South China Morning Post - Southeast Asia

Indonesia earthquake: damaged roads, power outages hamper hunt for survivors

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 05:24:27 GMT

An aftershock hit Indonesia’s Sulawesi island on Saturday as rescuers searched for people trapped under rubble after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake left at least 45 dead and hundreds injured.There were no reports of further damage after the magnitude 5.0 aftershock at 6.32am local time, said Raditya Jati, spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency.“Further aftershocks are expected, so we advise residents to remain calm and alert,” he said.Operations were focused on about eight locations…

‘Cha-Cha’, anyone? Philippine Congress squares off with Duterte on constitutional changes

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 05:00:15 GMT

A proposed constitutional revamp is dominating discussions in the Philippine Congress once again as allies of President Rodrigo Duterte make another attempt to barrel through charter changes – the so-called Cha-Cha the country regularly finds itself embroiled in – amid a worsening Covid-19 pandemic.Members of the House of Representatives’ committee on constitutional amendments, who began deliberations on Wednesday, maintained that the proposed changes – allowing foreigners to own land and hold…

Coronavirus: Thailand offered luxury quarantine to tourists to revive economy, but hardly ...

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 04:29:30 GMT

It’s hard to imagine a more luxurious place to spend two weeks of quarantine than the Anantara Phuket Suites & Villas in Thailand, where visitors are pampered in private residences that can have their own pool and courtyard.Yet more than three months after the resort and more than a hundred like it reopened to extended-stay travellers in an attempt to revive Thailand’s battered economy, foreign arrivals have failed to meet even rock-bottom expectations. Just 346 overseas visitors have entered…

Filipino women slam ‘sexist’ Duterte after he says presidency is not for women

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:41:31 GMT

Filipino women on Friday reacted scornfully to President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement that the country’s top leadership role was “not for women” because they were emotionally different than men, deriding the 75-year-old for ignoring the contributions of women leaders and furthering the already-prevalent sexism in the country.Etta Rosales, chair emeritus of Akbayan Partylist, a moderate left-wing group of opposition lawmakers, led the tide of criticism, saying in a statement, “The presidency is…

Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands eyed as venue for World Economic Forum summit: sources

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 07:05:23 GMT

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is aiming to attract around 1,000 delegates for its Singapore summit in late May and wants the iconic Marina Bay Sands complex to host the event, two sources familiar with the organisation’s plans said.The sources, who did not want to be identified as negotiations are ongoing, said the plans for the May 25-28 event were still fluid given the uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic raging across the world.The WEF and Marina Bay Sands declined to comment. Singapore…

Bio Farma: Sinovac’s Indonesian partner sets sights on making Chinese vaccines for Southeast Asia

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 04:00:16 GMT

Indonesia’s ambitious vaccination drive to inoculate two thirds of its population of 270 million began on Wednesday when President Joko Widodo received a shot of Sinovac Biotech’s CoronaVac vaccine.Southeast Asia’s largest economy intends to vaccinate its entire working population over the next 15 months, in a desperate bid to stem a pandemic that has infected some 869,000 people and killed 25,000.Its success will rely partly on Bio Farma, a 130-year-old state-owned vaccine manufacturer.As…

Indonesia spots Chinese research vessel in its waters with tracker off

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 03:10:24 GMT

A Chinese research vessel was identified in the waters of Indonesia with its tracking system turned off, authorities said on Thursday, amid concerns in the region about Beijing’s maritime conduct.Colonel Wisnu Pramandita, spokesman of Indonesia’s maritime security agency, known as Bakamla, in a statement said authorities suspected the vessel was conducting unauthorised activities in the Sunda Strait after its automatic identification system (AIS) had been switched off three times.The Xiang Yang…

Indonesia earthquake kills at least 3 people, causes hotel to collapse

Fri, 15 Jan 2021 01:29:24 GMT

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia’s Sulawesi island has killed at least three people, left some 24 people injured, and caused buildings including a hotel to collapse, authorities said on Friday.“Three people are dead and 24 are injured,” said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Raditya Jati.The country’s search-and-rescue agency confirmed that at least one hotel had collapsed after the quake struck at 2.18am local time on Friday.The epicentre of the quake was 6km northeast…

Chinese couple murdered in Cambodian capital, police hunt two male suspects

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 15:51:31 GMT

Cambodian police have launched a murder investigation after a Chinese couple was killed in Phnom Penh, local media reported on Thursday.The bodies of a 38-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, reportedly his girlfriend, were discovered on Wednesday in a central Phnom Penh condominium complex, local outlet Fast News reported.Citing information from police, Fast News reported that the attack appeared to be part of a planned robbery by two male suspects.The attackers strangled the male victim…

Duterte says presidency is no job for a woman, advises daughter against running in 2022

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 15:31:43 GMT

Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday declared that the presidency was no job for a woman because of their emotional differences to men, and dismissed speculation that his daughter would succeed him next year.“My daughter is not running. I have told Inday not to run because I pity [her] knowing she will have to go through what I am going through,” Duterte said at the launch of a highway project, referring to his daughter Sara by her nickname.“This is not for women. You know, the…

Philippine journalist Maria Ressa, a leading critic of Rodrigo Duterte, faces third charge of ...

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 14:41:37 GMT

Embattled Philippine journalist Maria Ressa faces a third cyber libel charge, her lawyer said on Thursday, this time for a story about students allegedly paying a professor for passing grades.Ressa and her news site Rappler face at least a dozen criminal charges and investigations after publishing stories critical of President Rodrigo Duterte’s policies, including his bloody drug war.“It’s my 10th arrest warrant in less than two years. That’s definitely a pattern of harassment,” Ressa, who Time…

Malaysia’s coronavirus lockdowns a ‘blessing in disguise’ for reducing Isis threat: ...

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 13:10:48 GMT

Malaysia’s counterterrorism chief says lockdowns resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic have been a “blessing in disguise” in reducing the terror threat posed by Islamic State (Isis) supporters in the country, adding that the release of a radical Indonesian cleric is unlikely to reactivate local terror cells of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah (JI). Normah Ishak, head of Counter-Terrorism Division of the Special Branch – the intelligence arm of the Malaysian police – and the first woman to…

Indonesian cave painting of life-size pig believed to be over 45,000 years old

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 10:00:18 GMT

Archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest known cave painting: a life-size picture of a wild pig that was made at least 45,500 years ago in Indonesia.The finding described in the journal Science Advances on Wednesday provides the earliest evidence of human settlement of the region.Co-author Maxime Aubert of Australia’s Griffith University said it was found on the island of Sulawesi in 2017 by doctoral student Basran Burhan, as part of surveys the team was carrying out with Indonesian…

Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim says government misled king over coronavirus state of ...

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 09:37:24 GMT

Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday said he would submit an appeal to the king to end a state of emergency imposed to fight the coronavirus, which he described as a move by the prime minister to cling to power.Malaysia’s King Al-Sultan Abdullah on Tuesday declared a national state of emergency to curb the spread of the virus and suspended parliament, which the opposition said was Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s ploy to retain control amid a power struggle.In a letter sent…

Coronavirus: Philippines approves Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, New Zealand allows some ...

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 02:16:25 GMT

The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration on Thursday said it had authorised the emergency use of the Covid-19 vaccine from Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE.The Pfizer-BioNTech shot, which has shown a 95 per cent success rate, is the first vaccine the Philippines has approved.The move came a day after President Rodrigo Duterte defended his government’s decision to purchase Chinese-made coronavirus vaccines, saying they were as good as the shots developed by the Americans and the Europeans.Brazil…

From Japan to India, Asia’s poultry farmers battle H5N8 bird flu outbreak

Thu, 14 Jan 2021 01:27:12 GMT

Asia’s chicken farmers are confronting the region’s worst bird flu outbreak in years, with the deadly virus affecting farms stretching from Japan to India, roiling some poultry prices and showing no signs of easing.More than 20 million chickens have been destroyed in South Korea and Japan since November. The highly pathogenic H5N8 virus last week reached India, the world’s No. 6 producer, and has already been reported in 10 states.While bird flu is common in Asia at this time of year due to…

China and Indonesia to boost trade as Widodo’s Sinovac shot underlines ‘brotherly relations’

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 14:30:18 GMT

Indonesia’s foreign minister on Wednesday urged China to remove trade barriers for some of the country’s main exports so that trade between the countries could grow and become more balanced, a concern his Chinese counterpart responded to positively.Retno Marsudi delivered the request while meeting China’s state councillor and foreign minister Wang Yi, who wrapped up his two-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation on Wednesday.“I underlined the importance of removing trade barriers [and…

Quiet falls over Malaysia, with residents in lockdown after last night of travel and dining out

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 12:30:20 GMT

The streets of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia’s capital city, were empty on Wednesday morning – a far cry from the previous night’s hubbub as people scrambled to make preparations for a two-week lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.Roads were packed before the order came into force at midnight on Tuesday, with Malaysians squeezing in one last dinner or drink against the backdrop of thousands of coronavirus cases. Others returned to their hometowns before a ban on interstate or even interdistrict…

Coronavirus: as Widodo kicks off Indonesia’s Sinovac vaccine drive, social media influencer ...

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 10:50:52 GMT

As President Joko Widodo launched Indonesia’s Covid-19 vaccination drive on Wednesday, the televised images beamed into homes across the nation were rich in symbolism.Here was the president of the world’s fourth most populous nation quite literally opening his arms to China as he received a shot of the Sinovac Biotech vaccine his government had approved for emergency use just a couple of days earlier.This was the moment that the Southeast Asian country hit hardest by the novel coronavirus –…

BTS in the Philippines’ Congress? Duterte ally’s plan to name political grouping after ...

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 09:09:27 GMT

A former speaker of the Philippines’ House of Representatives has sparked outrage on social media after announcing his intent to form a new political grouping named after world-famous South Korean boy band BTS.Alan Peter Cayetano, an ally of President Rodrigo Duterte who was ousted as speaker in October, said he would form the BTS sa Kongreso (BTS in Congress) bloc with six fellow lawmakers – Representatives Luis Raymund “LRay” Villafuerte Jnr, Dan Fernandez, Raneo Abu, Mike Defensor, Jose…