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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