- Joined
- May 13, 2015
- Messages
- 1,998
- Points
- 48
http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-singapore-is-a-safe-harbor-in-asias-economic-tempest-1442144121
The stability comes in sharp contrast with most of Singapore’s neighbors, where political leaders are losing support. Malaysia is facing its most serious crisis of confidence since the Asian financial meltdown of 1997-98. Investigators are poring over the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s private bank accounts through entities linked to an economic-development fund known as 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The country’s antigraft agency said the money in Mr. Najib’s account was a donor contribution that originated from the Middle East. The donor wasn’t specified. Mr. Najib has denied wrongdoing and said he didn’t take money for personal gain.
In Thailand, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a general who seized power last year in a coup d’état, is gradually extending a period of military-backed rule over a deeply divided country against an uncertain backdrop as the health of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej deteriorates. Last month, a bomb exploded in central Bangkok and killed 20 people, threatening the country’s mainstay tourism industry. Several people have been arrested, but no motive has been found and the prime suspect—a man seen on CCTV leaving a bag at the blast site—hasn't been identified.
And in Southeast Asia’s largest country, Indonesia, with its 250 million people the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority nation, President Joko Widodo’s first year in office has been marked by a deteriorating commodity-based economy dependent on a slowing China and worsened by confusion in his cabinet, which has variously been trying to woo foreign investment but increasingly implemented restrictions on foreigners seeking to work there.
The stability comes in sharp contrast with most of Singapore’s neighbors, where political leaders are losing support. Malaysia is facing its most serious crisis of confidence since the Asian financial meltdown of 1997-98. Investigators are poring over the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars into Prime Minister Najib Razak’s private bank accounts through entities linked to an economic-development fund known as 1Malaysia Development Bhd. The country’s antigraft agency said the money in Mr. Najib’s account was a donor contribution that originated from the Middle East. The donor wasn’t specified. Mr. Najib has denied wrongdoing and said he didn’t take money for personal gain.
In Thailand, Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, a general who seized power last year in a coup d’état, is gradually extending a period of military-backed rule over a deeply divided country against an uncertain backdrop as the health of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej deteriorates. Last month, a bomb exploded in central Bangkok and killed 20 people, threatening the country’s mainstay tourism industry. Several people have been arrested, but no motive has been found and the prime suspect—a man seen on CCTV leaving a bag at the blast site—hasn't been identified.
And in Southeast Asia’s largest country, Indonesia, with its 250 million people the world’s most-populous Muslim-majority nation, President Joko Widodo’s first year in office has been marked by a deteriorating commodity-based economy dependent on a slowing China and worsened by confusion in his cabinet, which has variously been trying to woo foreign investment but increasingly implemented restrictions on foreigners seeking to work there.
