{"id":59123,"date":"2026-06-08T21:35:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=59123"},"modified":"2026-06-08T21:35:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T13:35:00","slug":"malaysia-tackles-illegal-foreign-owned-firms-as-regional-crackdown-widens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=59123","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia tackles illegal foreign-owned firms, as regional crackdown widens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/1280x720\/public\/d8\/images\/canvas\/2026\/06\/08\/0b48290d-5ea1-40d6-b457-35c41fe4136c_3d79b47e.jpg?itok=H-7H3z0V&amp;v=1780923518\" \/><\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\"><span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Malaysia<\/span> ordered a crackdown on Monday against illegal businesses run by foreigners, joining a growing list of Southeast Asian nations rocked by similar operations amid simmering local resentment.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">In recent years, <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Thailand<\/span>, <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Vietnam<\/span>, Malaysia and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Indonesia<\/span> introduced visa-free entry for foreign visitors following the Covid-19 pandemic in a bid to revive their flagging tourism, property and investment sectors.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">But last month, Thailand <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">removed the 60-day visa-free entry<\/span> for 93 countries and territories in response to foreigners buying companies and citizenship illegally, and to curb foreign ownership of its land. Instead, it introduced a 30-day visa exemption for 54 countries and territories and a 30-day visa exemption for three countries and territories.<\/div>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Chinese, Russians, Indians and Israelis have been among the nationalities investigated for illegally owning restaurants, resorts, spas and fruit plantations in Thailand, registering local accomplices as \u201cnominee\u201d majority owners.<\/p>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">The moves by Thailand to tighten entry by foreigners come as <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Vietnam<\/span> and <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">Indonesia<\/span> are also planning to introduce pre-travel registration of visitors, after a series of grisly crimes committed by tourists raised fears of overseas gangsterism spilling over to their territories.<\/div>\n<div datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1xdhyk6 ec74h0k0\">Police in Indonesia have carried out <span data-qa=\"Component-Text\" class=\"css-0 ef9u0v00\">raids<\/span> against gambling and crime syndicates that are aiming to use the country as a new base for their illegal operations. Authorities have arrested hundreds of foreign nationals in Jakarta, Batam, Bali and Surabaya during their crackdown in recent weeks.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<center><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/week-asia\/economics\/article\/3356406\/malaysia-tackles-illegal-foreign-owned-firms-regional-crackdown-widens?utm_source=rss_feed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><br \/>\n<center\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Malaysia ordered a crackdown on Monday against illegal businesses run by foreigners, joining a growing list of Southeast Asian nations rocked by similar operations amid&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4840],"tags":[9632,35,24402,2849,4349,2013,16645,21186],"class_list":["post-59123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-travel-globetrotting","tag-crackdown","tag-firms","tag-foreignowned","tag-illegal","tag-malaysia","tag-regional","tag-tackles","tag-widens","wpcat-4840-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}