Indonesia suspended until first light the search for an AirAsia plane that went missing Sunday in the Java Sea with 162 people on board after the crew requested a change of flight plan due to stormy weather.

Rescue teams struggled Saturday to reach inundated areas of northeast Malaysia as victims accused the government of being slow to provide assistance after the country's worst flooding in decades.

Malaysians have vented their anger at Prime Minister Najib Razak after the release of photos which went viral on social media showing him playing golf with U.S. President Barack Obama during the storms.

Malaysia's worst flooding in decades forced more than 100,000 people to flee as premier Najib Razak came under fire after photos showed him golfing with U.S. President Barack Obama during the storms.

At least five people have been killed by the rising waters and there appeared little respite on the way on Friday, with forecasters predicting further heavy rainfall across previously unaffected southern parts of the country.

Malaysian authorities launched a major rescue operation Wednesday to evacuate tourists stranded at a resort by heavy monsoon flooding that has forced tens of thousands of residents to abandon their homes.

Helicopters were being used in the ongoing operation to rescue people from the Mutiara Taman Negara Resort, which lies in the remote jungle of central Malaysia's Taman Nagara national park, a local fire and rescue official told AFP.

Malaysia on Tuesday deported nearly 500 undocumented Indonesian workers, in what analysts said was part of a push to clamp down on illegal labour as the economy starts to slow.

The workers were brought in shackles to Subang Airport west of Kuala Lumpur, where Indonesian officials said they would be loaded onto military C-130 aircraft to be flown to their native country.

Pirates have shot dead a crew member of a Vietnamese tanker off the eastern coast of Malaysia, maritime officials said Monday, the latest in a spate of attacks in Southeast Asian waters.

The 16-crew tanker was carrying asphalt from Singapore to Vietnam when pirates stormed the vessel on Sunday near Aur island off southern Johor state, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Police have detained 17 people from Myanmar over a string of gruesome murders in a popular Malaysian tourist destination, and believe the killings are linked to ethnic unrest in their native country, reports said Friday.

Public anxiety has risen in Malaysia's historic state of Penang over the past few months as mutilated corpses or severed body parts have turned up -- with at least 18 mysterious and unexplained murders of Myanmar nationals.

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak on Monday discussed prospects for restarting stalled peace talks aimed at ending southern Thailand's deadly Muslim insurgency, officials said.

Prayut arrived in Malaysia on Monday morning for the several-hour visit, his first to Thailand's southern neighbour since the former military chief seized power in a May coup.

Malaysians have a passionate love affair with their lip-smacking cuisine -- rich curries, succulent fried chicken, buttery breads and creamy drinks -- but it is increasingly an unhealthy relationship.

Malaysia is Southeast Asia's fattest country, where a nationwide foodie culture is feeding mounting concern over what its health minister calls "an obesity epidemic."

Muslim-majority Malaysia will soon introduce a new anti-terrorism law to counter a potential security threat from supporters of the extremist Islamic State (IS) group, Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Wednesday.

Najib told parliament his government also would strengthen existing security-related laws as authorities express mounting concern that Malaysians who have joined the IS jihad in Syria and Iraq will return home to spread militant Islam.