Asian Insider, March 9: Malaysia’s new Ministers, Saudi-Russia oil spat, Singapore allows Italian cruise ship to dock, Afghanistan’s two Presidents

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Malaysian PM unveils his Cabinet, Asian shares sink on oil prices plunge and coronavirus fears, Singapore to allow Italian cruise ship to dock, Afghanistan's two Presidential contenders and future of the US-Taleban agreement and more.

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Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin unveiled his Cabinet on Monday evening with his own Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and Umno dominating the new Perikatan Nasional (PN) lineup. No one has been appointed deputy premier.

PM Muhyiddin created four coordinating minister posts, in a move he said would "ensure a functional Cabinet that will deliver service that is more focused". Former Parti Keadilan Rakyat deputy president Azmin Ali was named international trade and industry minister and senior minister in charge of the economy. Former defence minister and ex-Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein is the new foreign minister.

Our team in Malaysia says that the PM has kept his word and so far no politician with ongoing graft charges has been appointed to Cabinet. Meanwhile, he is also seeking to win back the support of former PM Mahathir Mohamad and has sought a meeting.

Asian shares plunged on Monday, with some suffering their worst falls since the 2008 global financial crisis, as investors fled to bonds to hedge against a sharp plunge in oil prices at a time when the world is still caught up in dealing with coronavirus infections and its impact on global growth.

Japan's Nikkei sank 5.1 per cent at the close while Australia's commodity-heavy market dived to close down 7.3 per cent. South Korea's Kospi index was down 4.3 per cent. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index was down 142.91 points or 4.8 per cent to 2,818.07 as of 2:13pm.

This followed an oil spat between Saudi Arabia and Russia that took a turn for the worse last Friday after Moscow declined to make production cuts with Opec, despite a drop in global demand. Riyadh's decision to raise production thereafter and offer its crude at a discounted price saw oil markets plunging.

Brent futures sank by 31 per cent within seconds after the opening of trade in Asia earlier today. And as it hit a low of US$31 a barrel, Goldman Sachs Group warned prices could drop even further to hit US$20s. Some analysts worry about its implications for climate change as the price of fossil fuels becomes more competitive compared to renewables.

And while several of the Asian economies - China, India, South Korea and Japan - are big oil importers, analysts did not expect the drop in prices to spell a significant benefit with the impact of the coronavirus likely to remain the main story.

Singapore will allow Italian cruise ship Costa Fortuna to dock in the Republic after the vessel was declined permission by Malaysia and Thailand, over Covid-19 fears. The vessel first departed from Marina Bay Cruise Centre about two weeks ago, after all passengers completed pre-embarkation checks. There are about 60 Italians on the ship but none are suspected cases. Still, all passengers will have to undergo tests before being allowed to disembark, officials here said.

The denial to dock is reflective of the fears about the spread of coronavirus that still prevail in the region and beyond, with Italy in the list of countries where the number of infections is still increasing at an alarming rate. Nearly 16 million people across northern Italy found themselves in a lockdown situation on Sunday as the government imposed new measures to contain the outbreak that has claimed over 200 lives in the country.

In Asia, China and South Korea reported some respite in the number of new infections. Today, China closed several makeshift hospitals for coronavirus patients, some schools reopened and Disney resort staff went back to work as normality slowly returns to the country. And in South Korea, the rate of increase in new infections fell to its lowest in 10 days on Sunday, encouraging Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun to say he was optimistic that the country will reach a turning point in the near future.

Afghanistan seemed set to gain two ruling Presidents in a queer situation that raises questions about future governance of the country and the bearing it would have on the agreement between US representatives and the Taleban on Feb 29, on withdrawal of US troops from the war-torn country.

Reports from Kabul said President Ashraf Ghani and his bitter rival Abdullah Abdullah had both claimed premiership and planned their inauguration for today. Afghanistan went to polls in September and Ghani was declared to have won a second term only in February after repeated delays due to accusations of voter fraud. This, however, upset his rival Abdullah further and he has vowed to form his own parallel government.

People in Afghanistan would rather not have either of them, reports say, Voter turnout was low and most people would prefer that the two talk to each other. However, both have refused to compromise.

Meanwhile, violence has continued unabated and in one of the deadliest attacks to hit Afghanistan, militants shot dead 32 people at a Friday rally in Kabul. The Taleban is due to hold talks with the new government in Afghanistan but what happens next, is not very certain at the moment.

Fifty-five members of the recently disbanded Future Forward party (FFP) in Thailand have opted to join a new party with the leader of the group, 38-year-old Pita Limjaroenrat, promising to carry on the work of FFP, but without its former leaders.

The new party is called the Move Forward Party but not too much is known about the party which did not have a single lawmaker in Parliament.

The announcement comes two weeks after the dissolution of the FFP, that was led by charismatic billionaire Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, and was popular among young voters. FFP won 81 of the 500 parliamentary seats in last year's election, making it the third leading party in poll results. However, because of graft allegations and other cases, it was officially disqualified in November and finally dissolved last month.

Thailand Correspondent Hathai Techakitteranun explains that FFP's lawmakers have come down in the past year with eleven FFP MPs, including Thanathorn, being disqualified and banned from politics for 10 years. Also, at least nine other MPs defected to the Bhumjaithai Party, which is part of the ruling coalition, while a few others left the party for other reasons.

MH17 TRIAL TO BEGIN: Five years after Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down by a missile in Ukraine leaving all 298 people on board dead, the trial of four fugitive suspects will commence in Amsterdam today. Three Russians and one Ukrainian have been accused of arranging for the Russian missile system used to shoot down the civilian aircraft. But the suspects, who are in Russia, will not attend. Russia has questioned the legitimacy of the trial.

FACE RECOGNITION DESPITE MASKS: A Chinese company says it has developed the country's first facial recognition technology that can identify people when they are wearing a mask. Officials of the company - Hanwang Technology - said if the system is connected to a temperature sensor, it can also measure body temperature.

That's it for today. Thanks for reading and we'll be back with you tomorrow.

Shefali