Hadi Azmi

Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya

Malaysia Correspondent at South China Morning Post

Malaysia Correspondent for @SCMPAsia. Kiplinger Fellow. Jabberwock enthusiast. 27:40. Tweets are my own.

Articles

Malaysian’s Anwar meets Myanmar junta leader in week of tricky diplomacy

6 days ago | scmp.com | Hadi Azmi

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he held “frank” talks with Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing, as the leader of a reviled military seeks to emerge from the diplomatic deep freeze. Myanmar has been cut out from major Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) meetings since October 2021 after the junta ignored a so-called five-point plan agreed with the bloc to end bloodshed in the wake of a coup months earlier.
As Chinese students pick Malaysia, their parents buy second homes

1 week ago | scmp.com | Hadi Azmi

Anwar could negotiate for more cooperation on education with Xi to capitalise on the momentum, industry insiders sayPublished: 1:33pm, 16 Apr 2025A surge in demand for Malaysian real estate from wealthy Chinese families drawn to the country’s international schools and universities may gain further momentum with this week’s visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China’s Xi Jinping arrives in Malaysia as Asean grapples with Trump tariff threats

1 week ago | scmp.com | Joseph Sipalan |Hadi Azmi

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Malaysia for a three-day visit, with the Southeast Asian nation likely to seek to sell more electronics, palm oil and halal products into China, as the United States threatens its allies in the region with tariffs into its giant market. Xi was greeted on the tarmac by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday evening and given a guard of honour from the Malaysian Armed Forces.
China’s Xi Jinping arrives in Malaysia as Asean grapples with Trump tariff threats

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Joseph Sipalan |Hadi Azmi

NowU.S. President Donald Trump on Monday suggested that he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector, to allow carmakers time to adjust their supply chains, according to some media reports.
Malaysian durian farmers clash with authorities over thorny issue of illegal orchards

1 week ago | scmp.com | Hadi Azmi

A stand-off between Malaysian durian farmers and authorities wanting to raze illegal plantations of the fruit, much coveted in China, escalated this week with the arrest of a lawmaker. For weeks tensions have mounted in Pahang over control of the state’s lucrative durian trade, with allegations of orchards encroaching on government land.
How Malaysia’s Anwar risks legitimising Myanmar junta

1 week ago | scmp.com | Hadi Azmi

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim risks helping to legitimise Myanmar’s junta when he meets its leader Min Aung Hlaing in Bangkok on Thursday, analysts warn, in the first visit with the sanctioned military chief by a sitting Asean chair since his 2021 coup. Civil war has ripped Myanmar apart since Min Aung Hlaing seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, plunging the economy into crisis, killing thousands of civilians and displacing millions more.
Malaysian durian farmers clash with authorities over thorny issue of illegal orchards

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Hadi Azmi

2 hours agoBANGKOK (AP) — China's Xi is making the case for free trade as he tours Southeast Asia this week, presenting China as a source of “stability and certainty." On Monday, he was welcomed to Hanoi with pomp and ceremony by Vietnam's President Luong Cuong. He paid respects to Ho Chi Minh, the founder of …
Malaysian series ‘Bidaah’ on Islamic cult tops 1 billion streams but stirs controversy

1 week ago | scmp.com | Hadi Azmi

A Malaysian online series about a fictional Islamic cult has topped a billion streams across local users and in Indonesia, with its disturbing depiction of a predatory cult leader igniting strong emotions and debate among Muslims in Southeast Asia. Bidaah – meaning heresy – centres on a young woman compelled by her devout mother to join a religious sect steered by an enigmatic and authoritarian leader.
Malaysian series ‘Bidaah’ on Islamic cult tops 1 billion streams but stirs controversy

1 week ago | flipboard.com | Hadi Azmi

10 hours agoSean “Diddy” Combs, the disgraced music mogul who once had a net worth of $1 billion, is now using $1 cans of mackerel as currency as he rots in a Brooklyn jail. Combs, 55, is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of his sex trafficking trial, which begins next month. The famed rapper …
‘Stamp out cross-dressing’: Malaysian sarong event under fire for LGBTQ exclusion

1 week ago | scmp.com | Hadi Azmi

A Malaysian cultural festival has come under fire after its organisers said cross-dressers would not be welcome this year, prompting backlash from critics who accuse the event of excluding the LGBTQ community. Keretapi Sarong, a flashmob-style event held annually in September, invites participants to wear sarongs and ride public trains in a show of national pride.