Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah, 78, hospitalised in Malaysia
The sultan 'has been feeling tired,' the Prime Minister's Office in Bandar Seri Begawan said in a statement late on Tuesday. He 'is in good health.'
A vehicle escorted by a motorcade leaves the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday after Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah was admitted due to fatigue. Photo: AFP
Malaysia 's doctors have advised the 78-year-old ruler to rest at the National Heart Institute for several days, according to the statement. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told reporters on Tuesday that the sultan was 'resting' at the hospital after social media posts circulated about his health.
Southeast Asian leaders were in Malaysia for
an inaugural summit that includes high-profile leaders from China and Gulf nations.
Hassanal is one of Asia's longest serving leaders, crowned as Brunei's 29th sultan in 1968.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
As the US and China compete, Asean could play arbiter
As Asean celebrates its 58th anniversary, it is inhabiting a liminal moment, one that straddles the unmarked border between two international eras. One era is lingering but on its way out as another is hobbling its way in. The Cold War is long gone and the subsequent period of American unipolar primacy is drawing to a close, albeit without a new global order to replace it. The great powers are in the throes of an inevitable transition. The United States and China each believe that history is on its side. Southeast Asian countries do not believe that the global highways of military and financial power have bypassed the US forever or that they should put all their eggs in China's basket. History is still in flux. The rules-based global order is like a highway under tensile stress, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, perhaps the most congested junction on the highway between the US and China. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations stands at the heart of that junction. The safety of the highway depends on its structural integrity. The safety of regions along the highway depends on great powers following the rules of the road. However, there is no longer one set of rules. The traffic laws of international affairs now have many different interpretations. Increasingly, the US and China insist on adherence to a rules-based order on their own respective terms and for their respective interests. Interpretations must be reconciled so international traffic can flow safely and smoothly. Asean can encourage both sides to adopt a common highway code for mutual security. Of course, Asean is no global policeman. But it's precisely because Asean poses no economic, political or military threat to either the US or China, or to anyone else, that it can act as an informal and impartial interlocutor between the two great powers. That should be Asean's diplomatic purpose: to be an arbiter in the Indo-Pacific region. Southeast Asia is still a price-taker in international relations. However, the escalating Sino-US rivalry has turned the world from a seller's market into a buyer's one. The more intense that rivalry gets, the more that great powers feel the need to 'sell' themselves to others.
South China Morning Post
14 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
How Beijing and other South China Sea claimants can see eye to eye
Few disputes in Asia are as enduring – and as polarising – as those over the South China Sea . For more than a decade, two sharply opposed narratives have dominated. In one, Beijing is seen as using force, or the threat of force, to change the status quo, undermining peace and stability. In the other, China is portrayed as exercising restraint, acting within its rights and working to safeguard regional stability. These perspectives are not merely different; they are mutually exclusive. One side's defensive action is interpreted as aggressive by the other, reinforcing mistrust and escalation. Measures to enhance one party's security inevitably diminish the sense of security for others. This makes de-escalation difficult and drives the dispute beyond legal or territorial boundaries into the realm of identity, national pride and historical grievance. Without narrowing this gulf, a peaceful resolution remains remote. At its core, the divergence stems from conflicting national interests. Yet the roots run deeper, in the incomplete territorial arrangements left after the second world war. The rapid onset of the Cold War froze parts of the post-war settlement in ambiguity. Treaties such as the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and 1952 Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty required Japan to renounce the Spratly and Paracel Islands but did not specify their new sovereign owner. Beijing maintains these territories are historically Chinese, before Japan's wartime seizure. Other claimants read the record differently. Some argue Japan's renunciation did not automatically transfer sovereignty to China, rendering the islands terra nullius – open to lawful occupation.
South China Morning Post
18 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Is Prabowo's big budget for Indonesia achievable or overly ambitious?
Indonesia 's President Prabowo Subianto has unveiled an ambitious draft budget for 2026 that seeks to boost growth and expand social spending while maintaining financial discipline, but economists caution the plan may be based on optimistic revenue projections and risks undercutting social safety nets. Advertisement On Friday, Prabowo announced a gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 5.4 per cent under the draft budget. Total spending is projected to reach 3.79 quadrillion rupiah (US$233.92 billion), a 7.3 per cent rise from this year, while total revenues are targeted at 3.147 quadrillion rupiah (US$194.04 billion), a nearly 10 per cent increase from 2025. Prabowo's administration aims to cap next year's deficit at around US$39 billion, or 2.48 per cent of GDP – within the country's legal requirement for a deficit of under 3 per cent of GDP. 'We will continue to implement efficiency measures so that we can minimise this deficit as much as possible,' Prabowo told parliament on Friday, signalling that his austerity measures would be kept in place across ministries and other government institutions. 'And it is my hope that one day, whether in 2027 or 2028, I want to stand before this assembly, at this podium, and declare that we have succeeded in having a state budget with no deficit whatsoever.' Advertisement Prabowo's first budget as president reflects his campaign pledge to invest in long-term human development. His flagship free meals programme – aimed at curbing child stunting and malnutrition – will receive 335 trillion rupiah (US$20.6 billion), nearly five times more than this year's allocation. The initiative targets over 82 million children, toddlers and pregnant women.
