated separatist Tamil Tigers, the second such detention aimed at the group's militants in the southeast Asian country.
(Reuters, 7/4/14)
2014 Jul 10, Malaysia's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in three years to curb inflation and household debt as economic growth picked up.
(AP, 7/10/14)
2014 Jul 12, In Malaysia masked gunmen stormed Mabul Water Bungalow Resort, Sabah state, shot a policeman and kidnapped another then sped away in a boat toward the southern Philippines, where Muslim militants have carried out similar raids in the past.
(AP, 7/13/14)
2014 Jul 14, An overloaded fishing boat carrying some 70 illegal Indonesian migrants capsized off southern Malaysia, killing at least 2 people with 9 left missing.
(AFP, 7/15/14)
2014 Jul 17, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 with 298 people on board was shot down over eastern Ukraine. Officials strongly suspected the Boeing 777 was downed by a missile fired by Ukrainian separatists backed by Moscow. More than half of the dead passengers, 189 people, were Dutch. Twenty-nine were Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, 9 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino, one Canadian, one New Zealand and 4 as yet unidentified. All 15 crew were Malaysian.
(Reuters, 7/18/14)
2014 Jul 17, Ukraine's SBU security agency released recordings of what it claimed were phone talks involving rebels and a Russian military intelligence officer admitting that they had hit a passenger jet after mistaking it for a military aircraft.
(AFP, 7/20/14)
2014 Jul 18, In eastern Ukraine emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners searched the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 shot down a day earlier as it flew miles above the country's battlefield. Ukraine's state aviation service closed the airspace over two regions currently gripped by separatist fighting.
(AP, 7/19/14)
2014 Jul 20, Ukraine accused separatist rebels of hiding evidence that a Russian missile was used to shoot down a Malaysian airliner, while Britain said Moscow faced "pariah" status and the threat of further economic sanctions. Ukraine's Western-backed government said it had "compelling evidence" the Russian SA-11 radar-guided missile battery was not just brought in from Russia but manned by three Russians who had now taken it back over the border.
(Reuters, 7/20/14)
2014 Jul 27, In Malaysia a car crash involving a faulty air bag killed a pregnant woman. On Nov 14 Ford Motor Co. agreed to recall more 2004 and 2005 Ranger small pickup trucks in response to the crash, because their air bags are similar to the one that caused the woman's death.
(AP, 11/15/14)
2014 Aug 6, In Malaysia British medical students, Neil Dalton (22) and Aidan Brunger (22), were stabbed to death in Kuching after a quarrel in a pub with four local men. Police arrested three of the suspects and were searching for the fourth. On March 31, 2015, Zulkipli Abdullah (24) was found guilty of the stabbing and sentenced to death.
(AP, 8/6/14)(AP, 3/31/15)
2014 Aug 8, Malaysia Airlines will be taken over by the country's state investment fund and de-listed, as part of plans announced today for a "complete overhaul" to rescue the company from oblivion after two crippling air disasters.
(AFP, 8/8/14)
2014 Aug 19, A Malaysian top counter-terrorism official said police have foiled plans for a wave of bombings drawn up by radical Islamic militants inspired by Iraq's extremist jihad group ISIL. 19 suspected militants, arrested from April-June, were said to be formulating plans to bomb pubs, discos and a Malaysian brewery of Danish beer producer Carlsberg.
(AP, 8/19/14)
2014 Aug 29, Malaysia Airlines said it will cut 6,000 workers as part of a $1.9 billion overhaul to revive its damaged brand after being hit by double passenger jet disasters.
(AP, 8/29/14)
2014 Sep 25, Malaysia's national carmaker Proton launched its first small car, hoping to bolster its fortunes after ceding ground to foreign and domestic rivals.
(AP, 9/25/14)
2014 Oct 9, In Malaysia a grenade was tossed outside a night club at a popular tourist belt in Kuala Lumpur, killing one man and wounding 12 others, including foreigners. The pre-dawn explosion in the Bukit Bintang area was believed to be due to a gang fight and was not a terrorist act.
(AP, 10/9/14)
2014 Oct 15, Malaysian police said they have detained 14 Muslims, including two women and a student, suspected of being linked to the militant Islamic State group. The detentions put the number of people held for suspected militant links to 36 since April.
(AP, 10/15/14)
2014 Nov 7, Three Malaysian Muslim transgenders won a landmark court ruling against a religious law banning them from cross-dressing in what activists called a victory for human rights.
(AP, 11/7/14)
2014 Nov 13, Researchers said a dinosaur tooth found in Malaysia is at least 140 million years old and belongs to a new species within the "bird-hipped" Ornithischian order.
(AFP, 11/13/14)
2014 Nov 21, Malaysia's government said it will completely withdraw fuel subsidies from next month following the plunge in global oil prices.
(AP, 11/21/14)
2014 Nov 27, Malaysia's leader said that a colonial-era law curbing free speech will be retained and strengthened, backpedaling on a pledge two years ago to abolish the 1948 Sedition Act as part of political reforms.
(AP, 11/27/14)
2014 Dec 11, Malaysia police said they have arrested 20 people in a widening investigation into the murder of at least 18 Myanmar nationals in the state of Penang since January. Police said twelve Myanmar migrants have confessed to their role in nine of the murders.
(Reuters, 12/11/14)
2014 Dec 30, Officials said Malaysia, parts of the Philippines, and southern Thailand have been battered by heavy rain and flash floods in recent days. At least 21 people were killed in Malaysia, 53 in the Philippines and 15 in Thailand.
(Reuters, 12/30/14)(AP, 12/30/14)(AP, 12/31/14)
2014 In Malaysia Mamapride trousers went on sale in response to religious scholars concerned about women being exposed to male doctors and interns. They were developed by a team of 19 health care workers, five of them women, from the Malaysian medical charity Papisma.
(Reuters, 7/10/15)
2015 Jan 19, Malaysian authorities raided a site where trafficked Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis were held in cages, but destroyed it a day later, diminishing evidence that could have aided in an investigation. This was only made public in 2019.
(AP, 3/27/19)
2015 Jan 26, Hackers defaced the website of Malaysia Airlines and threatened to dump stolen information online after posting a glimpse of customer data obtained in the attack.
(AP, 1/26/15)
2015 Feb 10, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim began a 5-year prison sentence after a court rejected his final appeal against a sodomy conviction.
(AP, 2/10/15)
2015 Feb 10, Malaysia arrested cartoonist Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, aka Zunar, for sedition over a Twitter post that criticized the judiciary for upholding a five-year jail term for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who accused the courts of "bowing to the dictates of the political masters".
(Reuters, 2/11/15)
2015 Feb 22, A Syrian man was shown beheaded in a video posted to Facebook. Malaysian authorities later Mohd Faris Anuar (20) and Muhamad Wanndy Muhammad Jedi (25) of Malaysia as the men involved in the beheading by the Islamic State.
(Reuters, 3/4/15)
2015 Mar 8, The first comprehensive report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 revealed that the battery of the locator beacon for the plane's data recorder had expired more than a year before the jet vanished on March 8, 2014.
(AP, 3/8/15)
2015 Mar 16, Malaysian police arrested the eldest daughter of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for alleged sedition, a move slammed by critics as a clampdown on dissent.
(AP, 3/16/15)
2015 Mar 30, In Malaysia three editors of the Malaysia Insider news website were arrested on suspicion of violating the country’s Sedition Act and Communications and Multimedia Act. The next day two executives of the Malaysia Insider were arrested.
(SFC, 4/1/15, p.A6)
2015 Apr 3, Malaysian cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Alhaque, better known as Zunar, was charged with nine counts of sedition over a series of tweets criticizing the country's judiciary. The charges against Zunar, known for lampooning the ruling coalition, came amid a widening government crackdown on opposition politicians and the media slammed by critics as a move to stifle freedom of expression.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 4, In Malaysia PM Najib Razak's chief of staff and a former ambassador to the United States, who was also a senior member of Najib's party, were among six people killed in a helicopter crash near Kuala Lumpur.
(Reuters, 4/5/15)
2015 Apr 5, Malaysian police detained 17 suspected militants. Authorities the next day said the militants had planned to attack police stations and army camps to acquire weapons and carry out terrorist attacks in Kuala Lumpur and that two of the militants had just returned from Syria.
(SFC, 4/7/15, p.A2)
2015 Apr 7, Malaysia revived detention without trial when lawmakers approved the Prevention of Terrorism Act bill, that the government said was needed to fight Islamic militants. Critics assailed it as a giant step backward for human rights in the country.
(AP, 4/7/15)
2015 Apr 26, Malaysian police said that they have detained 12 men this weekend with suspected links to the Islamic state group who are believed to be plotting attacks on strategic government targets in the country.
(AP, 4/26/15)
2015 May 1, Malaysian police arrested 30 protesters at a rally of more than 10,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, demonstrating against a new tax. Protesters demanded the government remove a goods and services tax (GST) which came into effect on April 1 at a rate of 6 percent.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 8, A Pakistan military helicopter carrying diplomats to inspect a tourism project crashed killing 7 people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors. 17 people were on board the Mi-17 when it crashed into a school in Gilgit and caught fire. The Taliban later claimed responsibility.
(Reuters, 5/8/15)(AP, 5/10/15)
2015 May 11, Indonesian and Malaysian authorities said nearly 2,000 boat people from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been rescued or swum to shore, warning that yet more desperate migrants could be in peril at sea.
(AFP, 5/11/15)
2015 May 12, Malaysia said it would turn away any more migrant boats packed with Rohingya and Bangladeshis unless they were sinking.
(AP, 5/12/15)
2015 May 14, Malaysia turned away two crammed migrant boats filled with Rohingya and Bangladeshis abandoned at sea by traffickers. Thailand kept at bay a large vessel with hundreds of hungry people.
(AP, 5/14/15)
2015 May 16, A boat crammed with migrants was towed out to sea by the Thai navy and then held up by Malaysian vessels, the latest round of "maritime ping-pong" by Asian states determined not to let asylum seekers come ashore.
(Reuters, 5/16/15)
2015 May 17, Malaysia launched high-level talks with its neighbors to try to solve the deepening problem of refugees stranded in boats off Southeast Asia's shores, but there appeared to be no quick solution to the crisis.
(AP, 5/17/15)
2015 May 20, Indonesia and Malaysia said they would offer shelter to 7,000 "boat people" adrift at sea in rickety boats but, anxious not to encourage a fresh influx, made clear that their assistance was temporary and they would take no more. Indonesian authorities said they have bombed and sank 41 foreign fishing vessels as a warning against poaching in the country's waters.
(Reuters, 5/20/15)(AP, 5/20/15)
2015 May 20, Philippine police in Jolo, Sulu province, killed Mindas Manda, a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf group. He was allegedly involved in the kidnapping last week of two Malaysians.
(AP, 5/21/15)
2015 May 24, Malaysia’s home minister said mass graves and suspected human-trafficking detention camps have been discovered by police in towns and villages bordering Thailand. The mass graves were believed to contain the bodies of hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 5/24/15)
2015 May 25, Malaysia police said they have found 139 graves, and signs of torture, in more than two dozen squalid human trafficking camps suspected to have been used by gangs smuggling migrants across the border with Thailand.
(Reuters, 5/25/15)
2015 May 26, Malaysia said 12 police officials have been detained on suspicion of involvement, either directly or as facilitators, to people-smuggling camps.
(Reuters, 5/27/15)
2015 Jun 1, Malaysian media reported that Muslim Rohingya women who were held at human-trafficking camps in Thailand and Malaysia were subjected to gang rapes by their captors, assaults that left at least two of them pregnant.
(AFP, 6/2/15)
2015 Jun 2, The Dutch Safety Board made a draft report on last year's crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 available to representatives of Malaysia, Ukraine, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands. It did not publicize details of the confidential draft.
(AP, 7/1/15)
2015 Jun 5, In Malaysia a magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck near Mount Kinabalu. At least 16 people were killed with two missing.
(AP, 6/5/15)(AFP, 6/6/15)(Reuters, 6/7/15)
2015 Jun 11, The Malaysian tanker MT Orkim Harmony, loaded with 7.5 million liters (2 million gallons) of gasoline belonging to national oil company Petronas, was believed hijacked as it headed to northern Kuantan near Singapore. The crew consisted of 16 Malaysians, five Indonesians and a Myanmar national. 8 pirates, believed to be Indonesians, abandoned the MT Orkim Harmony late June 18 after being pursued by a Malaysian navy ship. The Vietnamese coastguard picked up the alleged hijackers on June 19.
(AP, 6/15/15)(AP, 6/19/15)(Econ, 6/27/15, p.34)
2015 Jun 12, In Malaysia four Westerners who posed naked on Mount Kinabalu on May 30 were sentenced to three days in jail and fined $1,330 each for obscene behavior in a public place.
(AP, 6/12/15)
2015 Jul 3, Malaysian PM Najib Razak denied news reports that nearly $700 million were funneled from an indebted state investment fund into his personal accounts.
(AP, 7/3/15)
2015 Jul 7, Malaysian authorities said they have frozen six bank accounts as part of an investigation into allegations that hundreds of millions of dollars were transferred from a state investment fund to the personal accounts of PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 7/7/15)
2015 Jul 20, Malaysia’s The Edge, which has a daily and a weekly business newspaper, ran extensive reports alleging Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho and PetroSaudi International had cheated Malaysia of $1.83 billion in cash through an aborted joint venture with 1MDB in 2009. On July 24 The Edge media group said the government will suspend its publishing permits for three months as of July 27, over the reports alleging fraud.
(AP, 7/24/15)(SSFC, 7/26/15, p.A6)
2015 Jul 27, The US State Department took Malaysia and Cuba off its “tier 3" list of countries failing to combat modern-day slavery, leaving the US open to criticism that politics is swaying the often-contentious rankings in its annual human trafficking report. Burundi, Belize, Belarus, Comoros and South Sudan were downgraded to Tier 3, where Thailand remained for a second year.
(AP, 7/27/15)(Reuters, 7/27/15)
2015 Jul 28, Malaysian premier Najib Razak sacked his deputy premier and attorney general in a cabinet reshuffle widely seen as an attempt to strengthen his hold on power as he battles corruption allegations.
(AFP, 7/28/15)
2015 Jul 29, Plane debris was found washed up on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean and was believed to be part of a Boeing 777, potentially the biggest breakthrough in the search for Flight MH370, missing since March 8, 2014.
(Reuters, 7/31/15)
2015 Aug 3, Malaysia's anti-corruption agency said that $700 million in PM Najib Razak's personal bank accounts came from donations, not from a debt-ridden state investment fund. Critics urged the agency to reveal the donors.
(AP, 8/3/15)
2015 Aug 6, Malaysia said paint color and maintenance-record matches proved that a piece of wing found on the shore of an Indian Ocean island was part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which vanished without trace on March 8, 2014.
(Reuters, 8/6/15)
2015 Aug 12, A Malaysian opposition party filed a civil lawsuit against PM Najib Razak for alleged election offenses involving $700 million in his bank accounts.
(AP, 8/12/15)
2015 Aug 20, Malaysian police said they had arrested and were investigating 10 Malaysians suspected of links to Islamic State, among them six members of the country's security forces.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 23, Malaysian police said that they have found 24 more bodies of suspected human trafficking victims this week in jungles bordering Thailand. 106 bodies had been found earlier.
(AP, 8/23/15)
2015 Aug 29, In Malaysia tens of thousands wearing yellow T-shirts and blowing horns defiantly held a major rally in the capital to demand the resignation of embattled PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 8/29/15)
2015 Aug 30, In Malaysia big crowds of protesters returned to the streets of Kuala Lumpur demand the resignation of PM Najib Razak over a financial scandal.
(AP, 8/30/15)
2015 Sep 3, An overloaded wooden boat believed to be carrying about 70 Indonesian illegal immigrants sank off the coast of Malaysia, killing at least 14 people, among them 13 women. The number of survivors stood at 19.
(Reuters, 9/3/15)
2015 Sep 14, Malaysian PM Najib Razak said the government will pump 20 billion ringgit ($4.6 billion) into an equity fund to support the stock market and ruled out capital controls despite the ringgit's plunge.
(AP, 9/14/15)
2015 Sep 16, Malaysian police fired water cannons at ethnic Malays who turned unruly at a pro-government rally that many fear has the potential to provoke racial trouble in this multiethnic nation with large Chinese and Indian minorities. Some 40,000 ethnic Malays had gathered in a park in support of the United Malays National Organization (UNMO) Riot police prevented a mob of protesters from marching down a Petaling Street, where ethnic Chinese stallholders served bargain-hunting tourists.
(AP, 9/16/15)(Econ, 9/26/15, p.38)
2015 Oct 4, Malaysian authorities ordered most of the country's schools shut for two days because of possible health risks posed by the thick haze from Indonesian forest fires.
(AFP, 10/4/15)
2015 Oct 5, Twelve Pacific rim countries sealed the deal on creating the world's largest free trade area (TPP), delivering President Barack Obama a major policy triumph. The Trans-Pacific Partnership included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.
(AFP, 10/5/15)
2015 Oct 9, Malaysia's central bank said a debt-laden state investment fund violated foreign exchange rules and must repatriate $1.83 billion it used abroad.
(AP, 10/9/15)
2015 Oct 13, The Dutch Safety Board concluded that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk missile in its final report on the crash on July 17, 2014, that killed all 298 people on board, most of them Dutch.
(Reuters, 10/13/15)
2015 Oct 15, US authorities reported that Malaysia authorities have arrested Ardit Ferizi, a Kosovo citizen, for providing sensitive information on more than a thousand US service members to the Islamic State group.
(http://tinyurl.com/pe3kygq)
2015 Oct 28, Hamid Ismail, suspected of involvement in the Sep 28 attempted assassination of Maldives President Abdulla Yameen, was arrested in Kuala Lumpur with four other Maldives residents.
(Reuters, 10/30/15)
2015 Nov 17, The Philippine military verified reports that a Malaysian kidnap victim, was beheaded by Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines after a large ransom demand was not paid. The militants killed Bernard Then Ted Fen, who was abducted last May, in the jungles off Indanan town in Sulu province.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 20, Malaysia deployed extraordinary security measures around Kuala Lumpur as leaders from 18 countries arrived for the East Asian and ASEAN weekend summits.
(Reuters, 11/20/15)
2015 Nov 22, In Malaysia ASEAN nations (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) established a formal community that attempts to create freer movement of trade and capital in an area of 625 million people with a combined economic output of $2.6 trillion.
(Reuters, 11/22/15)
2015 Dec 3, Malaysia's Parliament approved a security law that gives sweeping security powers to a council led by the prime minister, in a move slammed by rights groups and critics as a step toward a dictatorship.
(AP, 12/3/15)
2015 Dec 5, Malaysia's police said that they have arrested five people, including a European employed as a teacher, on suspicion of links with militant groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. The arrests were made between Nov. 17 and Dec 1.
(Reuters, 12/5/15)
2015 Financier Low Taek Jho obtained Cyprus nationality under the country’s investment for passport scheme after buying a mansion for 5 million euros ($5.6 million) in the resort town of Agia Napa. He immediately left the island after purchasing the property and getting the passport. This was reported in 2019. Low has been painted by prosecutors as the mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal, which saw more than $4.5 billion allegedly misappropriated from the Malaysian investment fund.
(Bloomberg, 11/4/19)
2015 Singapore’s population stood at about 5.5 million. Every day some 50,000 Malaysians commuted to work across a causeway from Johor Bahru, the capital of Malaysia’s Johor state.
(Econ, 7/18/15, SR p.5)
2016 Jan 26, Malaysia's attorney general said that nearly $700 million channeled into PM Najib Razak's private accounts was a personal donation from Saudi Arabia's royal family, and cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing.
(AP, 1/26/16)
2016 Jan 26, Malaysian police said 13 bodies, believed to be Indonesian illegal immigrants, were found washed ashore after their boat capsized in bad sea conditions. Five more bodies were found the next day raising the death toll to 18.
(AP, 1/26/16)(AFP, 1/27/16)
2016 Jan 29, Switzerland's chief prosecutor said a criminal investigation into state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had revealed that about $4 billion appeared to have been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies.
(Reuters, 1/30/16)
2016 Feb 29, Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad quit the ruling Malay party, saying it has been hijacked by embattled PM Najib Razak to protect his own interests.
(AP, 2/29/16)
2016 Mar 1, Malaysian national car company Proton said it has begun shipping left-hand drive sedans to Chile as it seeks to tap new markets and revitalize exports.
(AP, 3/1/16)
2016 Mar 3, Mozambique aviation authorities displayed the recovered a one-meter fragment from a Boeing 777 believed to be from flight MH370 which vanished on March 8, 2014. Blaine Gibson, a lawyer from Seattle, recently discovered the fragment on a sandbank near the tourist island of Benguerra.
(AFP, 3/3/16)
2016 Mar 4, Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad joined with political foes in issuing a declaration signed by 58 public figures urging PM Najib Razak to resign over corruption allegations.
(AP, 3/4/16)
2016 Mar 24, Malaysian police said they have arrested 15 people, including a police officer, suspected of links to Islamic State and of planning an attack in the country.
(Reuters, 3/24/16)
2016 Mar 24, Australian and Malaysian officials said that two pieces of debris recently discovered along the coast of Mozambique are "highly likely" to have come from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
(AP, 3/24/16)
2016 Apr 1, Eight suspected Filipino Muslim gunmen on board a speed boat took four Malaysians from the MV Massive 6 late today but left behind five other crewmen from Myanmar and Indonesia as the tugboat sailed to Tawau island in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 15, Malaysia deported 20 Taiwanese criminal suspects to Taiwan despite Beijing's request that they be sent to China, amid an ongoing battle over jurisdiction involving the self-ruled island. A Malaysia official said another 32 Taiwanese wire fraud suspects sought by China also will be sent to Taiwan.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 14, Saudi Arabia for the first time publicly confirmed Malaysia's claim that $681 million in PM Najib Razak's bank accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family, countering accusations that the money was siphoned from heavily indebted state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 18, A government-backed investment fund in the United Arab Emirates said that heavily indebted Malaysian investment fund 1MDB and the southeast Asian country's finance ministry have defaulted on more than $1.1 billion they owe.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 19, Indonesia said it has called for joint maritime patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia, after a spate of kidnappings in waters near the southern Philippines by suspected militants.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)
2016 May 1, Taiwanese officials protested Malaysia's deportation of 32 of the self-ruled island's nationals to China this weekend to face wire fraud charges, the latest in a series of disputes that has raised new friction between China and Taiwan.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 4, Malaysia's finance ministry said it would dissolve the board of advisers at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and take over its remaining assets, in an apparent move to scale down a state fund whose scandals have rocked the government.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 5, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to conduct coordinated maritime patrols after a spate of ship hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Malaysia a Eurocopter AS350 ferrying Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Noriah Kasnon and her husband Asmuni Abdullah from Sarawak's interior to its capital Kuching went missing. All 6 people aboard were killed.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 7, Scandal-ridden Malaysian PM Najib Razak secured a major victory for his ruling coalition in elections in Sarawak state on Borneo island, boosting his rule despite corruption allegations.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 9, An Australian law firm filed a compensation claim against Russia and President Vladimir Putin in the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of families of victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The application names the Russian Federation and Putin as respondents and seeks $10 million in compensation per passenger.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 24, Switzerland's market supervisor indicated that BSI SA helped transfer money to the Alpine country connected to the Malaysian fund called 1MDB. The Swiss attorney general's office opened criminal proceedings against the bank, whose chief executive resigned.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 31, Malaysia's government said it has fired 15 immigration officers who helped international syndicates sabotage online passport checks for years, allowing some travelers to move freely in and out of the country. The sabotage likely started in 2010 and was led by foreign agents.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Malaysia PM Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organization retained the Sungai Besar seat in central Selangor state and Kuala Kangsar in northern Perak state in parliamentary by-elections.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 20, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to designate a transit corridor for commercial vessels crossing a maritime zone hit by a spate of hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Malaysia Bill Kayong (43), an indigenous land rights defende, was murdered in the city of Miri, Sarawak state. On Juy 15 two men were charged with the murder and abetting in the murder of Kayong.
(www.malaysiakini.com/news/348669)(AP, 7/15/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Malaysia a grenade blast at a bar outside Kuala Lumpur injured eight people. Police later said this the first attack in the country by the Islamic State militant group, and that 15 people have been detained. On Aug 13 police said they have arrested nine militants, including two suspected of carrying out the grenade attack.
(AP, 7/4/16)(Reuters, 8/13/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Malaysia influential opposition politician Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of northern Penang state, was arrested on allegations of corruption. He has strongly criticized financial scandals involving PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jul 9, Gunmen kidnapped three Indonesian members of a tugboat crew off Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah. Four other crew members were left behind by the kidnappers who came in a speedboat.
(Reuters, 7/10/16)
2016 Jul 13, Malaysia's central bank cut interest rates for the first time in seven years to bolster a slowing economy amid fears of greater volatility in global growth.
(AP, 7/13/16)
2016 Jul 17, Malaysia Airlines struck a deal to settle damages claims for most victims of its MH17 flight that was shot down over eastern Ukraine two years ago.
(Reuters, 7/17/16)
2016 Jul 20, The US government moved to seize more than $1 billion in assets purchased with money that it believes was stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund overseen by PM Najib Razak. US investigators alleged that more than $3.5 billion had been misappropriated from 1MDB and that hundreds of millions had been paid to PM Najib Razak.
(SFC, 7/21/16, p.A2)(Econ, 11/19/16, p.33)
2016 Jul 28, Australian officials confirmed that data recovered from a home flight simulator owned by Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the captain of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, showed that someone had used the device to plot a course to the southern Indian Ocean, where the missing jet is believed to have crashed.
(AP, 7/28/16)
2016 Aug 1, A Malaysian security law that gives embattled pm Najib Razak sweeping emergency powers came into force, with Amnesty International warning the National Security Council Act could be used to trample on human rights.
(AP, 8/1/16)
2016 Aug 6, In Malaysia Ahmad Syukri Yusuf (22), charged last year with raping a 14-year-old girl, faced a retrial after he avoided prison in July by marrying her. The case has sparked anger from rights groups and calls for a ban on child marriage and justice for victims of sexual violence.
(AP, 8/3/16)(AFP, 8/6/16)
2016 Aug 26, Singapore's air quality deteriorated to unhealthy levels as winds blew smoke from fires on Sumatra, where millions of people are already affected by haze, across the city-state and into southern Malaysia. Six Indonesian provinces have declared states of emergency.
(AP, 8/26/16)
2016 Aug 27, In Malaysia nearly a thousand protesters marched in the heart of the Kuala Lumpur calling for the arrest of an unnamed high-ranking government official who US investigators say received $700 million skimmed from the sovereign state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). The unnamed official is PM Najib Razak, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
(Reuters, 8/27/16)
2016 Sep 1, Malaysia reported its first suspected case of Zika, a 58-year-old woman believed to have contracted it in neighbouring Singapore where more than 100 cases have been confirmed.
(AFP, 9/1/16)
2016 Sep 8, In Malaysia former prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (91) became the founding chairman of the new “Bersatu" (United) political party. Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin, a former UMNO deputy prime minister, founded Bersatu.
(Econ, 9/17/16, p.39)(Econ, 1/7/17, p.31)
2016 Sep 12, A Vietnamese court approved a Malaysian request for the extradition of eight Indonesians suspected of hijacking a Malaysian oil tanker more than a year ago, and rejected a similar request from Indonesia. The eight were arrested in June last year when they arrived on Tho Chu island off Vietnam's southern coast and admitted that they had hijacked the oil tanker MT Orkim Harmony.
(AP, 9/12/16)
2016 Nov 1, China and Malaysia said their navies will cooperate more in the politically sensitive South China Sea in an agreement signed today during a visit by Malaysia's PM Najib Razak, who is seeking stronger ties with Beijing as he tries to offset a financial scandal at home.
(AP, 11/1/16)
2016 Nov 5, In Malaysia several hundred pro-government demonstrators dressed in red shirts protested outside the office of the popular news portal, Malaysiakini, calling for it to be shut down after reports that it received funds from an organization linked to business tycoon George Soros.
(Reuters, 11/5/16)
2016 Nov 5, Two Indonesians were kidnapped from fishing vessels in waters off Malaysia's Sabah state in two separate incidents.
(Reuters, 11/6/16)
2016 Nov 11, Singapore convicted a banker who had handled some of Malaysia’s 1MDB money of forgery and failing to report suspicious transactions. He was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail.
(Econ, 11/19/16, p.33)
2016 Nov 14, Malaysian opposition lawmaker Rafizi Ramli was sentenced to 18 months in jail for releasing one page of a classified document on the 1MDB controversial state investment fund.
(SFC, 11/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Nov 18, Malaysian police raided the office of electoral reform group Bersih and detained two officials on the eve of a street rally by the group seeking PM Najib Razak's resignation over a financial scandal. Police arrested Maria Chin Abdullah, the leader of a coalition of human-rights groups, that organized the event.
(AP, 11/18/16)(Econ, 11/26/16, p.12)
2016 Nov 19, In Malaysia more than 10,000 yellow-shirt protesters rallied in Kuala Lumpur seeking PM Najib Razak's resignation over a financial scandal, undeterred by a police ban and the arrest of 20 people, mostly activists.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 19, Another two Indonesian fishermen were abducted by armed men off Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state on Borneo island, the second such case this month and the latest in a spate of sea attacks.
(AP, 11/20/16)
2016 Nov 26, Malaysian political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque (54), or Zunar as he is popularly known, was arrested under the country's Sedition Act for cartoons that allegedly insulted PM Najib Razak.
(Reuters, 11/26/16)
2016 Nov, In Malaysia Amri Che Mat, a Shi'ite Muslim activist who worked with the poor, disappeared in the northern state of Perlis. In 2019 the country's human rights commission said he was probably abducted by agents of Special Branch, a police intelligence unit.
(Reuters, 4/3/19)
2016 Dec 13, Malaysia and Singapore signed an agreement to build a high-speed railway that would cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and the city-state to just 90 minutes by 2026.
(AP, 12/13/16)
2016 Dec 23, The UN Security Council passed a landmark resolution condemning Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank after the United States refrained from using its veto. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the US, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted. New Zealand, along with Senegal, Venezuela and Malaysia, co-sponsored the UN Security Council resolution.
(Reuters, 12/23/16)(AFP, 12/24/16)(AP, 6/13/17)
2017 Jan 17, Malaysian, Australian and Chinese authorities ended today the deep-sea search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 without any trace being found of the plane that vanished in 2014 with 239 people on board.
(Reuters, 1/17/17)
2017 Jan 23, The bodies of 10 people believed to be Indonesian migrants were found washed ashore in Malaysia not far from a capsized boat. 2 Indonesians were rescued.
(AP, 1/23/17)
2017 Jan 29, Twenty-two people, mostly Chinese tourists, wore life vests and formed a human chain at sea to drift more than 10 hours before they could be rescued off Malaysia's coast after their boat sank in turbulent waters. Three bodies were recovered, and six other people from the boat were missing.
(AP, 1/29/17)
2017 Feb 3, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak dispatched a ship with thousands of tons of food and emergency supplies for Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, but it was unclear where the bulk of the aid would be delivered.
(Reuters, 2/3/17)
2017 Feb 13, In Malaysia Kim Jong Nam (46), the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated at an airport in Kuala Lumpur, telling medical workers before he died en route to a hospital that he had been attacked with a chemical spray. South Korean media said North Korean female agents killed him using poisoned needles. Jong-Nam had reportedly travelled using a fake passport under the name of Kim Chol.
(AP, 2/14/17)(AFP, 2/14/17)
2017 Feb 13, In Malaysia Kim Jong Nam (46), the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated at an airport in Kuala Lumpur, telling medical workers before he died en route to a hospital that he had been attacked with a chemical spray, later identified as the VX nerve agent. South Korean media said North Korean female agents killed him using poisoned needles. Jong-Nam had reportedly travelled using a fake passport under the name of Kim Chol.
(AP, 2/14/17)(AFP, 2/14/17)(Econ, 3/4/17, p.29)
2017 Feb 15, North Korean officials spent hours trying to talk Malaysia out of conducting an autopsy on Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother, who was murdered at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb 13.
(Reuters, 2/15/17)
2017 Feb 16, Malaysian authorities announced two more arrests in the Feb 13 death of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader's half-brother. Siti Aisyah (25) of Indonesia and her boyfriend were arrested as suspects in Nam’s death.
(AP, 2/16/17)
2017 Feb 17, Malaysian police arrested a North Korean man, identified as Ri Jong Chol (b.1970), in connection with the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Malaysia performed a second autopsy on Nam after the first proved inconclusive and a diplomatic spat over his body escalated.
(Reuters, 2/18/17)(SFC, 2/18/17, p.A2)
2017 Feb 17, Indonesia's national police chief said Siti Aisyah, the Indonesian woman arrested for suspected involvement in the killing of the North Korean leader's half-brother in Malaysia, was duped into thinking she was part of a comedy show prank.
(AP, 2/17/17)
2017 Feb 17, North Korea said it would "categorically reject" the post mortem conducted by Malaysia on one of its citizens who died in Kuala Lumpur this week, and demanded that the body of Kim Jong Nam be released immediately.
(Reuters, 2/17/17)
2017 Feb 18, Tens of thousands of Malaysians rallied in Kuala Lumpur to support the adoption of a strict Islamic penal code, a proposal religious minorities fear could infringe their rights.
(Reuters, 2/18/17)
2017 Feb 19, Malaysian police said four North Korean suspects in the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fled Malaysia on the day he was attacked at Kuala Lumpur airport and apparently killed by a fast-acting poison.
(Reuters, 2/19/17)
2017 Feb 24, Malaysian police said sometime in the hours after poisoning Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, one of his two attackers began to vomit. It was apparently an early indication of the immensely powerful toxin that was used in the killing: the chemical warfare agent VX.
(AP, 2/24/17)
2017 Feb 26, Saudi King Salman arrived in Malaysia to kick off a multi-nation tour aimed at boosting economic ties with Asia.
(AP, 2/26/17)
2017 Feb 27, Malaysian PM Najib Razak said that oil major Saudi Aramco will invest $7 billion in a mammoth oil processing hub in Malaysia, making it the single largest investor in the Southeast Asian country.
(AP, 2/27/17)
2017 Feb 27, South Korean police said four of the eight North Koreans, identified as suspects in the Feb 13 assassination of Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia, were agents from North Korea’s Ministry of State Security.
(SFC, 2/28/17, p.A3)
2017 Feb 28, In Malaysia oil giant Saudi Aramco signed a $7 billion deal to take a 50 percent stake in a mega Malaysian oil refinery project, in a pact expected to help Saudi Arabia increase trade in Southeast Asia.
(AP, 2/28/17)
2017 Feb, In Malaysia Pastor Raymond Koh, who ran a charity that helped the underprivileged, was kidnapped by masked men in Kuala Lumpur. In 2019 the country's human rights commission said he was probably abducted by agents of Special Branch, a police intelligence unit.
(Reuters, 4/3/19)
2017 Mar 1, A Malaysian court charged two young women, accused of smearing VX nerve agent on the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, with murder.
(AP, 3/1/17)
2017 Mar 3, Malaysian officials said they have deported Ri Jong Chol, a North Korean man, who was released from custody after police found insufficient evidence to charge him in the Feb 13 murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader.
(AP, 3/3/17)
2017 Mar 4, Malaysia expelled North Korea's ambassador for refusing to apologize for his strong accusations over Malaysia's handling of the investigation into the killing of the North Korean leader's half-brother.
(AP, 3/4/17)
2017 Mar 6, North Korea said it has ordered Malaysia's ambassador out of the country in a tit-for-tat after Malaysia expelled North Korea's envoy over the death of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur's airport.
(AP, 3/6/17)
2017 Mar 7, North Korea closed its borders to Malaysians who want to leave the country, spurring Malaysia to issue a retaliatory order and drawing hundreds of ordinary people into an increasingly bitter diplomatic battle over the killing of an exiled member of North Korea's ruling family. 11 Malaysian citizens were prevented from flying home.
(AP, 3/7/17)(Econ, 3/11/17, p.40)
2017 Mar 9, North Korea guaranteed the safety of Malaysians banned from leaving the country, as two Malaysian UN employees left the isolated state in a possible sign that diplomatic tensions had begun to settle. Nine other Malaysians were believed to still be stuck there after the two countries' diplomatic relations broke down over the Feb 13 killing in Malaysia of the estranged sibling of North Korea's leader.
(Reuters, 3/9/17)(AP, 3/9/17)
2017 Mar 14, Malaysia said that the body of Kim Jong Nam, the brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un killed last month, has been embalmed and that about 50 North Koreans whose work permits have expired will be deported.
(SFC, 3/15/17, p.A3)
2017 Mar 23, In the southern Philippines two Malaysian sailors held captive for eight months were rescued near Pata Island. They were among five tugboat crewmen kidnapped last July off Malaysia’s Sabah state.
(SFC, 3/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Mar 30, Malaysia said it has agreed to release the body of Kim Jong Nam to North Korea in exchange for the return of nine Malaysians held in the North's capital.
(AP, 3/30/17)
2017 Apr 18, Malaysia said 296 North Koreans had surrendered to authorities over the last week, as it enforces new visa requirements following a dispute over the murder of the half-brother of North Korea's leader.
(Reuters, 4/18/17)
2017 Apr 24, Abu Dhabi and Malaysian officials said they reached a deal to resolve a legal dispute over the indebted and troubled Malaysian investment fund 1MDB, with the Abu Dhabi set to receive $1.2 billion over this year.
(AP, 4/24/17)(Econ, 4/29/17, p.30)
2017 May 8, In Malaysia the wife of a Turkish businessman detained in Malaysia last week for alleged terrorism offences made a tearful appeal to the government to release him. Ihsan Aslan was arrested together with another Turkish national, Turgay Karaman, last week under a security law which allows detention without trial for 28 days. Two days later Turkish academic Ismet Ozcelik was also detained. Rights groups feared Malaysia may be responding to pressure from Turkey.
(AFP, 5/8/17)
2017 May 12, Malaysia said it had deported three Turkish men to Ankara over suspected links to a group blamed by Turkey for a failed coup last year. Authorities had detained school principal Turgay Karaman (43), businessman Ihsan Aslan (39) and academic Ismet Ozcelik (58) last week, saying they posed a threat to national security.
(Reuters, 5/12/17)
2017 Jun 3, Malaysia's health ministry defended its decision to host a contest on how to "prevent" homosexuality and transgenderism. It said the contest, titled the National Creative Video Competition on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, was to gather views and enhance knowledge among teens on healthy lifestyle practices.
(Reuters, 6/3/17)
2017 Jun 15, Malaysian customs officials seized nearly 400 kg (880 pounds) of pangolin scales worth 5 million ringgit ($1.2 million) from Ghana.
(AP, 6/16/17)
2017 Jun 22, In Manila security officials from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to closely cooperate to halt the flow of militants, weapons, funds and extremist propaganda across their borders.
(AP, 6/22/17)
2017 Jul 4, Hong Kong customs officials seized more than $9 million worth of ivory in a shipment from Malaysia that had been labeled as frozen fish. Three people at a trading company in Hong Kong were arrested in connection with the shipment.
(AP, 7/6/17)
2017 Jul 14, Malaysian authorities arrested a Vietnamese man and seized a stash of elephant ivory worth almost $70,000.
(AFP, 7/17/17)
2017 Jul 27, In Vietnam Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman spoke at a joint briefing with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh at a joint commission meeting on economic and technological cooperation. Minh said the two countries have agreed to expand cooperation on defense and security to include counterterrorism, fighting pirates and transnational crimes.
(AP, 7/27/17)
2017 Aug 1, In Malaysia activists and authors reacted with outrage after authorities banned "Breaking The Silence: Voices Of Moderation -- Islam In A Constitutional Democracy", a book aimed at promoting moderate Islam, as concerns mounted about growing conservatism.
(AFP, 8/1/17)
2017 Aug 1, The emirate’s sovereign wealth fund said Malaysia's scandal-hit state investment fund 1MDB has missed a payment to Abu Dhabi of over $600 million that it was supposed to make by the end of July to settle debts.
(AFP, 8/1/17)
2017 Aug 7, Malaysia's deputy minister in charge of religious affairs said he is investigating an international atheist organization after a picture of the group's local chapter went viral, sparking claims that Muslim apostates were involved. The Kuala Lumpur chapter of Atheist Republic, a Canada-based organization, posted a picture of the group's members attending a gathering last week, sparking uproar among some Muslims and leading to threats of death and violence against the group on social media.
(Reuters, 8/7/17)
2017 Aug 9, China and Malaysia broke ground on a $13 billion rail project linking peninsular Malaysia's east and west, the largest such project in the country and a major part of Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure push.
(Reuters, 8/9/17)
2017 Aug 30, Malaysian police arrested Hajar Abdul Mubin (aka Abu Asrie), a suspected leader and seven members of the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist group in Kuala Lumpur.
(Reuters, 9/3/17)
2017 Aug 30, Malaysian maritime authorities publicly set fire to a foreign fishing boat for the first time in a move to deter illegal fishing.
(AP, 8/30/17)
2017 Sep 14, In Malaysia 24 people, mostly teenagers, died in a fire at a school dormitory outside Kuala Lumpur.
(SFC, 9/14/17 p.A4)
2017 Sep 16, Malaysian police arrested seven suspects over the last 24 hours accused of intentionally starting the Sept. 14 fire that killed 23 children and teachers at an Islamic school in Kuala Lumpur.
(AFP, 9/16/17)
2017 Oct 7, Malaysian police said four foreigners and four Malaysians have been arrested in the states of Sabah, Selangor and Perak between Sept. 27 and Oct. 6. for suspected involvement in terrorist activities linked to Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State and Jemaah Islamiah.
(Reuters, 10/7/17)
2017 Oct 21, In northwestern Malaysia eleven foreign workers were killed in a landslide at a construction site in George Town, Penang Island.
(Reuters, 10/22/17)
2017 Nov 5, In Malaysia flash floods caused by hours of torrential rain killed at least five people. Military forces deployed to help rescue thousands of displaced people in the northern state of Penang.
(Reuters, 11/5/17)
2017 Nov 30, In Malaysia an inquiry into huge losses by Malaysia's central bank recommended Mahathir Mohamad face a criminal investigation, ahead of polls at which the former premier wants to oust the current government. The final report by the official Royal Commission of Inquiry into the scandal in the 1990s during Mahathir's tenure also recommended Anwar Ibrahim -- finance minister at the time and now a leading opposition figure languishing in jail -- face a criminal probe.
(AFP, 11/30/17)
2017 Dec 21, Switzerland’s financial market regulator said the Swiss division of J.P. Morgan "seriously breached" anti-money laundering rules relating to the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
(AP, 12/21/17)
2017 Dec 22, Malaysian police said they have arrested 20 suspected militants, including 13 foreigners, adding to a list of hundreds detained in recent years accused of having links to terror groups. The suspects were arrested in a counter-terror operation carried out in four states between Nov. 30 and Dec. 15.
(AP, 12/22/17)
2017 Dec 24, In Malaysia a sun bear and tapir were killed in road accidents in the northeast of the country on Christmas Eve, with the tapir skinned by villagers after its carcass was discovered. A second sun bear was killed and cut up, with its parts spotted on the same day sold openly at a market in Sarawak state on Borneo island.
(AFP, 12/28/17)
2017 Dec 30, Malaysia’s Terengganu state officials said they plan to run a conversion therapy course aimed at transgender women, sparking alarm among LGBT activists in the conservative Muslim-majority country.
(AFP, 12/30/17)
2018 Jan 1, In Malaysia an unidentified driver died from injuries inflicted by a faulty Takata air bag inflator, raising the worldwide death toll to 22.
(AP, 1/30/18)
2018 Jan 6, Malaysia's government said that it has approved a new attempt to find the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The US-based company Ocean Infinity dispatched a search vessel this past week to look in the southern Indian Ocean for debris from the plane, which disappeared March 8, 2014.
(AP, 1/6/18)
2018 Jan 7, Malaysia's opposition alliance named former premier Mahathir Mohamad (92) as its prime ministerial candidate for a general election this year. The authoritarian who ran the country for two decades faced an uphill task.
(Reuters, 1/7/18)
2018 Jan 25, Malaysia’s central bank raised its key interest rate for the first time in four years to 3.25 percent from 3 percent, citing a stronger domestic and global economy ahead of general elections due by August.
(AP, 1/25/18)
2018 Jan 29, Malaysia's top court said in a landmark decision that both parents must consent to the religious conversion of a minor, ruling unanimously in favor of a Hindu woman whose ex-husband converted their three children to Islam without telling her.
(AP, 1/29/18)
2018 Feb 12, Malaysian police said three members of a Malaysian family have been detained in the death of their Indonesian maid, who suffered injuries and was forced to sleep outside on a porch with the family's dog. Adelina Lisao (26) had died a day earlier. The alleged maid abuse prompted calls by activists and lawmakers for better laws to safeguard migrant workers.
(AP, 2/12/18)
2018 Feb 21, Malaysian prosecutors charged a 60-year-old woman with murdering Adelina Lisao (28), an Indonesian domestic helper, who was found with bruises on her face and died from her injuries. M.A. Ambika was charged with murder, while her daughter was charged with hiring a foreigner without valid documents.
(Reuters, 2/21/18)
2018 Feb 28, Indonesian authorities seized a luxury yacht sought by US authorities off the tourist island of Bali, with the vessel reportedly linked to a corruption scandal at Malaysia's state investment fund. The Cayman Island-registered vessel Equanimity is reportedly worth some $250 million and is owned by Jho Low, a former unofficial adviser to the Malaysian fund 1MDB.
(AFP, 2/28/18)
2018 Mar 5, Malaysian PM Najib Razak's scandal-haunted government pushed plans for legislation outlawing "fake news" as parliament convened for the last time before an election due by August.
(Reuters, 3/5/18)
2018 Mar 8, In Chile 11 nations signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, dropping tariffs and establishing sweeping new rules in markets representing about a seventh of the world's economy. members included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
(SFC, 3/9/18, p.C5)
2018 Mar 8, In Los Angeles Red Granite Pictures Inc., the production company behind "The Wolf of Wall Street," agreed to pay the US government $60 million to settle claims it benefited from a massive $1 billion Malaysian corruption scandal. Money was diverted from the fund to buy properties in New York and California, a $35 million jet, art by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, and a $260 million yacht. Proceeds also went to fund movies by Red Granite Pictures, which was co-founded by the stepson of Malaysian PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 3/10/18)
2018 Mar 13, Malaysian officials said four heavily armed poachers who targeted wild elephants, have been caught, the second such arrest in less than two years.
(AFP, 3/13/18)
2018 Mar 15, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak announced cash handouts on top of bonuses already paid to staff of the largest government-linked asset management firm, as he prepared for a general election that must be held by August.
(Reuters, 3/15/18)
2018 Mar 21, In Malaysia a sand dredger capsized off the southern coast. Two Chinese sailors were rescued more than 50 hours after the vessel overturned. Three more bodies were also discovered, leaving nine others still missing.
(AP, 3/24/18)
2018 Mar 24, Malaysian authorities said police have arrested seven men with links to the Islamic State militant group who were planning attacks on non-Muslim places of worship and other targets in multiple operations between Feb. 27 and Mar. 15.
(Reuters, 3/24/18)
2018 Mar 28, Malaysia's Parliament approved redrawn electoral boundaries despite protests that the ruling coalition was cheating to ensure victory in the upcoming general election. Embattled PM Najib Razak introduced the new electoral maps, which were approved with 129 lawmakers voting for them and 80 against.
(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Mar, Malaysia's Universiti Sains Malaysia's Muslim Students Association held a forum to "convert" lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
(Reuters, 4/4/18)
2018 Apr 2, Malaysia approved a law against "fake news" that would allow for prison of up to six years for offenders, shrugging off critics who say it was aimed at curbing dissent and free speech ahead of a general election.
(Reuters, 4/2/18)
2018 Apr 3, Malaysian authorities intercepted a boat carrying 56 people believed to be Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar, and brought the vessel and its passengers to shore.
(AP, 4/3/18)
2018 Apr 5, Malaysian authorities ordered former PM Mahathir Mohamad's political party to temporarily disband in a blow to the opposition ahead of expected general elections.
(AP, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 6, Malaysia's scandal-tainted PM Najib Razak announced that Parliament will be dissolved to pave the way for general elections, expected to be held next month.
(AP, 4/6/18)
2018 Apr 12, It was reported that Hassan al-Kontar, a Syrian man, said he has been stranded at the main airport serving the Malaysian capital for over a month after being denied entry to several countries, and begged for help to escape.
(AFP, 4/12/18)
2018 Apr 21, In Malaysia two unidentified men shot dead a Palestinian man in Kuala Lumpur. The victim was soon identified as Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh (35), a "loyal" member and a "scientist of Palestine's youth scholars" and a member of Hamas.
(Reuters, 4/21/18)(AP, 4/21/18)
2018 May 1, Malaysian police intercepted a tanker with 131 Sri Lankans believed bound for Australia and New Zealand, smashing a large human smuggling ring that has been operating for a year.
(AP, 5/6/18)
2018 May 5, A Malaysian official said the ruling party has sacked two powerful former ministers after they openly supported the opposition in the run-up to next week's national election.
(AP, 5/5/18)
2018 May 9, Malaysians flocked to vote in a fiercely contested election pitting an opposition led by former authoritarian leader Mahathir Mohamad against the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Najib Razak. Mahathir Mohamad (92) led opposition parties to their first election victory in six decades.
(AP, 5/9/18)(AP, 5/10/18)
2018 May 10, Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as Malaysia's 7th prime minister in a ceremony before the Southeast Asian country's king after leading opposition parties to a historic election victory.
(AP, 5/10/18)
2018 May 12, Malaysia's new leader, Mahathir Mohamad, said that defeated scandal-tainted PM Najib Razak and his wife have been barred from leaving the country to prevent them from fleeing from possible prosecution over a massive corruption scandal.
(AP, 5/12/18)
2018 May 16, In Malaysia reformist icon Anwar Ibrahim (70) celebrated a "new dawn" for the country after he was given a royal pardon and freed from custody.
(AP, 5/16/18)
2018 May 17, Malaysia's new government stepped up a corruption investigation into a state fund with a seven-hour police search of the home of former PM Najib Razak and the creation of a special committee to accelerate the probe.
(AP, 5/17/18)
2018 May 18, A Malaysian official said former PM Najib Razak has been summoned for questioning in a money-laundering probe involving the 1MDB state investment fund. Police seized 284 boxes of designer handbags and dozens of bags filled with cash and jewelry in the raid on a luxury condominium in the center of Kuala Lumpur linked to Najib.
(AP, 5/18/18)(Reuters, 5/18/18)
2018 May 19, Mongolia's president requested Malaysia's new leaders to find justice for model Altantuya Shaariibu, killed on Oct. 18, 2006, while a fugitive policeman convicted of the crime said he would cooperate with any new probe if he was given a full pardon.
(Reuters, 5/19/18)
2018 May 20, A spokesman for Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak said Razak fears for his safety and has asked for police protection, a day after the ex-leader complained over the conduct of police searching properties for evidence of corruption.
(Reuters, 5/20/18)
2018 May 22, Malaysian officials said the government of ousted PM Najib Razak deceived parliament over the finances of state fund 1MDB and suppressed an investigation by intimidating and purging anti-corruption agents.
(Reuters, 5/22/18)
2018 May 22, Malaysia made its largest ever seizure of crystal methamphetamine, finding nearly 1.2 tons of the drug disguised as tea in a shipment from Myanmar. Three Myanmar nationals and three Malaysians were arrested during the operation.
(Reuters, 5/28/18)
2018 May 24, Dutch prosecutors said a detailed analysis of video and photos by an international team of investigators has unequivocally established that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago came from a Russia-based military unit in Kurst. Russia's military denied that any Russian missile complex had ever crossed the border between Russia and Ukraine.
(AP, 5/24/18)(Reuters, 5/24/18)
2018 May 25, Malaysian police said the cash stashed in bags at an apartment linked to former PM Najib Razak and seized in a money-laundering investigation amounted to 114 million ringgit ($28.6 million).
(AP, 5/25/18)
2018 May 25, The Netherlands and Australia announced they were holding Moscow legally responsible for its role in the July 17, 2014, missile attack and downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine nearly four years ago.
(AP, 5/25/18)
2018 May 28, New Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad said that a planned high-speed railway that would cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes will be axed because it isn't beneficial.
(AP, 5/28/18)
2018 May 30, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad said that his country regrets having to end the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, nearly four years after the plane went missing, and will consider resuming the hunt for the plane if any new information emerges.
(AP, 5/30/18)
2018 May 30, Malaysia said it has set up a fund for members of the public to donate cash to help the new government repay its hefty national debt, providing a bank account number for deposits. Malaysia's debts and liabilities were estimated at 1 trillion ringgit ($250.8 billion) or 80 percent of GDP.
(Reuters, 5/30/18)
2018 May 31, Indian PM Narendra Modi held talks with new Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad in a brief visit aimed at bolstering bilateral ties.
(AP, 5/31/18)
2018 Jun 1, The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said it has dropped a long-running territorial dispute between Malaysia and Singapore by mutual consent. The court said Malaysia this week notified it of its intent to drop its claim to Pedra Branca island, near the opening of the Straits of Singapore.
(Reuters, 6/1/18)
2018 Jun 5, Malaysia's government appointed distinguished lawyer Tommy Thomas as attorney-general, making him the first person from outside the Malay majority to hold the powerful position in more than half a century.
(AP, 6/5/18)
2018 Jun 5, In Malaysia anti-corruption investigators questioned the wife of former PM Najib Razak about alleged theft and money-laundering involving the 1MDB state investment fund, as officials announced a probe into other suspicious multibillion-dollar transactions under Najib's leadership.
(AP, 6/5/18)
2018 Jun 6, Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad announced that Muhammad Ibrahim, a Harvard-educated banker who had been at the central bank over three decades, had submitted his resignation. This came after the bank admitted to buying land from Najib's regime in Kuala Lumpur in late 2017 for about two billion ringgit ($500 million), with the finance ministry saying the cash was used to service the debts of 1MDB.
(AP, 6/6/18)
2018 Jun 14, EU negotiators agreed to phase out the use of palm oil in transport fuels from 2030, setting up a clash with producer countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
(Reuters, 6/14/18)
2018 Jun 21, Malaysia said it will not cancel a skyscraper project billed as the tallest in Southeast Asia, even though 3 billion ringgit ($747 million) from the venture has been misappropriated by the 1MDB state fund linked to former premier Najib Razak.
(AP, 6/21/18)
2018 Jun 27, Police in Malaysia said the total value of cash, jewelry, watches and handbags seized from properties linked to former PM Najib Razak in a money-laundering investigation amounted to at least $273 million.
(AP, 6/27/18)
2018 Jul 2, A Malaysian task force said more than 400 bank accounts have been frozen as part of a probe into a multi-billion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB. Riza Aziz, the stepson of former prime minister Najib Razak, was summoned for questioning.
(Reuters, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 2, Malaysian authorities said they are investigating the marriage between an 11-year-old Thai girl and a 41-year-old Malaysian Muslim, including elements of possible "sexual grooming" in the case.
(AP, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 2, Twenty-five people, including a woman, were rescued after the boat, believed to be carrying 44 illegal immigrants, sank early today off Malaysia's southern coast. 18 people were missing after the boat carrying migrants from Indonesia capsized, killing one woman.
(Reuters, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 3, Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak was arrested in a stunning fall from grace following a shock election loss in May amid allegations of massive corruption and misappropriation at a state fund he founded.
(Reuters, 7/3/18)
2018 Jul 4, In Malaysia former PM Najib Razak was charged with abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in an investigation over billions of dollars missing from the 1MDB state fund.
(Reuters, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 11, Malaysian police said fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, a suspect in the looting of the state investment fund 1MDB, has fled Macau to an unknown destination.
(AP, 7/11/18)
2018 Jul 15, In Malaysia Manny Pacquiao (39) of the Philippines won a seventh-round knockout of Lucas Matthysse of Argentina to claim the World Boxing Association welterweight title.
(AP, 7/15/18)
2018 Aug 5, Malaysian political leader Anwar Ibrahim won the presidency of the People's Justice Party (PKR), becoming next in line to take over as prime minister when current premier Mahathir Mohamad steps down.
(Reuters, 8/5/18)
2018 Aug 5, In Malaysia a gang of thieves stole about 50 kg of narcotics, ketamine and heroin, from a customs storage facility. Police soon arrested two customs officers and three other suspects following the heist.
(Reuters, 8/6/18)
2018 Aug 5, An Indonesian police official said a luxury yacht allegedly bought with funds stolen from a Malaysian state investment company is being returned to Malaysia after a months long legal battle. Malaysian financier Jho Low, who the US Justice Department alleges was a key figure in the theft and international laundering of $4.5 billion from 1MDB, protested the handover of the yacht.
(AP, 8/5/18)
2018 Aug 6, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad thanked Indonesia's government and President Joko Widodo for returning the $250 million yacht, Equanimity, which was seized by Indonesia off Bali in February in cooperation with the US FBI.
(AP, 8/6/18)
2018 Aug 8, Malaysia's former PM Najib Razak (65) pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges slapped on him, as the country's new government looked for answers to how billions of dollars went missing from a state fund 1MDB during his term.
(Reuters, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 8, Malaysia's minister of Islamic affairs said he had ordered the removal of portraits of two lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists from a public photography exhibition, as they promoted LGBT activities.
(Reuters, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 12, Malaysian media said two women have been charged under Islamic laws forbidding lesbian sex at the Shariah High Court in Terengganu, a conservative state ruled by the Islamist opposition party Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS). They were sentenced to six strokes by caning for having sex and fined 3,300 ringgit ($806).
(Reuters, 8/14/18)
2018 Aug 13, Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said he is looking to cancel multibillion-dollar Chinese-backed infrastructure projects signed by the previous scandal-tainted government as the country digs itself out of debt.
(AP, 8/13/18)
2018 Aug 16, Malaysia's new government repealed a widely criticized law prohibiting "fake news," in a move hailed as a landmark moment for human rights by a group of Southeast Asian lawmakers.
(AP, 8/16/18)
2018 Aug 18, In China Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad courted Chinese e-commerce investment in his country at the start of his first trip to China since his stunning electoral victory three months ago.
(AP, 8/18/18)
2018 Aug 20, In China Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said that he hoped China would sympathize with his country's fiscal problems as he met with the country's leaders after suspending multibillion-dollar construction projects financed by Chinese loans.
(AP, 8/20/18)
2018 Aug 21, In China Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad told reporters on the final day of a visit to Beijing told reporters that multibillion-dollar China-financed projects in Malaysia have been canceled because they aren't needed and will saddle the country with an unsustainable amount of debt.
(AP, 8/21/18)
2018 Aug 30, A Malaysian amnesty program for illegal immigrants that began in 2016 ended today and the Philippine government advised Filipinos, especially those without immigration permits, to expect a crackdown as early as tomorrow.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Sep 3, In Malaysia two Muslim women convicted under Islamic laws of attempting to have sex were caned in a rare public whipping that was slammed by lawmakers and rights activists as a form of torture. The women, aged 22 and 32, were seated on stools facing the judges and given six strokes from a light rattan cane on their backs by female prison officers.
(AP, 9/3/18)
2018 Sep 13, In Malaysia Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, top lawyer for former PM Najib Razak, was charged with receiving 9.5 million ringgit ($2.3 million) in ill-gotten wealth from his client, who is himself accused of money laundering and corruption.
(AP, 9/13/18)
2018 Sep 19, Malaysia's former PM Najib Razak was arrested and will face further charges of abuse of power over the multimillion-dollar looting of a state investment fund.
(AP, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 19, Malaysian officials said police are investigating a case of alcohol poisoning that killed at least 21 people, with dozens more hospitalized, most of them citizens of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Nepal.
(Reuters, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 20, Malaysian prosecutors charged former PM Najib Razak with 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of abuse of power over hundreds of millions of dollars received in his personal bank account. The charges bring the total number against Najib to 32 as investigators ramp up a probe into how billions went missing from scandal-plagued 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund.
(Reuters, 9/20/18)
2018 Oct 3, Malaysia's anti-graft agency said that Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former PM Najib Razak, has been arrested and will face money laundering charges in a graft scandal involving the 1MDB state investment fund.
(AP, 10/3/18)
2018 Oct 6, Malaysian police said that eight suspected militants, including seven foreigners, have been arrested for allegedly spreading religious extremism that could threaten national security and fan terrorism in the region.
(AP, 10/6/18)
2018 Oct 9, Malaysia freed from detention 11 ethnic Uighur Muslims who fled to the southeast Asian nation after a Thai jailbreak last year, and sent them to Turkey, in disregard of China's request to hand them to Beijing.
(Reuters, 10/11/18)
2018 Oct 11, Malaysia's new government said it will abolish the death penalty for all crimes and halt all pending executions.
(AP, 10/11/18)
2018 Oct 13, Charismatic Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim won a by-election for a parliamentary seat with a landslide victory in a grand political comeback to help him prepare for his eventual takeover from PM Mahathir Mohamad.
(AP, 10/13/18)
2018 Oct 18, Malaysia's anti-graft agency said it has detained former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in a case linked to misappropriation of funds in a welfare group.
(AP, 10/18/18)
2018 Oct 18, In Malaysia John William Jones (63), a British citizen, was found stabbed to death at his resort home. In 2020 his wife Samantha Jones (51) was sentenced to 42 months in jail after pleading guilty to culpable homicide.
(SFC, 8/4/20, p.A2)
2018 Oct 19, Malaysia's former deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, was charged with abuse of power, corruption and money laundering involving millions of dollars in another graft investigation against leaders ousted in elections earlier this year.
(AP, 10/19/18)
2018 Oct 24, In Thailand Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad met with PM Prayuth Chan-ocha and discussed peace talks in Thailand's southern border provinces.
(AP, 10/24/18)
2018 Nov 1, The US Justice Department charged fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, in a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions of dollars from a Malaysian investment fund created to promote economic development projects in that country. Also charged was a Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner, who pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and to conspiring to violating foreign bribery laws.
(AP, 11/1/18)
2018 Nov 5, In Malaysia Musa Aman (67), former leader of resource-rich Sabah state, was detained by the anti-graft agency before being taken to court. He pleaded not guilty to 35 counts of corruption for allegedly receiving a total of $63.3 million in Hong Kong and Singapore through proxies between 2004 and 2008 in exchange for timber contracts.
(AP, 11/5/18)
2018 Nov 13, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamed sharply criticized Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for her handling of an ethnic crisis that led to mass killings and the exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from her country.
(AP, 11/13/18)
2018 Nov 14, Malaysia's anti-graft agency said the wife of ex-PM Najib Razak will face new corruption charges, along with two former government officials and a businessman.
(AP, 11/14/18)
2018 Nov 20, Malaysian police detained two women and two men from Finland at their hotel after police received complaints about their distributing Christian materials at public places. He said police seized 47 pens with Bible verses and 336 notebooks containing texts from the Bible.
(AP, 11/21/18)
2018 Nov 20, FIFA Ethics Committee judge Sundra Rajoo was arrested on suspicion of corruption in his native Malaysia. He was held overnight, but released after a court accepted his representatives' arguments that he effectively has diplomatic immunity due to his high-profile legal roles. Rajoo resigned the next day from his position with the arbitration service.
(AP, 11/21/18)
2018 Nov 24, Malaysian authorities said office of former Malaysian premier Najib Razak ordered changes to a 2016 audit report of scandal-plagued state fund 1MDB, including removing mention of financier Low Taek Jho's presence at a board meeting.
(Reuters, 11/25/18)
2018 Nov 26, In Malaysia 21 people were arrested over rioting that broke out amid a dispute over the relocation of an Indian temple outside Kuala Lumpur. 12 people were reported injured, one critically.
(AP, 11/27/18)
2018 Nov 27, In Malaysia four Finnish tourists, arrested last week for distributing Christian materials in public places on a resort island, were deported home.
(AP, 11/28/18)
2018 Nov 27, In Malaysia four Finnish tourists, arrested last week for distributing Christian materials in public places on a resort island, were deported home.
(AP, 11/28/18)
2018 Nov 30, George Higginbotham, a former Justice Department official, admitted his role in a multimillion-dollar effort to try to get the United States to drop its investigation into a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions from a Malaysian investment fund.
(AP, 12/1/18)
2018 Dec 1, Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik (53), wanted in his home country of India, said he has not broken any Indian law and was being targeted by the "enemies of Islam," in a rare public speech in Malaysia where he has sought refuge. Naik faced charges in India of money laundering and hate speech.
(Reuters, 12/2/18)
2018 Dec 4, Singapore said it has lodged a "strong protest" with Malaysia over its plan to extend the limits of a port in Malaysia's southern-most state, saying it encroached into the territorial waters of the city-state.
(Reuters, 12/4/18)
2018 Dec 8, In Malaysia tens of thousands of Muslims rallied in Kuala Lumpur against any attempt to strip the ethnic Malay majority of its privileges, in the first massive street gathering since PM Mahathir Mohamad's alliance won a historic vote in May.
(AP, 12/8/18)
2018 Dec 17, Malaysia filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two former executives for their role in the alleged multibillion-dollar ransacking of state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 12/17/18)
2019 Jan 6, Malaysian King Sultan Muhammad V (49) abdicated in an unexpected move, after just two years on the throne.
(AP, 1/6/19)
2019 Jan 12, Malaysia's Pahang state announced it had a new sultan, who is expected to be elected king after the former monarch abdicated following his reported marriage to a Russian former beauty queen. Tengku Abdullah Shah (59) replaced his father, Sultan Ahmad Shah.
(AFP, 1/12/19)
2019 Jan 14, Singapore's foreign minister warned of "consequences" if neighboring Malaysia continues to escalate a dispute over waters claimed by the city state.
(AP, 1/14/19)
2019 Jan 16, It was reported that Malaysia has imposed a ban on Israelis participating in any event hosted by the Southeast Asian nation after barring athletes from attending the World Para Swimming championships in July. Malaysia's cabinet had decided on the measure last week.
(Reuters, 1/16/19)
2019 Jan 18, It was reported that Malaysia has filed a lawsuit against opposition-run Kelantan state for infringing on the indigenous Temiar tribe's land rights by handing out licenses to plantation companies to cut down timber, the first such action by a sitting government.
(Reuters, 1/18/19)
2019 Jan 24, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of central Pahang state was named Malaysia's new king.
(AP, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 24, In Malaysia Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian woman jointly accused of killing the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, won an appeal to obtain witness statements given to police as part of her defense.
(AP, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 28, Malaysian prosecutors charged former prime minister Najib Razak with three more counts of money laundering, allegedly receiving the proceeds of illegal activities in his personal bank accounts.
(Reuters, 1/28/19)
2019 Feb 12, A wildlife monitoring group said Malaysian authorities have seized a record 30 tons of pangolin and pangolin products in eastern Sabah state on Borneo, the biggest such bust in the country.
(AP, 2/12/19)
2018 Feb, Adelina Sau (21), an Indonesian maid, died after being found outside her employer's home on the northern Malaysian island of Penang, with her head and face swollen and covered in wounds. Her employer, S. Ambika, was charged with murder. In April, 2019, the High Court in Penang dropped the murder charge against her without saying why.
(AFP, 4/22/19)
2019 Mar 1, In Malaysia a new ruling coalition, the Perikatan Nasional (national alliance), was sworn in under Muhyiddin Yassin.
(Econ., 3/7/20, p.32)
2019 Mar 1, In Malaysia more 34 Muslim Rohingya women and children were found stranded along a beach in northern Perlis state, and were believed to have been dropped off by human traffickers.
(AP, 3/1/19)
2019 Mar 7, In Malaysia Mujahid Yusof Rawa, the minister in charge of religious affairs, said the Islamic Affairs Department had set up a unit to monitor writings and communications insulting Islam and Muhammad.
(Reuters, 3/9/19)
2019 Mar 7, Malaysian officials said 35 people, mostly students, have been treated for poisoning after a suspected chemical leak near two schools in Johor state.
(Reuters, 3/7/19)
2019 Mar 8, In the Philippines Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad met with Filipino Muslim rebel leader Murad Ebrahim, who has become a regional governor under a Malaysian-brokered peace deal.
(AP, 3/8/19)
2019 Mar 9, Malaysian police said a was sentenced to more than 10 years' jail and three others were charged over insults against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on social media.
(Reuters, 3/9/19)
2019 Mar 9, A Malaysian minister decried the presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups at a march celebrating International Women's Day, calling it "a misuse of democratic space".
(Reuters, 3/10/19)
2019 Mar 10, Malaysian police said that six Egyptians and a Tunisian man believed to be linked to an African-based terror group have been detained and deported.
(AP, 3/10/19)
2019 Mar 11, In Malaysia Indonesian Siti Aisyah, one of two women accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother by smearing VX nerve agent on his face, was freed after two years of detention when prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against her.
(AP, 3/11/19)
2019 Mar 12, Malaysia suspended all Boeing 737 Max 8 flights in and out of the country following two recent fatal crashes.
(AP, 3/12/19)
2019 Mar 13, Malaysia's government backtracked on an earlier plan to abolish capital punishment for all crimes, saying the death penalty stays but will no longer be mandatory for selected offences.
(AP, 3/13/19)
2019 Mar 13, Malaysia's government ordered 34 schools in southern Johor state to close after toxic waste illegally dumped into a river sickened scores of students and teachers.
(AP, 3/13/19)
2019 Mar 14, Malaysian prosecutors said the attorney-general has ordered the murder case to proceed against Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese woman accused in the killing of the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader.
(AP, 3/14/19)
2019 Mar 14, Malaysia ordered 111 schools to close as more than 200 children, teachers and others were taken to hospital after breathing in chemical fumes, but PM Mahathir Mohamad said he believed the poisoning crisis was under control.
(Reuters, 3/14/19)
2019 Mar 27, A report released today found gaps in the investigation and possible obstruction of justice in Malaysia's 2015 discovery of mass graves believed to be of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis held in trafficking camps in a hilly jungle area on its border with Thailand. The report said Malaysian authorities were aware of the human trafficking camps more than four months before they were announced publicly.
(AP, 3/27/19)
2019 Apr 1, A Malaysian court dropped the murder charge against Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, the only suspect still in custody for the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. She pleaded guilty to a lesser offense and was expected to be released soon.
(AP, 4/1/19)
2019 Apr 3, Malaysia's government said that the luxury yacht "Equanimity," allegedly bought with money stolen from a troubled state investment fund, will be sold to casino operator Genting Berhad for $126 million, half its original price. US investigators say the $250 million yacht was bought with funds diverted from the 1MDB fund by fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.
(AP, 4/3/19)
2019 Apr 6, Malaysia and Singapore reached an agreement to end their months-long airspace dispute. Under the deal, Singapore will halt instrument landing system procedures at its Seletar Airport, while Malaysia will open up a restricted area near the countries' border.
(AP, 4/6/19)
2019 Apr 8, Malaysian police said that 41 Muslim Rohingya men and boys have been detained in the northernmost state of Perlis, the second group to land in the country in just over a month, and that some 200 others are still believed to be at sea.
(AP, 4/8/19)
2019 Apr 12, Malaysia's government said it has decided to resume a China-backed rail link project, after the Chinese contractor agreed to cut the construction cost by one-third.
(AP, 4/12/19)
2019 Apr 13, Malaysia's ruling coalition lost a state constituency in a by-election in a further sign of declining public support for PM Mahathir Mohamad's alliance.
(Reuters, 4/13/19)
2019 Apr 15, Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said a Chinese company building a rail link across the Southeast Asian nation will jointly help to manage and operate the network, part of revised deal that will get the stalled project off the ground at a lower cost and ease strained relations.
(AP, 4/15/19)
2019 Apr 15, In Malaysia two Vietnamese men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested by a wildlife enforcement team in a national park in eastern Terengganu state. Authorities seized body parts from tigers and bears from the suspected poachers.
(AFP, 4/16/19)
2019 Apr 17, Malaysia began a public inquiry into the discovery of mass graves and suspected human trafficking camps in the jungles near its border with Thailand, which prompted a regional crisis in 2015, and accusations over obstruction of justice.
(Reuters, 4/17/19)
2019 Apr 30, Malaysia destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products estimated to be worth 13.26 million ringgit ($3.2 million) as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. The ivory was confiscated in 15 raids between 2011 and 2017.
(AP, 4/30/19)
2019 May 3, Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese woman who was tried in the 2017 killing of the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader was released from a Malaysian prison and flew back to Hanoi.
(AP, 5/3/19)
2019 May 3, Singapore police said that $26 million in 1MDB-related funds was in the process of being returned to Malaysia, the latest tranche in $176 million in cash and properties seized by the city-state relating to the scandal. Sources said US authorities will this month return $200 million stolen from Malaysia's state fund 1MDB, including money from a stake in a luxury New York hotel and from a Hollywood movie producer.
(Reuters, 5/3/19)
2019 May 6, Malaysia's attorney general said former Goldman Sachs executive Roger Ng has been temporarily extradited to the US to face criminal charges linked to the alleged multibillion-dollar ransacking of state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 5/06/19)
2019 May 7, Malaysia's attorney general said that the US will return $196 million recovered from seized assets linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund, part of which has already been repatriated.
(AP, 5/07/19)
2019 May 13, Malaysian police said they detained four men last week who were planning to assassinate 'high-profile targets" and bomb places of worship and entertainment centers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 5/13/19)
2019 May 13, In Malaysia a teenager (16) reportedly jumped to her death in eastern Sarawak state after asking her Instagram followers to vote on whether she should kill herself.
(AFP, 5/15/19)
2019 May 23, Malaysian police raided the Kuala Lumpur office of audit firm Deloitte as part of a widening probe into a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.
(Reuters, 5/23/19)
2019 May 27, Malaysia's last surviving male Sumatran rhino died, leaving behind only one female in the country and pushing the critically-endangered species closer to extinction.
(AFP, 5/27/19)
2019 May 28, Malaysia’s Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said his country will send back some 3,000 metric tons (3,300 tons) of non-recyclable plastic waste to countries such as the US, UK, Canada and Australia in a move to avoid becoming a dumping ground for rich nations.
(AP, 5/28/19)
2019 May 30, Speaking at a conference in Tokyo Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamad said his country will continue using Huawei products "as much as possible," bucking a global trend prompted by security concerns and a US ban on the Chinese firm.
(AFP, 5/30/19)
2019 Jun 18, Filipino kidnap-for-ransom gangs raided two fishing boats and abducted 10 crew members in Malaysian waters off Borneo island.
(AP, 6/18/19)
2019 Jun 20, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad rejected the implication that Russia may have been involved in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, after international prosecutors charged with murder four men in the July 17, 2014, missile attack that killed all 298 people aboard.
(AP, 6/20/19)
2019 Jun 20, Malaysia authorities arrested four Indians and seized more than 14 kg of drugs and 5,255 turtles from their luggage at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The red-ear slider baby turtles were kept in small baskets from the luggage of two Indian nationals who flew in from Guangzhou, China.
(AP, 6/26/19)
2019 Jun 22, Malaysia said the perpetrators of violence against Myanmar's Rohingya minority must "be brought to justice", in sharp comments delivered at a normally tame (ASEAN) regional summit.
(AFP, 6/22/19)
2019 Jun 24, Malaysia ordered 475 schools and kindergartens to close until June 27, after dozens of people were hospitalized with symptoms suggesting they breathed toxic fumes, possibly from industrial waste, the second such incident this year.
(Reuters, 6/25/19)
2019 Jul 13, Local media reported that Malaysia has seized more than 1 billion ringgit ($243.25 million) from a bank account of state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Ltd (CPP).
(Reuters, 7/14/19)
2019 Aug 4, In Malaysia Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin (15) was reported missing from her room, a day after her family arrived at the hill resort near the town of Seremban. On August 13 her unclothed body was reported found near a stream about 2.5 km (1.6 miles) from the resort. Police said missing Nora Quoirin likely starved to death after spending a week in the Malaysian jungle on her own. On Jan 4, 2020, a coroner ruled that her death was most likely a “misadventure" and there was no criminal involvement.
(Reuters, 8/6/19)(Reuters, 8/13/19)(The Telegraph, 8/15/19)(The Telegraph, 1/4/21)
2019 Aug 9, Malaysia filed criminal charges against 17 current and former directors at subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Group Inc following an investigation into a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal that led to the demise of state fund 1MDB.
(Reuters, 8/9/19)
2019 Aug 23, UN special rapporteur Philip Alston challenged Malaysia's claim to have nearly ended poverty, saying there was "significant poverty" with an estimated one in six people in the Southeast Asian country considered poor.
(AP, 8/23/19)
2019 Aug 29, Malaysia deported Turkish asylum seeker Arif Komis, registered with the UN, along with his family, after police said he should not be in the country.
(Reuters, 8/30/19)
2019 Sep 6, In Malaysia religious authorities in Selangor state denounced Shi'ite Islam and asked mosques to call in sermons on their congregations to be vigilant over the spread of the "deviant teachings" of the Shi'ite sect.
(Reuters, 9/6/19)
2019 Sep 12, A conservation expert in Malaysia said soaring Chinese demand for the stinky durian fruit is turning into the next big threat to Malaysia's depleted rainforest.
(Reuters, 9/12/19)
2019 Sep 13, Indonesia's environment minister said some forest fires in its territory had started on land used by subsidiaries of Malaysian companies, as the two neighbors traded blame for blazes that have spread haze across the region.
(Reuters, 9/13/19)
2019 Sep 14, Malaysia's two oldest political parties signed a charter of formal cooperation, presenting arguably the largest political platform for the majority Malay-Muslims at a time of simmering racial and religious tensions.
(Reuters, 9/14/19)
2019 Oct 20, United International Pictures said DreamWorks' animated movie "Abominable" will not be released in Malaysia after its producers declined to meet a censor board requirement to cut a scene showing China's "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea.
(Reuters, 10/20/19)
2019 Oct 21, India's top vegetable oil trade body asked its members to stop buying palm oil from Malaysia, an unprecedented call aimed at helping New Delhi punish the country for criticising India over its policy towards Kashmir.
(Reuters, 10/21/19)
2019 Nov 9, Cambodian opposition veteran Sam Rainsy (70) flew into Malaysia and told supporters to "keep up the hope" after promising to return home from self-imposed exile to rally opponents of authoritarian ruler Hun Sen (67).
(Reuters, 11/9/19)
2019 Nov 10, Cambodia's self-exiled opposition veteran Sam Rainsy, speaking in Malaysia, said he would help organize protests against authoritarian ruler Hun Sen to build on growing international pressure for change in his home country.
(Reuters, 11/10/19)
2019 Nov 11, The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded Malaysia's air safety rating, restricting the country's airlines from adding new flights to the United States.
(Reuters, 11/11/19)
2019 Nov 16, Malaysia's ruling coalition lost its fourth electoral contest since coming to power last May, uncovering deepening cracks in the young alliance mired by uncertainty over a succession plan for its top leadership.
(Reuters, 11/16/19)
2019 Nov 23, The last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia, a female rhino named Iman, died. This left the smallest species of rhino, which once roamed across Asia, surviving in small numbers mostly in Indonesia. The Sumatran rhino was declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015. Malaysia's last male Sumatran rhino died in May this year.
(Reuters, 11/23/19)
2019 Dec 5, The Silvana III, an oil tanker managed by a Chinese company under US sanctions, anchored off Kuala Kurau on Malaysia's west coast. It did not follow instructions to drop its ladder to allow maritime authorities to conduct checks. After several attempts to instruct the ship to drop ladder were not heeded, the ship lifted anchor and left the location.
(Reuters, 12/11/19)
2019 Dec 6, A three-month-old Malaysian infant was diagnosed with polio, the first case reported in the country in nearly three decades.
(Reuters, 12/8/19)
2019 Dec 14, Speaking at a conference in the Qatar Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said US economic sanctions against Iran are illegal and Malaysia does not support them.
(Bloomberg, 12/14/19)
2019 Dec 18, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad said a three day Islamic conference beginning tomorrow is aimed at tackling Islamophobia and finding solutions to challenges facing the Muslim world. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived for the Kuala Lumpur Summit, which will also include the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a high-level delegation from Indonesia and Islamic scholars.
(AP, 12/18/19)
2019 Dec 19, Speaking in Malaysia the president of sanctions-hit Iran called for Muslim countries to cooperate in fighting US "economic terrorism" at the opening of a summit aimed at tackling the Islamic world's woes. Pres. Rouhani also said his country's nuclear experts are testing a new type of advanced centrifuges.
(AFP, 12/19/19)(AP, 12/19/19)
2020 Jan 8, Audio clips revealed by Malaysian anti-graft officials indicated that former PM Najib Razak allegedly sought help from the United Arab Emirates' crown prince to fake evidence to cover up for the 1MDB scandal.
(Reuters, 1/8/20)
2020 Jan 20, France and Malaysia said Malaysia has shipped 43 illegal plastic waste containers back to France as part of a crackdown on illegal trafficking of waste.
(Reuters, 1/20/20)
2020 Feb 15, Malaysia said an 83-year-old American passenger on the Westerdam cruise ship that docked in Cambodia has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The woman had taken a flight to Malaysia a day earlier from Cambodia.
(Reuters, 2/15/20)
2020 Feb 24, Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah accepted PM Mahathir Mohamad's shocking resignation but reappointed him as interim leader following the collapse of the ruling alliance in a major political upheaval less than two years after its historic election victory.
(AP, 2/24/20)
2020 Feb 29, Malay nationalist Muhyiddin Yassin (72) heard news that the king had picked him as prime minister over Mahathir Mohamad (94), the outspoken leader who has dominated Malaysian politics for decades. Most of Bersatu and a faction of the PKR jumped ship, siding with UMNO and an Islamic party, PAS, to form a new government with Muhyiddin Yassin of Bersatu as its head.
(Reuters, 3/1/20)(Econ., 9/26/20, p.40)
2020 Mar 1, Malaysia arrested a man (35) and started investigating three others for social media posts that insult the king and threaten public order.
(AP, 3/1/20)
2020 Mar 2, Malaysia's new prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin said his government will focus on efforts stamp out corruption and abuse of power.
(Reuters, 3/2/20)
2020 Mar 14, Malaysia reported 41 new infections, the biggest one-day jump so far, for a total of 238. The new cases bring the total number of infected people in the country to 238.
(Reuters, 3/14/20)
2020 Mar 15, Malaysia confirmed 190 new coronavirus cases, pushing its overall total to 428, the most in Southeast Asia.
(Bloomberg, 3/15/20)
2020 Mar 16, Malaysia reported a daily jump of 125 cases to 553. 338 of Malaysia's cases have been linked to the religious gathering at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur between Feb. 28 and March 1. PM Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia it will shut its borders to travelers, restrict internal movement, close schools and universities and order most businesses to shut after its number of coronavirus cases climbed to the highest in Southeast Asia.
(Reuters, 3/16/20)
2020 Mar 18, Malaysia warned of "a tsunami" of cases if people did not follow new restrictions as infections surged across Southeast Asia.
(Reuters, 3/18/20)
2020 Mar 21, Malaysia's Health Ministry reported five more deaths and 153 new infections. Coronavirus cases jumped to 1,183 with eight deaths. Officials warned of a spike next week as they track down people who attended a large religious gathering linked to most of the cases.
(Reuters, 3/21/20)
2020 Apr 4, Malaysia reported 150 new coronavirus cases, including four deaths. That took the country's total to 3,483 confirmed infections and 57 deaths.
(Reuters, 4/4/20)
2020 Apr 5, Malaysia reported 179 new coronavirus cases, raising the cumulative total to 3,662. The new cases included 4 deaths, raising the tally to 61 people as of noon.
(Reuters, 4/5/20)
2020 Apr 11, Malaysian health authorities reported 184 additional confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, raising the cumulative tally to 4,530. The latest data included 3 new deaths, raising total fatalities from the outbreak to 73.
(Reuters, 4/11/20)
2020 Apr 12, Malaysia's health ministry reported 153 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, raising the cumulative total to 4,683. The data included three new deaths, raising the total number of fatalities from the outbreak to 76.
(Reuters, 4/12/20)
2020 Apr 13, Malaysian health authorities reported 134 new coronavirus cases, raising the cumulative total to 4,817. One new death was also reported bringing total fatalities to 77.
(Reuters, 4/13/20)
2020 Apr 16, Malaysian authorities turned back a boat carrying some 200 Rohingya refugees.
(SFC, 4/18/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 18, Malaysia reported 54 new coronavirus cases, the lowest daily increase since the government imposed curbs on movement and business on March 18, taking the cumulative total to 5,305. The health ministry also reported 2 new deaths, bringing total fatalities to 88.
(Reuters, 4/18/20)
2020 Apr 19, Malaysian media reported that Sabah, the largest palm oil producing state, has temporarily halted palm operations in one area after 11 coronavirus cases were found there. Malaysia reported a total of 5,305 positive coronavirus cases, 88 of whom have died.
(Reuters, 4/19/20)
2020 May 1, Malaysia detained hundreds of refugees and migrant workers for illegally living in the country. Malaysia has reported a total of 6,071 coronavirus cases and 103 deaths.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 2, In Malaysia senior Minister Ismail Sabri defended the detention of more than 580 immigrants in an operation in Kuala Lumpur. He said all tested negative for the coronavirus and have been sent to detention camps. Malaysia has 6,176 virus cases and 103 deaths.
(SSFC, 5/3/20, p.A5)
2020 May 4, Thousands of Malaysians joined the morning rush hour as the government eased curbs on movement and businesses for the first time in six weeks.
(Reuters, 5/4/20)
2020 May 4, Malaysia criticized the World Health Organization for advising adults to avoid palm oil in their diet during the COVID-19 outbreak and use alternatives such as olive oil.
(Reuters, 5/4/20)
2020 May 16, Malaysian reported 17 new coronavirus cases, bringing the cumulative total to 6,872. Health authorities there reported one new death, with total fatalities at 113.
(Reuters, 5/16/20)
2020 Jun 8, Malaysian authorities detained 269 Rohingya refugees and found a body on board a suspected smuggling boat they said had been intentionally damaged so it could not be turned back to sea.
(SFC, 6/10/20, p.A2)
2020 Jul 13, Malaysia's PM Muhyiddin Yassin secured a parliamentary majority (111-109) in favor of changing the speaker of the lower house. This meant that a no-confidence vote filed in May would likely not be debated.
(Econ., 7/18/20, p.29)
2020 Jul 15, US Customs placed a detention order on imports of products made by subsidiaries of the world's largest medical glove maker, Malaysia's Top Glove Corp Bhd, an action taken against firms suspected of using forced labor.
(Reuters, 7/15/20)
2020 Jul 24, It was reported that Goldman Sachs has reached a $3.9bn (£3bn) settlement with the Malaysian government for its role in the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB corruption scheme.
(BBC, 7/24/20)
2020 Jul 26, Malaysian authorities searched for two dozen Rohingya refugees who were feared drowned after jumping off their boat neat the resort island of Langkawi. Only one of 25 refugees made it to shore.
(SFC, 7/27/20, p.A2)
2020 Jul 28, A court in Malaysia convicted former prime minister Najib Razak of seven charges of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering related to the IMDB sovereign wealth scandal. Razak had co-founded and chaired the fund from which $4.5 billion disappeared between 2009 and 2015.
(Econ., 8/1/20, p.31)
2020 Aug 4, Malaysian police raided the office of news broadcaster Al Jazeera and two local TV stations as part of an investigation into a documentary on undocumented migrants that enraged the government.
(SFC, 8/5/20, p.A2)
2020 Aug 29, Malaysia extended its pandemic movement restrictions until the end of the year. The country has recorded more than 9,000 cases with 125 deaths.
(SSFC, 8/30/20, p.A7)
2020 Sep 16, The US Justice Department said it has charged five Chinese residents and two Malaysian businessmen in a wide-ranging hacking effort. The two Malaysian businessmen, Wong Ong Hua (46) and Ling Yang Ching (32) were charged with conspiring with two of the Chinese hackers to profit from computer intrusions targeting videogame companies in the United States, France, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
(Reuters, 9/16/20)
2020 Sep 30, The US Customs and Border Protection's Office of Trade issued a ban against Malaysian palm oil producer FGV Holdings Berhad over allegations of forced labor and other abuses.. A day later the company pledged to clear its name.
(SFC, 10/2/20, p.A4)
2020 Oct 6, In Malaysia coronavirus cases spiked to a new daily record with 691 cases an d four new deaths.
(SFC, 10/7/20, p.A8)
2020 Oct 8, Malaysia reported 375 new cases, the second straight day of falling infections as the Southeast Asian country moved to impose targeted lockdowns to rein in a fresh surge in infections.
(Reuters, 10/8/20)
2020 Oct 9, Malaysia reported 354 new coronavirus cases, the third consecutive fall in daily infections, as the country expands targeted lockdowns to curb the outbreak. This raised the cumulative tally to 14,722 cases. 6 new deaths raising that toll to 152.
(Reuters, 10/9/20)
2020 Oct 22, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay nearly $3bn (£2.3bn) in the US to end a probe of its role in Malaysia's 1MDB corruption scandal.
(Reuters, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 25, Malaysia's Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah rejected a proposal by embattled PM Muhyiddin Yassin to declare a state of emergency to fight a new outbreak of the coronavirus.
(AP, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct 26, Malaysia extended a partial lockdown on its capital Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding state of Selangor for another two weeks, as the country recorded the biggest jump in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. The health ministry reported 1,240 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily rise on record. Malaysia has reported a total of 27,805 infections, including 236 deaths.
(Reuters, 10/26/20)
2020 Nov 18, Malaysia said it has signed an agreement with China to cooperate on the development of a safe and efficacious vaccine, as part of efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reuters, 11/18/20)
2020 Dec 19, Malaysia said it has secured coronavirus vaccine from AstraZeneca PLC, on the heels of news it will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in February as it grapples with a surge in infections.
(Reuters, 12/19/20)
2020 Dec 28, It was reported that child labor in the palm oil industry is tied to Girl Scout cookies. Indonesia and Malaysia supply 85% of the world’s most consumed vegetable oil.
(AP, 12/28/20)
2021 Jan 5, It was reported that Malaysian researchers have developed a method to transform the fiber found in normally discarded pineapple leaves to make a strong material that can be used to build the frames for unmanned aircraft, or drones.
(Reuters, 1/5/21)
2021 Jan 7, Malaysia reported its biggest daily rise in coronavirus cases as the government considered imposing restrictions in some areas, while businesses warned that another nationwide lockdown would further batter the economy.
(Reuters, 1/7/21)
2021 Jan 12, Malaysia's king approved a coronavirus emergency that will suspend parliament and hold off calls for elections in a political reprieve for embattled PM Muhyiddin Yassin.
(SFC, 1/13/21, p.A4)
2021 Jan 16, Malaysia reported 4,029 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the biggest daily increase recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic, bringing the total number of infections to 155,095. Eight new deaths took the total number of fatalities to 594. Malaysia's Top Glove Corp, the world's largest medical grade glove maker, said some employees at four factories had tested positive for COVID-19 recently.
(Reuters, 1/16/21)
2021 Jan 19, Malaysia said it would extend lockdown restrictions across most of the country as it grappled with a rise in coronavirus infections.
(Reuters, 1/19/21)
2021 Jan 26, Malaysia said it had signed deals with two domestic companies to purchase 18.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines produced by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute and China's Sinovac.
(Reuters, 1/26/21)
2021 Feb 4, Malaysia's government said it expects to complete its COVID-19 immunization program by February next year, covering 80% of its population of about 32 million people.
(Reuters, 2/4/21)
2021 Feb 4, Malaysia's Solution Group Bhd said it has signed a term sheet agreement with the government to supply 3.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by China's CanSino Biologics Inc and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology under the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
(Reuters, 2/4/21)
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Malaysia’s population is about 60% Muslim. About 69% of the 32 million people are bumiputras: Malays and other indigenous groups. 24% are ethnic Chinese and 7% are Indian.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.42)(Econ., 2/29/20, p.31)
The island of Borneo, the 3rd largest in the world, was divided among the sultanate of Brunei, Indonesia, and the Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah, whose capital is Kota Kinabalu. Other states of 9 included Selangor and Trengganu.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, p.T10)
1.83Mil BC In 2009 Malaysian archeologists reported that prehistoric stone axes found in Perak state in 2008 were the world's oldest dating to about this time. The result had a margin of error of 610,000 years.
(AP, 1/30/09)
c65000BC Geneticists in 2005 used DNA evidence to conclude that human emigration from Africa took place about this time from the southern end of the Red Sea and then pushing along the coast of India and Southeast Asia. The Orang Asli people of Malaysia likely descended from this 1st migration.
(SFC, 5/13/05, p.A7)(Econ, 12/24/05, Survey p.5)
c500 AD The first settlers of Madagascar began arriving from the Malay Archipelago in the middle of the first millennium. DNA studies in 2012 indicated that the number of women in the first group of settlers numbered about 30.
(Econ, 3/24/12, p.84)
600-1200AD Ceramic shards at Kampong Sungai Mas in the Bujang Valley date to this time. Brick foundations and a block of shale with a Buddhist mantra inscribed in Sanskrit was also found.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
671 Chinese monk I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in for 6 months during this year. Srivijaya (also written Sri Vijaya) was a powerful ancient thalassocratic Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, modern day Indonesia, which influenced much of Southeast Asia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srivijaya)
1400 The Malaysian city of Malacca was founded and it was soon used by Zheng He, a Chinese Muslim from the Ming court, as a base for his treasure ships.
(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1511 Malacca (Melaka), the center of East Indian spice trade, was captured by the Portuguese. When the Dutch gained influence in Indonesia and Jakarta they took over Melaka and built the fortress A Famosa. St. Paul’s Church, originally called Our Lady of the Hill, was built by the Portuguese following their takeover of Malacca.
(TL-MB, p.10)(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T8)(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1641 The Dutch pushed the Portuguese out of Malacca and renamed Our Lady of the Hill church to St. Paul’s.
(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1658 The sultan of Brunei gave Sabah, the northeastern part of Borneo, to the sultan of Sulu, who ruled a part of what later became the Philippines.
(Econ, 2/23/13, p.39)
1646 The Cheng Hoon Teng Buddhist temple was built in Malacca.
(SFEC, 3/19/00, p.T8)
c1700-1800 Monosopiad, an 18th cent. warrior, collected some 42 human skulls. His house near Sandakan is known as the House of Skulls.
(SFEC, 10/17/98, p.T11)
1710 St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church was built in Malacca.
(SFEC, 3/19/00, p.T8)
1728 The Muslim Kampung Hulu Mosque was built in Malacca.
(SFEC, 3/19/00, p.T8)
1786 Capt. Francis Light landed in Penang (Malaysia) and built Fort Cornwallis. Light, acting on behalf of the East India Company, swindled the island from the ruling sultan with a promise of protection. The British usurped the land to break the Dutch monopoly on the spice trade.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T8)(SFEM, 12/19/99, p.8)(SFC, 12/8/05, p.E7)
1819 The British claimed Malacca from the Dutch. They used St. Paul’s church as an ammunition dump and put a lighthouse in front.
(Econ, 11/15/14, SR p.5)
1832 Pres. Jackson sent the frigate Potomac to bombard the pirate lair of Kuala Batu.
(WSJ, 10/9/01, p.A22)
1839 Britisher Sir James Brooke arrived in an armed schooner to Sarawak, Malaysia, and helped the Sultan of neighboring Brunei subdue rebel, headhunting Iban (Dayak) tribes. As a reward he was made the Raja of Sarawak, and his heirs continued to rule until 1946.
(Hem, 6/96, p.133)
1841 Britisher Sir James Brooke was made the Raja of Sarawak (Borneo). His heirs continued to rule until 1946.
(Hem, 6/96, p.133)(Econ, 2/15/14, p.35)
1848 It was discovered that palm oil, a native of West Africa, grew well in the Far East. By 2010 Indonesia and Malaysia produced 90% of the world’s palm oil.
(Econ, 6/26/10, p.71)
1860s Prospectors for tin founded the city of Kuala Lumpur ("muddy confluence") at the confluence of the Kelang and Gombak rivers.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T3)
1873 Britain sent an agent, Henry Wickham, to Brazil to get rubber seeds. The Seedlings were cultivated in Kew Gardens and transplanted to Malaysia.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
1878 The sultan of Sulu leased Sabah in perpetuity to the British North Borneo Company. In 1946 the company ceded control of Sabah to Britain.
(Econ, 2/23/13, p.39)
1888 In Malaysia the Lake Gardens opened in Kuala Lumpur.
(SSFC, 3/29/15, p.L4)
1890s A tin rush was on and the elite gathered at the Royal Selangor Club in Kuala Lumpur.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T3)
1902 Thailand annexed 3 southern provinces, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat, that had been part of a Malay Muslim sultanate called the Kingdom of Pattani.
(SFC, 1/23/04, p.A7)(Econ, 6/4/05, p.40)
1902 The Khoo Kongsi, a Chinese clan house on Penang, burned down the night it was completed. The temple was rebuilt.
(SFEM, 12/19/99, p.30)
1910 Royal Dutch Shell began pumping oil out of Sarawak, a British colony on Borneo. Sarawak became part of Malaysia in 1963.
(Econ, 6/9/12, p.46)
1915 By this year Malay plantations produced 107,860 tons of rubber compared with 37,200 tons in Brazil.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
1921 China’s Xiamen University was founded by Tan Kah Kee, a business tycoon, who made his fortune in Southeast Asia, including what is now Malaysia. In 2013 Xiamen University, based in eastern Fujian province, announced plans to open a branch in Malaysia by 2015.
(AP, 6/11/13)
1925 A young Chinese woman walked into a welfare office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and tried to blow up two British functionaries.
(Econ., 11/28/20, p.76)
1938 British expatriates in Kuala Lumpur converted a hunting tradition to a drinking and running event called Hashing, named in reference to the bad food at the Selangar Club where they hung out.
(SFC, 8/11/00, WBb p.7)
1941 Dec 1, British declared a state of emergency in Malaya following reports of Japanese attacks.
(HN, 12/1/98)
1941 Dec 6, Dutch and British pilots saw Japanese invasion fleet at Singapore.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1941 Dec 8, Japanese bombers attacked Malaya.
(AFP, 2/6/12)
1945 Aug, A British Royal Air Force B24 Liberator bomber crashed in Malaysia. Later research showed that it was carrying supplies for Force 136, a British Special Operations unit.
(AP, 2/6/12)
1945 At the end of World War II Thailand was compelled to return territory it had seized from Laos, Cambodia and Malaya. The exiled King Ananda returned.
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/country_profiles/1243059.stm)
1945-1949 A series of wars for independence during this period spread from India to Burma, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore. In 2007 Christopher Bayly and Tim Harper authored “Forgotten Wars: Freedom and Revolution in Southeast Asia."
(WSJ, 8/9/07, p.D7)
1948 Dec 12, British soldiers surrounded the Sungai Rimoh rubber estate in Batang Kali, shot 24 Malaysian rubber plantation workers and set the village on fire. In 1970 Britain’s incoming Conservative administration dropped a police investigation, claiming a lack of evidence. In 2012 relatives of killed workers lost their High Court battle for a full inquiry by the British government.
(AFP, 9/4/12)
1957 Aug 31, The Federation of Malaya (Malaysia) gained independence from Britain (National Day). Malaysia established itself as a constitutional monarchy. Article 11 in the constitution gave every person “the right to profess and practice his religion." Pro-bumiputra (sons of the soil) discrimination was laid down in the constitution to ease Malays’ fears of being marginalized by Chinese and Indian migrants. A 1988 amendment denied the regular courts all jurisdiction over matters dealt with by the Muslim sharia courts.
(YN, 8/31/99)(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)(AP, 8/31/07)(Econ, 9/1/07, p.11)
1957 The Barisan Nasional Coalition began ruling Malaysia.
(Econ, 8/13/11, p.40)
1959 Malaysia adopted a Banishment Act allowing the government to expel non-citizens.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.53)
1960 Malaysia introduced the Internal Security Act (ISA) to stem a communist insurgency. It allowed authorities to detain people indefinitely without trial.
(SFC, 4/25/01, p.A12)(Econ, 9/24/11, p.52)
1960s US pres. Lyndon B. Johnson visited the country. In honor of his visit a new plantation was named LBJ. The plantation was later sold for the development of an information technology zone called the Multimedia Super Corridor.
(WSJ, 1/8/97, p.A12)
1961 May 3, A British Colonial Office telegram stated the general guidance for keeping papers out of the hands of newly elected independent governments. Items should be disposed of if they "might embarrass members of the police, military forces, public servants or others eg police informers; might compromise sources of intelligence" -- or might be used "unethically" by incoming ministers. Under "Operation Legacy", officials in Kenya, Uganda, Malaysia, Tanzania, Jamaica and other former colonial territories were briefed on how to dispose of documents that "might embarrass Her Majesty's government." This was only made public in 2013.
(AFP, 11/29/13)
1963 Sep 16, The Federation of Malaysia was formally established. Sabak (Sabah) and Sarawak, Britain’s colonies on Borneo, joined the Malayan peninsula to form Malaysia with Tunku Abdul Rahman (60) as prime minister. The federation formed under bitter opposition from Indonesia, which refused to recognize the country and waged a guerrilla war against it. Race riots erupted between ethnic Malays and the Chinese majority.
(PC, 1992, p.988)(SSFC, 3/10/02, p.C10)(Econ, 9/20/08, p.60)(Econ, 2/23/13, p.39)
1964 Sep 2, Indonesian paratroopers landed in Malaysia.
(MC, 9/2/01)
1965 Aug 9, Singapore proclaimed its independence from the Malaysian Federation.
(AP internet, 8/9/97)
1965 Malaysia was seated on the UN Security Council. Indonesia became the first nation ever to withdraw from the United Nations in protest of the seating of its neighbor refusing to recognize it and waging a guerilla war against it. In 1966 a peace agreement with Malaysia was reached and shortly thereafter Indonesia resumed its membership in the UN.
(HNQ, 5/14/98)
1966 Malaysia and Indonesia reached a peace agreement and shortly thereafter Indonesia resumed its membership in the UN.
(HNQ, 5/14/98)
1967 Mar 26, Jim Thompson, American ex-serviceman, disappeared while on holiday in the Cameron Highlands of Northern Malaysia. He revived the Thai silk industry after WW II. He was one of the first to adopt a classic Thai house to the requirements of modern life, and his home is now a museum in Bangkok, Thailand.
(Hem, Mar. 95, p.63)(SFEC, 7/16/00, p.T14)
1967 Aug 8, The Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN was established in Bangkok by the five original Member Countries, namely, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. Brunei Darussalam joined on 8 January 1984, Vietnam on 28 July 1995, Laos and Myanmar on 23 July 1997, and Cambodia on 30 April 1999.
(www.aseansec.org/64.htm)
1969 May 10, Malaysia held its 3rd general election since independence. Opposition advances at the polls were followed by bloody race riots. Smoldering racial tensions erupted between the Malays and the Chinese with riots that killed dozens.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_general_election,_1969)(SFC, 11/24/97, p.A11)
1969 May 13, In Malaysia deadly race riots took place in Kuala Lumpur.
(Econ, 5/16/09, p.49)
1969 Malaysia adopted an Emergency Ordnance that allowed people to be detained without charge.
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.53)
1970 Sep 22, Abdul Razak (1922-1976) became Malaysia’s 2nd prime minister.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tun_Abdul_Razak)
1971 Nov 1, The Five Power Defense Arrangements were concluded by the defense ministers of Australia, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand and Singapore. In 2017 it was upgraded to deal with terrorism threats and new security concerns.
(Econ, 11/5/11, p.54)(AP, 6/2/17)
1971 Malaysia’s UMNO party introduced a New Economic Policy (NEP). It was meant to reduce absolute poverty provide affirmative action for people of indigenous decent. The temporary bill expired in 1990, when it was renamed and hardly changed.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysian_New_Economic_Policy)(Econ, 3/15/08, p.51)
1974 Petronas, Malaysia’s national oil firm, was given exclusive rights to the nation’s hydrocarbons. Until this year all of Malaysia’s oil was pumped by foreigners.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.69)
1974 In Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim was detained for 22 months for organizing political opposition groups and for distributing a book by Dr. Mahathir Mohamed.
(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A11)
1975 Apr 4, The first group of boat people from Vietnam began arriving in Malaysia. More than 1 million people fled from the close of the war to the early 1980s.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-9)
1975 Aug 4, In Malaysia the Japanese Red Army raided a building in Kuala Lumpur that housed US, Swedish, Japanese and Canadian embassies. 52 hostages were exchanged for Red Army members.
(http://www.ioss.gov/docs/julytodecember.html)
1976 Jan 14, Abdul Razak (b.1922), Malaysia’s 2nd prime minister, died. His son Najib Razak (23) was soon elected to parliament.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tun_Abdul_Razak)(Econ, 11/8/08, p.60)
1977 Sep 27, Japan Airlines Flight 715, a DC-8, crashed into a hill in bad weather while attempting to land at the Kuala Lumpur Subang Airport. 34 people, including 8 of the 10 crew members and 26 of the 69 passengers, were killed when the aircraft broke on impact.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan_Airlines)
1981 Mahathir Mohamed was named prime minister. He led the United Malays National Organization party.
(SFC, 11/24/97, p.A11)
1982 McDonald's, the US fast food giant, began operations in Malaysia.
(AP, 4/29/09)
1983 In Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamed initiated Proton, the Perusahaan Otomobil Nasional (National Car Project). Production of the 1st model, Saga, began in 1985 in association with Mitsubishi of Japan.
(Econ, 5/8/04, p.61)(WSJ, 7/14/04, p.B2B)(Econ, 12/2/06, p.68)
1983 Malaysia passed an Islamic banking law and set up Bank Islam. Takaful Malaysia, an Islamic insurance company, was set up in 1984.
(WSJ, 4/4/07, p.A13)
1984 Daim Zainuddin became chairman of the main investment arm of United Malays National Organization (UMNO).
(WSJ, 3/24/04, p.B5B)
1985 Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamed and government colleagues conceived the idea of a national highway about this time.
(Hem., 1/96, p.97)
1986 A law was enacted that prohibited publications of "malicious allegations" against the government.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A15)
1987 Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamad (b.1925) locked up more than 100 critics under the colonial-era Internal Security Act.
(Econ, 12/5/15, p.42)
1987 In Malaysia Sultan Iskandar (1932-2010), the 24th Sultan of Johor, was accused of causing the death of a golf caddy in Cameron Highlands by assault. He could not be prosecuted due to the immunity that was accorded to the rulers.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iskandar_of_Johor)
1987 In Malaysia women’s groups began campaigning for a law against wife-beating. A weak law was passed in 1994.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1988 May, In Malaysia construction of the North-South Expressway was begun.
(Hem., 1/96, p.97)
1988 In Malaysia an amendment to the constitution denied the regular courts all jurisdiction over matters dealt with by the Muslim sharia courts.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.42)
1990 In Malaysia the 1970 New Economic Policy (NEP), which ushered in affirmative action for Malays, expired. It was renamed and hardly changed.
(Econ, 8/27/05, p.34)
1990 Malaysia’s poverty rate stood at 22.8%.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.42)
1991 In Malaysia authorities banned Mak Yong, a traditional form of dance theater.
(WSJ, 4/19/06, p.A1)
1992 In Malaysia a rare earths plant in northern Perak state was forced to shut down over protests from residents who blamed it for birth defects in nearby populations.
(AFP, 2/26/12)
1992 Panama disease, caused by the fusarium fungus, mutated to a form capable of attacking the Cavendish variety of banana and wiped out plantations in Malaysia. The disease had previously destroyed the popular Gros Michel variety, which was left growing only in remote parts of Uganda and Jamaica.
(Econ, 10/22/05, p.85)
1994 The North-South Expressway of Malaysia was completed. It spans the western side of the Malay Peninsula from Singapore to the Thailand frontier for 520 miles.
(Hem., 1/96, p.97)
1994 Malaysia passed a Domestic Violence Act. It made wife-beating unlawful but only after a cease-and-desist order and went into effect in 1996. Women’s groups had begun campaigning seven years
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1994 Malaysia under PM Mahathir Mohamed awarded the Bakun Dam concession to Ekran Bhd. The government took over the project following the financial crises of 1997-98.
(WSJ, 1/8/04, p.A14)
1994-1997 Malaysia engaged in a tight money policy as the economy grew at a breakneck speed.
(WSJ, 11/22/05, p.A13)
1995 July, Irene Fernandez, head of the human rights group Tenaganita, published a report after interviewing immigrant inmates on prison conditions. 71 deaths have been caused by alleged abuse.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A15)
1995 Sep, A Fokker-50 operated by a Malaysian airline crashed on arrival at Tawau, Malaysia airport, killing 34 people. The plane touched down 500 yards short of the runway, pulled up and crashed into a shantytown.
(AP, 2/10/04)
1995 Danny Ooi launched The Malaysia Book of Records.
(WSJ, 12/1/99, p.B1)
1995 Kuala Lumpur. High trade deficit. Money is denominated in "ringgit". [It reached 4.7 billion dollars on annualized basis.]
(WSJ, 10/30/95, p.A-11A)
1996 Apr 18, Malaysia was to send about 1200 Vietnamese boatpeople back home.
(SFC, 4/17/96, p.A-9)
1996 May 20, In Malaysia timber exports have reached $1.5 billion from the state of Sarawak in north-central Borneo Island. The lives of the local Penans and other forest peoples have been forever fractured. Half of Sarawak is zoned for logging, 8% is to be permanently protected, and 42% is to be stripped away for development.
(SFC, 5/20/96, p.A-8)
1996 Jun, Malaysia’s Domestic Violence Act went into effect. Women’s groups had begun campaigning nine years ago and a weak version was passed in 1994.
(SFC, 5/17/96, p.A-14)
1996 Jun 10, In Malaysia Irene Fernandez, head of the human rights group Tenaganita, went on trial for her 1995 published report on prison conditions of immigrant inmates. 71 deaths have been caused by alleged abuse. She was charged under a 1986 law that banned the publication of "malicious allegations" against the government. Seven years later, she was sentenced to one year in prison but appealed. In 2008 she was acquitted.
(SFC, 6/11/96, p.A15)(SFC, 5/29/96, p.A8)(AP, 11/24/08)
1996 Jun 13, A report from Kuching told of Borneo’s 2nd high tech plant being cut out of the tropical rain forest.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A6)
1996 Jun 14, Issues that had blocked the building of the $6.02 billion Bakun hydroelectric dam in Sarawak state on Borneo were resolved.
(WSJ, 6/14/96, p.A10)
1996 Jun 19, A court order stopped work on the $5.4 billion Bakun Dam due to violation of environmental laws.
(SFC, 6/20/96, p.A10)
1996 Jul 7, The average cost of a Big Mac in Malaysia was $1.51.
(SFC, 7/7/96, Parade, p.17)
1996 Jul 10, Entrepreneur Tan Sri Vincent Tan Chee Yioun was backing a new development to rise above the Kelang River in Kuala Lumpur. Called KL Linear City the plan called for a 24 year project that would consist of a 1.24 mile-long, 10-story, tube-like structure. It was disclosed as a footnote in Malaysia’s 75 year plan released in April.
(WSJ, 7/11/96, p.A10)
1996 Aug 3-4, There was a nationwide power blackout that lasted 16 hours in some areas.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A5c)
1996 Sep 15, In Singapore all 120,000 internet subscribers will have to go through proxy servers which will screen them from dozens of sites that contain nudity and sexual topics.
(SFC, 8/15/96, p.B2)
1996 Dec 25, Tropical storm Greg killed at least 163 people in the northern Borneo state of Sabah.
(WSJ, 12/27/96, p.A1)(SFC, 12/30/96, p.A8)
1996 Abdullah Sungkar (1999) and Abu Bakar Baasyir, self-exiled Indonesian clerics, together with Riduan Isamuddin, established Jemaah Islamiyah in Malaysia.
(WSJ, 1/15/03, p.A1)
1996 In Malaysia the Pergau hydroelectric dam, supported by British aid, was commissioned. The project involved at least 3 separate scandals. In 2012 Time Lankester authored “The Politics and Economics of Britain’s Foreign Aid: The Pergau Dam Affair."
(Econ, 11/17/12, p.77)
1997 Jan, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad went to Silicon Valley to describe a new "multimedia supercorridor" which would include a new airport and two new cities with high technology centers.
(Hem., 4/97, p.42)
1997 Feb 28, It was reported that the Dayaks were killing the Madurans in the rain forest of West Kalimantan, Borneo. The indigenous Dayaks had killed as many as 300 Madurans in fierce hand combat after a peace treaty was broken. The Madurans were moved in by the government from an overpopulated area.
(SFC, 2/28/97, p.A16)
1997 May 12, It was reported that the Pudu Prison in Kuala Lumpur was opened as a public attraction last week. It was scheduled to be demolished in 6 months.
(WSJ, 5/12/97, p.B1)
1997 May 31, The 7-member ASEAN alliance, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, met in Kuala Lumpur and agreed to allow Burma to become a member in July. Laos and Cambodia were also to be admitted. The members were Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.
(SFEC, 6/1/97, p.D3)
1997 Aug 9, In Indonesia huge fires in tropical forests and plantations on Sumatra and Borneo and Java were blamed on slash-and-burn farming techniques. Fires originally set by developers to clear forest for palm plantations in Borneo and Sumatra ran out of control and darkened skies across much of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The World Bank estimated that 8% of total global emission of greenhouse gases for the year were due to the fires.
(SFC, 8/9/97, p.A12)(SFC, 9/25/97, p.A11)(Econ, 3/25/06, p.74)
1997 Sep, American billionaire George Soros, vilified by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad as the cause of the national financial crises, defended himself and called his accuser "a menace to his own country."
(SFC, 9/22/97, p.A10)
1997 Oct 1, Asian currencies dived in foreign exchange markets in part because of comments by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir: "I would like to suggest that we do away with trade in currency as a commodity."
(WSJ, 10/2/97, p.A12)
1997 Dec 8, The Rupiah dropped 10% on rumors that Pres. Suharto had suffered a stroke.
(WSJ, 12/10/97, p.A16)
1997 Dec 19, A Singapore operated Boeing 737 jet crashed by the Musi River north of Palembang on its flight from Jakarta to Singapore. All 104 people on board were feared dead.
(SFC, 12/20/97, p.A10)
1997 Malaysia banned the export of sand hurting Singapore’s efforts to secure supplies for its booming construction industry and sea-fill plans. Indonesia followed suit in 2007 and caused a surge in the price of sand.
(Econ, 10/10/09, p.46)
1997 In Malaysia a virus struck the village of Nipah and killed 105 people, most of whom were involved in the hog-farming industry. Some 1.2 million hogs were destroyed and the Nipah virus epidemic ran its course over 7 months. The epidemic was later related to burning rain forests and bats seeking new food sources that passed the virus to pigs that passed it to humans. Most animals recovered but it was lethal to 40% of humans.
(SFC, 9/28/99, p.A9)(SFC, 5/29/00, p.A4)(WSJ, 6/19/03, p.A1)
1998 Mar 15, Random drug testing at all Malaysian schools was to be instituted with urine testing equipment.
(SFC, 3/16/98, p.A9)
1998 Mar 26, In Malaysia riots flared in 4 detention camps that housed mainly Indonesian illegal immigrants. The Internal Security Act allowed the detention without trial of people caught helping illegals. 8 inmates and one policeman were killed. Over 200 inmates escaped from one camp.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.A10)
1998 Apr 21, Skydivers from Malaysia parachuted the national car, the Proton Wira sedan, onto the North Pole this week.
(SFC, 4/23/98, p.A13)
1998 May 15, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin (b. 1962) became the 17th Sultan of Terengganu and the 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the constitutional head of state of Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizan_Zainal_Abidin_of_Terengganu)
1998 Sep, Malaysia was scheduled to host the Commonwealth Games.
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.T3)
1998 Jun 27, The new $3.61 bil airport in Sepang north of Kuala Lumpur was scheduled to open. The new $2.25 [$2.5] billion int’l. airport covered 25,000 acres and was opened by King Tuanku Jaafar.
(WSJ, 8/30/96, p.B8B)(SFEC, 6/28/98, p.A17)
1998 Jun 30, In Malaysia the new Kuala Lumpur Int’l. Airport (KLIA) began operations.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.T3)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.35)
1998 Sep 1, Capital controls were imposed on the stock market. Foreigners holding stocks were not allowed to take their money out of the country for one year. Dr. Mahathir ordered that the austerity measures of Anwar Ibrahim be rolled back.
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A14)(WSJ, 10/30/98, p.A11)
1998 Sep 2, Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad ousted deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim after the deputy disagreed with the free-spending policies of his boss.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A12)(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998 Sep 7, The market index rose 22.5%.
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 8, The market index fell a record 21.5%, 95.5 points to 349.56. A regulatory reprieve gave foreigners their first chance to sell since capital controls were imposed on Sep 1.
(WSJ, 9/8/98, p.A14)
1998 Sep 9, The reprieve to sell stock under the old rules was withdrawn. The market closed at 389.65.
(WSJ, 9/10/98, p.A19)
1998 Sep 20, In Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim (51) was jailed following charges of sexual hijinks. His arrest coincided with protests calling for the resignation of the prime minister and with the end of the competition of the Commonwealth Games and a state visit by Queen Elizabeth II. Ibrahim was beaten by police chief Abdul Rahim Noor. Noor was sentenced to 2 months in prison for the assault in 2000.
(SFC, 9/21/98, p.A12)(SFC, 3/15/00, p.A10)
1998 Sep 21, In Malaysia thousands of protestors clashed with police as the finale to the Commonwealth Games proceeded. The Suaram human rights group said that 34 people were arrested.
(SFC, 9/22/98, p.A7)
1998 Sep 25, In Malaysia Abdul Malek was arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA), at the height of the "Reformasi" (Reforms) demonstrations following the sacking and arrest of deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim. In 2007 a Malaysian court awarded Malek 740,000 dollars for his wrongful arrest and assault in custody. It was the first time that a Malaysian court had awarded significant compensation for illegal detention and abuse.
(AFP, 10/18/07)
1998 Sep 27, In Malaysia about 10,000 people gathered in Kuala Lumpur to protests a crackdown on dissent by the Mahathir regime.
(WSJ, 9/28/98, p.A1)
1998 Oct 17, In Malaysia Azizah Ismail, wife of Anwar Ibrahim, joined some ten thousand protestors demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Mohamad.
(SFEC, 10/18/98, p.A20)
1998 Nov 2, In Malaysia the sex-and-politics trial of Anwar Ibrahim began.
(SFC, 11/2/98, p.A14)
1998 Nov 14, In Malaysia thousands gathered to criticize Prime Minister Mahathir as world leaders gathered for the 6th APEC forum.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, p.A17)
1998 Nov 16, VP Al Gore spoke in Malaysia at the APEC conference and accused the government of suppressing freedom.
(SFC, 11/18/98, p.C2)
1998 Dec 9, Azizan Abu Bakar, the ex-driver of Anwar Ibrahim, repeated in court his allegation that he was sodomized by Ibrahim in 1992.
(SFC, 12/10/98, p.C7)
1998 The 1,482-foot Petronas Towers were completed in Kuala Lumpur as the world’s tallest buildings. They were built by Petroliam Nasional, Malaysia’s national oil company. The twin buildings stood 88-stories with 241-foot spires. They stood 29 feet taller than the Sears Building in Chicago, and remained the tallest in the world until Taipei 101 was completed in 2004.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Twin_Towers)(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B2)(Econ, 10/10/09, p.69)
1998 In Malaysia the government of PM Mahathir Mohamad pegged the ringgit at 3.80 at to the dollar in order to bring stability to the economy.
(Econ, 4/10/04, p.64)
1998 Hong Kong suffered a slump in GDP of over 6% as did Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand.
(Econ, 11/22/08, p.51)
1998 In Malaysia pirate attacks rose to 67 as compared to 51 in 1997.
(SFC, 2/4/99, p.A12)
1999 Jan 5, Malaysia admitted that former Deputy Premier Anwar was beaten by police after his arrest in September.
(WSJ, 1/6/99, p.A1)
1999 Jan 7, Police inspector general Abdul Rahim Noor announced his resignation effective Jan 8.
(SFC, 1/8/99, p.A16)
1999 Jan 8, In Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir named Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (59) as his heir apparent.
(SFC, 1/9/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 18, In Malaysia an outbreak of encephalitis caused an order for the extermination of 64,000 pigs and the evacuation of 11,000 people.
(SFC, 3/19/99, p.A14)
1999 Mar 21, In Malaysia soldiers began killing the pig population to control an outbreak of Japanese encephalitis. The number of pigs to be killed rose to at least one million.
(SFC, 3/22/99, p.A11)(WSJ, 3/29/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar, Malaysia gave the green light for the development of the Port Klang Free Zone as a regional trans-shipment hub to rival Singapore. After 10 years the project was stalled and close to default with cost overruns at $987 million.
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.47)
1999 Apr 4, In Malaysia Azizah Ismail, the wife of Anwar Ibrahim, announced the formation of the People’s Justice Party (PKR) and called on opposition forces to topple Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A9)(Econ, 12/4/10, p.54)
1999 Apr 8, In Malaysia it was reported that some 111 people had died in the last 6 months from a new virus that was believed to be spreading from pigs to humans.
(SFC, 4/9/99, p.A16)
1999 Apr 13, In Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim was convicted on 4 charges of corruption by High Court Judge Augustine Paul. He was sentenced to 6 years on each charge with the sentences to run concurrently.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A14)
1999 May 3, It was reported that Prime Minister Mahathir said that his deputy, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, would succeed him after elections in 2000.
(WSJ, 5/3/99, p.A1)
1999 Jul 8, In Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad unveiled phase one of Cyberjaya, a futuristic high-tech city expected to cost some $5.3 billion.
(SFC, 7/9/99, p.D2)
1999 Sep 10, Anwar Ibrahim was hospitalized after lawyers claimed that he had been poisoned with arsenic. Ibrahim had lost 26 lbs and suffered hair loss, numbness in his fingers, erratic blood pressure and migraines.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.C16)
1999 Sep 19, In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, over 10,000 people protested against PM Mahathir Mohamad on the one-year anniversary of the arrest of ex-Deputy Premier Anwar Ibrahim, who was reported to be suffering from arsenic poisoning. Police responded with tear gas and water cannons. Protesters wore red and adopted the battle cry of “reformasi" from neighboring Indonesia.
(SFC, 9/20/99, p.A9)(WSJ, 9/20/99, p.A1)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.53)
1999 Oct 5, A judge ordered the sodomy trial of Anwar Ibrahim to proceed and said medical tests showed no evidence of arsenic poisoning.
(SFC, 10/6/99, p.C16)
1999 Oct 11, Murray Hiebert, Canadian journalist, was released after 4 weeks in jail. He had been sentenced to 6 weeks for a 1997 article about a court case.
(WSJ, 10/12/99, p.A21)
1999 Nov 9, In northern Malaysia Carolyn Janice Ahmad (35) was allegedly killed as a sacrifice to obtain lottery tips from the Hindu goddess Kali. Her skeletal remains were discovered in a shallow grave at an oil palm plantation in June 2001. In 2004 a court acquitted 3 Malaysians charged with killing the American woman
(AP, 8/16/04)
1999 Nov 11, In Malaysia Prime Minister Mahathir (73) dissolved parliament and planned early elections.
(SFC, 11/11/99, p.A24)
1999 Nov 29, In Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad and his ruling National Front coalition won over a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Wan Azizah Ismail, wife of Anwar Ibrahim, led the newly formed National Justice Party (Keadilan) and won her husband’s former seat. The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (Pas), whose leaders favor strict Islamic law, won control of Trengganu state and kept control of Kelantan state.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A12)
1999 King Salahuddin Abdul Aziz assumed the throne as the nation’s 11th king since independence in 1957. He introduced a rotating royalty system whereby the sultans of the 9 states choose the king by secret ballot. Each sultan than takes a turn as monarch for 5 years.
(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)
1999 Malaysia began moving government departments from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, its new 11,300-acre $5.3 billion administrative capital, 25 miles away.
(SSFC, 7/18/04, p.D12)
1999 Malaysiakini, an independent online newspaper in Malaysia, was founded as a free site. In 2002 it was forced to start charging for use.
(Econ, 3/15/08, p.52)
2000 Jan, In Malaysia terrorists held a meeting in Kuala Lumpur. The US CIA informed the FBI that Khalid Al-Midhar had a US visa. Midhar was later one of the Sep 11, 2001, terrorists.
(SFC, 6/4/02, p.A10)
2000 Mar 13, CBS began filming its "Survivor" show on the Malaysian island of Pulau Tiga. Filming lasted to April 20 and the last survivor was to be awarded a $1 million prize.
(SFC, 6/2/00, p.C15)
2000 Apr 23, Philippine gunmen abducted 20 people from a Malaysian resort on Sipadan Island. Islamic insurgents took credit for the attack. They later freed 2 hostages and demanded $2.4 million in ransom for 19 captives.
(SFC, 4/25/00, p.A10)(WSJ, 4/27/00, p.A1)(SFC, 7/15/00, p.A13)
2000 Apr 29, In Malaysia a court upheld the 1999 corruption conviction against former finance minister Anwar Ibrahim.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.A17)
2000 Apr, Steven Gan (35) founded Malaysiakini.com, an online newspaper.
(SFC, 4/18/00, p.A8)
2000 Jul 6, In Malaysia commandos ended a 4-day standoff and forced the surrender of 27 militants of Al-Ma’unah (Brotherhood of Inner Power), led by Amin Razali. 2 non-Muslim hostages were slain in the process. 19 cult members were found guilty Dec 27, 2001.
(SFC, 7/7/00, p.D6)(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.B9)(SFC, 12/28/01, p.A4)
2000 Aug 8, Anwar Ibrahim, former deputy prime minister, was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to 9 years in prison. Sukma Dermawan, Ibrahim’s codefendant and adopted brother, was also found guilty.
(SFC, 8/8/00, p.A11)
2000 Aug 8, Some 29 members of the Al-Ma’unah Islamic sect were charged with treason for the July looting of 2 army camps in Perak.
(SFEC, 8/13/00, p.B9)
2000 Aug 22, In Sarawak 15 people including 13 children were killed when a tractor-trailer rig collided with a school van.
(SFC, 8/24/00, p.A13)
2000 Aug 23, The final winner of the "Survivor" TV contest set on Pulau Tiga island was broadcast to as many as 40-50 million viewers. Richard Hatch (39), a corporate trainer from Newport, R.I., won the $1 million grand prize. In 2006 Hatch was convicted on three counts related to tax evasion and was sentenced to 51 months in Federal prison plus three years of supervised probation.
(SFC, 8/23/00, p.A1)(SFC, 8/24/00, p.A1)(http://tinyurl.com/4sna5j)
2000 Aug, 78 4-man teams in the Eco-Challenge Sabah encountered flooded rivers over a 2-week race in Malaysian Borneo. A number later found themselves infected with leptospirosis.
(SFC, 9/15/00, p.A12)
2000 Sep 10, Abu Sayyaf rebels kidnapped 3 men from Pandanan Island off Borneo and took them to Jolo island in the Philippines.
(WSJ, 9/12/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 5, In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, thousands of people protested the rule of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
(SFC, 11/6/00, p.A15)
2000 Nov 24, It was reported that recent monsoon flooding killed 10 people in Malaysia and at least 5 people in Thailand. The death toll from flooding in Thailand reached over 30, mostly children. At least 49 died from mudslides in West Sumatra.
(SFC, 11/24/00, p.D8)(WSJ, 11/27/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov, A Malaysian politician was assassinated. The militant group Jemaah Islamiyah was believed to be involved.
(WSJ, 8/13/02, p.A14)
2000 Dec 31, 15 parachutists planned to leap from the Petronas Towers just before midnight and land in the new year.
(SFC, 12/31/00, p.B2)
2001 Mar 11, Ethnic violence between Malays and ethnic Indians continued for a 4th day. Five people were killed in the last 4 days.
(SFC, 3/12/01, p.A15)
2001 Apr 10, Malaysia arrested at least 4 opposition leaders as the 2 year anniversary approached of jailed former Deputy Premier Anwar’s conviction.
(WSJ, 4/11/01, p.A1)
2001 Sep 25, The government accused Nik Adli Nik Abdul Aziz (34), an Islamic school teacher, for plotting to overthrow the government. His father served as the chief minister of Kelantan state. Nik Adli allegedly belonged to the Kumpulan Mujahideen Malaysia militant group.
(WSJ, 9/26/01, p.A16)
2001 Nov 21, King Salahuddin Abdul Aziz died at age 75.
(SFC, 11/22/01, p.A29)
2001 Dec 8, Malaysian authorities said that would expand a policy of caning illegal immigrants to include 1st-time offenders.
(SSFC, 12/9/01, p.A18)
2001 A Malaysia bank introduced a corporate bond that complied with Islamic prohibitions on interest. The bonds were benchmarked to interest rates, but technically based on profit sharing, leasing or trading By 2007 the global Islamic bond market reached an estimated $50 billion in outstanding securities.
(WSJ, 4/4/07, p.A1)
2001 Tony Fernandez (b.1964), Malaysian entrepreneur, acquired AirAsia and soon re-launched it as a low-cost domestic carrier with 2 B737 planes purchased from a Malaysian conglomerate. Ryanair signed on with a 5% stake. By 2009 the company had 76 planes. By the end of 2004 the low cost airline planned to have 30 planes.
(Econ, 3/13/04, p.63)(Econ, 2/7/09, p.35)(Econ, 3/21/09, p.72)(http://tinyurl.com/cxf3hz)
2002 Jan 6, It was reported that Malaysia authorities had arrested 13 suspected members of extremist groups since Dec 9 with possible links to the Sep 11 attacks.
(SSFC, 1/6/02, p.A8)
2002 Jan 12, Malaysia announced the arrests of 2 more suspected militants tied to al Qaeda and linked to a cell in Singapore.
(SSFC, 1/13/02, p.A11)
2002 May, Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamed met with Pres. Bush in Washington, DC. In 2006 it was revealed that lobbyist Jack Abramoff was paid $1.2 million to organize the meeting. Mahathir later said that at the time he had been persuaded by the Heritage Foundation to meet with Bush because the conservative think tank believed he could help "influence (Bush) in some way regarding US policies."
(AP, 2/21/06)
2002 Jun 23, In Malaysia Fadzil Noor, the leader of the main opposition, Parti Islam se-Malaysia (PAS), died after failing to recover from emergency heart surgery nearly two weeks ago.
(Reuters, 6/23/02)
2002 Jun 25, Malaysia's ruling party said on Tuesday Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, one of Asia's longest-serving leaders, will hand power to his deputy late next year in a move investors praised as an orderly transition.
(Reuters, 6/25/02)
2002 Jul 2, Malaysia said it had not reached any new agreements with Singapore on the sale of water to the island state and other issues after two days of talks.
(Reuters, 7/2/02)
2002 Jul 31, Thousands of illegal immigrants headed for Malaysia's ports to meet a midnight deadline for them to leave the country or risk a caning.
(Reuters, 7/31/02)
2002 Aug 2, Australia and Malaysia signed a counter-terrorism pact which pledged them to work together to fight suspected Islamic militants in the region.
(Reuters, 8/2/02)
2002 Aug 31, Malaysia said it has agreed to temporarily halt deportation of Filipino workers and their families amid public outrage over reports of their mistreatment.
(Reuters, 8/31/02)
2002 Sep 7, Indonesian officials say 35 deportees from Malaysia have died at sprawling makeshift camps in Borneo as they await the arrival of a navy vessel bringing medical help.
(Reuters, 9/7/02)
2002 Nov 4, China signed a landmark agreement, “Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea," with ASEAN (Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam) on avoiding open conflict in the disputed South China Sea Spratly Islands. Indonesia objected and Taiwan was barred from signing.
(Reuters, 11/4/02)(Econ, 5/22/04, p.40)(www.aseansec.org/13163.htm)
2002 Dec 17, Malaysia won control of two tiny palm-fringed islands when the World Court ruled in its favor in a long-running dispute with Indonesia.
(Reuters, 12/17/02)
2002 Malaysia issued the world’s first sovereign sukuk, an Islamic bond.
(Econ, 1/5/13, p.60)
2002 Abdul Razak Baginda helped Malaysia negotiate the purchase of French submarines.
(WSJ, 3/29/07, p.A13)
2002 Oil was found in 4,400 feet of water off the coast of Sabah state in Borneo, Malaysia. The filed dubbed Kikeh was contested by Brunei.
(WSJ, 6/27/03, p.A11)
2003 Feb 25, In Malaysia a summit of 116 developing countries suspicious of US military dominance united behind calls to give Baghdad more time to disarm.
(AP, 2/25/03)
2003 May 20, Malaysia launched its government sponsored BioValley complex at a cost of $150 million. In 2005 the journal Nature reported it as a failed project.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioValley_%28Malaysia%29)(Econ, 10/31/09, p.78)
2003 May 24, Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad met with Brunei's 29th Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah to address the issue of the Kikeh oil find off Borneo.
(WSJ, 6/27/03, p.A11)(SSFC, 6/28/03, p.C6)
2003 Jun 25, The Malaysia Parliament passed a post secondary school National Service Bill to encourage nation building by integrating participants in a state-run summer camp.
(Econ, 10/23/04, p.44)
2003 cAug 4, Pres. Putin visited Malaysia to seal a $900 million sale of Sukhoi fighter jets and tout Russia's liberal sale policies.
(WSJ, 8/5/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug 10, Pirates in the Strait of Malacca struck a small tanker near the Port Klang, Kuala Lumpur. They looted the ship and took it into Indonesia waters and sought $100,000 ransom for the top 3 officers.
(SFC, 8/15/03, p.A8)
2003 Sep 29, In Malaysia PM Mahathir Mohamad presided at the inauguration of the Berjaya Times Square, a $460 million project that was derailed by the 1997-98 Asian financial crises.
(AP, 9/29/03)
2003 Oct 5, In Malaysian Borneo armed kidnappers riding in a speedboat raided a remote resort, seizing six people before escaping.
(AP, 10/6/03)
2003 Oct 11, In Malaysia delegates from Islamic nations gathered in the new administrative capital of Putrajaya with Iraq as a center piece of discussion.
(SSFC, 10/11/03, p.A3)
2003 Oct 16, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad told a summit of Islamic leaders that "Jews rule the world by proxy" and the world's 1.3 billion Muslims should unite, using nonviolent means for a "final victory."
(AP, 10/16/03)
2003 Oct 20, President Bush personally condemned the Malaysian prime minister for his statement that Jews rule the world, pulling Mahathir Mohamad aside at an international economic meeting to tell him the remarks were "wrong and divisive."
(AP, 10/20/03)
2003 Oct 31, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became Malaysia's first new prime minister in a generation, succeeding Mahathir Mohamad.
(AP, 10/31/03)
2003 Nov 30, In Malaysia 2 passenger buses collided on a windy road in the Kuala Lipis district, killing at least 14 people.
(AP, 11/30/03)
2004 Jan 7, Najib Razak, a veteran politician, was named as Malaysia's deputy PM.
(AP, 1/7/04)
2004 Jan 13, Thai and Malaysian military forces began joint land and air patrols along their jungle border for the first time since the 1970s.
(AP, 1/14/04)
2004 Jan 27, In Malaysia an Iranian asylum seeker set himself on fire in an apparent suicide attempt outside the Kuala Lumpur headquarters of the UN refugee agency.
(AP, 1/27/04)
2004 Feb 9, In Malaysia anti-corruption officers arrested the former head of scandal-plagued steel company Perwaja.
(AP, 2/9/04)
2004 Feb 12, Malaysia's land minister was arrested and charged for his involvement a deal to sell millions of dollars worth of shares his government agency owned in the second high-profile anti-corruption case this week amid a government crackdown.
(AP, 2/12/04)
2004 Mar 3, Malaysia's new PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi called a snap national election that will pit the long-ruling secular coalition government against a fundamentalist Islamic opposition.
(AP, 3/3/04)
2004 Mar 21, Elections were held in Malaysia. An Islamic leader implied that those who backed government candidates would go to hell. Malaysia's secular government won a sweeping victory in two Muslim-dominated states and looked headed for a nationwide rout of the fundamentalist Islamic opposition.
(WSJ, 3/8/04, p.A1)(AP, 3/21/04)
2004 Mar 22, In Malaysia Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was sworn in as prime minister, a day after scoring a landslide election victory that handed the fundamentalist Islamic opposition its worst defeat in more than a decade. The national Front Coalition won 199 out of 219 seats in parliament.
(AP, 3/22/04)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.53)
2004 Apr 7, In Malaysia 3 men armed with firebombs, machetes and an ax attacked Myanmar's embassy, hacking one senior official and starting a fire that destroyed the building.
(AP, 4/7/04)
2004 May 28, Malaysia issued a detention order for Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman, on charges that in 2002 he brought 7 Libyan technicians to Malaysia to be trained to operate machines to produce centrifuge parts for Libya’s nuclear weapons program. Tahir was a key associate of Abdul Qadeer Khan, former head of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons program.
(WSJ, 6/4/04, p.A10)
2004 Aug 31, The $4 million film “Princess of Mount Ledang," directed by Saw Teong Hin, opened on Malaysia’s 47th anniversary of independence.
(SFC, 8/26/04, p.E5)
2004 Sep 2, Anwar Ibrahim was set free after his sodomy conviction was overturned by Malaysia's highest court. This was six years to the day after the one-time heir apparent to the country's premiership plunged into a divisive fight with his political mentor.
(AP, 9/2/04)
2004 Sep 15, Malaysia declared its entire northern Kelantan state a quarantine zone to halt the spread of bird flu.
(AP, 9/15/04)
2004 Azman Mokhtar was appointed as head of Khazana, a Malaysian government passive holding company, with a mission to overhaul some 40 partially state-owned firms.
(Econ, 8/20/05, p.50)
2004 Producers and users of palm oil, 90% of which is produced in Indonesia and Malaysia, set up a Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO).
(Econ, 8/1/15, p.59)
2005 Jan 1, Malaysia was forecast for 4.7% annual GDP growth with a population at 25.9 million and GDP per head at $4,750.
(Econ, 1/8/05, p.91)
2005 Feb 26, Malaysia's PM Badawi told Proton to set its sights abroad as he launched the national carmaker's 1.8 billion ringgit (474 million dollar) new manufacturing plant.
(AP, 2/26/05)
2005 Apr 4, A minister said Malaysia plans to hire 169,000 foreign workers to overcome an acute labor shortage after a crackdown on illegal migrants.
(AP, 4/4/05)
2005 May 25, Japan and Malaysia agreed to key elements of a free-trade pact, to be launched in December, covering automobiles and most other economic sectors.
(WSJ, 5/26/05, p.A10)
2005 Jun 24, Malaysia's ruling UMNO party suspended cabinet minister Isa Samad for six years for corruption.
(AP, 6/25/05)
2005 Jun 29, In Malaysia Hamisa Abu Hassan Saari (22) was arrested after police found some drugs on a friend. A police officer secretly recorded her with a cell phone as she was forced to strip and do squats, though she had no drugs. The recording got on the Internet and led to a special commission that denounced the police procedures and led to significant changes.
(SFC, 11/23/06, p.A34)
2005 Jul 3, Police in Malaysia raided the compound of Ayah Pin, born as Ariffin Mohammad, in Terengganu state, and arrested 21 followers. Pin claimed divinity as the earthly incarnation of what he called the Sky Kingdom. The ruling UMNO party tracks “deviant sects" and refuses to endorse the idea that Muslims should interpret and observe their faith as they see fit.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.34)
2005 Jul 4, In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, UN agencies met for a 3-day conference on bird flu virus and said the disease remains as dangerous as ever and nations must do more to prepare for a pandemic among humans.
(AP, 7/4/05)
2005 Jul 18, Malaysia launched its first bond fund on the stock exchange as part of an Asian scheme to augment underdeveloped capital markets.
(AP, 7/18/05)
2005 Oct 9, It was reported that dengue fever was causing concerns in Malaysia and Martinique. Malaysia reported 71 deaths so far this year from over 27,000 cases. Martinique reported almost 1,000 cases a week since mid-September.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, p.D2)
2005 Oct 19, Malaysia’s government unveiled a policy draft to eliminate disparities in the treatment of local and foreign auto makers.
(WSJ, 10/20/05, p.A13)
2005 Oct 21, Indonesian police said they had arrested four people allegedly involved in smuggling hundreds of pounds of explosive materials from Malaysia into Indonesia.
(AP, 10/21/05)
2005 Nov 19, It was reported that the Nipah virus, naturally found in bats, had moved to Malaysian pigs. It killed about 40% of the 265 people it had infected.
(Econ, 11/19/05, p.85)
2005 Nov 22, Ministers from the 114 members of the Nonaligned Movement ended a 2-day conference in Malaysia and agreed to launch an Internet-based news network to counter what they called prejudiced reporting by Western media. Bernama, Malaysia’s state news agency, will oversee the network.
(WSJ, 11/23/05, p.A14)
2005 Dec 3, Malaysia's state media said Southeast Asian lawmakers want Myanmar expelled from the ASEAN regional grouping unless it frees democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners within a year.
(Reuters, 12/03/05)
2005 Dec 10, In Malaysia Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer signed the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia, which calls for signatories not to interfere in each other's internal affairs. The treaty was born within the 10-member ASEAN, which made signing the pact a condition for entry into next week's inaugural East Asian summit.
(AP, 12/10/05)
2005 Dec 14, The 1st East Asia Summit was held successfully in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
(www.aseansec.org/18104.htm)(Econ, 12/17/05, p.40)
2005 Malaysia opened its $1650 million Bio Valley project. By 2012 it was known as the “Valley of the Bio Ghosts."
(Econ, 1/21/12, SR p.14)
2005 Malaysia’s $5 billion Bakun Dam on the Balui River was expected to be completed.
(SFC, 5/22/01, p.A10)
2006 Jan 15, In Malaysia a homemade bomb filled with nails and bullet casings exploded outside a shopping mall on Penang Island, killing one man and injuring another.
(AP, 1/16/06)
2006 Jan 17, Subur Sugiarto, an alleged key aide to a Malaysian fugitive blamed for a series of deadly terrorist attacks in Indonesia, was captured in the central Javanese town of Boyolali en route to Jakarta. A local officer alleged that Sugiarto was "a henchman" of Noordin Top, who is believed to be a senior member of the al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah.
(AP, 1/19/06)
2006 Jan 27, Malaysian dissident politician Anwar Ibrahim sued former PM Mahathir Mohamad for defamation after Mahathir refused to apologize for calling him a homosexual.
(AP, 1/27/06)
2006 Jan, The Lord Murugan Statue, the tallest statue of a Hindu deity in Malaysia and second tallest statue of Hindu deity in the world, was unveiled after 3 years of construction during Thaipusam festival at the Sri Murugan Perumal Kovil at the foot of Batu Caves. It was second place to the Kailashnath Mahadev Statue in Nepal.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Murugan_Statue)
2006 Feb 3, Malaysia's national carmaker Proton renewed its alliance with Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp. with a technical pact that involves jointly developing new vehicles.
(AP, 2/3/06)
2006 Feb 9, President Bush outlined details of an alleged plot to hijack an airliner and fly it into a skyscraper in Los Angeles. The next day security officials and terrorism experts in Southeast Asia said Malaysian engineer Zaini Zakaria (38) was among three men al-Qaida was preparing to take part in an attack on Los Angeles. Zaini has been detained without trial under the Internal Security Act in Malaysia since he surrendered in December 2002.
(AP, 2/10/06)
2006 Feb 24, A prominent Malaysian newspaper avoided punishment for publishing a cartoon about the Prophet Muhammad drawings controversy, offering an apology that was accepted by the government.
(AP, 2/24/06)
2006 Feb 28, The Malaysian government sharply raised fuel prices to trim a ballooning fuel-subsidy bill. Interest rates and inflation were expected to rise as a result.
(WSJ, 3/1/06, p.A7)
2006 Mar 5, Malaysian PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi launched an information offensive to counter public dismay after the government imposed the country's biggest ever fuel price hikes.
(AFP, 3/5/06)
2006 Mar 7, Malaysia said it has lifted a ban on US beef imports in place for more than two years, to make up for a shortage after it restricted access to Australian and New Zealand beef.
(AFP, 3/7/06)
2006 Mar 8, Malaysia and the US announced that they have agreed to begin negotiating a free trade deal to eliminate trade barriers between the two nations.
(AP, 3/8/06)
2006 Mar 27, Malaysia’s government said it will end subsidies to flag carrier Malaysia Airlines and let it operate only 19 domestic routes, in competition with budget carrier AirAsia, under a major restructuring that will shed thousands of jobs.
(AP, 3/27/06)
2006 Mar 31, Malaysia’s PM Abdullah Badawi introduced a new 5-year plan. It hoped to slash the poverty rate from 5.7% to 2.8% by 2010.
(Econ, 4/8/06, p.42)
2006 Apr 12, Malaysia abandoned plans to build a controversial new bridge to Singapore, saying that the city-state's demand for airspace access in return for its agreement was unacceptable.
(AFP, 4/12/06)
2006 Apr 26, Malaysia’s central bank raised its main interest rate by a quarter point to 3.5%.
(WSJ, 4/27/06, p.A8)
2006 May 25, PM John Howard increased Australia’s contingent to Timor-Leste to some 1,300 troops. 500 Malaysians and troops from New Zealand and Portugal were also deployed.
(Econ, 6/3/06, p.15)
2006 May 31, Malaysia’s PM Abdullah Badawi announced a national 5-year plan. An elderly woman and three children were feared dead following a landslide in Kuala Lumpur that destroyed 43 homes.
(AFP, 5/31/06)(Econ, 6/17/06, p.50)
2006 Jul 14, Malaysia's government declassified documents on negotiations with Singapore over an aborted bridge in a bid to counter criticism from defiant ex-premier Mahathir Mohamad.
(AFP, 7/14/06)
2006 Jul 24, A Malaysian princess was stabbed to death by her son as she tried to stop him from attacking her husband (74). The son (21) later died of an apparent drug overdose. Tengku Puteri Kamariah, whose brother is Sultan Ahmad Shah, ruler of the eastern state of Pahang, died at her home in Pekan town, Pahang.
(AP, 7/25/06)
2006 Aug 3, In Malaysia the Islamic world's largest organization of countries demanded on that the UN implement an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon and investigate what it called flagrant human rights violations by Israel.
(AP, 8/3/06)
2006 Aug 14, Malaysia said it would issue a "big fat no" to any nation or group that asked it to dismantle a system of positive discrimination for its majority ethnic Malays as part of trade talks.
(AFP, 8/14/06)
2006 Aug 25, Japanese officials said Kazusaku Tezuka, the president of precision instrument maker Mitutoyo Corp., was arrested along with four other Mitutoyo executives and employees for the alleged export to Malaysia of equipment that can be used in making nuclear weapons.
(AP, 8/25/06)
2006 Oct 11, Indonesia apologized to Singapore and Malaysia for the choking haze over both countries and agreed to convene a meeting of regional environment ministers to tackle the problem. This was the worst smog since 1997 and 1998, when tens of thousands of people were hospitalized.
(AP, 10/11/06)(Econ, 10/14/06, p.47)
2006 Oct 19, In Malaysia Altantuya Shaariibuu (28), a Mongolian model, was kidnapped outside the house of Abdul Razak Baginda (46), who heads the Malaysian Strategic Research Center think-tank. Shaariibuu was allegedly extorting Baginda following an affair that had begun in 2004. She was killed and her remains blown up with military-grade C-4 explosives and later found in an isolated area south of the capital Kuala Lumpur. In Nov. Malaysian PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi vowed there would be no cover-up over her murder. Abdul Razak allegedly abetted two policemen, Azilah Hadri (30) and Sirul Azhar Umar (35), to commit the murder. In 2008 a court acquitted Razak of charges of abetting the murder of Shaariibuu. In 2009 a Malaysian court sentenced two policemen to death on charges of murdering Shaariibuu. An Appeals Court acquitted the men in 2013. On Jan 13, 2015, a Federal Court unanimously ruled that the Appeals Court was wrong in reversing the findings of the trial court.
(AFP, 11/9/06)(AFP, 11/16/06)(WSJ, 3/29/07, p.A1)(WSJ, 11/1/08, p.A8)(AP, 4/9/09)(AP, 1/13/15)
2006 Nov 3, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin (44), a sultan in northeastern Malaysia, was elected the country's next constitutional monarch under a unique system where traditional state rulers take turns on the throne for five years. Mizan, whose state has significant offshore oil and gas resources, will assume the throne on Dec. 13 as Malaysia's 13th Yang di-Pertuan Agong, the Malay title of the monarch.
(AP, 11/3/06)
2006 Nov 14, The ninth Chief of Defense Forces' conference opened in Malaysia. It brought together officials from 23 nations including the United States, France, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea.
(AP, 11/14/06)
2006 Nov 28, Malaysia's PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said ties between Muslims and Christians are under "extreme stress" and the growing divide between the faiths is threatening international stability.
(AP, 11/28/06)
2006 Dec 12, Malaysia's twelfth king, Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin (63), stepped down from his post after a five-year reign to make way for the next monarch in a send-off steeped in color and tradition.
(AP, 12/12/06)
2006 Dec 13, Malaysia's unique revolving monarchy was passed to Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin (44), the youthful sultan of oil-rich Terengganu state. Mizan was a keen rider who has represented his country at international equestrian events.
(AFP, 12/13/06)
2006 Dec 18, Venezuela's ruling party took the first step Monday toward creating a single pro-government party, a move opponents criticized as a push to consolidate more power in the hands of President Hugo Chavez after his landslide re-election. Chavez met with Malaysia's PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to discuss expanding trade and deepening ties.
(AP, 12/18/06)
2006 Dec 20, Officials said flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains has forced more than 20,000 people to flee their homes in the southern Malaysian state of Johor.
(AP, 12/20/06)
2006 Dec 23, Officials in Malaysia said 7 people had died and more than 90,000 displaced during the last week as the country recorded heavy rainfall.
(AP, 12/23/06)
2006 Dec 24, Officials said at least 94 people were killed and dozens left missing by floods in Indonesia and Malaysia. Looting broke out in areas of Malaysia abandoned because of rising waters.
(AP, 12/24/06)
2006 Malaysia’s Home Ministry banned the book "March 8," written by Malaysian author K. Arumugam, which recounts clashes between ethnic Malay Muslims and ethnic Indians. The strife killed six people on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur in 2001. In 2010 The Kuala Lumpur High Court upheld the ban saying its publication could upset ethnic sensitivities already strained by recent attacks on places of worship.
(AP, 2/12/10)
2006 Malaysia’s northern state of Terengganu counted 5 leatherback turtle nests, as compared to some 6-10 thousand 50 years earlier and 800 in 1984. Local eating of the turtle eggs and ocean fishing were said to account for the drop. In 2007 experts considered cloning to raise the turtle count.
(Econ, 7/21/07, p.43)
2006 In Malaysia the murder rate this year increased 22%.
(Econ, 3/24/07, p.47)
2007 Jan 24, A study released about the trade in Malaysia found that catches of some grouper species and the endangered Napoleon wrasse fell by as much as 99% between 1995 to 2003, a period coinciding with soaring economic growth in countries where the exotic fish are a delicacy.
(AP, 1/24/07)
2007 Feb 2, Malaysia said it is ready to halt free trade talks with the United States after a US lawmaker called for a suspension in protest over an energy deal with Iran signed in January.
(AFP, 2/2/07)
2007 Feb 21, Human Rights Watch condemned Malaysia's plan to introduce tough laws that curb the movements of migrant employees and allow employers "to lock up workers."
(AP, 2/21/07)
2007 Feb 22, A court ordered Malaysia's government to pay a 69-year-old British man $857,000 for seizing his passport and preventing him from leaving the country in Dec, 1981.
(AP, 2/23/07)
2007 Feb 26, Malaysia's securities watchdog said it has frozen two local bank accounts, shut down two Web sites and questioned several people suspected to be involved in a global Internet investment scam. In March 3 men were indicted by the US for securities fraud. The indictment named Jaisankar Marimuthu (32) of India, Thirugnanam Ramanathan (34), an Indian residing in Malaysia, and Chockalingam Ramanathan (33) of Chennai, India. The 1st two were arrested in Hong Kong, while the 3rd remained at large.
(AP, 2/26/07)(WSJ, 3/13/07, p.B5)
2007 Feb 27, A report said Malaysian environmental and residents' groups are joining forces to buy swathes of forest in a desperate bid to save them from developers.
(AFP, 2/27/07)
2007 Mar 15, The European Commission and the UN Development Program said Malaysia should empower its forest-dependent indigenous people to alleviate poverty and safeguard their environment.
(AP, 3/15/07)
2007 Mar 22, Malaysia and Thailand agreed to map out a series of socio-economic measures to end rising sectarian tensions and violence in the kingdom's insurgency-wracked south.
(AFP, 3/22/07)
2007 Mar 27, The US offered a $5 million reward for information leading to the capture of a US-trained Malaysian engineer accused of involvement in a series of deadly bombings in the Philippines.
(AP, 3/27/07)
2007 Mar 31, A report said Malaysia's top anti-corruption official, who is facing a police investigation into graft allegations against him, will not have his contract renewed.
(AP, 3/31/07)
2007 Apr 7, Malaysian ministers issued fresh attacks on bloggers, threatening to take away their rights and accusing them of trying to overthrow the government, according to reports.
(AFP, 4/7/07)
2007 Apr 13, In Malaysia the Negeri Sembilan state government closed down a museum exhibition on ghosts, ghouls and supernatural beings after Islamic clerics claimed it was detrimental to Muslims' faith.
(AP, 4/14/07)
2007 Apr 26, Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin, Malaysia's 13th king, formally ascended the throne, pledging to reign wisely and safeguard the sanctity of Islam in a ceremony marked by traditional Malay rites and imperial pageantry. Malaysia's system allows each of its hereditary state rulers to take turns reigning as the country's constitutional monarch for five years each.
(AP, 4/26/07)
2007 May 1, It was reported that Malaysian doctors have declared neckties a health hazard and called on the heath ministry to stop insisting that physicians wear them.
(Reuters, 5/1/07)
2007 May 10, The armed forces of Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to step up cooperation to boost security along shared borders after successful patrols in the Malacca Strait.
(AFP, 5/10/07)
2007 May 14, Malaysia’s PM Badawi hosted Singapore’s Premier Lee Hsein Lloong for a 2-day talk on economic cooperation.
(WSJ, 5/14/07, p.A8)
2007 May 30, Malaysia's top civil court rejected a woman's appeal to be recognized as a Christian, in a landmark case that tested the limits of religious freedom in this moderate Islamic country. A three-judge Federal Court panel ruled by a 2-1 majority that only the Islamic Shariah Court has the power to allow her to remove the word "Islam" from the religion category on her government identity card. Judge Richard Malanjum, the only non-Muslim on the panel, sided with Lina Joy, saying it was "unreasonable" to ask her to turn to the Shariah Court because she could face criminal prosecution there.
(AP, 5/30/07)
2007 Jun 6, In Malaysia Nyambang Entuhan (37) shot and killed five people during a wedding reception on remote Borneo island. In 2010 he was sentenced to death as well as to 22 years in prison for wounding nine others and illegal firearm possession.
(AP, 5/8/10)(http://tinyurl.com/22qhgzv)
2007 Jun 12, A senior official said security cameras are monitoring government workers in northeastern Malaysia to keep them from slacking off or vanishing for extended tea breaks.
(AP, 6/12/07)
2007 Jul 17, Najib Razak, Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, said Malaysia is an Islamic state and not a secular one, while carefully assuring members of minority faiths that their rights will be protected. More than 60% of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays and Islam is the official religion under the country's constitution. But while the constitution defines the ethnic majority Malays as Muslims it also guarantees freedom of religion.
(AFP, 7/17/07)
2007 Aug 13, In Malaysia 20 people died after an express bus overturned on the main highway, tearing off the vehicle's roof and flinging seats into the air in what officials said was the country's worst traffic disaster. The toll rose to 22 after 2 injured people died later.
(AP, 8/13/07)(AP, 8/20/07)
2007 Aug 13, Armed pirates attacked a Malaysian barge in the Malacca Strait and kidnapped 2 Indonesian crew, in the first high sea abduction in the busy waterway in more than 2 years.
(AP, 8/14/07)
2007 Sep 8, A late night riot broke out in Malaysia’s northeastern state of Terengganu after a group of opposition parties, including the main Islamist party, held an illegal rally. Malaysian police fired live rounds to quell the riot wounding two men.
(Reuters, 9/9/07)
2007 Oct 10, A Russian rocket blasted off from Kazakhstan's Baikonur launch pad, carrying 3 astronauts to the international space station. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, an orthopedic surgeon and university lecturer from Kuala Lumpur, left Earth alongside Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and American astronaut Peggy Whitson. Shukor was selected from among 11,000 Malaysian candidates to fly aboard the ISS in a deal his government arranged with Russia as part of a $1 billion purchase of Russian fighter jets. Whitson will be the first woman to command the outpost.
(Reuters, 9/20/07)(AP, 10/10/07)(SFC, 10/11/07, p.A8)
2007 Oct 23, Lim Goh Tong (b.1918), Chinese businessman, died in Kuala Lumpur. The casino king of Malaysia had made a fortune in gambling casinos and a cruise fleet. His family fortune was estimated at $4.2 billion.
(AP, 10/23/07)(WSJ, 10/27/07, p.A6)
2007 Nov 6, Singapore presented its case regarding sovereignty of three disputed islands in the Pacific Ocean at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, a claim disputed by Malaysia.
(AFP, 11/6/07)
2007 Nov 10, Malaysian police unleashed tear gas and water cannons on protesters as tens of thousands, wearing canary-yellow shirts, defied a government ban and rallied in Kuala Lumpur to call for clean and fair elections in the biggest anti-government street protests in nearly a decade. Some 245 people were detained.
(AP, 11/10/07)(AP, 11/11/07)(Econ, 11/17/07, p.53)
2007 Nov 11, Proton, Malaysia’s national car maker, said it planned to team up with companies in Iran and Turkey to produce "Islamic cars" for the global market.
(http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/12/news/international/bc.mi.malaysia.islamicc.ap/)
2007 Nov 25, In Malaysia some 10-20 thousand ethnic Indians clashed with police at a rally in downtown Kuala Lumpur to demand economic equality.
(AP, 11/27/07)(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Dec 5, A Tibetan woman said that she pulled out of a beauty pageant in Malaysia after organizers, reacting to pressure from Beijing, told her halfway through the event that she could only participate if she added "China" to her "Miss Tibet" title.
(AP, 12/6/07)
2007 Dec 13, Malaysia said it has arrested five leaders of ethnic Indian rights group Hindraf under controversial security laws that allow for detention without trial.
(AFP, 12/13/07)
2007 Dec 16, Malaysia’s Premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi intervened to head off rising anger among the Southeast Asian country's ethnic Indian population after a rare public rally on Nov 25 led to violent clashes with police.
(AP, 12/16/07)
2007 Dec 24, Malaysia's government unveiled a major initiative to protect Hindu temples, hoping to pacify ethnic Indians who complain that hundreds of their places of worship have been demolished in this Muslim-majority country.
(AP, 12/24/07)
2007 Dec 26, Iran and Malaysia signed a $16 billion agreement to develop two Iranian gas fields, in a deal described as the largest energy contract in Iran.
(AP, 12/26/07)
2007 Malaysia’s Prince Naquiyuddin Jaafar founded the EntoGenex biotech company. It took a pre-existing protein called the Trypsin Modulating Oostatic Factor (TMOF) and by 2012 developed it into what he called a fatal "diet pill" for mosquitoes. The firm combined the TMOF with bacillus thuringiensis israelensis (Bti) bacteria, which eats holes in the guts of larvae but is non-toxic to people. He hoped it could potentially become a weapon in the even larger fight against malaria, which kills an estimated 650,000 people per year.
(AFP, 6/6/12)
2007 The population of Malaysia numbered about 27 million people.
(Econ, 6/2/07, p.42)
2008 Jan 5, Malaysia’s New Straits Times said Malaysian police have arrested a beauty parlor owner and a farmer suspected of distributing a sex video showing a former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek committing adultery. Soi Lek resigned Jan 2 after admitting he was the man in the video.
(AP, 1/5/08)
2008 Jan 23, In Malaysia tens of thousands of ethnic Indian Malaysians gathered at the Batu Caves temple outside Kuala Lumpur to celebrate Thaipusam, one of Hinduism’s biggest festivals. In past years over a million have turned out. The reduced turnout was due to a boycott called by the Hindu rights Action Force (Hindraf), despite PM Badawi’s promise to make Thaipusam a public holiday in the capital.
(Econ, 1/26/08, p.42)
2008 Jan 26, Malaysian police detained 53 activists in a crackdown on a planned opposition-led protest over inflation ahead of national elections expected within weeks.
(AP, 1/26/08)
2008 Feb 13, Malaysia’s government dissolved Parliament, opening the way for elections.
(WSJ, 2/14/08, p.A1)
2008 Mar 8, Malaysia's ruling coalition was dealt a shock rebuke in elections that looked set to deliver the key state of Penang to the opposition as well as a slice of its majority in parliament. The National Front won only 140 seats, or 63 percent of the constituencies, losing its two-thirds majority for the first time since 1969 and slumping from its 2004 landslide victory when it won 91 percent of the seats. An alliance of three opposition parties also secured control of 5 of Malaysia’s 13 state administrations. The Democratic Action party won the Penang legislative assembly, becoming the first opposition party to win in Penang in over 40 years.
(AFP, 3/8/08)(AP, 3/9/08)(WSJ, 3/10/08, p.A3)(Econ, 8/13/11, p.40)
2008 Mar 10, In Malaysia PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was sworn in for a new 5-year term despite calls for his resignation. Malaysian stocks fell over 10% and triggered for the first time a limit-down rule established after the 1997-1998 Asian financial crises.
(WSJ, 3/11/08, p.C7)
2008 Mar 11, Top leaders Malaysia's opposition-ruled states will no longer follow a longtime affirmative action program that benefits the majority Malays, in the wake of an election upheaval that clipped the ruling coalition's powers.
(AP, 3/11/08)
2008 Mar 31, Malaysia's Islamic opposition party delivered a protest note to the Netherlands' embassy over the release of an anti-Islam movie by a maverick Dutch lawmaker, while hard-line Muslims in neighboring Indonesia demanded the death of the filmmaker.
(AP, 3/31/08)
2008 Mar, Malaysian police arrested 2 Mexican brothers at a secluded meth factory along with a Singaporean and a Malaysian. Police seized more than 60 pounds (nearly 30 kg) of methamphetamine worth $15 million.
(AP, 4/25/11)
2008 Mar, The population of Malaysia numbered about 28 million people. About 3.9 million had dial-up internet subscriptions and 1.2 million had broadband.
(Econ, 3/15/08, p.52)
2008 Apr 16, The Malaysian government shut down the Tamil-language Makkal Osai, or People's Voice, a newspaper catering to ethnic minority Indians. The next day the daily's news editor slammed the move as punishment for its critical coverage of social and political issues.
(AP, 4/17/08)
2008 Apr 21, Malaysia's leg of the Olympic torch relay passed off largely without incident with a heavy police presence netting just five protesters and thousands of well-wishers braving torrential rain.
(AP, 4/21/08)
2008 May 8, A Malaysian Islamic court allowed a Chinese convert to renounce Islam in a rare decision for this conservative Muslim-led nation. Siti Fatimah, or Tan Ean Huang (38), said she had never practiced Islamic teachings since she converted in 1998 and only did so to enable her to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian.
(AFP, 5/8/08)
2008 May 23, The International Court of Justice awarded Singapore sovereignty over a disputed island at the eastern entrance of the Singapore Straits. The ICJ ruled in favor of Singapore in the 28-year dispute with Malaysia over Pedra Branca, a tiny but strategic uninhabited island the size of half a football field. The court, however, gave Malaysia ownership of the Middle Rocks formation, a smaller uninhabited outcropping. Sovereignty over a third disputed cluster of rocks was left to be determined later between the countries when they sort out their territorial waters.
(AP, 5/23/08)(Reuters, 6/1/18)
2008 Jun 3, A Cabinet minister said Malaysia will remove price controls on gasoline and diesel, allowing stations to sell fuel at world market prices in an attempt to reduce the government's ballooning subsidy bill.
(AP, 6/3/08)
2008 Jun 5, Malaysia's government faced street demonstrations and public outrage over its decision to hike petrol prices 41 percent overnight, in a bid to curb its massive subsidies bill.
(AP, 6/5/08)
2008 Jun 18, A party in Malaysia's 14-party ruling coalition called for a vote of no confidence against the prime minister, in a serious blow to the embattled government.
(AFP, 6/18/08)
2008 Jun 28, In Malaysia a male volunteer, working for the political campaign of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, lodged a police report accusing him of sexual assault.
(Econ, 7/5/08, p.51)
2008 Jun 29, Malaysia's de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim took refuge at the Turkish embassy due to fears he could be assassinated after fresh accusations of sodomy.
(AP, 6/29/08)
2008 Jul 1, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim vowed to seize power from a "corrupt" government at a rally of some 15,000 supporters as he fights back against new sodomy accusations.
(AFP, 7/2/08)
2008 Jul 8, At Developing Eight summit of Islamic nations, meeting in Kuala Lumpur, the leaders of Indonesia and Malaysia called for boosting world food production and finding a permanent solution to skyrocketing oil prices, saying the twin problems have become "grave threats" to the world economy.
(AP, 7/8/08)
2008 Jul 14, Malaysian police locked down Parliament with roadblocks and massive security to prevent opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and his supporters from attending a key debate.
(AP, 7/14/08)
2008 Jul 15, Malaysian police issued an arrest warrant for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in connection with a sodomy accusation by a male former aide.
(AP, 7/15/08)
2008 Jul 16, Malaysian police arrested opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on suspicion that he sodomized a male aide, pre-empting his voluntary appearance at the police headquarters to answer the allegation. He was interrogated for more than eight hours and made to sleep on a "cold cement" floor in a holding cell before being released the next day.
(AP, 7/16/08)(AP, 7/17/08)
2008 Aug 19, Armed pirates seized the MT Bunga Melati Dua, a Malaysian palm oil tanker with 39 crew, off the coast of Somalia, the fourth hijacking in a month.
(AP, 8/20/08)
2008 Aug 26, Malaysia's opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim won a "landslide" victory in a by-election to return him to parliament, and said he was on track to oust a weakened government. The Malays National Organization (UMNO) and its allies had ruled since independence in 1957.
(AFP, 8/26/08)(Econ, 8/30/08, p.39)
2008 Aug 29, Pirates, believed to be Somali, hijacked the Malaysian MT Bunga Melati 5 tanker and its 41 crew members off Yemen's coast in the Gulf of Aden. It was the second tanker owned by MISC Berhard to be hijacked in the gulf in the last 10 days.
(AP, 8/30/08)
2008 Sep 5, Malaysia said it is dispatching three navy vessels to the Gulf of Aden to protect its merchant ships following a sharp surge in pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia.
(AP, 9/5/08)
2008 Sep 10, Ahmad Ismail, a member of Malaysia's ruling party, was suspended for three years for "stoking racial tensions" with incendiary comments about ethnic Chinese that shook the governing coalition.
(AFP, 9/10/08)
2008 Sep 29, Somali Islamist insurgents attacked government forces and African Union peacekeepers overnight in Mogadishu. At least four people were killed in the clashes. Somalia pirates released Malaysia’s palm oil tanker, MT Bunga Melati 2, two days after its first vessel was released.
(AP, 9/30/08)(AFP, 9/29/08)
2008 Oct 8, Malaysia’s PM Badawi said he will step down in March and hand over power to his deputy in order to prevent a split in the UMNO party.
(WSJ, 10/9/08, p.A13)
2008 Oct 15, A Malaysian court ordered Tuanku Jaafar Tuanku Abdul Rahman (86), the country's former king (1994-1999), to settle a $1 million debt to a bank in a landmark verdict that ended a centuries-old tradition shielding the country's royal sultans from legal prosecution.
(AP, 10/15/08)
2008 Oct 16, An influential council of Malaysia's state rulers warned people not to question the supremacy of Islam or the special privileges enjoyed by the country's ethnic Malay majority.
(AP, 10/17/08)
2008 Oct 16, Authorities in Malaysia and Singapore said they will guarantee all foreign currency and local currency bank deposits.
(WSJ, 10/17/08, p.A5)
2008 Nov 1, Malaysia defended its recognition of Kosovo as an independent state, a move that caused Serbia to expel the Southeast Asian nation's ambassador.
(AP, 11/1/08)
2008 Nov 10, Malaysia's Scomi Engineering said its consortium with an Indian company has won a 1.85 billion ringgit ($523 million) state contract to build the first monorail in India.
(AP, 11/10/08)
2008 Nov 22, Malaysia's top Islamic body ruled against Muslims practicing yoga, saying it has elements of other religions that could corrupt Muslims. On Nov 25 Malaysia's leader assured Muslims they can perform yoga if they do not chant religious mantras, an apparent effort to assuage public anger over an Islamic body's ban of the ancient Indian exercise.
(AP, 11/22/08)(AP, 11/26/08)
2008 Nov 22, In Guatemala the head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malaysia was among three people killed in a boat accident on Lake Atitlan.
(AP, 11/24/08)
2008 Nov 24, Malaysia released suspected terrorist Yazid Sufaat, an alleged biological weapons expert who was also linked to the September 11 attacks in the United States.
(AFP, 12/10/08)
2008 Dec 7, In southern Malaysia a bus skidded off a highway, smashed into a tree and plunged into a ditch, killing nine people and injuring 19 others.
(AP, 12/7/08)
2008 Dec 11, Malaysia's government drew flak after admitting it spent 1.68 million dollars a year on PM Badawi’s sprawling residence in the administrative capital Putrajaya.
(AFP, 12/11/08)
2008 Dec 11, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to heighten intelligence cooperation to anticipate rising cross-border crime due to the impact of the global economic crisis.
(AP, 12/11/08)
2008 Dec 27, In Malaysia Tuanku Ja'afar Tuanku Abdul Rahman (86), a royal state ruler, died. He became Malaysia's king for five years (1994-1999) under the country's unique monarchal system.
(AP, 12/28/08)
2008 Dec 28, Malaysia reported that it is zooming in on forests with a satellite in order to fight illegal logging, which its government says is harming the major timber exporting country.
(AFP, 12/28/08)
2008 Malaysia founded Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA), a sovereign wealth fund aimed at ensuring economic development for the state of Terengganu. In 2009 it was renamed 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia_Development_Berhad)(Econ., 3/7/15, p.41)
2008 Singapore sentenced Yong Vui Kong (19) of Malaysia to hang for smuggling 47 grams (1.65 ounces) of heroin into Singapore. His third and final appeal was rejected on April 4, 2012.
(AFP, 4/4/12)
2009 Jan 1, Somali pirates seized the Blue Star, an Egyptian cargo ship, and its 28 crewmembers. A Malaysian military helicopter saved an Indian tanker from being hijacked in the new year's first attacks by pirates in the dangerous Gulf of Aden. A crew of the French warship "PM L'Her" dispatch boat intercepted two speedboats carrying 8 Somali pirates as they were preparing to board a Panamanian cargo ship. The Blue Star and its crew of 28 were freed on March 5 after a ransom was dropped from a plane.
(AP, 1/1/09)(AP, 1/2/09)(AP, 3/5/09)
2009 Jan 7, Wildlife activists said the box turtle is disappearing across Malaysia because of increased illegal hunting for its meat and use in traditional Chinese medicine.
(AP, 1/7/09)
2009 Jan 17, Malaysia's opposition snatched a parliamentary seat from the beleaguered coalition government, in a by-election seen as a test of the nation's political mood.
(AFP, 1/17/09)
2009 Feb 15, Authorities in Malaysia arrested 26 unmarried Muslim couples in hotel rooms during Operation Valentine, aimed at curbing illegal premarital sex in this conservative country.
(AP, 2/16/09)
2009 Feb 19, About 12 pirates armed with guns attacked the tug and barge in the Malacca Strait and kidnapped two crew members as the vessel was en route to Singapore.
(AP, 2/20/09)
2009 Mar 1, Officials said the Malaysian government will issue a new decree restoring a ban on Christian publications using the word "Allah" to refer to God.
(AP, 3/1/09)
2009 Mar 10, Malaysia’s government unveiled a 60 billion ringgit ($16.26 billion) economic stimulus plan amounting to 9% of GDP.
(WSJ, 3/11/09, p.A16)
2009 Mar 17, In Malaysia a battle for senior leadership posts in the ruling party was hit with a bombshell as 15 members including several top figures were found guilty in an anti-corruption probe.
(AFP, 3/17/09)
2009 Mar 30, Malaysia's national car maker Proton and Detroit Electric, a Dutch-based company, signed a $555 million deal to make zero emission electric cars that they said would be more powerful that any existing model.
(AP, 3/30/09)
2009 Apr 1, In Malaysia Mas Selamat Kastari, an Islamic militant suspected of plotting a Sept. 11-style air attack, was arrested in Johor state, more than a year after his dramatic escape from a high-security jail in Singapore. He was arrested by Malaysian authorities with the cooperation of Singaporean and Indonesian intelligence agencies.
(AP, 5/8/09)
2009 Apr 2, Malaysia's PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi (69), in office for 5½ lackluster years, resigned to make way for Deputy PM Najib Razak, who must now fix an economy close to recession, heal the country's deep racial divisions and revive a moribund ruling party.
(AP, 4/2/09)
2009 Apr 3, Malaysian PM Najib Razak, in his first act after talking office, freed 13 people being held under a law that allows indefinite detention and lifted a ban on two opposition newspapers.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 12, Malaysian police rushed to a robbery scene only to find the suspects were fellow officers. 3 men of a special elite police unit were allegedly caught robbing five men at a house. One of the officers was armed with a pistol.
(AP, 4/14/09)
2009 Apr 23, The editor of a Malaysian anti-government news Web site, charged with sedition, went into hiding, prompting a court to order his arrest. Raja Petra Raja Kamarudin, who runs the popular Malaysia Today Web site, failed to appear for a court hearing on a sedition charge stemming from an article he wrote that allegedly implied the prime minister was involved in the murder of a Mongolian woman.
(AP, 4/23/09)
2009 Apr 24, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak vowed to investigate a scathing report by US lawmakers saying thousands of Myanmar refugees were handed over to human traffickers and ended up working in Thai brothels.
(AP, 4/24/09)
2009 May 6, Malaysian officials said 2 political activists have been arrested ahead of a parliamentary showdown between the government and the opposition over control of northern Perak state.
(AFP, 5/6/09)
2009 May 7, Animal welfare activists said more than 300 stray dogs, dumped on isolated islands in Malaysia’s Selangor state, turned to cannibalism after weeks of starvation.
(AP, 5/7/09)
2009 May 8, Malaysia said it will free 13 people detained under internal security laws, including three ethnic Indian activists, members of the banned ethnic Indian rights group Hindraf, held without trial since organizing anti-government protests in 2007.
(AFP, 5/8/09)
2009 May 15, In Indonesia 6 Asia-Pacific countries, meeting at the World Oceans Conference, agreed on a management plan to protect one of the world's largest networks of coral reefs, promising to reduce pollution, eliminate overfishing and improve the livelihoods of impoverished coastal communities. The Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security covered an area defined as the Coral Triangle, which spans Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor.
(AP, 5/15/09)
2009 May 18, Somalia's war-torn government appealed for international help to set up a coast guard, saying it would guarantee that sea piracy near its shores is wiped out once it has such an agency. In Malaysia representatives of the government, attending an international conference on piracy, ruled out allowing foreign forces on Somali soil to destroy pirate bases.
(AP, 5/18/09)
2009 May 27, Malaysian police rescued three men shackled to the wall of a filthy room for two months by illegal moneylenders after failing to repay their debts.
(AP, 5/28/09)
2009 Jun 16, In Malaysia Teoh BEng Hock, a young aide to a state councilor, fell from a window where Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) officials had been questioning him. The MACC had been created earlier this year from the ashes of another agency.
(Econ, 9/5/09, p.48)
2009 Jun 16, The US added six African countries to a blacklist of countries trafficking in people, and put US trading partner Malaysia back on the list. Chad, Eritrea, Niger, Mauritania, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe were added to the list in the annual report. Removed from the list were Qatar, Oman, Algeria, and Moldova.
(AFP, 6/16/09)
2009 Jun, In Malaysia Hau Yuan Tyng (44), a single mother of two, pleaded innocent to charges of assaulting Siti Hajar Sadli, her Indonesian maid, in one case allegedly using hot water; in another, a hammer; and in a third, a pair of scissors. In 2010 a court sentenced Tyng to eight years in prison for the abuse, but allowed her to remain free on bail pending an appeal.
(AP, 5/20/10)
2009 Jul 8, Malaysian education officials announced that they will abandon the use of English to teach math and science, bowing to protesters who demanded more use of the national Malay language.
(SFC, 7/9/09, p.A2)
2009 Jul 20, In Malaysia Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno (32), a Muslim woman, was sentenced to six lashes and a fine of 5,000 ringgit ($1,400) for having a beer in a nightclub in Dec 2007. She would become the first woman in Malaysia to be given the punishment under Islamic law. Her caning was delayed on Aug 24 because of the holy month of Ramadan. On Mar 30, 2010, the state's sultan spared her the caning and instead ordered her to do 3 weeks of community service.
(AP, 7/21/09)(AP, 8/19/09)(AP, 8/24/09)(AP, 4/1/10)
2009 Jul 22, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said a decision to expand TIA (1MDB), a regional development fund for oil-rich Terengganu state, into a federal entity was made to enable its benefits to reach a broad spectrum of Malaysians rather than to the residents of only one state. Tycoon Low Taek Jho helped set up 1MDB.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1Malaysia_Development_Berhad)(Econ, 3/5/15, p.34)(Econ, 7/23/16, p.61)
2009 Aug 1, Police broke up Malaysia's biggest street protest in nearly two years, firing tear gas and chemical-laced water at thousands of opposition supporters demanding an end to a law that allows detention without trial.
(AP, 8/1/09)
2009 Sep 1, Malaysian police arrested Alain Robert (47), a French climber nicknamed "Spiderman," after he scaled the iconic 88-story Petronas Twin Towers.
(AP, 9/1/09)
2009 Sep 9, A Malaysian government report said indigenous tribal girls have been sexually abused by loggers in remote jungles on Borneo island, in the first official verification of rape accusations involving timber companies.
(AP, 9/9/09)
2009 Sep 11, Malaysian authorities seized a consignment of 10,000 copies of the Bible sent from Jakarta to Kuching in Sarawak state, because the Indonesian-language books contained the word "Allah," a translation that has been banned in this Muslim-majority country. Another 5,100 Bibles, also imported from Indonesia, were reportedly seized in March. Church officials said Allah is not exclusive to Islam but is an Arabic word that predates Islam.
(AP, 10/29/09)
2009 Sep 28, In Malaysia news reports said a judge has upheld a court verdict to cane a Muslim woman for drinking beer, re-igniting a controversy over Islamic justice in this moderate Muslim-majority country. The chief Shariah judge of Pahang state ruled that a Shariah High Court's verdict against Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno (32) was correct and should stay.
(AP, 9/28/09)
2009 Nov 18, Islamic authorities in Malaysia charged a popular Muslim scholar with delivering an illegal lecture in what critics considered an attempt by conservative clerics to silence a leading moderate preacher. Asri Zainul Abidin (38) has cultivated strong support among young people in the Muslim-majority country for criticizing what he called overzealous efforts by Islamic officials to clamp down on immoral behavior.
(AP, 11/18/09)
2009 Dec 17, Malaysian marine police rescued 62 pangolins. 2 days later Malaysian wildlife authorities said they rescued 130 pangolins and arrested two men attempting to smuggle the protected species. They were expected to be illegally exported to China, Japan and Hong Kong, where animal's meat is considered a delicacy with medicinal qualities.
(AFP, 12/20/09)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pangolin)
2009 Dec 31, A Malaysian court ruled that a Catholic weekly, the Herald, had a constitutional right to use the word Allah to refer to God, striking down a government ban as illegal. On Jan 6, the High Court suspended its ruling following an appeal by the government and with the consent of the Catholic church.
(AP, 12/31/09)(Econ, 1/16/10, p.44)
2010 Jan 1, Malaysia’s Islamic morality police arrested 52 unmarried couples for sexual misconduct following raids in hotel rooms on New Year’s Day. The detained couples were expected to be charged with khalwat (close proximity), and faced a maximum penalty of 2 years in prison and a fine.
(SFC, 1/5/10, p.A4)
2010 Jan 6, A Malaysian court charged an air force sergeant and a businessman with stealing two fighter jet engines. The engines, each worth 50 million ringgit ($14 million), were stolen while they were undergoing repairs and were allegedly shipped toward Argentina before being offloaded to another vessel bound for Uruguay.
(AP, 1/6/10)
2010 Jan 8, In Malaysia 3 churches were attacked with firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged to prevent Christians from using the word "Allah," escalating religious tensions in the multiracial country. On Aug 13 a Malaysian court sentenced two Muslim brothers to five years in prison for torching a Christian church during the height of the dispute.
(AP, 1/8/10)(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Jan 9, In Malaysia a fourth church was hit by firebombs, stoking concern among Christians as a dispute rages over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims.
(AP, 1/9/10)
2010 Jan 10, In Malaysia firebombs were thrown at 3 more churches and another was splashed with black paint, the latest in a series of assaults on Christian houses of worship following a court decision allowing non-Muslims to use "Allah" to refer to God.
(AP, 1/10/10)
2010 Jan 15, Malaysian student Mohamad Tasyrif Tajudin (25) was charged after allegedly posting comments on Facebook about throwing a gasoline bomb amid a recent spate of attacks on churches, most of which were hit by Molotov Cocktails. He was charged under Malaysia’s Communications and Multimedia Act for improper use of the Internet, which carries a penalty of up to a year in jail and a fine if found guilty.
(AP, 1/15/10)
2010 Jan 20, Malaysian police announced the arrest of eight Muslim men who allegedly attacked a Christian church with a firebomb, the first suspects in a spate of assaults on churches after a court ruled that non-Muslims could use the word "Allah" to refer to God.
(AP, 1/20/10)
2010 Jan 21, In Malaysia vandals tried to burn down two Muslim prayer rooms, following a string of arson attacks on churches amid a dispute over the use of the word "Allah" by Christians.
(AP, 1/21/10)
2010 Feb 9, Authorities in Malaysia caned three Muslim women for having extramarital sex, making them the first women in the country to receive such punishment under Islamic law. Each woman reportedly received between four and six strokes of a rattan cane.
(AP, 2/17/10)
2010 Apr 20, In Malaysia ruling party lawmaker Bung Mokhtar Radin (50) and actress Zizie Ezette A. Samad, his second wife, pleaded guilty to entering into a polygamous marriage without official consent amid a debate over Islamic morality among politicians.
(AP, 4/20/10)
2010 Apr 25, Malaysia's government scored a narrow win in a tense by-election billed as a referendum on PM Najib Razak's planned economic reforms and his first year in office.
(Reuters, 4/25/10)
2010 Apr 26, In Malaysia a policeman fired a shot that killed Aminulrasyid Amzah (14). On May 10 prosecutors charged officer Jenain Subi with fatally shooting the teenager, an incident that triggered a national outcry over claims of police brutality. Activists say Malaysia's police have fatally shot more than 180 suspects, half of them Indonesians, since 2007.
(AP, 5/10/10)
2010 May 13, The UN General Assembly approved all 14 candidates for the 14 seats on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Human rights groups criticized the poor human rights records 7 of the candidates: Angola, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Qatar, Thailand and Uganda.
(SFC, 5/14/10, p.A2)
2010 May 31, A Malaysian government official, Malacca Chief Minister Mohamad Ali Rustam, defended an Indian company's plans to build an animal testing medicine lab in his state, saying that God created monkeys and rats for experiments to benefit humans.
(AP, 5/31/10)
2010 May, Malaysia's Islamic Shariah courts appointed their first female judges. The news was not made public until July.
(AP, 7/8/10)
2010 Jun 10, A Malaysian businessmen, Badrul Zaman P.S. Mohamed (58), who was held without trial for three years (1991-1994) under the harsh Internal Security Act won 3.3 million ringgit ($1 million) in damages from the government in a landmark court verdict.
(AP, 6/10/10)
2010 Jun 25, Malaysia banned three works of political cartoons that criticize the government, but one of the artists, Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque (aka Zunar), said he was obligated to highlight issues other cartoonists would not.
(AP, 6/25/10)
2010 Jun 25, Malaysia's government scrapped a plan to let non-Muslims bet on international sports, bowing to public criticism that it would promote gambling. PM Najib Razak announced authorities have revoked their approval for Ascot Sports, a company linked to Malaysian billionaire Vincent Tan, to run betting on sports.
(AP, 6/26/10)
2010 Jul 13, In Malaysia a police raid for stolen vehicles found 42 of them at a warehouse in Malaysia along with and hundreds of birds and other protected wildlife. Officers found some 700 birds and caged leopard cats, albino pygmy monkeys and other animals. They included about 20 protected species.
(AP, 7/14/10)
2010 Aug 2, Malaysia set itself a historic precedent as 2 female sharia judges began working for the first time.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.39)
2010 Aug 12, In Malaysia gold coins came into circulation and could be purchased at various locations in Kelantan state. Their worth is currently about $180 per dinar and $4 per dirham. The gold dinar and silver dirham coins provide an alternative to Malaysia's currency, the ringgit, in northeastern Kelantan state, which is governed by the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, a conservative opposition group that promotes religious policies in its rule.
(AP, 8/13/10)
2010 Aug 26, A Malaysian man was arrested after his bag bursting with 95 live boa constrictors broke open on a luggage conveyer belt at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Keng Liang "Anson" Wong (52), who had been previously convicted of wildlife trafficking in the United States, later pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling.
(AP, 9/4/10)
2010 Sep 13, In Malaysia Tengku Muhammad Faris Petra was proclaimed the new sultan of northern Kelantan state following a decision by the Council of Succession, which determines who ascends to the throne. Faris has been embroiled in a public dispute with his brother, Tengku Muhammad Fakhry, since their father, Tengku Ismail Petra, fell ill more than a year ago. 9 of Malaysia's 13 states are ruled by hereditary royal families, who are widely respected among the Muslim Malay majority though their responsibilities are largely ceremonial. The executive power lies with elected state and national representatives.
(AP, 9/13/10)
2010 Sep 24, A Malaysian political cartoonist said he has been arrested under the Sedition Act and his offices raided by police over his new book, "Cartoon-O-Phobia," just hours before its planned launch. Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, better known as Zunar, used cartoons to highlight contentious issues such as the sodomy trial of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and police shootings.
(AFP, 9/24/10)
2010 Sep 25, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak launched the country’s Economic Transformation Program, formulated as part of Malaysia's National Transformation Program.
(http://etp.pemandu.gov.my/[email protected]_of_ETP.aspx)
2010 Sep 28, In Malaysia Kylie Tanti Marion (42), an Australian woman, fell to her death when her parachute failed to open after she jumped off the Alor Setar Tower to practice for the KL Tower International Jump on Oct. 7.
(AP, 9/29/10)
2010 Oct 6, In Malaysia a newborn baby died after being snatched by a monkey from her family's living room in Negri Sembilan state. Wildlife authorities fatally shot the monkey, which had remained near the house and might have been attracted by a female pet monkey the family kept in a cage.
(AP, 10/7/10)
2010 Oct 13, Malaysia criticized the WHO for failing to tackle the spread of dengue in the region, which saw 242,000 cases of the mosquito-borne disease in 2009 and 831 deaths so far this year.
(AFP, 10/13/10)
2010 Nov 10, In Malaysia "Dalam Botol" (In A Bottle), a Malay-language film, earned applause from movie bloggers invited to its first public screening, three months before its scheduled nationwide release. It is about a man who gets a sex change operation because he thought it would satisfy his male lover, but ends up regretting it. Censors now say depictions of homosexuality are no longer barred, as long as being gay isn't condoned.
(AP, 11/11/10)
2010 Nov 21, A global tiger summit meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, approved a wide-ranging program with the goal of doubling the world's tiger population in the wild by 2022 backed by governments of the 13 countries that still have tiger populations: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam and Russia. Experts said wild tigers could become extinct in 12 years if countries where they still roam fail to take quick action to protect their habitats and step up the fight against poaching.
(AP, 11/21/10)
2010 Dec 16, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and three of his allies were suspended from parliament for six months in votes that triggered pandemonium and an opposition walkout.
(AFP, 12/16/10)
2010 Dec 20, In Malaysia a double-decker bus carrying Thai tourists overturned on a highway, killing 28 people on their way back from a hill resort.
(AP, 12/20/10)
2010 Dec 22, In Australia Kok Loong Wong of Malaysia appeared in a Sydney court charged with possessing 200 pounds (90 kg) of crystal meth in his home, the seventh-largest "ice" haul in Australian history.
(AP, 12/22/10)
2010 Dec 26, In Malaysia 3 Singaporean tourists drowned and two others were missing after an overloaded passenger boat capsized near Sibu island.
(AP, 12/26/10)
2010 Barry Wain authored “Malaysian Maverick: Mahathir Mohamad in Turbulent Times." The book covered the 22 years that Mohamad spent as Malaysia’s prime minister (1981-2003).
(Econ, 1/23/10, p.79)
2011 Jan 21, The Royal Malaysian Navy commandos wounded three pirates in a gunbattle and rescued the 23 crew members on the Malaysian-flagged chemical tanker MT Bunga Laurel, shortly after the pirates stormed the vessel in the Gulf of Aden with assault rifles and pistols. On Jan 31 Malaysian police took custody of 7 captured Somali pirates.
(AP, 1/22/11)(AP, 1/31/11)
2011 Feb 1, New satellite imagery showed Malaysia is destroying forests more than three times faster than all of Asia combined, and its carbon-rich peat soils of the Sarawak coast are being stripped even faster.
(AP, 2/1/11)
2011 Feb 11, Malaysian prosecutors filed charges carrying the death penalty against seven suspected Somali pirates accused of attacking a Malaysian-operated ship in the Gulf of Aden, in the first such charges in Asia against the African sea bandits.
(AP, 2/11/11)
2011 Feb 14, In Malaysia Islamic morality police detained 40 unmarried Muslim couples in hotel rooms during Operation Valentine, aimed at curbing illegal premarital sex. The main Islamic body issued an edict in 2005 banning Muslims from celebrating what it said was a day synonymous with vice.
(AP, 2/15/11)
2011 Feb 27, Malaysian police arrested dozens of ethnic Indians in a clampdown on a protest against a high school literature book that was slammed for denigrating the minority community.
(AP, 2/27/11)
2011 Mar 8, Former Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad released his memoir, "A Doctor In The House," defending decisions he made during a 22-year rule that critics say was marred by human rights abuses.
(AP, 3/8/11)
2011 Mar 10, In Malaysia the main Christian grouping in the Muslim-majority country said it was "fed up" with the government's refusal to allow the distribution of tens of thousands of Bibles, saying this was an affront to religious freedoms.
(AP, 3/10/11)
2011 Mar 15, Malaysia's government agreed to release some 35,000 imported Bibles seized by customs officials amid a dispute over their use of the word "Allah" as a translation for God. A statement assured Muslims that the announcement would not jeopardize their interests in an ongoing court case on whether non-Muslims have the constitutional right to use "Allah."
(AP, 3/15/11)
2011 Mar 18, Malaysian police said that they had found equipment they suspect could be used to make nuclear weapons smuggled on board a ship headed to Iran. On March 8 police confiscated two containers from the MV Bunga Raya Satu traveling from China to Tehran.
(AP, 3/18/11)
2011 Mar 30, Malaysia's main Christian grouping rejected a government attempt to settle a protracted row over seized shipments of Malay-language Bibles, calling instead for the right to freely practice its religion.
(AP, 3/30/11)
2011 Apr 2, Malaysia's government said it would allow Malay-language Bibles to be printed locally, in a major concession to the country's minority Christian community to soothe anger over seized shipments of their holy books.
(AP, 4/3/11)
2011 Apr 4, In Malaysia detainees set fire to an immigration center and about 100 of them escaped as the blaze partially gutted the facility in central Negri Sembilan state.
(AP, 4/5/11)
2011 Apr 19, A Malaysian official said authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay.
(AP, 4/19/11)
2011 Apr 20, Regulators said Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to slash roaming charges for voice calls and text messaging over the next two years in a landmark accord.
(AFP, 4/20/11)
2011 May 7, Australia’s PM Julia Gillard said Malaysia has agreed to take hundreds of asylum seekers who land in Australia illegally and called this "big blow" to people smugglers.
(AFP, 5/7/11)
2011 May 9, Malaysian police said they have arrested Abdul Majid Kunji Mohamad, a Singaporean businessman, suspected of channeling funds to southern Philippine militants.
(AP, 5/9/11)
2011 May 10, Malaysian local papers highlighted how underworld groups were using Facebook and other social media to recruit members, the majority of whom are still at secondary school. The next day the government announced a major crackdown on criminal gangs using social networking sites to enlist teenage recruits as "street fighters."
(AFP, 5/11/11)
2011 May 12, In Australia two Malaysians were arrested and charged with importing heroin into Australia with a street value of more than Aus$50 million (US$53 million), the country's biggest haul in a decade.
(AFP, 5/12/11)
2011 May 16, The Israeli military blocked a Malaysian anti-war group's ship from reaching the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. The Malaysian group, the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, said its ship was fired at when it tried to reach Gaza. The military denied firing at the ship.
(AP, 5/16/11)
2011 May 21, In Malaysia a landslide left 15 boys and one adult dead at an orphanage for ethnic Malay Muslim boys in a village in central Selangor state. 9 people survived.
(AP, 5/21/11)(AP, 5/22/11)
2011 Jun 3, A global maritime watchdog warned ships traversing the South China Sea bordering Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore following the hijack of three tugboats and a barge in recent weeks.
(AFP, 6/3/11)
2011 Jun 4, Malaysian lawyers, politicians and activists lambasted the police, accusing them of abusing their power in chaining up and marking the bodies of 30 foreign women detained for alleged prostitution.
(AP, 6/5/11)
2011 Jun 4, In Malaysia the "Obedient Wives Club" was launched. The new club said it can cure social ills such as prostitution and divorce by teaching women to be submissive and keep their men happy in the bedroom.
(AP, 6/5/11)
2011 Jun 16, Malaysia opened an investigation into allegations that two immigration officers forced a pair of Singaporean women to do squats naked. The officers were suspended.
(AFP, 6/17/11)
2011 Jun 25, Malaysian police detained about 60 opposition supporters amid efforts to prevent a massive rally seeking electoral transparency.
(AP, 6/26/11)
2011 Jul 2, In Malaysia an activist group said police have detained six members of an opposition party, including a lawmaker, were arrested last weekend together with 25 others on the way to a party rally in northern Penang state. They were being held on accusations of "inciting people to wage war against the king." The detentions and arrests were said to be part of a government crackdown to prevent people from attending a July 9 rally by the electoral reform group Bersih.
(AFP, 7/2/11)
2011 Jul 7, In Malaysia a man carrying a machete barged into a kindergarten and held children and teachers hostage for six tense hours before police shot him in the head. The unidentified man was in hospital after sustaining a single bullet wound to the head.
(AP, 7/7/11)
2011 Jul 9, Malaysian police fired tear gas and detained hundreds of activists as more than 20,000 demonstrators massed across Kuala Lumpur demanding electoral reforms in the country's biggest political rally in years. Police said that they detained 1,667 people in a clampdown called "Operation Erase Bersih," referring to the Bersih coalition of civic groups that organized the rally.
(AP, 7/9/11)
2011 Jul 18, The Vatican and Malaysia established diplomatic relations in the wake of tensions between Muslims and religious minorities in the Southeast Asian nation.
(AP, 7/18/11)
2011 Jul 23, Nguyen Cao Ky (b.1930), the flamboyant former air force general who ruled South Vietnam with an iron fist for two years (1965-1967) during the Vietnam War, died in Malaysia. In 2002 he authored "Buddha's Child: My Fight to Save Vietnam."
(AP, 7/23/11)
2011 Aug 3, Conservationists urged Malaysia to impose a national ban on the trade and consumption of turtle eggs to ensure the survival of the marine creatures. Turtles once arrived in their thousands to lay eggs on Malaysian beaches but are now increasingly rare due to poaching and coastal development.
(AFP, 8/3/11)
2011 Aug 31, Australia's High Court dealt a heavy blow to the government by blocking its plans to send asylum-seekers to Malaysia, ruling they could not go to a nation lacking legal safeguards.
(AFP, 8/31/11)
2011 Aug, In Malaysia the first turbine from French giant Alstom began producing electricity at the Bakun dam in the Malaysian portion of Borneo island. The reservoir has swelled to the size of Singapore since impoundment began a year ago. The project was first approved in 1986. A 2005 report, anti-graft watchdog Transparency International termed the dam one of the world's "Monuments of Corruption," citing years of delays, ownership changes, and overall costs that more than doubled. Tribal residents said warnings about the dam's ecological and human impact are coming true.
(AFP, 10/27/11)
2011 Sep 2, In Somalia Malaysian cameraman Noramfaizul Mohd Nor was killed in Mogadishu by 4 Burundi peacekeepers. The 4 were later discharged from the force and faced trial in Burundi.
(AP, 9/26/11)
2011 Sep 9, Malaysia’s Environment Minister Douglas Uggah Embas sent a letter to his Indonesian counterpart about hundreds of suspected fires on Sumatra island.
(AFP, 9/10/11)
2011 Sep 15, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak promised to repeal many of the country’s security laws including the Internal Security Act (ISA).
(Econ, 9/24/11, p.52)
2011 Oct 23, In Malaysia Italian rider Marco Simoncelli (24) died after crashing and being hit by two other riders at the Sepang MotoGP motorcycle race. This raised the number of recorded deaths in MotoGP to 47 since it was founded in 1949.
(AP, 10/23/11)
2011 Nov 3, Malaysia’s deputy national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said a decision to halt the three-year-old "Seksualiti Merdeka" (Sexuality Freedom) festival set for November 9-13 has come after Muslims called for it to be banned. Organizers slammed the move as proof of the repression homosexuals face in the socially conservative Muslim country.
(AFP, 11/3/11)
2011 Nov 22, In Malaysia former US president George W Bush and British ex-prime minister Tony Blair were found guilty at a mock tribunal for committing "crimes against peace" during the Iraq war. The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, part of an initiative by former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, a fierce critic of the Iraq war, found the former leaders guilty after a four-day hearing.
(AFP, 11/22/11)
2011 Nov 24, Malaysian PM Najib Razak repealed another security law, setting the stage for hundreds detained without trial to be freed or face criminal charges.
(AFP, 11/24/11)
2011 Nov 26, Malaysia reportedly said it will amend a new law banning street demonstrations, amid further protests by critics who say the bill clamps down on their right to peaceful assembly.
(AFP, 11/26/11)
2011 Nov 29, Malaysia's parliament enacted a ban on street protests. Demonstrators denounced the law as a violation of constitutional protections of free speech and a sign that PM Najib Razak was breaking his pledge to bolster civil liberties.
(AFP, 11/29/11)
2011 Dec 13, In Malaysia Sultan Abdul Halim Mu’adzam Shah was officially installed on the throne, making him the first ruler to hold the ceremonial kingship twice since it started rotating every five years among heads of the country’s 9 states.
(SSFC, 4/8/12, p.N3)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Halim_of_Kedah)
2011 Dec 16, Malaysian shipbuilder Boustead Naval Shipyard says it has won a 9.0 billion ringgit ($2.8 billion) deal from Kuala Lumpur for six naval patrol vessels developed by French manufacturer DCNS.
(AFP, 12/16/11)
2012 Jan 1, In Malaysia 17 people were arrested after police broke up a student gathering for greater academic freedom, in what the opposition and activists said was a campaign to stifle dissent.
(AFP, 1/1/12)
2012 Jan 9, In Malaysia opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was acquitted of sodomy charges.
(SFC, 1/10/12, p.A4)
2012 Jan 20, Malaysian prosecutors filed a notice of appeal against the acquittal of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on sodomy charges, sending the long-running divisive case back to court.
(AFP, 1/20/12)
2012 Feb 12, Malaysia deported Hamza Kashgari, a young Saudi journalist wanted in his home country over a Twitter post about the Prophet Mohammed, defying pleas from human rights group who said he faced execution. His tweet: "I have loved things about you and I have hated things about you and there is a lot I don't understand about you. "I will not pray for you."
(AFP, 2/12/12)
2012 Feb 15, Malaysia police arrested Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, a third Iranian suspect sought after explosive blasts in Bangkok.
(AP, 2/15/12)
2012 Feb 15, Hajah Noraihan, the Malaysian consul to Uganda, said that more than 600 Ugandan girls are currently trapped in Malaysian prostitution rings. Uganda's honorary consul in Kuala Lumpur said that at least three Ugandans have been killed there in the last two years.
(AP, 2/20/12)(http://allafrica.com/stories/201202150018.html)
2012 Feb 21, Malaysia's Home Ministry said in a statement that bookstores were no longer allowed to sell "Where did I come from?" by British author Peter Mayle pending a review.
(AFP, 2/21/12)
2012 Feb 26, In Malaysia thousands rallied in Kuantan against an Australian miner's rare earths plant in the biggest protest yet over fears it will produce radioactive waste harmful to them and the environment.
(AFP, 2/26/12)
2012 Mar 1, In Malaysia Dominic Jude Christopher Bird (32), a truck driver Perth, Western Australia, was arrested in Kuala Lumpur in possession of 225 grams (7.9 ounces) of methamphetamine. He faced a possible death sentence.
(AFP, 3/5/12)
2012 Apr 5, Malaysian police arrested 137 people, mostly from China and Taiwan, in a raid in the city of Kajang on a crime ring that bet on English football, arranged Internet gambling and carried out online scams.
(AFP, 4/5/12)
2012 Apr 10, Malaysia's government introduced legislation to stop arrests based on their political beliefs and indefinite detainments without trial. The Security Offenses Bill would replace the 52-year-old Internal Security Act, which was enacted to give the government preventive powers against national security threats.
(AP, 4/10/12)
2012 Apr 23, Philippine coast guard and fisheries bureau operatives arrested 12 Vietnamese fishermen for poaching endangered marine turtles, black corals and reef fishes in southern Philippines waters. Other foreign fishing boats spotted in the same area managed to flee toward Malaysia.
(AP, 4/25/12)
2012 Apr 27, Malaysian authorities took action to prevent a mass political rally calling for electoral reform from going ahead this weekend, sealing off a square in the capital and serving a court order banning the protest.
(AFP, 4/27/12)
2012 Apr 28, Malaysian police unleashed tear gas and chemical-laced water at thousands of demonstrators who staged one of the country’s largest street rallies in years. The Bersih demanded fair rules for national elections expected soon. News organizations estimated the number of demonstrators at 80k-100,000.
(AP, 4/28/12)(Econ, 7/14/12, p.33)
2012 Apr 29, Malaysian police freed all 471 people arrested a day earlier during a demonstration for free and fair elections, including senior opposition lawmaker Tian Chia.
(AFP, 4/29/12)
2012 May 1, Malaysia said it will introduce a minimum wage for the first time in a move to bolster incomes amid rising living costs and speculation of a snap general election. Private sector workers in peninsular Malaysia will receive a minimum salary of 900 ringgit ($297) a month while workers in the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo island will get 800 ringgit.
(AFP, 5/1/12)
2012 May 4, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said a quashed election reform rally was being used to topple the government ahead of polls expected in June.
(AFP, 5/7/12)
2012 May 6, Malaysian clerics issued a fatwa against demonstrations.
(AFP, 5/6/12)
2012 May 19, In Malaysia a Canadian Muslim gay activist launched her controversial new book on liberal Islam despite a government minister's attempts to shut down the event. Irshad Manji launched "Allah, Liberty and Love" at a hastily arranged event in Kuala Lumpur after two other venues pulled out of hosting her. Her previous internationally acclaimed book, "The Trouble with Islam Today," was already banned in Malaysia.
(AFP, 5/19/12)
2012 May 30, Indonesian maids began returning to work in Malaysia three years after a ban was enforced because of numerous abuse cases. Fewer arrived than had been expected.
(AFP, 6/3/12)
2012 Jun 25, A Malaysian court ruled that Masoud Sedaghatzadeh, an Iranian man accused of plotting to attack Israeli targets in Bangkok on Feb 14, must be extradited to Thailand.
(AP, 6/25/12)
2012 Jun, MyTeksi, a ride hailing service, was initially established in Malaysia and later headquartered in Singapore. The company, which began life at the Harvard Business School where founder Anthony met co-founder Hooi Ling Tan, soon across Southeast Asia. In May 2014, the company launched GrabCar in Malaysia and Singapore.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grab_(application))(Econ, 2/11/17, p.54)
2012 Jul 5, Malaysia reported that police have detained 100 people in nationwide raids on international crime syndicates who bet millions of dollars on the Euro 2012 championship. Police conducted almost 150 raids across the country in May and June in collaboration with officials from China, Macau, Hong Kong and Singapore among other nations.
(AFP, 7/5/12)
2012 Jul 5, London's iconic but derelict Battersea Power Station was acquired by a Malaysian consortium for £400 million ($620 million, 501 million euros).
(AFP, 7/5/12)
2012 Jul 9, A Malaysian official said customs officers have made the country's biggest drug bust so far this year, seizing nearly three million party drug pills worth 58.28 million ringgit ($18.4 million). The Erimin 5 pills were hidden in 20 boxes along with some goods including chewing tobacco. 5 people including a woman and her Bangladeshi husband have been arrested and faced a possible death sentence on suspicion of drug trafficking.
(AFP, 7/9/12)
2012 Jul 14, In Malaysia conjoined 15-month-old twins attached at the pelvis and sharing three legs were successfully separated at a hospital in a complex 24-hour operation.
(AFP, 7/28/12)
2012 Jul 17, In Malaysia an Australian woman and a Nigerian man were arrested after one kg (2.2 pounds) of methamphetamine was discovered in a car they were driving in Kuala Lumpur.
(AFP, 7/28/12)
2012 Aug 5, In Malaysia a three-year-old girl suffocated in a suspected exorcism ritual. A court on Aug 17 charged seven family members, including the parents, over her death.
(AFP, 8/17/12)
2012 Aug 14, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak said he would review a legal amendment that critics claim threatens free expression online after they staged a one-day "Internet blackout." NGOs, bloggers and opposition politicians staged the protest earlier in the day by replacing their homepages with black screens featuring messages attacking the new section of the Evidence Act, which went into effect in April despite widespread opposition.
(AFP, 8/14/12)
2012 Sep 15, The Merlin entertainment group opened a Legoland theme park in Malaysia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legoland_Malaysia)(Econ, 11/16/13, p.72)
2012 Oct 15, The Philippine government and Muslim rebels overcame decades of bitter hostility and took their first tentative step toward ending one of Asia's longest-running insurgencies with the signing of a preliminary peace pact brokered by Malaysia.
(AP, 10/15/12)
2012 Dec 7, Canada’s PM Stephen Harper approved China's biggest ever foreign takeover, a $15.1 billion bid by state-controlled CNOOC Ltd for energy company Nexen Inc., but drew a line in the sand against future buys by state-owned enterprises. He also approved a smaller deal for a Canadian gas producer by Petronas, Malaysia’s state energy company.
(Reuters, 12/7/12)(Econ, 12/15/12, p.38)
2012 Abu Dhabi’s IPIC sovereign wealth fund offered to guarantee loans that Malaysia’s state investment firm 1MDB needed to acquire two power firms. In 2016 IPIC said it never received collateral and other monies supposedly due to it under the deal. 1MDB appears to have wired payments to an unrelated shell company registered in the British Virgin Islands. Investigators at America’s Justice Dept. said former officials from IPIC and 1MDB benefited and that more than $200 million of missing money went to an account controlled by Riza Aziz, the stepson of Najib Razak, Malaysia’s prime minister, and that $30 million went to Najib himself. Both men denied wrongdoing.
(Econ, 4/29/17, p.30)
2013 Jan 29, Malaysian wildlife officials said 10 endangered Borneo pygmy elephants have been found dead at the Gunung Rara Forest Reserve under mysterious circumstances. Officials said that they probably were poisoned over the past 3 weeks. The remains of 3 more were found the next day bringing the total to 13.
(AP, 1/29/13)(AP, 1/30/13)
2013 Feb 9, Members of a Muslim royal clan from the southern Philippines landed in Malaysia’s coastal village of Lahad Datu, Sabah state to claim the territory as their own, citing ownership documents from the late 1800s.
(AP, 3/1/13)
2013 Feb 27, In the Philippines Pres. Benigno Aquino III warned Jamalul Kiram III, the Sultan of Sulu, that he would face the full force of the law unless he withdrew his armed followers from Sabah, Malaysia.
(SSFC, 2/3/13, p.A4)
2013 Feb, Malaysian restaurant manager Riduan Masmud (40) was charged with committing statutory rape with a girl (13) in a parked car in Borneo. He later defended his actions by saying he has married the girl.
(AP, 5/22/13)
2013 Mar 1, In eastern Malaysia 14 people were killed in a shootout as authorities tried to end a three-week standoff with about 200 members of a Filipino clan occupying a village in Sabah state.
(AP, 3/1/13)
2013 Mar 2, In Malaysia gunmen ambushed and killed six policemen as fears mounted that armed intruders from the southern Philippines had slipped into at least three coastal districts on Borneo island. 6 gunmen were also killed in the fighting.
(AP, 3/3/13)(Econ, 3/9/13, p.51)
2013 Mar 5, Malaysia unleashed airstrikes and mortar attacks on nearly 200 Filipinos occupying a Borneo coastal village but could not declare an immediate end to a three-week siege that has turned into a security nightmare for both Malaysia and the Philippines.
(AP, 3/5/13)
2013 Mar 6, Malaysian security forces battled a group of Filipino intruders in the rugged terrain of Borneo after they escaped a military assault with fighter jets and mortar fire on their hideout. One Filipino was shot and believed killed.
(AP, 3/6/13)
2013 Mar 7, Malaysian security forces gunned down 31 Filipino intruders in Borneo, the highest number of casualties in a single day since nearly 200 members of a Philippine Muslim clan took over an entire village last month. At least 60 people, including 8 Malaysian police officers, have been killed in the conflict.
(AP, 3/7/13)(SFC, 3/8/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 9, Malaysia police said they have detained 79 suspects linked to the Filipino intruders in Borneo.
(SSFC, 3/10/13, p.A6)
2013 Mar 19, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak reported economic growth of 5.6% for 2012. He also announced that a scheme to give cash handouts to poorer households will become an annual event.
(Econ, 3/23/13, p.45)
2013 Mar 20, Malaysian prosecutors charged 8 Filipinos with terrorism-related offenses following an armed siege in Borneo that killed 71 people.
(SFC, 3/21/13, p.A2)
2013 Mar 25, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak announced the creation of the Eastern Sabah Safety Zone. Authorities said they will resettle people out of the area of Borneo where fighting in Sabah has left 74 people dead.
(SFC, 3/26/13, p.A4)(SSFC, 3/31/13, p.A4)
2013 Apr 3, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak dissolved Parliament to call for general elections that will pit a coalition that has ruled for nearly 57 years against a resurgent opposition whose pledge to form a cleaner government has resonated with millions of citizens.
(AP, 4/3/13)
2013 May 5, Malaysia held national elections. PM Najib Razak's National Front coalition (Barisan Nasional) faced opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim's three-party alliance. At least 112 of the 222 parliamentary seats at stake were needed to win federal power. The National Front coalition won the parliamentary elections despite losing the popular vote.
(AP, 5/5/13)(AP, 5/6/13)(Econ, 5/11/13, p.14)
2013 May 6, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak appeared before the media to somberly acknowledge that his coalition had won general elections for the 13th time in a row. However the National Front polled only 5.24 million votes to the opposition's 5.62 million votes.
(AP, 5/6/13)
2013 May 14, Malaysia-based Genting Group, a major casino operator, accused Phil Ivey (37) of amassing millions of dollars in winnings by cheating at baccarat. Ivey, an American, is one of the world's top professional poker players. The game in question took place on Aug 20-21, 2012, at Crockfords, one of London's oldest and most respected casinos.
(AP, 5/16/13)
2013 May 23, Malaysian authorities detained 3 anti-government figures, charged a student activist with sedition and seized hundreds of opposition newspapers, raising political tensions after recent national elections triggered claims of fraud.
(AP, 5/23/13)
2013 May 28, In Malaysia an overloaded ferry capsized after hitting rocks in a remote river in Borneo island, leaving 21 people missing and feared trapped inside the vessel.
(AP, 5/28/13)
2013 May 29, Malaysian prosecutors filed sedition charges against another five opposition politicians and activists who urged Malaysians to protest what they insist was a fraud-tainted victory by the long-ruling coalition in recent national elections.
(AP, 5/29/13)
2013 Jun 16, Smoke from fires in Indonesia, an annual result of land clearing for palm oil production, again began to smother Singapore and large parts of Malaysia.
(Econ, 6/29/13, p.39)
2013 Jun 20, In Singapore the Pollutant Standards Index, surged to a record reading of 371. People were urged to remain indoors as a smoky haze wrought by forest fires in neighboring Indonesia worsened dramatically. Nearby Malaysia closed 200 schools and banned open burning in some areas.
(AP, 6/20/13)
2013 Jun 30, Malaysia urged Myanmar to take stronger action to prevent persecution of Muslims and bring the perpetrators to justice, the latest sign that the inter communal violence is straining ties in Southeast Asia.
(Reuters, 6/30/13)
2013 Aug 8, In Malaysia Mr. K. Veerappan, a convicted drug dealer, was shot and killed whiled stopped at a traffic light in the Georgetown section of Penang. He was said to have been a member of “Gang 36."
(Econ, 8/17/13, p.37)
2013 Aug 21, In Malaysia a bus travelling from the hilltop gambling resort of Genting Highlands to the capital Kuala Lumpur plunged 200 feet into a ravine, killing 37 people. 16 people survived.
(Reuters, 8/21/13)(SFC, 8/22/13, p.A2)
2013 Sep 14, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak announced steps to further boost the economic participation of the ethnic Malay majority, entrenching race-based policies seen as shoring up Malay support ahead of a key ruling party meeting.
(Reuters, 9/14/13)
2013 Oct 4, China and Malaysia agreed elevate bilateral ties to a "comprehensive strategic partnership", aiming to boost military cooperation and nearly triple two-way trade to $160 billion by 2017.
(Reuters, 10/4/13)
2013 Oct 24, Hundreds of Malaysian tribespeople blockaded the construction site of a new dam which is set to force them from their homes in Sarawak on the island of Borneo.
(AFP, 10/24/13)
2013 Oct 24, Malaysia’s HELP University faced public criticism for awarding an honorary doctorate degree in economics earlier this month to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
(SFC, 10/25/13, p.A2)
2013 Nov 5, It was reported that US Navy Cmdr. Michael Vannak Khem Misiewicz had passed confidential information on ship routes to Malaysian defense contractor Leonard Francis, who in turn overcharged the Navy millions in suplies and services.
(SFC, 11/5/13, p.A10)
2014 Jan 2, Islamic authorities in Malaysia seized 321 Bibles from a Christian group because they used the word Allah to refer to God.
(Reuters, 1/2/14)
2014 Feb 28, In Malaysia Abdul Taib Mahmud, the chief minister of Sarawak, retired after ruling the state for 33 years. Environmentalists said Sarawak under his rule has lost 90% of its virgin rainforest, mostly due to conversions to lucrative palm oil concessions.
(Econ, 2/15/14, p.35)
2014 Mar 7, A Malaysian court sentenced opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim to five years in jail on sodomy charges, overturning a 2012 acquittal and throwing his political career into jeopardy.
(AP, 3/7/14)(Econ, 3/15/14, p.40)
2014 Mar 7, Malaysia banned an Ultraman comic book because it uses the word "Allah" to describe the Japanese action hero. The Home Ministry said that the Malay-edition of "Ultraman, The Ultra Power" contained elements that can undermine public security and societal morals.
(AP, 3/7/14)
2014 Mar 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 fell off radar screens less than an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Vietnamese air force planes spotted two large oil slicks close to where the Boeing 777 went missing early today. The aircraft carried 239 people. Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirmed that names of two nationals listed on the manifest matched passports reported stolen in Thailand. The flight was carrying 154 people from China and Taiwan, 38 Malaysians, seven Indonesians and six Australians among the 227 passengers.
(AP, 3/8/14)(Reuters, 3/8/14)
2014 Mar 13, Malaysian police arrested 62 people who had illegally crossed the porous border between Thailand and Malaysia.
(Reuters, 3/14/14)
2014 Mar 15, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said the missing Malaysian Flight 370 was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after severing contact with the ground on March 8.
(AP, 3/15/14)
2014 Mar 16, Malaysia's government asked for help from nearly a dozen Asian countries that the missing jetliner may have flown over, saying that finding the plane would be very difficult without additional data on its final movements.
(AP, 3/16/14)
2014 Mar 22, A satellite image released by China offered the latest sign that wreckage from a Malaysia Airlines plane lost on March 8 could be in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean.
(AP, 3/22/14)
2014 Mar 23, France provided new satellite data showing possible debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, missing since March 8, as searchers continued combing a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean.
(AP, 3/23/14)
2014 Mar 24, France-based Airbus Defence & Space captured images showing 122 potential objects, possible debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, in a 400-sq-km (155-sq-mile) area in the southern Indian Ocean.
(AP, 3/26/14)
2014 Mar 28, Australian officials moved the search area for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, that disappeared March 8, 1,100 km (680 miles) to the northeast following a new analysis of radar data, and planes quickly found multiple objects in the new zone.
(AP, 3/28/14)
2014 Mar 28, Sweden sentenced a Malaysian couple to prison for beating their four children with sticks and clothes hangers. The abuse occurred from 2010 until December 2013, when Swedish police arrested the couple. The children, aged 7-14, were taken back to their home country following a massive social media campaign calling for their return.
(AP, 3/28/14)
2014 Apr 2, Suspected Filipino Abu Sayyaf insurgents seized Gao Huayuan (29) a Chinese tourist, and Marcy Dayawan (40), a hotel receptionist, from the Singamata Reef Resort in eastern Malaysia and then fled in a speed boat. The kidnappers soon demanded a ransom of 500 million pesos ($11.3 million). On May 30 Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak said both victims have been freed.
(AP, 4/3/14)(AFP, 4/5/14)(AP, 4/10/14)(AP, 5/30/14)
2014 Apr 6, The Australian navy ship Ocean Shield picked up two separate signals late last night and early today in seas far off the west Australian coast. Confirmation that the signals belong to Malaysia’s Flight 370's black boxes could take days.
(AP, 4/7/14)
2014 Apr 7, Film censors in Indonesia and Malaysia banned the biblical epic "Noah," saying that the portrayal of the ark-building prophet by Russell Crowe was against Islamic laws. Depictions of any prophet are shunned in Islam to avoid worship of a person rather than God.
(AP, 4/7/14)
2014 Apr 9, Malaysia awarded a manufacturing license to a $618 million venture that will assemble fuel-efficient SUVs for China's Great Wall Motor Co. Privately owned Go Automobile Manufacturing will invest 2 billion ringgit ($618 million) over the next four years to expand its manufacturing plant in northern Kedah state.
(AP, 4/9/14)
2014 Apr 11, Australian PM Tony Abbott said search and rescue officials are confident they know the approximate position of the black box recorders from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, missing since March 8.
(Reuters, 4/11/14)
2014 Apr 13, A Malaysian man (54), who went on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, became the first death in Asia from Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
(AP, 4/16/14)
2014 Apr 14, Australian search crews sent a robotic submarine deep into the Indian Ocean for the first time to begin scouring the seabed for the missing Malaysian Flight MH370 after no signals from its black boxes were detected for six days. The submarine aborted its first mission after only six hours, surfacing with no new clues when it exceeded its maximum depth along the floor of the Indian Ocean.
(AP, 4/14/14)(AP, 4/15/14)
2014 Apr 17, An oil tanker sailing from Singapore to Cambodia was boarded by 16 pirates about 26 nautical miles off Aur island on the east coast of the Malaysia peninsula. The pirates damaged the ship's communication equipment, transferred part of the fuel cargo into a smaller unknown tanker and stole the ship and crews' belongings before fleeing.
(AP, 4/24/14)
2014 Apr 22, Armed pirates raided an oil tanker off the coast of Malaysia and took three crew members with them.
(Reuters, 4/23/14)
2014 Apr 26, President Barack Obama began the first visit to Malaysia by an American president in nearly half a century. Trade, defense and maritime security were among the issues Obama and PM Najib were expected to discuss during talks in the 2-day visit.
(AP, 4/26/14)
2014 Apr 27, President Barack Obama pressed the Malaysian government to improve its human rights record and appealed to Southeast Asia's teeming youth population to stand up for the rights of minorities and the rule of law.
(AP, 4/27/14)
2014 Apr 28, Malaysian police detained nine people during raids in and around the capital Kuala Lumpur and the northern state of Kedah on suspicion of involvement in terrorist acts or forming links with terrorists inside the country and abroad. Two more were soon arrested in an operation to break up Islamic terror groups posing as humanitarian organizations.
(Reuters, 4/28/14)(AFP, 5/2/14)
2014 May 6, In eastern Malaysia a Chinese fish farm manager in Sabah state was kidnapped by gunmen and believed taken to the southern Philippines, where suspected insurgents are holding another Chinese and a Filipino also seized from Malaysia.
(AP, 5/6/14)
2014 May 9, In New Zealand Malaysian diplomat Mohammed Rizalman Bin Ismail followed a 21-year-old woman, later identified as Tania Billingsley (21) and assaulted her. New Zealand charged the man with assault and attempt to rape, but Malaysia claimed diplomatic immunity and he returned home on May 22. On July 2 Malaysia's foreign ministry said that Muhammad Rizalman would return to New Zealand "to assist in the investigation for the charges".
(AP, 6/30/14)(AP, 7/1/14)(AFP, 7/2/14)(AP, 7/9/14)
2014 May 27, In Malaysia Gareth Huntley (34), a UK backpacker disappeared when he went on a trek to a waterfall on Tioman Island. His body was found on June 4 close to where he was living.
(AP, 6/7/14)
2014 Jun 18, An apparently overloaded boat carrying Indonesian illegal migrants heading home for Ramadan sank overnight in rough seas off western Malaysia. 27 people were missing and 9 were confirmed dead. Nine people were missing after a boat carrying 27 Indonesian workers overturned off Malaysia's west coast in a 2nd similar accident. By the weekend the confirmed death toll from two boat accidents rose to 16 with dozens of others still missing.
(AFP, 6/18/14)(AP, 6/19/14)(AFP, 6/22/14)
2014 Jun 20, A US State Department blacklist included Thailand and Malaysia for their failure to meet minimum standards in fighting human trafficking.
(AP, 6/20/14)
2014 Jul 4, Malaysian police said they have arrested four foreign nationals suspected of having links to Sri Lanka's defeated separatist Tamil Tigers, the second such detention aimed at the group's militants in the southeast Asian country.
(Reuters, 7/4/14)
2014 Jul 10, Malaysia's central bank raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time in three years to curb inflation and household debt as economic growth picked up.
(AP, 7/10/14)
2014 Jul 12, In Malaysia masked gunmen stormed Mabul Water Bungalow Resort, Sabah state, shot a policeman and kidnapped another then sped away in a boat toward the southern Philippines, where Muslim militants have carried out similar raids in the past.
(AP, 7/13/14)
2014 Jul 14, An overloaded fishing boat carrying some 70 illegal Indonesian migrants capsized off southern Malaysia, killing at least 2 people with 9 left missing.
(AFP, 7/15/14)
2014 Jul 17, Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 with 298 people on board was shot down over eastern Ukraine. Officials strongly suspected the Boeing 777 was downed by a missile fired by Ukrainian separatists backed by Moscow. More than half of the dead passengers, 189 people, were Dutch. Twenty-nine were Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, 9 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino, one Canadian, one New Zealand and 4 as yet unidentified. All 15 crew were Malaysian.
(Reuters, 7/18/14)
2014 Jul 17, Ukraine's SBU security agency released recordings of what it claimed were phone talks involving rebels and a Russian military intelligence officer admitting that they had hit a passenger jet after mistaking it for a military aircraft.
(AFP, 7/20/14)
2014 Jul 18, In eastern Ukraine emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners searched the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 shot down a day earlier as it flew miles above the country's battlefield. Ukraine's state aviation service closed the airspace over two regions currently gripped by separatist fighting.
(AP, 7/19/14)
2014 Jul 20, Ukraine accused separatist rebels of hiding evidence that a Russian missile was used to shoot down a Malaysian airliner, while Britain said Moscow faced "pariah" status and the threat of further economic sanctions. Ukraine's Western-backed government said it had "compelling evidence" the Russian SA-11 radar-guided missile battery was not just brought in from Russia but manned by three Russians who had now taken it back over the border.
(Reuters, 7/20/14)
2014 Jul 27, In Malaysia a car crash involving a faulty air bag killed a pregnant woman. On Nov 14 Ford Motor Co. agreed to recall more 2004 and 2005 Ranger small pickup trucks in response to the crash, because their air bags are similar to the one that caused the woman's death.
(AP, 11/15/14)
2014 Aug 6, In Malaysia British medical students, Neil Dalton (22) and Aidan Brunger (22), were stabbed to death in Kuching after a quarrel in a pub with four local men. Police arrested three of the suspects and were searching for the fourth. On March 31, 2015, Zulkipli Abdullah (24) was found guilty of the stabbing and sentenced to death.
(AP, 8/6/14)(AP, 3/31/15)
2014 Aug 8, Malaysia Airlines will be taken over by the country's state investment fund and de-listed, as part of plans announced today for a "complete overhaul" to rescue the company from oblivion after two crippling air disasters.
(AFP, 8/8/14)
2014 Aug 19, A Malaysian top counter-terrorism official said police have foiled plans for a wave of bombings drawn up by radical Islamic militants inspired by Iraq's extremist jihad group ISIL. 19 suspected militants, arrested from April-June, were said to be formulating plans to bomb pubs, discos and a Malaysian brewery of Danish beer producer Carlsberg.
(AP, 8/19/14)
2014 Aug 29, Malaysia Airlines said it will cut 6,000 workers as part of a $1.9 billion overhaul to revive its damaged brand after being hit by double passenger jet disasters.
(AP, 8/29/14)
2014 Sep 25, Malaysia's national carmaker Proton launched its first small car, hoping to bolster its fortunes after ceding ground to foreign and domestic rivals.
(AP, 9/25/14)
2014 Oct 9, In Malaysia a grenade was tossed outside a night club at a popular tourist belt in Kuala Lumpur, killing one man and wounding 12 others, including foreigners. The pre-dawn explosion in the Bukit Bintang area was believed to be due to a gang fight and was not a terrorist act.
(AP, 10/9/14)
2014 Oct 15, Malaysian police said they have detained 14 Muslims, including two women and a student, suspected of being linked to the militant Islamic State group. The detentions put the number of people held for suspected militant links to 36 since April.
(AP, 10/15/14)
2014 Nov 7, Three Malaysian Muslim transgenders won a landmark court ruling against a religious law banning them from cross-dressing in what activists called a victory for human rights.
(AP, 11/7/14)
2014 Nov 13, Researchers said a dinosaur tooth found in Malaysia is at least 140 million years old and belongs to a new species within the "bird-hipped" Ornithischian order.
(AFP, 11/13/14)
2014 Nov 21, Malaysia's government said it will completely withdraw fuel subsidies from next month following the plunge in global oil prices.
(AP, 11/21/14)
2014 Nov 27, Malaysia's leader said that a colonial-era law curbing free speech will be retained and strengthened, backpedaling on a pledge two years ago to abolish the 1948 Sedition Act as part of political reforms.
(AP, 11/27/14)
2014 Dec 11, Malaysia police said they have arrested 20 people in a widening investigation into the murder of at least 18 Myanmar nationals in the state of Penang since January. Police said twelve Myanmar migrants have confessed to their role in nine of the murders.
(Reuters, 12/11/14)
2014 Dec 30, Officials said Malaysia, parts of the Philippines, and southern Thailand have been battered by heavy rain and flash floods in recent days. At least 21 people were killed in Malaysia, 53 in the Philippines and 15 in Thailand.
(Reuters, 12/30/14)(AP, 12/30/14)(AP, 12/31/14)
2014 In Malaysia Mamapride trousers went on sale in response to religious scholars concerned about women being exposed to male doctors and interns. They were developed by a team of 19 health care workers, five of them women, from the Malaysian medical charity Papisma.
(Reuters, 7/10/15)
2015 Jan 19, Malaysian authorities raided a site where trafficked Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis were held in cages, but destroyed it a day later, diminishing evidence that could have aided in an investigation. This was only made public in 2019.
(AP, 3/27/19)
2015 Jan 26, Hackers defaced the website of Malaysia Airlines and threatened to dump stolen information online after posting a glimpse of customer data obtained in the attack.
(AP, 1/26/15)
2015 Feb 10, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim began a 5-year prison sentence after a court rejected his final appeal against a sodomy conviction.
(AP, 2/10/15)
2015 Feb 10, Malaysia arrested cartoonist Zulkifli Anwar Ulhaque, aka Zunar, for sedition over a Twitter post that criticized the judiciary for upholding a five-year jail term for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, who accused the courts of "bowing to the dictates of the political masters".
(Reuters, 2/11/15)
2015 Feb 22, A Syrian man was shown beheaded in a video posted to Facebook. Malaysian authorities later Mohd Faris Anuar (20) and Muhamad Wanndy Muhammad Jedi (25) of Malaysia as the men involved in the beheading by the Islamic State.
(Reuters, 3/4/15)
2015 Mar 8, The first comprehensive report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 revealed that the battery of the locator beacon for the plane's data recorder had expired more than a year before the jet vanished on March 8, 2014.
(AP, 3/8/15)
2015 Mar 16, Malaysian police arrested the eldest daughter of jailed opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim for alleged sedition, a move slammed by critics as a clampdown on dissent.
(AP, 3/16/15)
2015 Mar 30, In Malaysia three editors of the Malaysia Insider news website were arrested on suspicion of violating the country’s Sedition Act and Communications and Multimedia Act. The next day two executives of the Malaysia Insider were arrested.
(SFC, 4/1/15, p.A6)
2015 Apr 3, Malaysian cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Alhaque, better known as Zunar, was charged with nine counts of sedition over a series of tweets criticizing the country's judiciary. The charges against Zunar, known for lampooning the ruling coalition, came amid a widening government crackdown on opposition politicians and the media slammed by critics as a move to stifle freedom of expression.
(AP, 4/3/15)
2015 Apr 4, In Malaysia PM Najib Razak's chief of staff and a former ambassador to the United States, who was also a senior member of Najib's party, were among six people killed in a helicopter crash near Kuala Lumpur.
(Reuters, 4/5/15)
2015 Apr 5, Malaysian police detained 17 suspected militants. Authorities the next day said the militants had planned to attack police stations and army camps to acquire weapons and carry out terrorist attacks in Kuala Lumpur and that two of the militants had just returned from Syria.
(SFC, 4/7/15, p.A2)
2015 Apr 7, Malaysia revived detention without trial when lawmakers approved the Prevention of Terrorism Act bill, that the government said was needed to fight Islamic militants. Critics assailed it as a giant step backward for human rights in the country.
(AP, 4/7/15)
2015 Apr 26, Malaysian police said that they have detained 12 men this weekend with suspected links to the Islamic state group who are believed to be plotting attacks on strategic government targets in the country.
(AP, 4/26/15)
2015 May 1, Malaysian police arrested 30 protesters at a rally of more than 10,000 people in Kuala Lumpur, demonstrating against a new tax. Protesters demanded the government remove a goods and services tax (GST) which came into effect on April 1 at a rate of 6 percent.
(Reuters, 5/2/15)
2015 May 8, A Pakistan military helicopter carrying diplomats to inspect a tourism project crashed killing 7 people, including the ambassadors of Norway and the Philippines and the wives of the Malaysian and Indonesian ambassadors. 17 people were on board the Mi-17 when it crashed into a school in Gilgit and caught fire. The Taliban later claimed responsibility.
(Reuters, 5/8/15)(AP, 5/10/15)
2015 May 11, Indonesian and Malaysian authorities said nearly 2,000 boat people from Myanmar and Bangladesh have been rescued or swum to shore, warning that yet more desperate migrants could be in peril at sea.
(AFP, 5/11/15)
2015 May 12, Malaysia said it would turn away any more migrant boats packed with Rohingya and Bangladeshis unless they were sinking.
(AP, 5/12/15)
2015 May 14, Malaysia turned away two crammed migrant boats filled with Rohingya and Bangladeshis abandoned at sea by traffickers. Thailand kept at bay a large vessel with hundreds of hungry people.
(AP, 5/14/15)
2015 May 16, A boat crammed with migrants was towed out to sea by the Thai navy and then held up by Malaysian vessels, the latest round of "maritime ping-pong" by Asian states determined not to let asylum seekers come ashore.
(Reuters, 5/16/15)
2015 May 17, Malaysia launched high-level talks with its neighbors to try to solve the deepening problem of refugees stranded in boats off Southeast Asia's shores, but there appeared to be no quick solution to the crisis.
(AP, 5/17/15)
2015 May 20, Indonesia and Malaysia said they would offer shelter to 7,000 "boat people" adrift at sea in rickety boats but, anxious not to encourage a fresh influx, made clear that their assistance was temporary and they would take no more. Indonesian authorities said they have bombed and sank 41 foreign fishing vessels as a warning against poaching in the country's waters.
(Reuters, 5/20/15)(AP, 5/20/15)
2015 May 20, Philippine police in Jolo, Sulu province, killed Mindas Manda, a suspected member of the Abu Sayyaf group. He was allegedly involved in the kidnapping last week of two Malaysians.
(AP, 5/21/15)
2015 May 24, Malaysia’s home minister said mass graves and suspected human-trafficking detention camps have been discovered by police in towns and villages bordering Thailand. The mass graves were believed to contain the bodies of hundreds of migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh.
(Reuters, 5/24/15)
2015 May 25, Malaysia police said they have found 139 graves, and signs of torture, in more than two dozen squalid human trafficking camps suspected to have been used by gangs smuggling migrants across the border with Thailand.
(Reuters, 5/25/15)
2015 May 26, Malaysia said 12 police officials have been detained on suspicion of involvement, either directly or as facilitators, to people-smuggling camps.
(Reuters, 5/27/15)
2015 Jun 1, Malaysian media reported that Muslim Rohingya women who were held at human-trafficking camps in Thailand and Malaysia were subjected to gang rapes by their captors, assaults that left at least two of them pregnant.
(AFP, 6/2/15)
2015 Jun 2, The Dutch Safety Board made a draft report on last year's crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 available to representatives of Malaysia, Ukraine, the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Netherlands. It did not publicize details of the confidential draft.
(AP, 7/1/15)
2015 Jun 5, In Malaysia a magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck near Mount Kinabalu. At least 16 people were killed with two missing.
(AP, 6/5/15)(AFP, 6/6/15)(Reuters, 6/7/15)
2015 Jun 11, The Malaysian tanker MT Orkim Harmony, loaded with 7.5 million liters (2 million gallons) of gasoline belonging to national oil company Petronas, was believed hijacked as it headed to northern Kuantan near Singapore. The crew consisted of 16 Malaysians, five Indonesians and a Myanmar national. 8 pirates, believed to be Indonesians, abandoned the MT Orkim Harmony late June 18 after being pursued by a Malaysian navy ship. The Vietnamese coastguard picked up the alleged hijackers on June 19.
(AP, 6/15/15)(AP, 6/19/15)(Econ, 6/27/15, p.34)
2015 Jun 12, In Malaysia four Westerners who posed naked on Mount Kinabalu on May 30 were sentenced to three days in jail and fined $1,330 each for obscene behavior in a public place.
(AP, 6/12/15)
2015 Jul 3, Malaysian PM Najib Razak denied news reports that nearly $700 million were funneled from an indebted state investment fund into his personal accounts.
(AP, 7/3/15)
2015 Jul 7, Malaysian authorities said they have frozen six bank accounts as part of an investigation into allegations that hundreds of millions of dollars were transferred from a state investment fund to the personal accounts of PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 7/7/15)
2015 Jul 20, Malaysia’s The Edge, which has a daily and a weekly business newspaper, ran extensive reports alleging Malaysian businessman Low Taek Jho and PetroSaudi International had cheated Malaysia of $1.83 billion in cash through an aborted joint venture with 1MDB in 2009. On July 24 The Edge media group said the government will suspend its publishing permits for three months as of July 27, over the reports alleging fraud.
(AP, 7/24/15)(SSFC, 7/26/15, p.A6)
2015 Jul 27, The US State Department took Malaysia and Cuba off its “tier 3" list of countries failing to combat modern-day slavery, leaving the US open to criticism that politics is swaying the often-contentious rankings in its annual human trafficking report. Burundi, Belize, Belarus, Comoros and South Sudan were downgraded to Tier 3, where Thailand remained for a second year.
(AP, 7/27/15)(Reuters, 7/27/15)
2015 Jul 28, Malaysian premier Najib Razak sacked his deputy premier and attorney general in a cabinet reshuffle widely seen as an attempt to strengthen his hold on power as he battles corruption allegations.
(AFP, 7/28/15)
2015 Jul 29, Plane debris was found washed up on the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean and was believed to be part of a Boeing 777, potentially the biggest breakthrough in the search for Flight MH370, missing since March 8, 2014.
(Reuters, 7/31/15)
2015 Aug 3, Malaysia's anti-corruption agency said that $700 million in PM Najib Razak's personal bank accounts came from donations, not from a debt-ridden state investment fund. Critics urged the agency to reveal the donors.
(AP, 8/3/15)
2015 Aug 6, Malaysia said paint color and maintenance-record matches proved that a piece of wing found on the shore of an Indian Ocean island was part of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which vanished without trace on March 8, 2014.
(Reuters, 8/6/15)
2015 Aug 12, A Malaysian opposition party filed a civil lawsuit against PM Najib Razak for alleged election offenses involving $700 million in his bank accounts.
(AP, 8/12/15)
2015 Aug 20, Malaysian police said they had arrested and were investigating 10 Malaysians suspected of links to Islamic State, among them six members of the country's security forces.
(Reuters, 8/20/15)
2015 Aug 23, Malaysian police said that they have found 24 more bodies of suspected human trafficking victims this week in jungles bordering Thailand. 106 bodies had been found earlier.
(AP, 8/23/15)
2015 Aug 29, In Malaysia tens of thousands wearing yellow T-shirts and blowing horns defiantly held a major rally in the capital to demand the resignation of embattled PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 8/29/15)
2015 Aug 30, In Malaysia big crowds of protesters returned to the streets of Kuala Lumpur demand the resignation of PM Najib Razak over a financial scandal.
(AP, 8/30/15)
2015 Sep 3, An overloaded wooden boat believed to be carrying about 70 Indonesian illegal immigrants sank off the coast of Malaysia, killing at least 14 people, among them 13 women. The number of survivors stood at 19.
(Reuters, 9/3/15)
2015 Sep 14, Malaysian PM Najib Razak said the government will pump 20 billion ringgit ($4.6 billion) into an equity fund to support the stock market and ruled out capital controls despite the ringgit's plunge.
(AP, 9/14/15)
2015 Sep 16, Malaysian police fired water cannons at ethnic Malays who turned unruly at a pro-government rally that many fear has the potential to provoke racial trouble in this multiethnic nation with large Chinese and Indian minorities. Some 40,000 ethnic Malays had gathered in a park in support of the United Malays National Organization (UNMO) Riot police prevented a mob of protesters from marching down a Petaling Street, where ethnic Chinese stallholders served bargain-hunting tourists.
(AP, 9/16/15)(Econ, 9/26/15, p.38)
2015 Oct 4, Malaysian authorities ordered most of the country's schools shut for two days because of possible health risks posed by the thick haze from Indonesian forest fires.
(AFP, 10/4/15)
2015 Oct 5, Twelve Pacific rim countries sealed the deal on creating the world's largest free trade area (TPP), delivering President Barack Obama a major policy triumph. The Trans-Pacific Partnership included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.
(AFP, 10/5/15)
2015 Oct 9, Malaysia's central bank said a debt-laden state investment fund violated foreign exchange rules and must repatriate $1.83 billion it used abroad.
(AP, 10/9/15)
2015 Oct 13, The Dutch Safety Board concluded that Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a Russian-made Buk missile in its final report on the crash on July 17, 2014, that killed all 298 people on board, most of them Dutch.
(Reuters, 10/13/15)
2015 Oct 15, US authorities reported that Malaysia authorities have arrested Ardit Ferizi, a Kosovo citizen, for providing sensitive information on more than a thousand US service members to the Islamic State group.
(http://tinyurl.com/pe3kygq)
2015 Oct 28, Hamid Ismail, suspected of involvement in the Sep 28 attempted assassination of Maldives President Abdulla Yameen, was arrested in Kuala Lumpur with four other Maldives residents.
(Reuters, 10/30/15)
2015 Nov 17, The Philippine military verified reports that a Malaysian kidnap victim, was beheaded by Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines after a large ransom demand was not paid. The militants killed Bernard Then Ted Fen, who was abducted last May, in the jungles off Indanan town in Sulu province.
(AP, 11/17/15)
2015 Nov 20, Malaysia deployed extraordinary security measures around Kuala Lumpur as leaders from 18 countries arrived for the East Asian and ASEAN weekend summits.
(Reuters, 11/20/15)
2015 Nov 22, In Malaysia ASEAN nations (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam) established a formal community that attempts to create freer movement of trade and capital in an area of 625 million people with a combined economic output of $2.6 trillion.
(Reuters, 11/22/15)
2015 Dec 3, Malaysia's Parliament approved a security law that gives sweeping security powers to a council led by the prime minister, in a move slammed by rights groups and critics as a step toward a dictatorship.
(AP, 12/3/15)
2015 Dec 5, Malaysia's police said that they have arrested five people, including a European employed as a teacher, on suspicion of links with militant groups like the Islamic State and al-Qaeda. The arrests were made between Nov. 17 and Dec 1.
(Reuters, 12/5/15)
2015 Financier Low Taek Jho obtained Cyprus nationality under the country’s investment for passport scheme after buying a mansion for 5 million euros ($5.6 million) in the resort town of Agia Napa. He immediately left the island after purchasing the property and getting the passport. This was reported in 2019. Low has been painted by prosecutors as the mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal, which saw more than $4.5 billion allegedly misappropriated from the Malaysian investment fund.
(Bloomberg, 11/4/19)
2015 Singapore’s population stood at about 5.5 million. Every day some 50,000 Malaysians commuted to work across a causeway from Johor Bahru, the capital of Malaysia’s Johor state.
(Econ, 7/18/15, SR p.5)
2016 Jan 26, Malaysia's attorney general said that nearly $700 million channeled into PM Najib Razak's private accounts was a personal donation from Saudi Arabia's royal family, and cleared him of any criminal wrongdoing.
(AP, 1/26/16)
2016 Jan 26, Malaysian police said 13 bodies, believed to be Indonesian illegal immigrants, were found washed ashore after their boat capsized in bad sea conditions. Five more bodies were found the next day raising the death toll to 18.
(AP, 1/26/16)(AFP, 1/27/16)
2016 Jan 29, Switzerland's chief prosecutor said a criminal investigation into state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) had revealed that about $4 billion appeared to have been misappropriated from Malaysian state companies.
(Reuters, 1/30/16)
2016 Feb 29, Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad quit the ruling Malay party, saying it has been hijacked by embattled PM Najib Razak to protect his own interests.
(AP, 2/29/16)
2016 Mar 1, Malaysian national car company Proton said it has begun shipping left-hand drive sedans to Chile as it seeks to tap new markets and revitalize exports.
(AP, 3/1/16)
2016 Mar 3, Mozambique aviation authorities displayed the recovered a one-meter fragment from a Boeing 777 believed to be from flight MH370 which vanished on March 8, 2014. Blaine Gibson, a lawyer from Seattle, recently discovered the fragment on a sandbank near the tourist island of Benguerra.
(AFP, 3/3/16)
2016 Mar 4, Former Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad joined with political foes in issuing a declaration signed by 58 public figures urging PM Najib Razak to resign over corruption allegations.
(AP, 3/4/16)
2016 Mar 24, Malaysian police said they have arrested 15 people, including a police officer, suspected of links to Islamic State and of planning an attack in the country.
(Reuters, 3/24/16)
2016 Mar 24, Australian and Malaysian officials said that two pieces of debris recently discovered along the coast of Mozambique are "highly likely" to have come from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
(AP, 3/24/16)
2016 Apr 1, Eight suspected Filipino Muslim gunmen on board a speed boat took four Malaysians from the MV Massive 6 late today but left behind five other crewmen from Myanmar and Indonesia as the tugboat sailed to Tawau island in Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah.
(AP, 4/2/16)
2016 Apr 15, Malaysia deported 20 Taiwanese criminal suspects to Taiwan despite Beijing's request that they be sent to China, amid an ongoing battle over jurisdiction involving the self-ruled island. A Malaysia official said another 32 Taiwanese wire fraud suspects sought by China also will be sent to Taiwan.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 14, Saudi Arabia for the first time publicly confirmed Malaysia's claim that $681 million in PM Najib Razak's bank accounts was a donation from the Saudi royal family, countering accusations that the money was siphoned from heavily indebted state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 4/15/16)
2016 Apr 18, A government-backed investment fund in the United Arab Emirates said that heavily indebted Malaysian investment fund 1MDB and the southeast Asian country's finance ministry have defaulted on more than $1.1 billion they owe.
(AP, 4/18/16)
2016 Apr 19, Indonesia said it has called for joint maritime patrols with the Philippines and Malaysia, after a spate of kidnappings in waters near the southern Philippines by suspected militants.
(Reuters, 4/19/16)
2016 May 1, Taiwanese officials protested Malaysia's deportation of 32 of the self-ruled island's nationals to China this weekend to face wire fraud charges, the latest in a series of disputes that has raised new friction between China and Taiwan.
(AP, 5/1/16)
2016 May 4, Malaysia's finance ministry said it would dissolve the board of advisers at 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) and take over its remaining assets, in an apparent move to scale down a state fund whose scandals have rocked the government.
(Reuters, 5/4/16)
2016 May 5, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to conduct coordinated maritime patrols after a spate of ship hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 5/5/16)
2016 May 5, In Malaysia a Eurocopter AS350 ferrying Plantation Industries and Commodities Deputy Minister Noriah Kasnon and her husband Asmuni Abdullah from Sarawak's interior to its capital Kuching went missing. All 6 people aboard were killed.
(AFP, 5/6/16)
2016 May 7, Scandal-ridden Malaysian PM Najib Razak secured a major victory for his ruling coalition in elections in Sarawak state on Borneo island, boosting his rule despite corruption allegations.
(AP, 5/7/16)
2016 May 9, An Australian law firm filed a compensation claim against Russia and President Vladimir Putin in the European Court of Human Rights on behalf of families of victims of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, shot down over Ukraine on July 17, 2014. The application names the Russian Federation and Putin as respondents and seeks $10 million in compensation per passenger.
(Reuters, 5/21/16)
2016 May 24, Switzerland's market supervisor indicated that BSI SA helped transfer money to the Alpine country connected to the Malaysian fund called 1MDB. The Swiss attorney general's office opened criminal proceedings against the bank, whose chief executive resigned.
(AP, 5/24/16)
2016 May 31, Malaysia's government said it has fired 15 immigration officers who helped international syndicates sabotage online passport checks for years, allowing some travelers to move freely in and out of the country. The sabotage likely started in 2010 and was led by foreign agents.
(AP, 6/1/16)
2016 Jun 18, In Malaysia PM Najib Razak’s United Malays National Organization retained the Sungai Besar seat in central Selangor state and Kuala Kangsar in northern Perak state in parliamentary by-elections.
(AP, 6/19/16)
2016 Jun 20, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines agreed to designate a transit corridor for commercial vessels crossing a maritime zone hit by a spate of hijackings by Islamist militants in the southern Philippines.
(Reuters, 6/20/16)
2016 Jun 21, In Malaysia Bill Kayong (43), an indigenous land rights defende, was murdered in the city of Miri, Sarawak state. On Juy 15 two men were charged with the murder and abetting in the murder of Kayong.
(www.malaysiakini.com/news/348669)(AP, 7/15/16)
2016 Jun 28, In Malaysia a grenade blast at a bar outside Kuala Lumpur injured eight people. Police later said this the first attack in the country by the Islamic State militant group, and that 15 people have been detained. On Aug 13 police said they have arrested nine militants, including two suspected of carrying out the grenade attack.
(AP, 7/4/16)(Reuters, 8/13/16)
2016 Jun 29, In Malaysia influential opposition politician Lim Guan Eng, chief minister of northern Penang state, was arrested on allegations of corruption. He has strongly criticized financial scandals involving PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 6/29/16)
2016 Jul 9, Gunmen kidnapped three Indonesian members of a tugboat crew off Malaysia's eastern state of Sabah. Four other crew members were left behind by the kidnappers who came in a speedboat.
(Reuters, 7/10/16)
2016 Jul 13, Malaysia's central bank cut interest rates for the first time in seven years to bolster a slowing economy amid fears of greater volatility in global growth.
(AP, 7/13/16)
2016 Jul 17, Malaysia Airlines struck a deal to settle damages claims for most victims of its MH17 flight that was shot down over eastern Ukraine two years ago.
(Reuters, 7/17/16)
2016 Jul 20, The US government moved to seize more than $1 billion in assets purchased with money that it believes was stolen from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund overseen by PM Najib Razak. US investigators alleged that more than $3.5 billion had been misappropriated from 1MDB and that hundreds of millions had been paid to PM Najib Razak.
(SFC, 7/21/16, p.A2)(Econ, 11/19/16, p.33)
2016 Jul 28, Australian officials confirmed that data recovered from a home flight simulator owned by Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, the captain of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, showed that someone had used the device to plot a course to the southern Indian Ocean, where the missing jet is believed to have crashed.
(AP, 7/28/16)
2016 Aug 1, A Malaysian security law that gives embattled pm Najib Razak sweeping emergency powers came into force, with Amnesty International warning the National Security Council Act could be used to trample on human rights.
(AP, 8/1/16)
2016 Aug 6, In Malaysia Ahmad Syukri Yusuf (22), charged last year with raping a 14-year-old girl, faced a retrial after he avoided prison in July by marrying her. The case has sparked anger from rights groups and calls for a ban on child marriage and justice for victims of sexual violence.
(AP, 8/3/16)(AFP, 8/6/16)
2016 Aug 26, Singapore's air quality deteriorated to unhealthy levels as winds blew smoke from fires on Sumatra, where millions of people are already affected by haze, across the city-state and into southern Malaysia. Six Indonesian provinces have declared states of emergency.
(AP, 8/26/16)
2016 Aug 27, In Malaysia nearly a thousand protesters marched in the heart of the Kuala Lumpur calling for the arrest of an unnamed high-ranking government official who US investigators say received $700 million skimmed from the sovereign state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). The unnamed official is PM Najib Razak, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
(Reuters, 8/27/16)
2016 Sep 1, Malaysia reported its first suspected case of Zika, a 58-year-old woman believed to have contracted it in neighbouring Singapore where more than 100 cases have been confirmed.
(AFP, 9/1/16)
2016 Sep 8, In Malaysia former prime minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (91) became the founding chairman of the new “Bersatu" (United) political party. Mohamad and Muhyiddin Yassin, a former UMNO deputy prime minister, founded Bersatu.
(Econ, 9/17/16, p.39)(Econ, 1/7/17, p.31)
2016 Sep 12, A Vietnamese court approved a Malaysian request for the extradition of eight Indonesians suspected of hijacking a Malaysian oil tanker more than a year ago, and rejected a similar request from Indonesia. The eight were arrested in June last year when they arrived on Tho Chu island off Vietnam's southern coast and admitted that they had hijacked the oil tanker MT Orkim Harmony.
(AP, 9/12/16)
2016 Nov 1, China and Malaysia said their navies will cooperate more in the politically sensitive South China Sea in an agreement signed today during a visit by Malaysia's PM Najib Razak, who is seeking stronger ties with Beijing as he tries to offset a financial scandal at home.
(AP, 11/1/16)
2016 Nov 5, In Malaysia several hundred pro-government demonstrators dressed in red shirts protested outside the office of the popular news portal, Malaysiakini, calling for it to be shut down after reports that it received funds from an organization linked to business tycoon George Soros.
(Reuters, 11/5/16)
2016 Nov 5, Two Indonesians were kidnapped from fishing vessels in waters off Malaysia's Sabah state in two separate incidents.
(Reuters, 11/6/16)
2016 Nov 11, Singapore convicted a banker who had handled some of Malaysia’s 1MDB money of forgery and failing to report suspicious transactions. He was sentenced to 18 weeks in jail.
(Econ, 11/19/16, p.33)
2016 Nov 14, Malaysian opposition lawmaker Rafizi Ramli was sentenced to 18 months in jail for releasing one page of a classified document on the 1MDB controversial state investment fund.
(SFC, 11/15/16, p.A2)
2016 Nov 18, Malaysian police raided the office of electoral reform group Bersih and detained two officials on the eve of a street rally by the group seeking PM Najib Razak's resignation over a financial scandal. Police arrested Maria Chin Abdullah, the leader of a coalition of human-rights groups, that organized the event.
(AP, 11/18/16)(Econ, 11/26/16, p.12)
2016 Nov 19, In Malaysia more than 10,000 yellow-shirt protesters rallied in Kuala Lumpur seeking PM Najib Razak's resignation over a financial scandal, undeterred by a police ban and the arrest of 20 people, mostly activists.
(AP, 11/19/16)
2016 Nov 19, Another two Indonesian fishermen were abducted by armed men off Malaysia’s eastern Sabah state on Borneo island, the second such case this month and the latest in a spate of sea attacks.
(AP, 11/20/16)
2016 Nov 26, Malaysian political cartoonist Zulkiflee Anwar Ulhaque (54), or Zunar as he is popularly known, was arrested under the country's Sedition Act for cartoons that allegedly insulted PM Najib Razak.
(Reuters, 11/26/16)
2016 Nov, In Malaysia Amri Che Mat, a Shi'ite Muslim activist who worked with the poor, disappeared in the northern state of Perlis. In 2019 the country's human rights commission said he was probably abducted by agents of Special Branch, a police intelligence unit.
(Reuters, 4/3/19)
2016 Dec 13, Malaysia and Singapore signed an agreement to build a high-speed railway that would cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and the city-state to just 90 minutes by 2026.
(AP, 12/13/16)
2016 Dec 23, The UN Security Council passed a landmark resolution condemning Israeli settlements in east Jerusalem and the West Bank after the United States refrained from using its veto. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the US, France, Russia, Britain or China to be adopted. New Zealand, along with Senegal, Venezuela and Malaysia, co-sponsored the UN Security Council resolution.
(Reuters, 12/23/16)(AFP, 12/24/16)(AP, 6/13/17)
2017 Jan 17, Malaysian, Australian and Chinese authorities ended today the deep-sea search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 without any trace being found of the plane that vanished in 2014 with 239 people on board.
(Reuters, 1/17/17)
2017 Jan 23, The bodies of 10 people believed to be Indonesian migrants were found washed ashore in Malaysia not far from a capsized boat. 2 Indonesians were rescued.
(AP, 1/23/17)
2017 Jan 29, Twenty-two people, mostly Chinese tourists, wore life vests and formed a human chain at sea to drift more than 10 hours before they could be rescued off Malaysia's coast after their boat sank in turbulent waters. Three bodies were recovered, and six other people from the boat were missing.
(AP, 1/29/17)
2017 Feb 3, Malaysia’s PM Najib Razak dispatched a ship with thousands of tons of food and emergency supplies for Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, but it was unclear where the bulk of the aid would be delivered.
(Reuters, 2/3/17)
2017 Feb 13, In Malaysia Kim Jong Nam (46), the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated at an airport in Kuala Lumpur, telling medical workers before he died en route to a hospital that he had been attacked with a chemical spray. South Korean media said North Korean female agents killed him using poisoned needles. Jong-Nam had reportedly travelled using a fake passport under the name of Kim Chol.
(AP, 2/14/17)(AFP, 2/14/17)
2017 Feb 13, In Malaysia Kim Jong Nam (46), the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, was assassinated at an airport in Kuala Lumpur, telling medical workers before he died en route to a hospital that he had been attacked with a chemical spray, later identified as the VX nerve agent. South Korean media said North Korean female agents killed him using poisoned needles. Jong-Nam had reportedly travelled using a fake passport under the name of Kim Chol.
(AP, 2/14/17)(AFP, 2/14/17)(Econ, 3/4/17, p.29)
2017 Feb 15, North Korean officials spent hours trying to talk Malaysia out of conducting an autopsy on Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother, who was murdered at Kuala Lumpur airport on Feb 13.
(Reuters, 2/15/17)
2017 Feb 16, Malaysian authorities announced two more arrests in the Feb 13 death of Kim Jong Nam, the North Korean leader's half-brother. Siti Aisyah (25) of Indonesia and her boyfriend were arrested as suspects in Nam’s death.
(AP, 2/16/17)
2017 Feb 17, Malaysian police arrested a North Korean man, identified as Ri Jong Chol (b.1970), in connection with the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Malaysia performed a second autopsy on Nam after the first proved inconclusive and a diplomatic spat over his body escalated.
(Reuters, 2/18/17)(SFC, 2/18/17, p.A2)
2017 Feb 17, Indonesia's national police chief said Siti Aisyah, the Indonesian woman arrested for suspected involvement in the killing of the North Korean leader's half-brother in Malaysia, was duped into thinking she was part of a comedy show prank.
(AP, 2/17/17)
2017 Feb 17, North Korea said it would "categorically reject" the post mortem conducted by Malaysia on one of its citizens who died in Kuala Lumpur this week, and demanded that the body of Kim Jong Nam be released immediately.
(Reuters, 2/17/17)
2017 Feb 18, Tens of thousands of Malaysians rallied in Kuala Lumpur to support the adoption of a strict Islamic penal code, a proposal religious minorities fear could infringe their rights.
(Reuters, 2/18/17)
2017 Feb 19, Malaysian police said four North Korean suspects in the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, fled Malaysia on the day he was attacked at Kuala Lumpur airport and apparently killed by a fast-acting poison.
(Reuters, 2/19/17)
2017 Feb 24, Malaysian police said sometime in the hours after poisoning Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader, one of his two attackers began to vomit. It was apparently an early indication of the immensely powerful toxin that was used in the killing: the chemical warfare agent VX.
(AP, 2/24/17)
2017 Feb 26, Saudi King Salman arrived in Malaysia to kick off a multi-nation tour aimed at boosting economic ties with Asia.
(AP, 2/26/17)
2017 Feb 27, Malaysian PM Najib Razak said that oil major Saudi Aramco will invest $7 billion in a mammoth oil processing hub in Malaysia, making it the single largest investor in the Southeast Asian country.
(AP, 2/27/17)
2017 Feb 27, South Korean police said four of the eight North Koreans, identified as suspects in the Feb 13 assassination of Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia, were agents from North Korea’s Ministry of State Security.
(SFC, 2/28/17, p.A3)
2017 Feb 28, In Malaysia oil giant Saudi Aramco signed a $7 billion deal to take a 50 percent stake in a mega Malaysian oil refinery project, in a pact expected to help Saudi Arabia increase trade in Southeast Asia.
(AP, 2/28/17)
2017 Feb, In Malaysia Pastor Raymond Koh, who ran a charity that helped the underprivileged, was kidnapped by masked men in Kuala Lumpur. In 2019 the country's human rights commission said he was probably abducted by agents of Special Branch, a police intelligence unit.
(Reuters, 4/3/19)
2017 Mar 1, A Malaysian court charged two young women, accused of smearing VX nerve agent on the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, with murder.
(AP, 3/1/17)
2017 Mar 3, Malaysian officials said they have deported Ri Jong Chol, a North Korean man, who was released from custody after police found insufficient evidence to charge him in the Feb 13 murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader.
(AP, 3/3/17)
2017 Mar 4, Malaysia expelled North Korea's ambassador for refusing to apologize for his strong accusations over Malaysia's handling of the investigation into the killing of the North Korean leader's half-brother.
(AP, 3/4/17)
2017 Mar 6, North Korea said it has ordered Malaysia's ambassador out of the country in a tit-for-tat after Malaysia expelled North Korea's envoy over the death of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur's airport.
(AP, 3/6/17)
2017 Mar 7, North Korea closed its borders to Malaysians who want to leave the country, spurring Malaysia to issue a retaliatory order and drawing hundreds of ordinary people into an increasingly bitter diplomatic battle over the killing of an exiled member of North Korea's ruling family. 11 Malaysian citizens were prevented from flying home.
(AP, 3/7/17)(Econ, 3/11/17, p.40)
2017 Mar 9, North Korea guaranteed the safety of Malaysians banned from leaving the country, as two Malaysian UN employees left the isolated state in a possible sign that diplomatic tensions had begun to settle. Nine other Malaysians were believed to still be stuck there after the two countries' diplomatic relations broke down over the Feb 13 killing in Malaysia of the estranged sibling of North Korea's leader.
(Reuters, 3/9/17)(AP, 3/9/17)
2017 Mar 14, Malaysia said that the body of Kim Jong Nam, the brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un killed last month, has been embalmed and that about 50 North Koreans whose work permits have expired will be deported.
(SFC, 3/15/17, p.A3)
2017 Mar 23, In the southern Philippines two Malaysian sailors held captive for eight months were rescued near Pata Island. They were among five tugboat crewmen kidnapped last July off Malaysia’s Sabah state.
(SFC, 3/24/17, p.A2)
2017 Mar 30, Malaysia said it has agreed to release the body of Kim Jong Nam to North Korea in exchange for the return of nine Malaysians held in the North's capital.
(AP, 3/30/17)
2017 Apr 18, Malaysia said 296 North Koreans had surrendered to authorities over the last week, as it enforces new visa requirements following a dispute over the murder of the half-brother of North Korea's leader.
(Reuters, 4/18/17)
2017 Apr 24, Abu Dhabi and Malaysian officials said they reached a deal to resolve a legal dispute over the indebted and troubled Malaysian investment fund 1MDB, with the Abu Dhabi set to receive $1.2 billion over this year.
(AP, 4/24/17)(Econ, 4/29/17, p.30)
2017 May 8, In Malaysia the wife of a Turkish businessman detained in Malaysia last week for alleged terrorism offences made a tearful appeal to the government to release him. Ihsan Aslan was arrested together with another Turkish national, Turgay Karaman, last week under a security law which allows detention without trial for 28 days. Two days later Turkish academic Ismet Ozcelik was also detained. Rights groups feared Malaysia may be responding to pressure from Turkey.
(AFP, 5/8/17)
2017 May 12, Malaysia said it had deported three Turkish men to Ankara over suspected links to a group blamed by Turkey for a failed coup last year. Authorities had detained school principal Turgay Karaman (43), businessman Ihsan Aslan (39) and academic Ismet Ozcelik (58) last week, saying they posed a threat to national security.
(Reuters, 5/12/17)
2017 Jun 3, Malaysia's health ministry defended its decision to host a contest on how to "prevent" homosexuality and transgenderism. It said the contest, titled the National Creative Video Competition on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health, was to gather views and enhance knowledge among teens on healthy lifestyle practices.
(Reuters, 6/3/17)
2017 Jun 15, Malaysian customs officials seized nearly 400 kg (880 pounds) of pangolin scales worth 5 million ringgit ($1.2 million) from Ghana.
(AP, 6/16/17)
2017 Jun 22, In Manila security officials from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to closely cooperate to halt the flow of militants, weapons, funds and extremist propaganda across their borders.
(AP, 6/22/17)
2017 Jul 4, Hong Kong customs officials seized more than $9 million worth of ivory in a shipment from Malaysia that had been labeled as frozen fish. Three people at a trading company in Hong Kong were arrested in connection with the shipment.
(AP, 7/6/17)
2017 Jul 14, Malaysian authorities arrested a Vietnamese man and seized a stash of elephant ivory worth almost $70,000.
(AFP, 7/17/17)
2017 Jul 27, In Vietnam Malaysian Foreign Minister Anifah Aman spoke at a joint briefing with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Binh Minh at a joint commission meeting on economic and technological cooperation. Minh said the two countries have agreed to expand cooperation on defense and security to include counterterrorism, fighting pirates and transnational crimes.
(AP, 7/27/17)
2017 Aug 1, In Malaysia activists and authors reacted with outrage after authorities banned "Breaking The Silence: Voices Of Moderation -- Islam In A Constitutional Democracy", a book aimed at promoting moderate Islam, as concerns mounted about growing conservatism.
(AFP, 8/1/17)
2017 Aug 1, The emirate’s sovereign wealth fund said Malaysia's scandal-hit state investment fund 1MDB has missed a payment to Abu Dhabi of over $600 million that it was supposed to make by the end of July to settle debts.
(AFP, 8/1/17)
2017 Aug 7, Malaysia's deputy minister in charge of religious affairs said he is investigating an international atheist organization after a picture of the group's local chapter went viral, sparking claims that Muslim apostates were involved. The Kuala Lumpur chapter of Atheist Republic, a Canada-based organization, posted a picture of the group's members attending a gathering last week, sparking uproar among some Muslims and leading to threats of death and violence against the group on social media.
(Reuters, 8/7/17)
2017 Aug 9, China and Malaysia broke ground on a $13 billion rail project linking peninsular Malaysia's east and west, the largest such project in the country and a major part of Beijing's Belt and Road infrastructure push.
(Reuters, 8/9/17)
2017 Aug 30, Malaysian police arrested Hajar Abdul Mubin (aka Abu Asrie), a suspected leader and seven members of the Islamic State-linked Abu Sayyaf Islamist group in Kuala Lumpur.
(Reuters, 9/3/17)
2017 Aug 30, Malaysian maritime authorities publicly set fire to a foreign fishing boat for the first time in a move to deter illegal fishing.
(AP, 8/30/17)
2017 Sep 14, In Malaysia 24 people, mostly teenagers, died in a fire at a school dormitory outside Kuala Lumpur.
(SFC, 9/14/17 p.A4)
2017 Sep 16, Malaysian police arrested seven suspects over the last 24 hours accused of intentionally starting the Sept. 14 fire that killed 23 children and teachers at an Islamic school in Kuala Lumpur.
(AFP, 9/16/17)
2017 Oct 7, Malaysian police said four foreigners and four Malaysians have been arrested in the states of Sabah, Selangor and Perak between Sept. 27 and Oct. 6. for suspected involvement in terrorist activities linked to Abu Sayyaf, the Islamic State and Jemaah Islamiah.
(Reuters, 10/7/17)
2017 Oct 21, In northwestern Malaysia eleven foreign workers were killed in a landslide at a construction site in George Town, Penang Island.
(Reuters, 10/22/17)
2017 Nov 5, In Malaysia flash floods caused by hours of torrential rain killed at least five people. Military forces deployed to help rescue thousands of displaced people in the northern state of Penang.
(Reuters, 11/5/17)
2017 Nov 30, In Malaysia an inquiry into huge losses by Malaysia's central bank recommended Mahathir Mohamad face a criminal investigation, ahead of polls at which the former premier wants to oust the current government. The final report by the official Royal Commission of Inquiry into the scandal in the 1990s during Mahathir's tenure also recommended Anwar Ibrahim -- finance minister at the time and now a leading opposition figure languishing in jail -- face a criminal probe.
(AFP, 11/30/17)
2017 Dec 21, Switzerland’s financial market regulator said the Swiss division of J.P. Morgan "seriously breached" anti-money laundering rules relating to the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
(AP, 12/21/17)
2017 Dec 22, Malaysian police said they have arrested 20 suspected militants, including 13 foreigners, adding to a list of hundreds detained in recent years accused of having links to terror groups. The suspects were arrested in a counter-terror operation carried out in four states between Nov. 30 and Dec. 15.
(AP, 12/22/17)
2017 Dec 24, In Malaysia a sun bear and tapir were killed in road accidents in the northeast of the country on Christmas Eve, with the tapir skinned by villagers after its carcass was discovered. A second sun bear was killed and cut up, with its parts spotted on the same day sold openly at a market in Sarawak state on Borneo island.
(AFP, 12/28/17)
2017 Dec 30, Malaysia’s Terengganu state officials said they plan to run a conversion therapy course aimed at transgender women, sparking alarm among LGBT activists in the conservative Muslim-majority country.
(AFP, 12/30/17)
2018 Jan 1, In Malaysia an unidentified driver died from injuries inflicted by a faulty Takata air bag inflator, raising the worldwide death toll to 22.
(AP, 1/30/18)
2018 Jan 6, Malaysia's government said that it has approved a new attempt to find the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The US-based company Ocean Infinity dispatched a search vessel this past week to look in the southern Indian Ocean for debris from the plane, which disappeared March 8, 2014.
(AP, 1/6/18)
2018 Jan 7, Malaysia's opposition alliance named former premier Mahathir Mohamad (92) as its prime ministerial candidate for a general election this year. The authoritarian who ran the country for two decades faced an uphill task.
(Reuters, 1/7/18)
2018 Jan 25, Malaysia’s central bank raised its key interest rate for the first time in four years to 3.25 percent from 3 percent, citing a stronger domestic and global economy ahead of general elections due by August.
(AP, 1/25/18)
2018 Jan 29, Malaysia's top court said in a landmark decision that both parents must consent to the religious conversion of a minor, ruling unanimously in favor of a Hindu woman whose ex-husband converted their three children to Islam without telling her.
(AP, 1/29/18)
2018 Feb 12, Malaysian police said three members of a Malaysian family have been detained in the death of their Indonesian maid, who suffered injuries and was forced to sleep outside on a porch with the family's dog. Adelina Lisao (26) had died a day earlier. The alleged maid abuse prompted calls by activists and lawmakers for better laws to safeguard migrant workers.
(AP, 2/12/18)
2018 Feb 21, Malaysian prosecutors charged a 60-year-old woman with murdering Adelina Lisao (28), an Indonesian domestic helper, who was found with bruises on her face and died from her injuries. M.A. Ambika was charged with murder, while her daughter was charged with hiring a foreigner without valid documents.
(Reuters, 2/21/18)
2018 Feb 28, Indonesian authorities seized a luxury yacht sought by US authorities off the tourist island of Bali, with the vessel reportedly linked to a corruption scandal at Malaysia's state investment fund. The Cayman Island-registered vessel Equanimity is reportedly worth some $250 million and is owned by Jho Low, a former unofficial adviser to the Malaysian fund 1MDB.
(AFP, 2/28/18)
2018 Mar 5, Malaysian PM Najib Razak's scandal-haunted government pushed plans for legislation outlawing "fake news" as parliament convened for the last time before an election due by August.
(Reuters, 3/5/18)
2018 Mar 8, In Chile 11 nations signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, dropping tariffs and establishing sweeping new rules in markets representing about a seventh of the world's economy. members included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
(SFC, 3/9/18, p.C5)
2018 Mar 8, In Los Angeles Red Granite Pictures Inc., the production company behind "The Wolf of Wall Street," agreed to pay the US government $60 million to settle claims it benefited from a massive $1 billion Malaysian corruption scandal. Money was diverted from the fund to buy properties in New York and California, a $35 million jet, art by Vincent Van Gogh and Claude Monet, and a $260 million yacht. Proceeds also went to fund movies by Red Granite Pictures, which was co-founded by the stepson of Malaysian PM Najib Razak.
(AP, 3/10/18)
2018 Mar 13, Malaysian officials said four heavily armed poachers who targeted wild elephants, have been caught, the second such arrest in less than two years.
(AFP, 3/13/18)
2018 Mar 15, Malaysia's PM Najib Razak announced cash handouts on top of bonuses already paid to staff of the largest government-linked asset management firm, as he prepared for a general election that must be held by August.
(Reuters, 3/15/18)
2018 Mar 21, In Malaysia a sand dredger capsized off the southern coast. Two Chinese sailors were rescued more than 50 hours after the vessel overturned. Three more bodies were also discovered, leaving nine others still missing.
(AP, 3/24/18)
2018 Mar 24, Malaysian authorities said police have arrested seven men with links to the Islamic State militant group who were planning attacks on non-Muslim places of worship and other targets in multiple operations between Feb. 27 and Mar. 15.
(Reuters, 3/24/18)
2018 Mar 28, Malaysia's Parliament approved redrawn electoral boundaries despite protests that the ruling coalition was cheating to ensure victory in the upcoming general election. Embattled PM Najib Razak introduced the new electoral maps, which were approved with 129 lawmakers voting for them and 80 against.
(AP, 3/28/18)
2018 Mar, Malaysia's Universiti Sains Malaysia's Muslim Students Association held a forum to "convert" lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students.
(Reuters, 4/4/18)
2018 Apr 2, Malaysia approved a law against "fake news" that would allow for prison of up to six years for offenders, shrugging off critics who say it was aimed at curbing dissent and free speech ahead of a general election.
(Reuters, 4/2/18)
2018 Apr 3, Malaysian authorities intercepted a boat carrying 56 people believed to be Muslim Rohingya refugees who fled from Myanmar, and brought the vessel and its passengers to shore.
(AP, 4/3/18)
2018 Apr 5, Malaysian authorities ordered former PM Mahathir Mohamad's political party to temporarily disband in a blow to the opposition ahead of expected general elections.
(AP, 4/5/18)
2018 Apr 6, Malaysia's scandal-tainted PM Najib Razak announced that Parliament will be dissolved to pave the way for general elections, expected to be held next month.
(AP, 4/6/18)
2018 Apr 12, It was reported that Hassan al-Kontar, a Syrian man, said he has been stranded at the main airport serving the Malaysian capital for over a month after being denied entry to several countries, and begged for help to escape.
(AFP, 4/12/18)
2018 Apr 21, In Malaysia two unidentified men shot dead a Palestinian man in Kuala Lumpur. The victim was soon identified as Palestinian engineer Fadi al-Batsh (35), a "loyal" member and a "scientist of Palestine's youth scholars" and a member of Hamas.
(Reuters, 4/21/18)(AP, 4/21/18)
2018 May 1, Malaysian police intercepted a tanker with 131 Sri Lankans believed bound for Australia and New Zealand, smashing a large human smuggling ring that has been operating for a year.
(AP, 5/6/18)
2018 May 5, A Malaysian official said the ruling party has sacked two powerful former ministers after they openly supported the opposition in the run-up to next week's national election.
(AP, 5/5/18)
2018 May 9, Malaysians flocked to vote in a fiercely contested election pitting an opposition led by former authoritarian leader Mahathir Mohamad against the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Najib Razak. Mahathir Mohamad (92) led opposition parties to their first election victory in six decades.
(AP, 5/9/18)(AP, 5/10/18)
2018 May 10, Mahathir Mohamad was sworn in as Malaysia's 7th prime minister in a ceremony before the Southeast Asian country's king after leading opposition parties to a historic election victory.
(AP, 5/10/18)
2018 May 12, Malaysia's new leader, Mahathir Mohamad, said that defeated scandal-tainted PM Najib Razak and his wife have been barred from leaving the country to prevent them from fleeing from possible prosecution over a massive corruption scandal.
(AP, 5/12/18)
2018 May 16, In Malaysia reformist icon Anwar Ibrahim (70) celebrated a "new dawn" for the country after he was given a royal pardon and freed from custody.
(AP, 5/16/18)
2018 May 17, Malaysia's new government stepped up a corruption investigation into a state fund with a seven-hour police search of the home of former PM Najib Razak and the creation of a special committee to accelerate the probe.
(AP, 5/17/18)
2018 May 18, A Malaysian official said former PM Najib Razak has been summoned for questioning in a money-laundering probe involving the 1MDB state investment fund. Police seized 284 boxes of designer handbags and dozens of bags filled with cash and jewelry in the raid on a luxury condominium in the center of Kuala Lumpur linked to Najib.
(AP, 5/18/18)(Reuters, 5/18/18)
2018 May 19, Mongolia's president requested Malaysia's new leaders to find justice for model Altantuya Shaariibu, killed on Oct. 18, 2006, while a fugitive policeman convicted of the crime said he would cooperate with any new probe if he was given a full pardon.
(Reuters, 5/19/18)
2018 May 20, A spokesman for Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak said Razak fears for his safety and has asked for police protection, a day after the ex-leader complained over the conduct of police searching properties for evidence of corruption.
(Reuters, 5/20/18)
2018 May 22, Malaysian officials said the government of ousted PM Najib Razak deceived parliament over the finances of state fund 1MDB and suppressed an investigation by intimidating and purging anti-corruption agents.
(Reuters, 5/22/18)
2018 May 22, Malaysia made its largest ever seizure of crystal methamphetamine, finding nearly 1.2 tons of the drug disguised as tea in a shipment from Myanmar. Three Myanmar nationals and three Malaysians were arrested during the operation.
(Reuters, 5/28/18)
2018 May 24, Dutch prosecutors said a detailed analysis of video and photos by an international team of investigators has unequivocally established that the Buk missile that brought down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine nearly four years ago came from a Russia-based military unit in Kurst. Russia's military denied that any Russian missile complex had ever crossed the border between Russia and Ukraine.
(AP, 5/24/18)(Reuters, 5/24/18)
2018 May 25, Malaysian police said the cash stashed in bags at an apartment linked to former PM Najib Razak and seized in a money-laundering investigation amounted to 114 million ringgit ($28.6 million).
(AP, 5/25/18)
2018 May 25, The Netherlands and Australia announced they were holding Moscow legally responsible for its role in the July 17, 2014, missile attack and downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine nearly four years ago.
(AP, 5/25/18)
2018 May 28, New Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad said that a planned high-speed railway that would cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes will be axed because it isn't beneficial.
(AP, 5/28/18)
2018 May 30, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad said that his country regrets having to end the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, nearly four years after the plane went missing, and will consider resuming the hunt for the plane if any new information emerges.
(AP, 5/30/18)
2018 May 30, Malaysia said it has set up a fund for members of the public to donate cash to help the new government repay its hefty national debt, providing a bank account number for deposits. Malaysia's debts and liabilities were estimated at 1 trillion ringgit ($250.8 billion) or 80 percent of GDP.
(Reuters, 5/30/18)
2018 May 31, Indian PM Narendra Modi held talks with new Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad in a brief visit aimed at bolstering bilateral ties.
(AP, 5/31/18)
2018 Jun 1, The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said it has dropped a long-running territorial dispute between Malaysia and Singapore by mutual consent. The court said Malaysia this week notified it of its intent to drop its claim to Pedra Branca island, near the opening of the Straits of Singapore.
(Reuters, 6/1/18)
2018 Jun 5, Malaysia's government appointed distinguished lawyer Tommy Thomas as attorney-general, making him the first person from outside the Malay majority to hold the powerful position in more than half a century.
(AP, 6/5/18)
2018 Jun 5, In Malaysia anti-corruption investigators questioned the wife of former PM Najib Razak about alleged theft and money-laundering involving the 1MDB state investment fund, as officials announced a probe into other suspicious multibillion-dollar transactions under Najib's leadership.
(AP, 6/5/18)
2018 Jun 6, Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad announced that Muhammad Ibrahim, a Harvard-educated banker who had been at the central bank over three decades, had submitted his resignation. This came after the bank admitted to buying land from Najib's regime in Kuala Lumpur in late 2017 for about two billion ringgit ($500 million), with the finance ministry saying the cash was used to service the debts of 1MDB.
(AP, 6/6/18)
2018 Jun 14, EU negotiators agreed to phase out the use of palm oil in transport fuels from 2030, setting up a clash with producer countries such as Malaysia and Indonesia.
(Reuters, 6/14/18)
2018 Jun 21, Malaysia said it will not cancel a skyscraper project billed as the tallest in Southeast Asia, even though 3 billion ringgit ($747 million) from the venture has been misappropriated by the 1MDB state fund linked to former premier Najib Razak.
(AP, 6/21/18)
2018 Jun 27, Police in Malaysia said the total value of cash, jewelry, watches and handbags seized from properties linked to former PM Najib Razak in a money-laundering investigation amounted to at least $273 million.
(AP, 6/27/18)
2018 Jul 2, A Malaysian task force said more than 400 bank accounts have been frozen as part of a probe into a multi-billion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB. Riza Aziz, the stepson of former prime minister Najib Razak, was summoned for questioning.
(Reuters, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 2, Malaysian authorities said they are investigating the marriage between an 11-year-old Thai girl and a 41-year-old Malaysian Muslim, including elements of possible "sexual grooming" in the case.
(AP, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 2, Twenty-five people, including a woman, were rescued after the boat, believed to be carrying 44 illegal immigrants, sank early today off Malaysia's southern coast. 18 people were missing after the boat carrying migrants from Indonesia capsized, killing one woman.
(Reuters, 7/2/18)
2018 Jul 3, Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak was arrested in a stunning fall from grace following a shock election loss in May amid allegations of massive corruption and misappropriation at a state fund he founded.
(Reuters, 7/3/18)
2018 Jul 4, In Malaysia former PM Najib Razak was charged with abuse of power and criminal breach of trust in an investigation over billions of dollars missing from the 1MDB state fund.
(Reuters, 7/4/18)
2018 Jul 11, Malaysian police said fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, a suspect in the looting of the state investment fund 1MDB, has fled Macau to an unknown destination.
(AP, 7/11/18)
2018 Jul 15, In Malaysia Manny Pacquiao (39) of the Philippines won a seventh-round knockout of Lucas Matthysse of Argentina to claim the World Boxing Association welterweight title.
(AP, 7/15/18)
2018 Aug 5, Malaysian political leader Anwar Ibrahim won the presidency of the People's Justice Party (PKR), becoming next in line to take over as prime minister when current premier Mahathir Mohamad steps down.
(Reuters, 8/5/18)
2018 Aug 5, In Malaysia a gang of thieves stole about 50 kg of narcotics, ketamine and heroin, from a customs storage facility. Police soon arrested two customs officers and three other suspects following the heist.
(Reuters, 8/6/18)
2018 Aug 5, An Indonesian police official said a luxury yacht allegedly bought with funds stolen from a Malaysian state investment company is being returned to Malaysia after a months long legal battle. Malaysian financier Jho Low, who the US Justice Department alleges was a key figure in the theft and international laundering of $4.5 billion from 1MDB, protested the handover of the yacht.
(AP, 8/5/18)
2018 Aug 6, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad thanked Indonesia's government and President Joko Widodo for returning the $250 million yacht, Equanimity, which was seized by Indonesia off Bali in February in cooperation with the US FBI.
(AP, 8/6/18)
2018 Aug 8, Malaysia's former PM Najib Razak (65) pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges slapped on him, as the country's new government looked for answers to how billions of dollars went missing from a state fund 1MDB during his term.
(Reuters, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 8, Malaysia's minister of Islamic affairs said he had ordered the removal of portraits of two lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists from a public photography exhibition, as they promoted LGBT activities.
(Reuters, 8/8/18)
2018 Aug 12, Malaysian media said two women have been charged under Islamic laws forbidding lesbian sex at the Shariah High Court in Terengganu, a conservative state ruled by the Islamist opposition party Pan-Malaysian Islamist Party (PAS). They were sentenced to six strokes by caning for having sex and fined 3,300 ringgit ($806).
(Reuters, 8/14/18)
2018 Aug 13, Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said he is looking to cancel multibillion-dollar Chinese-backed infrastructure projects signed by the previous scandal-tainted government as the country digs itself out of debt.
(AP, 8/13/18)
2018 Aug 16, Malaysia's new government repealed a widely criticized law prohibiting "fake news," in a move hailed as a landmark moment for human rights by a group of Southeast Asian lawmakers.
(AP, 8/16/18)
2018 Aug 18, In China Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad courted Chinese e-commerce investment in his country at the start of his first trip to China since his stunning electoral victory three months ago.
(AP, 8/18/18)
2018 Aug 20, In China Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said that he hoped China would sympathize with his country's fiscal problems as he met with the country's leaders after suspending multibillion-dollar construction projects financed by Chinese loans.
(AP, 8/20/18)
2018 Aug 21, In China Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad told reporters on the final day of a visit to Beijing told reporters that multibillion-dollar China-financed projects in Malaysia have been canceled because they aren't needed and will saddle the country with an unsustainable amount of debt.
(AP, 8/21/18)
2018 Aug 30, A Malaysian amnesty program for illegal immigrants that began in 2016 ended today and the Philippine government advised Filipinos, especially those without immigration permits, to expect a crackdown as early as tomorrow.
(AP, 8/30/18)
2018 Sep 3, In Malaysia two Muslim women convicted under Islamic laws of attempting to have sex were caned in a rare public whipping that was slammed by lawmakers and rights activists as a form of torture. The women, aged 22 and 32, were seated on stools facing the judges and given six strokes from a light rattan cane on their backs by female prison officers.
(AP, 9/3/18)
2018 Sep 13, In Malaysia Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, top lawyer for former PM Najib Razak, was charged with receiving 9.5 million ringgit ($2.3 million) in ill-gotten wealth from his client, who is himself accused of money laundering and corruption.
(AP, 9/13/18)
2018 Sep 19, Malaysia's former PM Najib Razak was arrested and will face further charges of abuse of power over the multimillion-dollar looting of a state investment fund.
(AP, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 19, Malaysian officials said police are investigating a case of alcohol poisoning that killed at least 21 people, with dozens more hospitalized, most of them citizens of Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar and Nepal.
(Reuters, 9/19/18)
2018 Sep 20, Malaysian prosecutors charged former PM Najib Razak with 21 counts of money laundering and four counts of abuse of power over hundreds of millions of dollars received in his personal bank account. The charges bring the total number against Najib to 32 as investigators ramp up a probe into how billions went missing from scandal-plagued 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) state fund.
(Reuters, 9/20/18)
2018 Oct 3, Malaysia's anti-graft agency said that Rosmah Mansor, the wife of former PM Najib Razak, has been arrested and will face money laundering charges in a graft scandal involving the 1MDB state investment fund.
(AP, 10/3/18)
2018 Oct 6, Malaysian police said that eight suspected militants, including seven foreigners, have been arrested for allegedly spreading religious extremism that could threaten national security and fan terrorism in the region.
(AP, 10/6/18)
2018 Oct 9, Malaysia freed from detention 11 ethnic Uighur Muslims who fled to the southeast Asian nation after a Thai jailbreak last year, and sent them to Turkey, in disregard of China's request to hand them to Beijing.
(Reuters, 10/11/18)
2018 Oct 11, Malaysia's new government said it will abolish the death penalty for all crimes and halt all pending executions.
(AP, 10/11/18)
2018 Oct 13, Charismatic Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim won a by-election for a parliamentary seat with a landslide victory in a grand political comeback to help him prepare for his eventual takeover from PM Mahathir Mohamad.
(AP, 10/13/18)
2018 Oct 18, Malaysia's anti-graft agency said it has detained former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi in a case linked to misappropriation of funds in a welfare group.
(AP, 10/18/18)
2018 Oct 18, In Malaysia John William Jones (63), a British citizen, was found stabbed to death at his resort home. In 2020 his wife Samantha Jones (51) was sentenced to 42 months in jail after pleading guilty to culpable homicide.
(SFC, 8/4/20, p.A2)
2018 Oct 19, Malaysia's former deputy prime minister, Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, was charged with abuse of power, corruption and money laundering involving millions of dollars in another graft investigation against leaders ousted in elections earlier this year.
(AP, 10/19/18)
2018 Oct 24, In Thailand Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad met with PM Prayuth Chan-ocha and discussed peace talks in Thailand's southern border provinces.
(AP, 10/24/18)
2018 Nov 1, The US Justice Department charged fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, also known as Jho Low, in a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions of dollars from a Malaysian investment fund created to promote economic development projects in that country. Also charged was a Goldman Sachs banker, Tim Leissner, who pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy and to conspiring to violating foreign bribery laws.
(AP, 11/1/18)
2018 Nov 5, In Malaysia Musa Aman (67), former leader of resource-rich Sabah state, was detained by the anti-graft agency before being taken to court. He pleaded not guilty to 35 counts of corruption for allegedly receiving a total of $63.3 million in Hong Kong and Singapore through proxies between 2004 and 2008 in exchange for timber contracts.
(AP, 11/5/18)
2018 Nov 13, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamed sharply criticized Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi for her handling of an ethnic crisis that led to mass killings and the exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims from her country.
(AP, 11/13/18)
2018 Nov 14, Malaysia's anti-graft agency said the wife of ex-PM Najib Razak will face new corruption charges, along with two former government officials and a businessman.
(AP, 11/14/18)
2018 Nov 20, Malaysian police detained two women and two men from Finland at their hotel after police received complaints about their distributing Christian materials at public places. He said police seized 47 pens with Bible verses and 336 notebooks containing texts from the Bible.
(AP, 11/21/18)
2018 Nov 20, FIFA Ethics Committee judge Sundra Rajoo was arrested on suspicion of corruption in his native Malaysia. He was held overnight, but released after a court accepted his representatives' arguments that he effectively has diplomatic immunity due to his high-profile legal roles. Rajoo resigned the next day from his position with the arbitration service.
(AP, 11/21/18)
2018 Nov 24, Malaysian authorities said office of former Malaysian premier Najib Razak ordered changes to a 2016 audit report of scandal-plagued state fund 1MDB, including removing mention of financier Low Taek Jho's presence at a board meeting.
(Reuters, 11/25/18)
2018 Nov 26, In Malaysia 21 people were arrested over rioting that broke out amid a dispute over the relocation of an Indian temple outside Kuala Lumpur. 12 people were reported injured, one critically.
(AP, 11/27/18)
2018 Nov 27, In Malaysia four Finnish tourists, arrested last week for distributing Christian materials in public places on a resort island, were deported home.
(AP, 11/28/18)
2018 Nov 27, In Malaysia four Finnish tourists, arrested last week for distributing Christian materials in public places on a resort island, were deported home.
(AP, 11/28/18)
2018 Nov 30, George Higginbotham, a former Justice Department official, admitted his role in a multimillion-dollar effort to try to get the United States to drop its investigation into a money laundering and bribery scheme that pilfered billions from a Malaysian investment fund.
(AP, 12/1/18)
2018 Dec 1, Controversial Islamic preacher Zakir Naik (53), wanted in his home country of India, said he has not broken any Indian law and was being targeted by the "enemies of Islam," in a rare public speech in Malaysia where he has sought refuge. Naik faced charges in India of money laundering and hate speech.
(Reuters, 12/2/18)
2018 Dec 4, Singapore said it has lodged a "strong protest" with Malaysia over its plan to extend the limits of a port in Malaysia's southern-most state, saying it encroached into the territorial waters of the city-state.
(Reuters, 12/4/18)
2018 Dec 8, In Malaysia tens of thousands of Muslims rallied in Kuala Lumpur against any attempt to strip the ethnic Malay majority of its privileges, in the first massive street gathering since PM Mahathir Mohamad's alliance won a historic vote in May.
(AP, 12/8/18)
2018 Dec 17, Malaysia filed criminal charges against Goldman Sachs and two former executives for their role in the alleged multibillion-dollar ransacking of state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 12/17/18)
2019 Jan 6, Malaysian King Sultan Muhammad V (49) abdicated in an unexpected move, after just two years on the throne.
(AP, 1/6/19)
2019 Jan 12, Malaysia's Pahang state announced it had a new sultan, who is expected to be elected king after the former monarch abdicated following his reported marriage to a Russian former beauty queen. Tengku Abdullah Shah (59) replaced his father, Sultan Ahmad Shah.
(AFP, 1/12/19)
2019 Jan 14, Singapore's foreign minister warned of "consequences" if neighboring Malaysia continues to escalate a dispute over waters claimed by the city state.
(AP, 1/14/19)
2019 Jan 16, It was reported that Malaysia has imposed a ban on Israelis participating in any event hosted by the Southeast Asian nation after barring athletes from attending the World Para Swimming championships in July. Malaysia's cabinet had decided on the measure last week.
(Reuters, 1/16/19)
2019 Jan 18, It was reported that Malaysia has filed a lawsuit against opposition-run Kelantan state for infringing on the indigenous Temiar tribe's land rights by handing out licenses to plantation companies to cut down timber, the first such action by a sitting government.
(Reuters, 1/18/19)
2019 Jan 24, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of central Pahang state was named Malaysia's new king.
(AP, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 24, In Malaysia Siti Aisyah, an Indonesian woman jointly accused of killing the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader, won an appeal to obtain witness statements given to police as part of her defense.
(AP, 1/24/19)
2019 Jan 28, Malaysian prosecutors charged former prime minister Najib Razak with three more counts of money laundering, allegedly receiving the proceeds of illegal activities in his personal bank accounts.
(Reuters, 1/28/19)
2019 Feb 12, A wildlife monitoring group said Malaysian authorities have seized a record 30 tons of pangolin and pangolin products in eastern Sabah state on Borneo, the biggest such bust in the country.
(AP, 2/12/19)
2018 Feb, Adelina Sau (21), an Indonesian maid, died after being found outside her employer's home on the northern Malaysian island of Penang, with her head and face swollen and covered in wounds. Her employer, S. Ambika, was charged with murder. In April, 2019, the High Court in Penang dropped the murder charge against her without saying why.
(AFP, 4/22/19)
2019 Mar 1, In Malaysia a new ruling coalition, the Perikatan Nasional (national alliance), was sworn in under Muhyiddin Yassin.
(Econ., 3/7/20, p.32)
2019 Mar 1, In Malaysia more 34 Muslim Rohingya women and children were found stranded along a beach in northern Perlis state, and were believed to have been dropped off by human traffickers.
(AP, 3/1/19)
2019 Mar 7, In Malaysia Mujahid Yusof Rawa, the minister in charge of religious affairs, said the Islamic Affairs Department had set up a unit to monitor writings and communications insulting Islam and Muhammad.
(Reuters, 3/9/19)
2019 Mar 7, Malaysian officials said 35 people, mostly students, have been treated for poisoning after a suspected chemical leak near two schools in Johor state.
(Reuters, 3/7/19)
2019 Mar 8, In the Philippines Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad met with Filipino Muslim rebel leader Murad Ebrahim, who has become a regional governor under a Malaysian-brokered peace deal.
(AP, 3/8/19)
2019 Mar 9, Malaysian police said a was sentenced to more than 10 years' jail and three others were charged over insults against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad on social media.
(Reuters, 3/9/19)
2019 Mar 9, A Malaysian minister decried the presence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) groups at a march celebrating International Women's Day, calling it "a misuse of democratic space".
(Reuters, 3/10/19)
2019 Mar 10, Malaysian police said that six Egyptians and a Tunisian man believed to be linked to an African-based terror group have been detained and deported.
(AP, 3/10/19)
2019 Mar 11, In Malaysia Indonesian Siti Aisyah, one of two women accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's half-brother by smearing VX nerve agent on his face, was freed after two years of detention when prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against her.
(AP, 3/11/19)
2019 Mar 12, Malaysia suspended all Boeing 737 Max 8 flights in and out of the country following two recent fatal crashes.
(AP, 3/12/19)
2019 Mar 13, Malaysia's government backtracked on an earlier plan to abolish capital punishment for all crimes, saying the death penalty stays but will no longer be mandatory for selected offences.
(AP, 3/13/19)
2019 Mar 13, Malaysia's government ordered 34 schools in southern Johor state to close after toxic waste illegally dumped into a river sickened scores of students and teachers.
(AP, 3/13/19)
2019 Mar 14, Malaysian prosecutors said the attorney-general has ordered the murder case to proceed against Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese woman accused in the killing of the estranged half-brother of North Korea's leader.
(AP, 3/14/19)
2019 Mar 14, Malaysia ordered 111 schools to close as more than 200 children, teachers and others were taken to hospital after breathing in chemical fumes, but PM Mahathir Mohamad said he believed the poisoning crisis was under control.
(Reuters, 3/14/19)
2019 Mar 27, A report released today found gaps in the investigation and possible obstruction of justice in Malaysia's 2015 discovery of mass graves believed to be of Rohingya Muslims and Bangladeshis held in trafficking camps in a hilly jungle area on its border with Thailand. The report said Malaysian authorities were aware of the human trafficking camps more than four months before they were announced publicly.
(AP, 3/27/19)
2019 Apr 1, A Malaysian court dropped the murder charge against Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, the only suspect still in custody for the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. She pleaded guilty to a lesser offense and was expected to be released soon.
(AP, 4/1/19)
2019 Apr 3, Malaysia's government said that the luxury yacht "Equanimity," allegedly bought with money stolen from a troubled state investment fund, will be sold to casino operator Genting Berhad for $126 million, half its original price. US investigators say the $250 million yacht was bought with funds diverted from the 1MDB fund by fugitive Malaysian financier Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low.
(AP, 4/3/19)
2019 Apr 6, Malaysia and Singapore reached an agreement to end their months-long airspace dispute. Under the deal, Singapore will halt instrument landing system procedures at its Seletar Airport, while Malaysia will open up a restricted area near the countries' border.
(AP, 4/6/19)
2019 Apr 8, Malaysian police said that 41 Muslim Rohingya men and boys have been detained in the northernmost state of Perlis, the second group to land in the country in just over a month, and that some 200 others are still believed to be at sea.
(AP, 4/8/19)
2019 Apr 12, Malaysia's government said it has decided to resume a China-backed rail link project, after the Chinese contractor agreed to cut the construction cost by one-third.
(AP, 4/12/19)
2019 Apr 13, Malaysia's ruling coalition lost a state constituency in a by-election in a further sign of declining public support for PM Mahathir Mohamad's alliance.
(Reuters, 4/13/19)
2019 Apr 15, Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said a Chinese company building a rail link across the Southeast Asian nation will jointly help to manage and operate the network, part of revised deal that will get the stalled project off the ground at a lower cost and ease strained relations.
(AP, 4/15/19)
2019 Apr 15, In Malaysia two Vietnamese men, aged 25 and 29, were arrested by a wildlife enforcement team in a national park in eastern Terengganu state. Authorities seized body parts from tigers and bears from the suspected poachers.
(AFP, 4/16/19)
2019 Apr 17, Malaysia began a public inquiry into the discovery of mass graves and suspected human trafficking camps in the jungles near its border with Thailand, which prompted a regional crisis in 2015, and accusations over obstruction of justice.
(Reuters, 4/17/19)
2019 Apr 30, Malaysia destroyed nearly four tons of elephant tusks and ivory products estimated to be worth 13.26 million ringgit ($3.2 million) as part of its fight against the illegal ivory trade. The ivory was confiscated in 15 raids between 2011 and 2017.
(AP, 4/30/19)
2019 May 3, Doan Thi Huong, a Vietnamese woman who was tried in the 2017 killing of the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader was released from a Malaysian prison and flew back to Hanoi.
(AP, 5/3/19)
2019 May 3, Singapore police said that $26 million in 1MDB-related funds was in the process of being returned to Malaysia, the latest tranche in $176 million in cash and properties seized by the city-state relating to the scandal. Sources said US authorities will this month return $200 million stolen from Malaysia's state fund 1MDB, including money from a stake in a luxury New York hotel and from a Hollywood movie producer.
(Reuters, 5/3/19)
2019 May 6, Malaysia's attorney general said former Goldman Sachs executive Roger Ng has been temporarily extradited to the US to face criminal charges linked to the alleged multibillion-dollar ransacking of state investment fund 1MDB.
(AP, 5/06/19)
2019 May 7, Malaysia's attorney general said that the US will return $196 million recovered from seized assets linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB state investment fund, part of which has already been repatriated.
(AP, 5/07/19)
2019 May 13, Malaysian police said they detained four men last week who were planning to assassinate 'high-profile targets" and bomb places of worship and entertainment centers during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(AP, 5/13/19)
2019 May 13, In Malaysia a teenager (16) reportedly jumped to her death in eastern Sarawak state after asking her Instagram followers to vote on whether she should kill herself.
(AFP, 5/15/19)
2019 May 23, Malaysian police raided the Kuala Lumpur office of audit firm Deloitte as part of a widening probe into a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.
(Reuters, 5/23/19)
2019 May 27, Malaysia's last surviving male Sumatran rhino died, leaving behind only one female in the country and pushing the critically-endangered species closer to extinction.
(AFP, 5/27/19)
2019 May 28, Malaysia’s Environment Minister Yeo Bee Yin said his country will send back some 3,000 metric tons (3,300 tons) of non-recyclable plastic waste to countries such as the US, UK, Canada and Australia in a move to avoid becoming a dumping ground for rich nations.
(AP, 5/28/19)
2019 May 30, Speaking at a conference in Tokyo Malaysia’s PM Mahathir Mohamad said his country will continue using Huawei products "as much as possible," bucking a global trend prompted by security concerns and a US ban on the Chinese firm.
(AFP, 5/30/19)
2019 Jun 18, Filipino kidnap-for-ransom gangs raided two fishing boats and abducted 10 crew members in Malaysian waters off Borneo island.
(AP, 6/18/19)
2019 Jun 20, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad rejected the implication that Russia may have been involved in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Ukraine, after international prosecutors charged with murder four men in the July 17, 2014, missile attack that killed all 298 people aboard.
(AP, 6/20/19)
2019 Jun 20, Malaysia authorities arrested four Indians and seized more than 14 kg of drugs and 5,255 turtles from their luggage at the Kuala Lumpur airport. The red-ear slider baby turtles were kept in small baskets from the luggage of two Indian nationals who flew in from Guangzhou, China.
(AP, 6/26/19)
2019 Jun 22, Malaysia said the perpetrators of violence against Myanmar's Rohingya minority must "be brought to justice", in sharp comments delivered at a normally tame (ASEAN) regional summit.
(AFP, 6/22/19)
2019 Jun 24, Malaysia ordered 475 schools and kindergartens to close until June 27, after dozens of people were hospitalized with symptoms suggesting they breathed toxic fumes, possibly from industrial waste, the second such incident this year.
(Reuters, 6/25/19)
2019 Jul 13, Local media reported that Malaysia has seized more than 1 billion ringgit ($243.25 million) from a bank account of state-owned China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering Ltd (CPP).
(Reuters, 7/14/19)
2019 Aug 4, In Malaysia Irish teenager Nora Anne Quoirin (15) was reported missing from her room, a day after her family arrived at the hill resort near the town of Seremban. On August 13 her unclothed body was reported found near a stream about 2.5 km (1.6 miles) from the resort. Police said missing Nora Quoirin likely starved to death after spending a week in the Malaysian jungle on her own. On Jan 4, 2020, a coroner ruled that her death was most likely a “misadventure" and there was no criminal involvement.
(Reuters, 8/6/19)(Reuters, 8/13/19)(The Telegraph, 8/15/19)(The Telegraph, 1/4/21)
2019 Aug 9, Malaysia filed criminal charges against 17 current and former directors at subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs Group Inc following an investigation into a multi-billion-dollar corruption scandal that led to the demise of state fund 1MDB.
(Reuters, 8/9/19)
2019 Aug 23, UN special rapporteur Philip Alston challenged Malaysia's claim to have nearly ended poverty, saying there was "significant poverty" with an estimated one in six people in the Southeast Asian country considered poor.
(AP, 8/23/19)
2019 Aug 29, Malaysia deported Turkish asylum seeker Arif Komis, registered with the UN, along with his family, after police said he should not be in the country.
(Reuters, 8/30/19)
2019 Sep 6, In Malaysia religious authorities in Selangor state denounced Shi'ite Islam and asked mosques to call in sermons on their congregations to be vigilant over the spread of the "deviant teachings" of the Shi'ite sect.
(Reuters, 9/6/19)
2019 Sep 12, A conservation expert in Malaysia said soaring Chinese demand for the stinky durian fruit is turning into the next big threat to Malaysia's depleted rainforest.
(Reuters, 9/12/19)
2019 Sep 13, Indonesia's environment minister said some forest fires in its territory had started on land used by subsidiaries of Malaysian companies, as the two neighbors traded blame for blazes that have spread haze across the region.
(Reuters, 9/13/19)
2019 Sep 14, Malaysia's two oldest political parties signed a charter of formal cooperation, presenting arguably the largest political platform for the majority Malay-Muslims at a time of simmering racial and religious tensions.
(Reuters, 9/14/19)
2019 Oct 20, United International Pictures said DreamWorks' animated movie "Abominable" will not be released in Malaysia after its producers declined to meet a censor board requirement to cut a scene showing China's "nine-dash line" in the South China Sea.
(Reuters, 10/20/19)
2019 Oct 21, India's top vegetable oil trade body asked its members to stop buying palm oil from Malaysia, an unprecedented call aimed at helping New Delhi punish the country for criticising India over its policy towards Kashmir.
(Reuters, 10/21/19)
2019 Nov 9, Cambodian opposition veteran Sam Rainsy (70) flew into Malaysia and told supporters to "keep up the hope" after promising to return home from self-imposed exile to rally opponents of authoritarian ruler Hun Sen (67).
(Reuters, 11/9/19)
2019 Nov 10, Cambodia's self-exiled opposition veteran Sam Rainsy, speaking in Malaysia, said he would help organize protests against authoritarian ruler Hun Sen to build on growing international pressure for change in his home country.
(Reuters, 11/10/19)
2019 Nov 11, The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded Malaysia's air safety rating, restricting the country's airlines from adding new flights to the United States.
(Reuters, 11/11/19)
2019 Nov 16, Malaysia's ruling coalition lost its fourth electoral contest since coming to power last May, uncovering deepening cracks in the young alliance mired by uncertainty over a succession plan for its top leadership.
(Reuters, 11/16/19)
2019 Nov 23, The last Sumatran rhinoceros in Malaysia, a female rhino named Iman, died. This left the smallest species of rhino, which once roamed across Asia, surviving in small numbers mostly in Indonesia. The Sumatran rhino was declared extinct in the wild in Malaysia in 2015. Malaysia's last male Sumatran rhino died in May this year.
(Reuters, 11/23/19)
2019 Dec 5, The Silvana III, an oil tanker managed by a Chinese company under US sanctions, anchored off Kuala Kurau on Malaysia's west coast. It did not follow instructions to drop its ladder to allow maritime authorities to conduct checks. After several attempts to instruct the ship to drop ladder were not heeded, the ship lifted anchor and left the location.
(Reuters, 12/11/19)
2019 Dec 6, A three-month-old Malaysian infant was diagnosed with polio, the first case reported in the country in nearly three decades.
(Reuters, 12/8/19)
2019 Dec 14, Speaking at a conference in the Qatar Malaysia's PM Mahathir Mohamad said US economic sanctions against Iran are illegal and Malaysia does not support them.
(Bloomberg, 12/14/19)
2019 Dec 18, Malaysian PM Mahathir Mohamad said a three day Islamic conference beginning tomorrow is aimed at tackling Islamophobia and finding solutions to challenges facing the Muslim world. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived for the Kuala Lumpur Summit, which will also include the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, a high-level delegation from Indonesia and Islamic scholars.
(AP, 12/18/19)
2019 Dec 19, Speaking in Malaysia the president of sanctions-hit Iran called for Muslim countries to cooperate in fighting US "economic terrorism" at the opening of a summit aimed at tackling the Islamic world's woes. Pres. Rouhani also said his country's nuclear experts are testing a new type of advanced centrifuges.
(AFP, 12/19/19)(AP, 12/19/19)
2020 Jan 8, Audio clips revealed by Malaysian anti-graft officials indicated that former PM Najib Razak allegedly sought help from the United Arab Emirates' crown prince to fake evidence to cover up for the 1MDB scandal.
(Reuters, 1/8/20)
2020 Jan 20, France and Malaysia said Malaysia has shipped 43 illegal plastic waste containers back to France as part of a crackdown on illegal trafficking of waste.
(Reuters, 1/20/20)
2020 Feb 15, Malaysia said an 83-year-old American passenger on the Westerdam cruise ship that docked in Cambodia has tested positive for the new coronavirus. The woman had taken a flight to Malaysia a day earlier from Cambodia.
(Reuters, 2/15/20)
2020 Feb 24, Malaysia's King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah accepted PM Mahathir Mohamad's shocking resignation but reappointed him as interim leader following the collapse of the ruling alliance in a major political upheaval less than two years after its historic election victory.
(AP, 2/24/20)
2020 Feb 29, Malay nationalist Muhyiddin Yassin (72) heard news that the king had picked him as prime minister over Mahathir Mohamad (94), the outspoken leader who has dominated Malaysian politics for decades. Most of Bersatu and a faction of the PKR jumped ship, siding with UMNO and an Islamic party, PAS, to form a new government with Muhyiddin Yassin of Bersatu as its head.
(Reuters, 3/1/20)(Econ., 9/26/20, p.40)
2020 Mar 1, Malaysia arrested a man (35) and started investigating three others for social media posts that insult the king and threaten public order.
(AP, 3/1/20)
2020 Mar 2, Malaysia's new prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin said his government will focus on efforts stamp out corruption and abuse of power.
(Reuters, 3/2/20)
2020 Mar 14, Malaysia reported 41 new infections, the biggest one-day jump so far, for a total of 238. The new cases bring the total number of infected people in the country to 238.
(Reuters, 3/14/20)
2020 Mar 15, Malaysia confirmed 190 new coronavirus cases, pushing its overall total to 428, the most in Southeast Asia.
(Bloomberg, 3/15/20)
2020 Mar 16, Malaysia reported a daily jump of 125 cases to 553. 338 of Malaysia's cases have been linked to the religious gathering at a mosque in Kuala Lumpur between Feb. 28 and March 1. PM Muhyiddin Yassin said Malaysia it will shut its borders to travelers, restrict internal movement, close schools and universities and order most businesses to shut after its number of coronavirus cases climbed to the highest in Southeast Asia.
(Reuters, 3/16/20)
2020 Mar 18, Malaysia warned of "a tsunami" of cases if people did not follow new restrictions as infections surged across Southeast Asia.
(Reuters, 3/18/20)
2020 Mar 21, Malaysia's Health Ministry reported five more deaths and 153 new infections. Coronavirus cases jumped to 1,183 with eight deaths. Officials warned of a spike next week as they track down people who attended a large religious gathering linked to most of the cases.
(Reuters, 3/21/20)
2020 Apr 4, Malaysia reported 150 new coronavirus cases, including four deaths. That took the country's total to 3,483 confirmed infections and 57 deaths.
(Reuters, 4/4/20)
2020 Apr 5, Malaysia reported 179 new coronavirus cases, raising the cumulative total to 3,662. The new cases included 4 deaths, raising the tally to 61 people as of noon.
(Reuters, 4/5/20)
2020 Apr 11, Malaysian health authorities reported 184 additional confirmed cases of the new coronavirus, raising the cumulative tally to 4,530. The latest data included 3 new deaths, raising total fatalities from the outbreak to 73.
(Reuters, 4/11/20)
2020 Apr 12, Malaysia's health ministry reported 153 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, raising the cumulative total to 4,683. The data included three new deaths, raising the total number of fatalities from the outbreak to 76.
(Reuters, 4/12/20)
2020 Apr 13, Malaysian health authorities reported 134 new coronavirus cases, raising the cumulative total to 4,817. One new death was also reported bringing total fatalities to 77.
(Reuters, 4/13/20)
2020 Apr 16, Malaysian authorities turned back a boat carrying some 200 Rohingya refugees.
(SFC, 4/18/20, p.A2)
2020 Apr 18, Malaysia reported 54 new coronavirus cases, the lowest daily increase since the government imposed curbs on movement and business on March 18, taking the cumulative total to 5,305. The health ministry also reported 2 new deaths, bringing total fatalities to 88.
(Reuters, 4/18/20)
2020 Apr 19, Malaysian media reported that Sabah, the largest palm oil producing state, has temporarily halted palm operations in one area after 11 coronavirus cases were found there. Malaysia reported a total of 5,305 positive coronavirus cases, 88 of whom have died.
(Reuters, 4/19/20)
2020 May 1, Malaysia detained hundreds of refugees and migrant workers for illegally living in the country. Malaysia has reported a total of 6,071 coronavirus cases and 103 deaths.
(Reuters, 5/1/20)
2020 May 2, In Malaysia senior Minister Ismail Sabri defended the detention of more than 580 immigrants in an operation in Kuala Lumpur. He said all tested negative for the coronavirus and have been sent to detention camps. Malaysia has 6,176 virus cases and 103 deaths.
(SSFC, 5/3/20, p.A5)
2020 May 4, Thousands of Malaysians joined the morning rush hour as the government eased curbs on movement and businesses for the first time in six weeks.
(Reuters, 5/4/20)
2020 May 4, Malaysia criticized the World Health Organization for advising adults to avoid palm oil in their diet during the COVID-19 outbreak and use alternatives such as olive oil.
(Reuters, 5/4/20)
2020 May 16, Malaysian reported 17 new coronavirus cases, bringing the cumulative total to 6,872. Health authorities there reported one new death, with total fatalities at 113.
(Reuters, 5/16/20)
2020 Jun 8, Malaysian authorities detained 269 Rohingya refugees and found a body on board a suspected smuggling boat they said had been intentionally damaged so it could not be turned back to sea.
(SFC, 6/10/20, p.A2)
2020 Jul 13, Malaysia's PM Muhyiddin Yassin secured a parliamentary majority (111-109) in favor of changing the speaker of the lower house. This meant that a no-confidence vote filed in May would likely not be debated.
(Econ., 7/18/20, p.29)
2020 Jul 15, US Customs placed a detention order on imports of products made by subsidiaries of the world's largest medical glove maker, Malaysia's Top Glove Corp Bhd, an action taken against firms suspected of using forced labor.
(Reuters, 7/15/20)
2020 Jul 24, It was reported that Goldman Sachs has reached a $3.9bn (£3bn) settlement with the Malaysian government for its role in the multi-billion-dollar 1MDB corruption scheme.
(BBC, 7/24/20)
2020 Jul 26, Malaysian authorities searched for two dozen Rohingya refugees who were feared drowned after jumping off their boat neat the resort island of Langkawi. Only one of 25 refugees made it to shore.
(SFC, 7/27/20, p.A2)
2020 Jul 28, A court in Malaysia convicted former prime minister Najib Razak of seven charges of abuse of power, breach of trust and money laundering related to the IMDB sovereign wealth scandal. Razak had co-founded and chaired the fund from which $4.5 billion disappeared between 2009 and 2015.
(Econ., 8/1/20, p.31)
2020 Aug 4, Malaysian police raided the office of news broadcaster Al Jazeera and two local TV stations as part of an investigation into a documentary on undocumented migrants that enraged the government.
(SFC, 8/5/20, p.A2)
2020 Aug 29, Malaysia extended its pandemic movement restrictions until the end of the year. The country has recorded more than 9,000 cases with 125 deaths.
(SSFC, 8/30/20, p.A7)
2020 Sep 16, The US Justice Department said it has charged five Chinese residents and two Malaysian businessmen in a wide-ranging hacking effort. The two Malaysian businessmen, Wong Ong Hua (46) and Ling Yang Ching (32) were charged with conspiring with two of the Chinese hackers to profit from computer intrusions targeting videogame companies in the United States, France, Japan, Singapore and South Korea.
(Reuters, 9/16/20)
2020 Sep 30, The US Customs and Border Protection's Office of Trade issued a ban against Malaysian palm oil producer FGV Holdings Berhad over allegations of forced labor and other abuses.. A day later the company pledged to clear its name.
(SFC, 10/2/20, p.A4)
2020 Oct 6, In Malaysia coronavirus cases spiked to a new daily record with 691 cases an d four new deaths.
(SFC, 10/7/20, p.A8)
2020 Oct 8, Malaysia reported 375 new cases, the second straight day of falling infections as the Southeast Asian country moved to impose targeted lockdowns to rein in a fresh surge in infections.
(Reuters, 10/8/20)
2020 Oct 9, Malaysia reported 354 new coronavirus cases, the third consecutive fall in daily infections, as the country expands targeted lockdowns to curb the outbreak. This raised the cumulative tally to 14,722 cases. 6 new deaths raising that toll to 152.
(Reuters, 10/9/20)
2020 Oct 22, Goldman Sachs agreed to pay nearly $3bn (£2.3bn) in the US to end a probe of its role in Malaysia's 1MDB corruption scandal.
(Reuters, 10/22/20)
2020 Oct 25, Malaysia's Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah rejected a proposal by embattled PM Muhyiddin Yassin to declare a state of emergency to fight a new outbreak of the coronavirus.
(AP, 10/25/20)
2020 Oct 26, Malaysia extended a partial lockdown on its capital Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding state of Selangor for another two weeks, as the country recorded the biggest jump in coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic. The health ministry reported 1,240 new coronavirus cases, the highest daily rise on record. Malaysia has reported a total of 27,805 infections, including 236 deaths.
(Reuters, 10/26/20)
2020 Nov 18, Malaysia said it has signed an agreement with China to cooperate on the development of a safe and efficacious vaccine, as part of efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reuters, 11/18/20)
2020 Dec 19, Malaysia said it has secured coronavirus vaccine from AstraZeneca PLC, on the heels of news it will receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in February as it grapples with a surge in infections.
(Reuters, 12/19/20)
2020 Dec 28, It was reported that child labor in the palm oil industry is tied to Girl Scout cookies. Indonesia and Malaysia supply 85% of the world’s most consumed vegetable oil.
(AP, 12/28/20)
2021 Jan 5, It was reported that Malaysian researchers have developed a method to transform the fiber found in normally discarded pineapple leaves to make a strong material that can be used to build the frames for unmanned aircraft, or drones.
(Reuters, 1/5/21)
2021 Jan 7, Malaysia reported its biggest daily rise in coronavirus cases as the government considered imposing restrictions in some areas, while businesses warned that another nationwide lockdown would further batter the economy.
(Reuters, 1/7/21)
2021 Jan 12, Malaysia's king approved a coronavirus emergency that will suspend parliament and hold off calls for elections in a political reprieve for embattled PM Muhyiddin Yassin.
(SFC, 1/13/21, p.A4)
2021 Jan 16, Malaysia reported 4,029 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the biggest daily increase recorded in the country since the start of the pandemic, bringing the total number of infections to 155,095. Eight new deaths took the total number of fatalities to 594. Malaysia's Top Glove Corp, the world's largest medical grade glove maker, said some employees at four factories had tested positive for COVID-19 recently.
(Reuters, 1/16/21)
2021 Jan 19, Malaysia said it would extend lockdown restrictions across most of the country as it grappled with a rise in coronavirus infections.
(Reuters, 1/19/21)
2021 Jan 26, Malaysia said it had signed deals with two domestic companies to purchase 18.4 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines produced by Russia's Gamaleya Research Institute and China's Sinovac.
(Reuters, 1/26/21)
2021 Feb 4, Malaysia's government said it expects to complete its COVID-19 immunization program by February next year, covering 80% of its population of about 32 million people.
(Reuters, 2/4/21)
2021 Feb 4, Malaysia's Solution Group Bhd said it has signed a term sheet agreement with the government to supply 3.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by China's CanSino Biologics Inc and Beijing Institute of Biotechnology under the Academy of Military Medical Sciences.
(Reuters, 2/4/21)
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End of File
