For 28-year-old Indonesian professional Evelyn Clarissa Siregar, asking strangers to help fund her MBA in Singapore was a gamble: she knew the request was unconventional but hoped putting her dream out in public might open a door. Instead, her appeal for more than S$100,000 (US$78,000) to fund her business programme at Singapore Management University (SMU) drew fierce online criticism, with some labelling her entitled and questioning her plans. “I never expected the backlash to become this big,”...

As Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, wife of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, was laid to rest on Monday, one poignant image stood out. Footage of her family members sobbing served as a reminder that before the 100-year-old was “Ibu Negara” (Mother of the Nation), she was first a mother of seven, grandmother to 18 and great-grandmother to four. Her latest great-grandchild, Eden Zakaria, was born just last month to granddaughter Meera Alyanna Mukhriz, better known as Ally. In a social...

The governor of an Indonesian prison has been suspended after authorities uncovered a suspected luxury compound for VIP inmates within the grounds, prompting a parliamentary inquiry. However, Director General of Corrections Mashudi denied the accusations during a House of Representatives commission hearing on Monday. Cibinong Prison in Bogor, West Java, came under investigation after inspectors from the Ombudsman’s office discovered a fenced-off compound behind the prison chief’s house during a...

The Philippines has 20,000 teaching vacancies to fill, a budget hearing has revealed, with sector insiders warning that the gap signals a mounting education crisis. Those in the industry are calling for transparency in the teacher hiring process, including clear figures on budget allocation and positions filled amid problems of mismatch and improper targeting of job applicants. At a House of Representatives plenary session last week, Antonio Tinio from the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT)...

Behind the unmarked door of a shoplot along a quiet commercial stretch of Forest City in Malaysia’s Johor state, four customers sat tapping away, playing slot-style games on tablets. A stern-looking man stood guard at the entrance, his eyes darting around. The customers could place bets starting from around 20 ringgit (US$4.89). Instead of handing over cash, they paid for gambling credits using Malaysia’s Touch ’n Go e-wallet. They were then issued tablets from behind the counter with...

Artificial intelligence is moving deeper into asset management, but not only through chatbots, research summaries or back-office automation. The bigger question is whether AI can help investment firms do what has become increasingly difficult in public markets: find differentiated returns at scale. Blue Fire AI, a technology company focused on AI-driven investment management, is making […] The post Blue Fire AI closes US$9M round with AM-One stake under Mizuho partnership appeared first on e27.

Malaysia began an operation to send nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals back to their war-torn homeland on Tuesday, pressing ahead with a government-to-government repatriation deal despite warnings that returnees could face persecution and forced conscription. The first group of 1,476 is part of an agreement to return 5,000 people held in Malaysian immigration facilities under a programme Kuala Lumpur describes as voluntary, though human rights groups say it lacks adequate safeguards. Those being...

Standing water ⁠in Thailand’s capital is expected ⁠to clear within three days if there is no additional rainfall, the government has said, as flag carrier Thai Airways struggled to resume regular services following heavy rain and flooding. The ‌cabinet would discuss long-term plans to address flooding and recovery measures on Tuesday, government spokesman Ekkapob Pianpises told a news briefing on Tuesday. Bangkok was hit by around 320mm (12.6 inches) of rain over two to three days last week,...

Samsung Electro-Mechanics is making its largest single-product investment to date, committing US$4.9 billion to expand production of chip-packaging substrates in South Korea and Vietnam as the artificial intelligence boom reshapes demand across the semiconductor supply chain. In two filings with the Korea Exchange dated September 28, the Samsung Electronics affiliate said it will spend about […] The post Vietnam gains from Samsung Electro-Mechanics’s US$4.9B AI substrate expansion plan appeared first on e27.

For companies selling, hiring or operating across multiple countries, the promise of going global often runs into a very old problem: banking still behaves as if borders are hard walls. Opening local accounts can require entities, paperwork and long waits. Payments move through correspondent banks. Foreign exchange fees are not always clear. Finance teams end […] The post 1982 Ventures joins Limited’s US$18.5M seed round to simplify cross-border business banking appeared first on e27.