Najib Razak News

A $250 million superyacht, impounded as part of a hunt for assets linked to the multi-billion dollar investigation into 1Malaysia Development Bhd, arrived at a port in Malaysia on Tuesday about six months after it was seized.The Cayman Islands-flagged Equanimity was first seized in the Indonesian holiday venue of Bali in February at the request of U.S. authorities investigating 1MDB.The Malaysian state fund is at the center of money-laundering probes in at least six countries, including the United States, Switzerland and Singapore. A total of $4.5 billion was misappropriated from 1MDB by high-level officials of the fund and their associates, according to the U.S.

The full investigation report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be released after the latest search efforts are completed, officials said on Thursday, four years after the aircraft first went missing. Flight MH370, carrying 239 people onboard, became one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries when it disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Malaysia agreed in January to pay U.S. firm Ocean Infinity up to $70 million if it found the plane during an offshore search effort that is underway and expected to end in June.

Indonesian police on Thursday questioned the captain and crew of a luxury yacht in Bali at the request of U.S. authorities, probing alleged money laundering at a Malaysian state fund, they said. The yacht was impounded in Bali on Wednesday amid a multi-billion dollar corruption investigation launched by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and tied to Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). Police seized the yacht, Equanimity, after receiving a letter on Feb. 21 from the U.S.

Two French former defence industry executives have been placed under preliminary investigation as part of a probe into the 2002 sale of submarines to Malaysia, an official in the French judiciary said on Wednesday. The source said Philippe Japiot and Jean-Paul Perrier, former executives at Thales and DCNS, had been placed under investigation as part of a long-running probe into alleged kickbacks from that Malaysian submarines deal in 2002. Japiot and Perrier deny any wrongdoing, French media reports said. Reuters was unable to immediately reach either individual. Being a target of a preliminary investigation or a formal investigation in France does not necessarily lead to a trial.

Indian Naval Ships Shivalik and Jyoti are on an overseas deployment to the South East Asia and Southern Indian Ocean, in pursuance of India’s ‘Act East Policy’. The ships would be on a port visit to Kuantan from 14 May  to 19 May , 2017. The visit of the Indian Naval Ships seeks to underscore India’s peaceful presence and solidarity with friendly and harmonious countries towards ensuring good order in the maritime domain and to strengthen existing bonds between India and Malaysia. The two countries share a rich history and a strategic relationship. A number of bilateral agreements exist between the two countries in a various spheres.

China and Malaysia signed 14 agreements on Tuesday, including one on navy vessels, after a meeting between Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. The agreement on the joint development of the vessels, known as littoral mission ships, was announced at a signing ceremony at Beijing's Great Hall of the People. Last week, Malaysia's defence ministry said in a posting on social media that the country would sign a contract to purchase patrol vessels from China during Najib's visit, but the post was later removed. The deal could mark Malaysia's first significant defence deal with China at a time of rising tension in the South China Sea and as the United States and China compete for influence in the region. Reporting by Sue-Lin Wong

The United States and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are taking their relationship to a new level, thanks to heated tensions in the South China Sea. China, a key ally of North Korea, has said its committed to denuclearizing the Northth Korea, but has not been to agree with the US or the United Nations on how to achieve that goal. Asean leaders have reiterated their stand on wanting a peaceful resolution to the overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea, said Datuk Seri Najib Razak. A joint statement said the ASEAN countries ministers “remained seriously concerned over recent and ongoing developments and [had taken] note of the concerns expressed by some members about land reclamation and the escalation of activity” in the South China Sea.

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Saturday that countries should stop building artificial islands and militarising their claims in the disputed South China Sea. "For the sake of regional stability the claimants should halt reclamation, construction and militarisation of disputed areas," Obama told a meeting between the United States and leaders of the 10 Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). China insists it has undisputed sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, a claim that overlaps with four ASEAN countries. China has been transforming reefs in the Spratly archipelago into artificial islands and has built airfields and other facililties on them.

Malaysia confirmed early on Thursday that a piece of a wing washed up on an Indian Ocean island beach last week was from Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, the first trace of the plane found since it vanished last year with 239 people on board. "Today, 515 days since the plane disappeared, it is with a heavy heart that I must tell you that an international team of experts have conclusively confirmed that the aircraft debris found on Reunion Island is indeed from MH370," Prime Minister Najib Razak said in an early morning televised address. "I would like to assure all those affected by this tragedy that the government of Malaysia is committed to do everything within our means to find out the truth of what happened," Najib said.

The Malaysian-registered vessel MT Orkim Harmony carrying 6,000 metric tonnes of RON95 petrol went missing in the South China Sea near Johor on Thursday (June 11). The tanker was sailing from Malacca to Kuantan Port. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak has expressed his concern over the fate of MT Orkim Harmony and said that his government will deploy its resources to locate the missing oil tanker off Johor. "I am distressed by the news of a missing Malaysian-owned tanker. I pray for the safety of the 22-strong crew, 16 of who are Malaysians. My thoughts are with their families. The government will deploy our resources to locate it," the Prime Minister said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak pledged to advance defense and maritime cooperation. It is the first time that Japan has agreed to start negotiations for cooperation on the transfer of defense equipment and technology with a member of the 10-nation ASEAN according to Japanese officials. Abe and Najib vowed to boost coordination in maritime security, with Abe backing Malaysia’s efforts in ensuring safety and security in the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, where Malaysia and some other Southeast Asian countries are locked in territorial disputes with China, according to the statement. "As a concrete step, we've agreed to cooperate in defense equipment.

Myanmar's navy found a boat carrying more than 200 Bangladeshis, the government said on Friday, after the military chief said some migrants landing in Malaysia and Indonesia this month are pretending to be Rohingya Muslims so they can get U.N. aid. The western Myanmar state of Rakhine said the boat was from Thailand and the people smugglers' plan had been to send the migrants to Thailand. The remarks are sure to spark concern after the United States lambasted Myanmar this week for failing to address the cause of the crisis, which observers say stems from Myanmar's refusal to recognise the Rohingya, an ethnic minority group living in western Myanmar, as citizens. Most of Myanmar's 1.1 million Rohingya are stateless and live in apartheid-like conditions.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Thursday he had ordered the navy to conduct search and rescue missions for thousands of migrants adrift at sea as Thailand's prime minister said his country would not provide shelter. Southeast Asia is battling a migrant crisis that has seen hundreds of "boat people", mostly Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar and Bangladeshi migrants who fled persecution and poverty at home or were abducted by traffickers, pushed back out to sea by Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Many now face sickness, and possible starvation. "I have further ordered @tldm_rasmi (navy) and APMM (Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency) to conduct search and rescue efforts on Rohingya boats," Najib said on his Twitter account.

As agreements was signed between Singapore and Malaysia to boost the number of ferry trips between Changi Ferry Terminal, Singapore and Tanjung Belungkor in south-eastern Johor, Malaysia. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed was between Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) and the Johor Port Authority on the sidelines of the annual retreat between Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak. The agreement is an update of the MOU first…

Southeast Asian leaders edged closer to open criticism of China's land reclamation in the disputed South China Sea at a regional summit on Monday, as the Philippines drew the ire of Beijing which called its objections to the work "unreasonable". The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Kuala Lumpur, which was supposed to showcase the 10-member bloc's progress towards economic integration, was overshadowed by the long-running maritime territorial dispute. ASEAN's renowned "consensus" approach has been tested over the South China Sea, with several members including host Malaysia reluctant to antagonise China, but diplomatic sources said Kuala Lumpur would eventually give in to pressure from some neighbours and address the reclamation issue at the meeting.

Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and his Indonesian counterpart Jusuf Kalla are expected to discuss maritime boundary issues during his three-day official visit to Indonesia starting Today (Tuesday). Malaysian Ambassador to Indonesia Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohamad Hashim said the discussion on the issue as a follow-up meeting between the President of Indonesia Joko Widodo by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak during his visit to Malaysia in February. Malaysia and Indonesia, which have the two-biggest economies in Southeast Asia, are neighbors, and have a “love-hate” relationship nearly 58 years-old running. Malaysian Prime Minister Naijb Rajak visited Jakarta in October 2014 and President Jokowi visited Kuala Lumpur in February this year.

Malaysia, as the Asean Chairman, will push forward the drafting of a code of conduct (CoC) with China to settle the territorial maritime dispute in South China Sea. Deputy Foreign Minister Datuk Hamzah Zainuddin said this was in line with the nation's position as chairman of Asean this year, which was accepted amid tensions in the South China Sea. "Malaysia has played a role in hosting the Asean foreign ministers' territorial meeting in Sabah in January. An extensive discussion on the establishment of a CoC was held in the presence of China's Foreign Affairs Minister. Malaysia, it is said, is after all not only a founding member of ASEAN but a claimant state in the South China Sea disputes that also has a good relationship with China.

The number of people evacuated due to Malaysia's worst-ever floods jumped to more than 160,000 on Saturday, as Prime Minister Najib Razak reached the worst-hit state after cutting short a vacation in the U.S. Najib arrived in Kelantan, which has the biggest problems among eight affected states, following his return from Hawaii on Friday after public criticism he had been absent as flooding worsened. On Saturday, Najib announced an additional 500 million ringgit ($143.31 million) will be spent to aid victims after the flood subsides, following an initial government allocation of 50 million ringgit two days ago. The number of people evacuated topped 160,000 at 0700GMT Saturday, according to the New Straits Times newspaper, a sharp increase from 100,000 a day before.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed not to stir up trouble in the South China Sea but said China would react "in the necessary way" to provocations by other countries, the official Xinhua news agency reported. The comments come at a time of deep tension between China and Vietnam over Beijing's decision in early May to move an oil rig into disputed waters between the Paracel islands and the Vietnamese coast. Days after China deployed the rig, the Philippines accused Beijing of reclaiming land on a disputed reef in the Spratlys to build what would be its first airstrip in the South China Sea. "We will never stir up trouble, but will react in the necessary way to the provocations of countries involved…

The submerged reef would be easy to miss, under turquoise seas about 80 km (50 miles) off Malaysia's Borneo island state of Sarawak. But two Chinese naval exercises in less than a year around the James Shoal have shocked Malaysia and led to a significant shift in its approach to China's claims to the disputed South China Sea, senior diplomats told Reuters. The reef lies outside Malaysia's territorial waters but inside its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone. The latest incident in January, in particular, prompted Malaysia to quietly step up cooperation with the Philippines and Vietnam, the two Southeast Asian nations most outspoken over China's moves in the region, in trying to tie Beijing to binding rules of conduct in the South China Sea, the diplomats said.

Inmarsat informs that the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mr Najib Razak, has stated that new analysis of satellite information from Inmarsat, validated by the UK’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch, concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth. The Prime Minister added: “This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites. The announcement came after Inmarsat, as an advisor to the UK’s Accident Air Investigation Branch (AAIB)…