7/09/2025

theSun on Sunday SEPT 7, 2025

WORLD 7

Succession crisis looms TOKYO: Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. becomes the emperor or a man does,” said Tokyo bartender Yuta Hinago. The 33-year-old felt there could be “room for more flexibility” in the succession rules. and major changes would divide the nation. Under the post-war constitution, the royal family holds no political power. With royal daughters forced to leave the family after marriage, one modernising proposal would see them continue their public duties after their nuptials. Japan prince comes of age at Imperial Palace

SYDNEY: A “large shark” mauled a surfer to death at a Sydney beach yesterday, Australian police said, in a rare fatal attack that led to a string of beach closures. The 57-year-old man had gone surfing with five or six friends in the Pacific waters off northern Sydney’s Long Reef and Dee Why beaches, police said. The man – an experienced surfer with a wife and a young daughter – lost “a number of limbs”, New South Wales police superintendent John Duncan told a news conference. A couple of surfers saw him in the water and got him to shore, Duncan said. “Unfortunately, by that time we understand he lost a lot of blood and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.” Beachgoers nearby saw the ocean predator, leaving police “fairly confident” that it was a shark attack. The man’s surfboard was broken in half, Duncan said. Experts will examine the remains of the surfboard and the man’s body to help them determine the species of shark involved, police said. Most serious shark bites in ocean-loving Australia are from great whites, bull sharks and tiger sharks. Beaches between the northern suburbs of Manly and Narrabeen have been closed for at least 24 hours, Surf Life Saving NSW said. Surf lifesaving clubs nearby have cancelled all water activity and training for the weekend. Drones and surf lifesavers on jetskis were patrolling the beaches for shark activity. It was the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 2022, when 35-year-old British diving instructor Simon Nellist was killed off Little Bay. The previous fatal attack in the city was in 1963. An unnamed surfer told Sydney’s Daily Telegraph that he saw the aftermath of the attack. “Four or five surfers pulled him out of the water and it looked like a significant part of his lower half had been attacked,” he said. People were ordered out of the water, he told the paper. Australia’s last deadly shark attack was in March, when a surfer was taken off the remote Wharton Beach of Western Australia. – AFP ‘Large shark’ kills man off Sydney beach Seoul rushes to help Koreans held in US SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung ordered all-out efforts on Saturday to respond to the arrests of hundreds of the nation’s citizens in a US immigration raid on a Hyundai Motor car battery factory. Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said the government has set up a team to respond to Thursday’s arrest of over 300 Koreans at the facility, under construction in Georgia, and that he may go to Washington to meet officials if needed. The arrest of some 475 workers at the plant near Savannah, part of President Donald Trump’s escalating crackdown on immigrants, was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security. The Trump administration and Seoul, a key Asian ally and investor in the US, have been at odds over the details of a trade deal that includes US$350 billion (RM1.47 trillion) of South Korean investments in the United States. – Reuters

Japan has debated the royal succession for decades, with a key government panel in 2005 recommending that it pass to the oldest child regardless of their sex. That appeared to pave the way for the emperor’s daughter to rise to the Chrysanthemum Throne, but Hisahito’s birth the following year silenced the debate. Politicians have been slow to act, “kicking the can down the road”, and delaying a solution with youthful Hisahito in view, said Kenneth

The nephew of Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk and lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming of age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfil my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter, Princess Aiko, the 23-year old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only succession rules. “As a young member of the Imperial Family, I am determined to fulfil my role,” Hisahito said in March. Second in line to become emperor after his father, the 19-year-old will appear at the Tokyo palace to pay his respects to gods and ancestors. Although tradition dictates only a man can carry on the imperial line,

Conservatives are pushing for the royal household to bring distant relatives back to the fold. But it is unclear if those men would be willing to give up their careers and freedom to continue the lineage. Hisahito said this year he has “not yet thought deeply” about his own marriage prospects, which could be challenging. Historically, women who wed royals have faced intense pressure to produce sons and have become constant subjects of gossip. Despite broad public support for changing the succession rules, away from the pageantry, people are focused on other issues, such as rising inflation, said royal historian Hideya Kawanishi. “If people who are generally supportive (of women emperors) become a bit louder, then politicians can become more serious,” said Kawanishi, an associate professor at Nagoya University. “But when ceremonies end, society, including the media, calms down and moves on.” – AFP

Ruoff, director of the Centre for Japanese Studies at Portland State University. Traditionalists have asserted that the “unbroken

imperial line” of male succession is the foundation of J a p a n ,

which goes back 2,600 years according to legend, opinion polls have shown high public support for a woman taking the throne. “It makes no

Hisahito attending the coming-of-age ceremony at the Imperial

difference to me whether a woman

Palace in Tokyo. –

KYODO/VIA REUTERSPIC

Thai PM-elect reaffirms fresh polls promise BANGKOK: Thailand’s prime minister elect has pledged to make good on his promise to lead the fractured interim government to new polls. “We must bring back the spirit of the ‘Land of Smiles’ to our country during my short time in office,” he said, adding that he was known to dislike conflict.

but pulled out in June over Paetongtarn’s alleged misconduct in a leaked phone call with Cambodian ex-leader Hun Sen. The Shinawatras have been a mainstay of Thai politics for the past two decades, sparring with the pro-monarchy, pro military establishment that views them as a threat to the kingdom’s traditional social order. But they have faced a series of setbacks, including Paetongtarn’s removal last week. Anutin previously served as deputy prime minister, interior minister and health minister – but is perhaps most famous for delivering on a promise to legalise cannabis in 2022. His elevation to premiership still needs to be endorsed by Thailand’s king to become official. – AFP

Anutin also addressed Thaksin’s flight from the kingdom the night before Friday’s vote – and days before a court case – bound for Dubai where he said he would visit friends and seek medical treatment. “There will be no favouritism, no persecution and no revenge,” Anutin said. The Supreme Court is due to rule on Tuesday in a case over Thaksin’s hospital stay following his return from exile in August 2023, a verdict some analysts say could see him jailed. Anutin’s right-wing Bhumjaithai party went into coalition with Pheu Thai in 2023,

Anutin Charnvirakul was selected by parliament on Friday, ending a week-long power vacuum following the ouster of his predecessor Paetongtarn Shinawatra. Anutin cobbled together a coalition of opposition blocs to shut out Pheu Thai, the electoral vehicle of the once-dominant Shinawatra dynasty patriarch Thaksin. He received the backing of the People’s Party, which holds a plurality of seats, on condition that he dissolve parliament within four months for fresh elections. “I will follow all agreements,” he said on Friday outside his party headquarters.