Nusantara was meant to embody Indonesia’s future: a green, modern capital rising from Borneo’s forests. But amid funding cuts and political indifference, the US$28.6 billion project risks becoming a costly monument to unfinished ambition. The eventual plan? Moving the seat of government there from Jakarta. But this is now clouded by uncertainty after President Prabowo Subianto made no meaningful mention of the city in recent speeches. Officials insist the project remains on track, but analysts...

Ahmad Faris was still a teenager when he began chasing the music that once defined Malaysia’s cultural heartbeat. Growing up in suburban Kuala Lumpur, he would listen in awe as his parents reminisced about the electric performances of local icons like the Alleycats and Sudirman Arshad. Those were the days, they told him, when music wasn’t just heard – it was lived. Few moments captured that spirit more vividly than Sudirman’s 1986 legendary Chow Kit Road concert, where more than 100,000 people...

North Korea accused the South’s military on Saturday of firing warning shots at its troops near their heavily fortified border, saying it risked raising tensions to “uncontrollable” levels. South Korea’s new leader Lee Jae-myung has sought to ease tensions with the nuclear-armed North and vowed to build “military trust”, but Pyongyang has said it has no interest in improving relations with Seoul. The latest confrontation occurred on Tuesday as North Korean soldiers worked to permanently seal the...

For half a century, Malaysia’s economy has been buoyed by oil and gas, the vast reserves off its shores enabling it to ride out global downturns and sustain growth. Today, these resources are throwing the nation a lifeline once more as global economic waters become ever choppier. But smooth sailing ahead is far from guaranteed. An estimated 3.6 billion barrels of oil and more than 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas lie under the contested waters of the South China Sea – a maritime expanse...

US President Donald Trump said on Friday he would nominate Sergio Gor, one of his closest aides, to be the country’s next ambassador to India, where he will oversee frosty relations that have worsened with the planned doubling of US tariffs on India next week. Gor, who is currently the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, would also serve as a special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs. Trump said on social media that Gor would remain in his current position until he...

Former South Korean foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha could soon be named South Korea’s ambassador to Washington, reflecting Seoul’s urgent need for seasoned diplomacy in light of an increasingly unpredictable US foreign policy, sources familiar with the matter said. If confirmed, Kang, now the president of Asia Society, a New York-based think tank focused on promoting US-Asian cooperation, would be the first woman to hold the post, which has been vacant since July. An experienced diplomat with...

A rap contest tapping into patriotic fervour and youth culture has drawn hundreds of entries from Filipinos at home and abroad, with organisers saying the outpouring reflects growing creative resistance to Beijing’s assertiveness in the South China Sea. The competition, launched last week by the civilian-led coalition Atin Ito (This is Ours) and hip-hop collective Morobeats, coincided with the Philippines’ national language month and invited participants to deliver one-minute raps defending the...