Regional news from Southeast Asia in English — ASEAN politics, economy and diplomacy, covered by Thai PBS World.
Former Malaysian prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin will be charged with corruption-related offences on Friday, the chief of the country’s anti-graft agency told Reuters. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) chief, Azam Baki, did not give further details, but said the agency will issue a statement later on Thursday. Muhyiddin, who was prime minister for 17 months between 2020 and 2021, arrived at
Indonesian police burned an 11–hectare marijuana plantation in Aceh, North Sumatra, on Wednesday (March 8) after it was discovered by local authorities last month. “Combined with another field in West Aceh the total area is 43 hectares, which produces 190,000 cannabis stems ready for harvest,” Aceh Police Chief Ahmad Haydar told reporters, as marijuana trees were being uprooted and piled for burning. Indonesia has some of the
The voices, dreams and passions of the young, whose intersectionality creates desire for change in our current world, as told in a six part documentary series. On Mar 8th, 2023, Thai PBS and the ASEAN Broadcasting Union hosted a documentary series screening in the Thai PBS mini theatre. The six short films, from Cambodia, Indonesia,
Dozens of people in the Philippines have fallen ill after oil from a sunken tanker washed up on their shores, officials said Wednesday, as authorities struggled to reach the leaking vessel. The Princess Empress was carrying 800,000 litres (210,000 gallons) of industrial fuel oil when it sank more than a week ago off the central island of Mindoro, south of
In bright pink dresses and flashy straw hats, septuagenarian Indonesian twins Sri Irianingsih and Sri Rossyati strolled through rows of desks as students attentively wrote on workbooks. Known by students, parents, and locals as ‘Ibu Kembar’, or Twin Moms in Bahasa Indonesia, the colorfully-garbed women established Kartini Emergency School in the middle of a once-elite
At least 15 people were killed and dozens feared missing after torrential rains and landslides battered one of Indonesia’s outermost islands bordering the South China Sea, disaster officials said Monday. Pictures provided by the national disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) showed mud and debris from the landslides had inundated houses near a cliff on the remote Serasan island.
As has happened during previous Indonesian ASEAN chairmanships, the Bali Concord 4 will be issued to institutionalise human rights and other civic values within the grouping at the 42nd ASEAN-related Summit in September, according to a well-informed diplomatic source. Throughout five plus decades, Indonesia, when in the Chair, has issued three Bali Concords to consolidate
A Cambodian court on Friday sentenced top opposition leader Kem Sokha to 27 years in jail for treason, in a case rights groups say is politically motivated. Kem Sokha was the joint founder of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party and has long been a foe of Hun Sen — Asia’s longest-serving leader. “Kem Sokha…
Two years after the coup, the military-led administration in Myanmar passed a law allowing firearms civilians to carry firearms from January 31st, 2023. The accompanying written mandate related to the bill states that, due to current circumstances, the state has deemed necessary to add to laws, passed 1977, regarding the licensed carrying of and the
Five moon bears were rescued from an illegal bile extraction farm last Wednesday (February 22), in a joint effort between the Vietnam Administration of Forestry and Animals Asia to eradicate illegal bear bile farming in Vietnam by 2026. The farm’s owner had contacted authorities to give up the bears and to end the operation in Phung Thuong commune on
Nearly 300 migratory birds have been recorded in the middle alluvium ground of the Red River, which flows through Hanoi. This is a particularly rare occurrence as many migratory species have not been seen here for many years. Conservationists also recorded and added them to the list of new species, including globally endangered species here.
Philippine protesters held a noisy rally Saturday for the 37th anniversary of the “People Power” revolution, which ousted President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s dictator father and sent the family into exile. It was the first commemoration of the uprising since Marcos Jr took office in June 2022. He has praised his father’s 20-year regime, which critics describe as a dark period of human
