SCMP Asia·Sunday, January 11, 2026

SCMP Asia - Sunday, January 11, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Malaysia suspends Grok access amid global backlash on Musk’s AI

Malaysia suspended access to Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok over AI-generated pornographic content, the country’s tech regulator said on Sunday. The decision follows global backlash after it emerged that Grok’s image creation feature allowed users to sexualise pictures of women and children using simple text prompts. On Saturday, Indonesia became the first country to deny all access to the tool, which has been restricted to paying subscribers elsewhere. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia...

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Nepal’s ex-king voices concern after protests as supporters rally

Nepal’s former king Gyanendra Shah has expressed concern over the state of the country four months after a youth-led uprising toppled the previous government. At least 76 people were killed during the demonstrations last September, which saw four-time prime minister KP Sharma Oli ousted and replaced by former chief justice Sushila Karki in an interim capacity until elections scheduled later this year. Shah, who was deposed in 2008 at the end of a decade-long civil war, has largely refrained from

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4 injured in bombings in Thailand’s south amid ongoing insurgency

Assailants detonated bombs at nearly a dozen petrol stations in Thailand’s south early Sunday, injuring four people, the army said, the latest attacks in the insurgency-hit region. A low-level conflict since 2004 has killed thousands of people as rebels in the Muslim-majority region bordering Malaysia battle for greater autonomy. Several bombs exploded within a 40-minute period after midnight on Sunday, igniting 11 petrol stations across Thailand’s southernmost provinces of Narathiwat, Pattani..

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US strips moral framing from foreign aid in ‘America first’ pivot

At a high-level conference in Washington last month, the US State Department unveiled an “America first” aid strategy that ties development dollars directly to the commercial and security goals of the world’s largest economy. This shift away from decades of framing the United States’ foreign assistance as a moral undertaking is a reflection, analysts say, of the Trump administration’s view that foreign assistance should advance America’s national interest above all else. Officials at the...

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Singapore businesses list rising costs and tariffs as their biggest challenges

For businesses in Singapore, such as skincare chain Kskin, the global trade environment has become more challenging in recent years as a result of hurdles ranging from rising costs and US tariffs to fast-changing regulations. Kskin began venturing overseas in 2023 and has opened outlets in Malaysia, the Philippines and the US. Due to the tariffs, the costs of Kskin’s equipment and products have risen in recent months. Brian Ng, the firm’s director, told This Week in Asia: “Our margins [at...

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Soft power, hard cash: Southeast Asia’s billion-dollar anime obsession

For Sana Kok, anime has always been more than entertainment. The 28-year-old Malaysian still remembers the first series he caught on television as a child: the bright colours, larger-than-life characters and cinematic storytelling unlike anything else he had ever seen. By his teens, action-packed anime titles had become a fixture of his evenings. “Anime has some of the best storytelling out there,” said Kok, now a digital marketer who sees his childhood fascination reflected in a new wave of...

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Malaysia vows crackdown on air force officers’ ‘immoral culture’

Some 20 Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) officers are believed to be involved in immoral activities dubbed “yeye culture”. According to RMAF chief Muhamad Norazlan Aris, initial investigations by the air force on Tuesday revealed that 20 officers were involved. “We will ensure that action is taken based on the armed forces’ laws and regulations. Such immoral culture is not the norm for the air force,” he said in a statement on Saturday. Muhamad Norazlan said the RMAF viewed the infringement on..

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Indonesia eyes 6% growth in 2026 despite a jobs ‘time bomb’

For Indonesia, much of the past year was more a marathon than a sprint, with Southeast Asia’s largest economy recording steady growth despite global headwinds, a tighter budget and mounting pressure on jobs and household spending at home. Now, Jakarta sees 2026 as the right time to pick up speed, setting its sights on an annual economic expansion of no less than 6 per cent. Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa insists the target is attainable through improved policy coordination and stronger...

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Singapore steps up migrant worker reforms amid calls for deeper change

The life of a migrant worker in Singapore is bittersweet. Ramesh, 29, came to the city state in search of a good job. He hails from Tamil Nadu, India, and earns just over S$600 (US$466) a month working as a technician at a large multinational firm. While this is double what he made in India and has helped put his sisters through college there, it is only about 10 per cent of the S$5,775 nominal median gross monthly income of Singaporeans. Grappling with an ageing population and a low fertility..

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Indonesia blocks Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot over AI porn concerns

Indonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot on Saturday due ‌to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming ‍the first country to deny access to the AI tool. The move comes after governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have ⁠condemned the app, with some opening inquiries into sexualised content. xAI, the start-up behind Grok, said on Thursday it was restricting image generation and editing to paying ‍subscribers as it tried to fix safeguard lapses that had ‍allowed.

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