Renong, for instance, was once the commercial arm of Malaysia's dominant political party, the United Malays National Organisation.

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Among them: the Court's February decision to void the 1995 sale of 51% of the historic Manila Hotel to Malaysia's Renong Overseas, on the grounds that Filipinos should be given preference.

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SingTel appears to be buying a minority stake in Malaysia's debt-ridden Time Engineering, and its wholly owned subsidiary Time dotCom (Time Engineering itself is part of the politically well-connected Renong Group).

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Renong, with interests ranging from construction and property to financial services, is billions of dollars in debt and admits it is unable to service both local and foreign loans with some 50 banks.

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In earlier proposed plans for the company, which has strong links to the dominant political party the United Malays National Organization, the government was expected to pitch in with cash to buy bonds issued by Renong.

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