People undergo health screening before receiving their dose of China’s Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, during a mass vaccination programme at a shopping mall in Jakarta, Indonesia, on June 28. Photo: Reuters

This Week's News Spotlight:

Cambodian police confiscate pet lion after Chinese owner shared TikTok video - SCMP| Is Muhyiddin risking a constitutional crisis amid Malaysian king’s calls to reconvene parliament? - SCMP | Philippines has a secret weapon in its South China Sea tussle with Beijing: The female voice - SCMP | Unmet promises, foreign workers: Chinese firms in Indonesia face bumps in the Belt and Road - SCMP| CapitaLand sells controlling stakes in six Raffles City projects to Ping An - Caixin

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Cambodian police confiscate pet lion after Chinese owner shared TikTok video - SCMP

The male lion, weighing 70kg, had been smuggled into Cambodia by its owner, a Chinese national.

Cambodian authorities confiscated a pet lion after its owner posted TikTok videos of the animal. The 18-month-old lion had been imported from overseas by the owner, with its teeth and claws removed.

The authorities had been investigating this case since late April. The raid occurred on Sunday, with animal rescue NGO Wildlife Alliance stating in a Facebook post that the Phnom Penh Villa, where the lion was being kept, was “inappropriate for a wild animal”.

Is Muhyiddin risking a constitutional crisis amid Malaysian king’s calls to reconvene parliament? - SCMP

The Malaysian king previously emphasised the need for parliament on June 16.

The Malaysian parliament has been suspended since January, after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declared a national state of emergency due to Covid-19. However, for the second time in two weeks, the country’s king has urged the government to reconvene the suspended parliament as soon as possible. Experts say that if Prime Minister Muhyiddin goes against the king’s advice and continues to suspend parliament, the country may find itself in a constitutional crisis.

Philippines has a secret weapon in its South China Sea tussle with Beijing: The female voice - SCMP

The 81 specially trained female radio operators finished their two-week course on Friday.

Dubbed “Angels of the Sea”, the Philippines is deploying a new unit of 81 specially trained female radio operators in the South China Sea in efforts to deter intruders. Coastguard officials are hoping that the female voice will remind foreign vessels of their wives and mothers.

In April, the pre-recorded voice of a female operator appeared to deter seven Chinese vessels that had been near a Philippine-claimed reef. This incident is understood to have sparked the inspiration for the Angels of the Sea operation. Masterminded by Rear Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan, the operation’s appeal was “maternal”, with female voices intended to evoke the “authority of wives and mothers that pervades the Aisan culture”.

Unmet promises, foreign workers: Chinese firms in Indonesia face bumps in the Belt and Road - SCMP

Though Chinese companies are looking to increase investment in Indonesia under the Belt and Road Initiative, they are facing many reputational issues.

Chinese firms investing in Indonesia, the largest country in Southeast Asia, are facing many challenges. These include disputes with communities over land and accusations that the firms are employing too many Chinese workers.

There have been multiple cases of young locals not being hired by these corporations, despite earlier promises that the firms would hire more people from the community after land was sold to them, according to the South China Morning Post. The presence of Chinese workers in Indonesia has led to general unhappiness among locals, a sentiment that is worsening with the economic damage dealt by COVID-19.

CapitaLand sells controlling stakes in six Raffles City projects to Ping An - Caixin

CapitaLand will continue to retain 12.6 to 30 percent stakes in each project.

Singapore-based property group CapitaLand is selling partial stakes in six projects, all located in Chinese cities, to Chinese conglomerate Ping An Life Insurance Company for less than US$5.1 billion. The portfolio comprises projects in Shanghai, Beijing, Ningbo, Chengdu, and Hangzhou and is valued at about US$7.2 billion.