:00:00. > :00:00.The BBC understands that the retired Court of Appeal judge -
:00:00. > :00:00.Sir Martin Moore-Bick - will be appointed head of the public
:00:00. > :00:00.inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire.
:00:07. > :00:22.The plot thickens in the saga over who will buy Toshiba's lucrative
:00:23. > :00:29.memory chip business. We look back at what Malaysia did different to
:00:30. > :00:37.survive the financial crisis 20 years ago, but was it the right
:00:38. > :00:46.move? Good morning, Asia. Hello, world. It is Thursday. I'm Rico
:00:47. > :00:53.Hizon. Well, it is going from bad to worse for Toshiba. It is suing its
:00:54. > :00:57.US joint-venture partner Western Digital four 8 billion US dollars in
:00:58. > :01:01.damages for interfering in the sale of the memory chip division. Toshiba
:01:02. > :01:05.will not allow Western Digital employees at its Japanese plant to
:01:06. > :01:12.access any information relating to the companies' joint-venture.
:01:13. > :01:17.Toshiba faced angry shareholders at the annual meeting on Tuesday. The
:01:18. > :01:20.firm hasn't said exactly how much money it lost last fiscal year
:01:21. > :01:24.because it's watered at hasn't approved the figures. Let's hear
:01:25. > :01:28.what some of the investors had to say. TRANSLATION: I cannot believe
:01:29. > :01:33.how many times they postponed the results. It is a serious problem.
:01:34. > :01:38.TRANSLATION: I want the company to rebuild even if it downsizes its
:01:39. > :01:42.business. Toshiba chose a government led consortium as its preferred
:01:43. > :01:47.bidder and it was hoping to conclude before yesterday's meeting. Are they
:01:48. > :01:51.running out of time? I asked Leo Lewis from the Financial Times what
:01:52. > :01:55.will happen to the government led deal. It is not dead in the water.
:01:56. > :02:02.They will push it pretty hard. As you have heard and described, these
:02:03. > :02:06.different things going on signal how severe the situation is for Toshiba
:02:07. > :02:12.and the worse they get the more they push for a deal of some sort and
:02:13. > :02:17.this still looks, this government backed INCJ consortium looks like
:02:18. > :02:21.the best option. We mentioned Toshiba says Western Digital is
:02:22. > :02:27.interfering and dead set against the sale. Are they still a likely
:02:28. > :02:32.suitor? They have come up with another bid. That's right. If you
:02:33. > :02:36.look at the interchange, this legal battle, escalating battle between
:02:37. > :02:41.Western Digital and Toshiba, you see both sides signalling their
:02:42. > :02:45.desperation. A bad deal isn't good for either of them. I think that
:02:46. > :02:51.Western Digital are still in there. When they resubmitted the bid
:02:52. > :02:54.earlier this week it clearly was the reason that these negotiations were
:02:55. > :02:57.delayed and Toshiba was unable to say as it wanted to at the
:02:58. > :03:01.shareholders meeting that we have a deal signed and we will be okayed by
:03:02. > :03:05.next year. Leo Lewis from the Financial Times in Tokyo.
:03:06. > :03:07.Companies around the world are trying to recover from the latest
:03:08. > :03:15.cyber attack including and transport networks including
:03:16. > :03:23.shipping giant Maersk. The attack is contained party system
:03:24. > :03:28.is down and we have to make sure that we can have the software put in
:03:29. > :03:31.place to prevent such an attack from occurring again and also that we
:03:32. > :03:35.don't want to get the systems backup to see the infection start again.
:03:36. > :03:46.Their ships are operational, they are sailing safely. They do not rely
:03:47. > :03:51.on the same network as we do. There are a number of processes we cannot
:03:52. > :03:55.run today. We cannot take new orders and some terminals are affected in
:03:56. > :03:59.their operation. In other news: making headlines, Rupert Murdoch
:04:00. > :04:07.will find out later today whether he is closer to securing takeover
:04:08. > :04:12.target Sky. Murdoch's 21st Century Fox offered $15 billion to buy the
:04:13. > :04:17.rest of the network, reigniting a row over whether the Australian-born
:04:18. > :04:21.businessman has too much influence. Turning to aviation and India's
:04:22. > :04:25.Cabinet will privatise air India. A committee will be formed to decide
:04:26. > :04:28.the details including the size of the government stake to be sold. The
:04:29. > :04:34.debtladen carrier has struggled to become profitable due to growing
:04:35. > :04:38.competition from low-cost rivals. And as we have been reporting all
:04:39. > :04:42.week it has been 20 years since a financial crisis or a three stage.
:04:43. > :04:46.While regional currencies were tumbling Malaysia went against
:04:47. > :04:50.conventional wisdom, implementing capital controls and sparking an
:04:51. > :04:54.outcry from the international financial community. In the short
:04:55. > :05:00.term this helped lessen economic damage but what about the long-term?
:05:01. > :05:09.Christine Hart made that decision, the former Prime Minister on whether
:05:10. > :05:16.he indeed did the right thing. A constant buzz of activity. This
:05:17. > :05:20.company makes cranes and lifting equipment for industrial sites
:05:21. > :05:30.across Asia. Last year they opened the largest manufacturing facility
:05:31. > :05:35.in Southeast Asia. 20 years ago its business ranked almost 70% in a
:05:36. > :05:40.matter of months. This man was starting out in the family business
:05:41. > :05:44.in Malaysia which included the company. We were seeing first
:05:45. > :05:48.customers come back and saying we probably can't take delivery, or we
:05:49. > :05:54.will take delivery but we cannot pay the final bill. In that year, '97,
:05:55. > :05:58.the damage when we looked at our books, will always be in our
:05:59. > :06:04.memories as the worst ever. But things looked very different at
:06:05. > :06:08.street level. This man has run the store for 46 years and says he did
:06:09. > :06:13.not feel the effects of the Asian financial crisis. TRANSLATION:
:06:14. > :06:19.Business today is not as good as it was in 1997. Under Mahathir, things
:06:20. > :06:27.were better. Then the Prime Minister, Mahathir Mohamad, refused
:06:28. > :06:30.a bailout, and in September 1998 implemented capital controls
:06:31. > :06:35.stopping offshore trade and taking it to the dollar. It was a very
:06:36. > :06:39.frightening thing, to go against the whole world, all of the great
:06:40. > :06:44.opinions of the great economies and all that, it is not something that
:06:45. > :06:50.you do everyday. But I found that there is no other way. So it is a
:06:51. > :06:55.big risk, I know, but I had to take that risk. As a result of our
:06:56. > :07:00.currency control, we recovered very quickly. Now, if you ask around
:07:01. > :07:04.here, most people will tell you that they didn't feel the effects of the
:07:05. > :07:09.Asian financial crisis that much. At 20 years on there are some who say
:07:10. > :07:12.that Malaysia missed a golden opportunity for reform which would
:07:13. > :07:18.have put it in a better position today. This is GDP growth. This
:07:19. > :07:24.economist tells me capital controls sheltered Malaysia from the worst of
:07:25. > :07:28.the IMF's austerity measures. But it let the government continue with an
:07:29. > :07:31.economic policy favouring the Indigenous Malaysian population and
:07:32. > :07:34.allowed bail outs of ailing state-owned companies and banks. All
:07:35. > :07:42.of this hurt Malaysia in the long run. We did have a head start but
:07:43. > :07:47.the economy was growing much faster than them, so after what happened to
:07:48. > :07:52.Malaysia. It is a question as relevant today as it was two decades
:07:53. > :07:56.ago. All of this week we revisit the
:07:57. > :07:59.country's hardest hit by the Asian financial crisis and we have heard
:08:00. > :08:04.stories of survival. What lessons have learnt from the economic
:08:05. > :08:07.meltdown? I put it to an economist at the monetary authority of
:08:08. > :08:13.Singapore during the crisis. Since the crisis they have taken a lot of
:08:14. > :08:19.measures, very painful measures, to reform the economy, rebuilt
:08:20. > :08:23.foundations for growth, and also strengthening fundamentals. The
:08:24. > :08:28.fundamentals from then and now are different, with geopolitical issues,
:08:29. > :08:31.you have Brexit, potential US protectionism, a slowdown in Chinese
:08:32. > :08:37.economic growth, could these be risks for another financial turmoil?
:08:38. > :08:42.Certainly, I mean, they are risks and you need to constantly adapt
:08:43. > :08:46.your monetary policy framework, your economic fundamentals. That's what
:08:47. > :08:49.the countries have been doing. For instance, during the global
:08:50. > :08:52.financial crisis they were able to weather the crisis relatively
:08:53. > :08:58.unscathed. And that's because longer way they adopted prudential policies
:08:59. > :09:03.to deal with all of our capital flows. So, the region has been doing
:09:04. > :09:07.a lot of work on the economy to make it more resilient. We are seeing
:09:08. > :09:15.signs of a potential crisis brewing? Well, at the moment it has receded
:09:16. > :09:19.somewhat, but there is risk of protectionism which would be
:09:20. > :09:22.damaging to global trade and there is always the risk of financial
:09:23. > :09:27.turbulence and we just saw a cyber attack as a possible risk now, so
:09:28. > :09:31.these new risks are merging. The best way is for the region to be
:09:32. > :09:36.more resilient, develop buffers, strengthen the fundamentals. We have
:09:37. > :09:41.seen the likes of Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines growing
:09:42. > :09:44.over the last 20 years. Is that growth secured over the next five to
:09:45. > :09:49.ten years? I'm quite comfortable that it will be able to secure and
:09:50. > :09:54.grow around 5% over the next five years and they can even do better
:09:55. > :09:57.than that. And the main reason I am saying that is because the region
:09:58. > :10:00.has become much more self-sufficient. They are less
:10:01. > :10:03.dependent on the west and Europe. After the global financial crisis
:10:04. > :10:09.they rebalanced to become much more self-sufficient. And don't forget to
:10:10. > :10:14.tune into the special programme playing out at the weekend starting
:10:15. > :10:17.on Saturday and tomorrow we have the Philippines focusing on the people
:10:18. > :10:22.who suffered during the Asian financial crisis. So, watch out for
:10:23. > :10:27.that, and a quick look at markets - Asia is off to a positive start this
:10:28. > :10:31.Thursday. Tokyo stocks opening higher with banks rallying following
:10:32. > :10:33.strong performances from their US peers. Thank you so much for
:10:34. > :10:34.investing your