Malaysia has named Nor Shamsiah Mohamad Yunus, an experienced former central bank official, as the new central bank governor.
Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng said Friday that the king has consented to Nor Shamsiah's appointment to head Bank Negara Malaysia from July 1 for a five-year term.
Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, right, walks with newly appointed National Bank Gov. Nor Shamsiah Mohamad Yunus, front left, to attend a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, June 22, 2018. (AP Photo)
She succeeds Muhammad Ibrahim, who resigned two weeks ago after the central bank came under scrutiny over a 2 billion ringgit ($500 million) land purchase from the government. Proceeds were used to pay debts of the 1MDB state investment fund, which is under investigation for possible graft and money-laundering.
Muhammad denied any wrongdoing but said he resigned to avoid tarnishing Bank Negara Malaysia's reputation. He was the latest senior official to quit amid a corruption probe of the government of former premier Najib Razak, whose long-ruling coalition suffered a shocking defeat in May 9 elections.
Newly appointed National Bank Gov. Nor Shamsiah Mohamad Yunus, left, walks to attend a press conference by Malaysia finance minister in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, June 22, 2018. (AP Photo)
"Bank Negara Malaysia will continue to focus on delivering its mandate of maintaining monetary and financial stability, in the best interests of the nation," Nor Shamsiah said at a joint news conference with Lim. She declined to comment when asked on her priorities, saying she will review the situation once she takes office.
Nor Shamsiah, who joined Bank Negara in 1987, left quietly two years ago and joined the International Monetary Fund before her latest appointment. She was Bank Negara deputy governor for six years and was part of an investigation team probing the 1MDB saga before she quit.
Zeti Akhtar Aziz, who was central bank governor for 16 years and now is part of a government advisory team, said Nor Shamsiah's appointment will inspire market confidence.
Malaysian Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng, right, shakes hands with newly appointed National Bank Gov. Nor Shamsiah Mohamad Yunus during a press conference in Putrajaya, Malaysia, Friday, June 22, 2018. (AP Photo)
"She knows all about central banking, she will hit the ground running," Zeti told local media. "By appointing her, the government has demonstrated its respect for the institution and I think this is what the market wants to see, an institution that remains independent in performing its functions."
Najib set up the 1MDB fund when he took power in 2009. U.S. investigators say Najib's associates stole and laundered $4.5 billion from the fund from 2009 to 2014, some of which landed in Najib's bank account.
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has reopened investigations into 1MDB that were stifled during Najib's rule and banned Najib and his wife from leaving the country. Mahathir, who was premier for 22 years until 2003, emerged from retirement to lead his alliance to an election victory bolstered by anger over the 1MDB scandal.
In addition to Muhammad, the country's attorney general and anti-graft chief also have been replaced.
Police have raided Najib's home and other properties, seizing 114 million ringgit ($28.7 million) in cash and hundreds of expensive designer handbags and jewelry. The government has said Najib's administration conducted an "exercise of deception" over 1MDB and deceived Parliament over the country's financial situation.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia and Indonesia have become the first countries to block Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Elon Musk's company xAI, as concerns grew among global authorities that it was being misused to generate sexually explicit and nonconsensual images.
The moves reflect growing scrutiny of generative AI tools that can produce realistic images, sound and text and concern that existing safeguards are failing to prevent their abuse. The Grok chatbot, which is accessed through Musk’s social media platform X, has been criticized for generating manipulated images, including depictions of women in bikinis or sexually explicit poses, as well as images involving children.
Last week, Grok limited image generation and editing to paying users following a global backlash over sexualized deepfakes of people, but critics say it didn’t fully address the problem.
An emailed request for comment by The Associated Press to xAI resulted in an automated reply from the media support email address which stated, “Legacy Media Lies.” This was the same message received from a different email when asked for comment regarding the global backlash.
Regulators in the two Southeast Asian nations said that existing controls weren't preventing the creation and spread of fake pornographic content, particularly involving women and minors. Indonesia’s government temporarily blocked access to Grok on Saturday, followed by Malaysia on Sunday.
"The government sees nonconsensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights, dignity and the safety of citizens in the digital space,” Indonesian Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said in a statement Saturday.
The ministry said the measure was intended to protect women, children and the broader community from fake pornographic content generated using AI.
Initial findings showed that Grok lacks effective safeguards to stop users from creating and distributing pornographic content based on real photos of Indonesian residents, Alexander Sabar, director-general of digital space supervision, said in a separate statement. He said that such practices risk violating privacy and image rights when photos are manipulated or shared without consent, causing psychological, social and reputational harm.
In Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission ordered a temporary restriction on Grok on Sunday, after what it said was “repeated misuse” of the tool to generate obscene, sexually explicit and nonconsensual manipulated images, including content involving women and minors.
The regulator said that notices issued this month to X Corp. and xAI demanding stronger safeguards drew responses that relied mainly on user reporting mechanisms.
“The restriction is imposed as a preventive and proportionate measure while legal and regulatory processes are ongoing,” it said, adding that access will remain blocked until effective safeguards are put in place.
Launched in 2023, Grok is free to use on X. Users can ask it questions on the social media platform and tag posts they’ve directly created or replies to posts from other users. Last summer, the company added an image generator feature, Grok Imagine, that included a so-called spicy mode that can generate adult content.
The Southeast Asian restrictions come amid mounting scrutiny of Grok elsewhere, including in the European Union, the United Kingdom, India and France.
On Monday, the U.K.'s media regulator said that it launched a formal investigation into whether Grok “complied with its duties to protect people in the U.K. from content that is illegal.”
The regulator, Ofcom, said that Grok-generated images of children being sexualized or people being undressed may amount to pornography or child sexual abuse material.
“The content created and shared using Grok in recent days has been deeply disturbing," Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said.
Edna Tarigan reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.
FILE - Workers install lighting on an "X" sign atop the company headquarters, formerly known as Twitter, in downtown San Francisco, July 28, 2023. (AP Photo/Noah Berger, File)
FILE - Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference in the Oval Office of the White House, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
