ASEAN News

According to a lawyer engaged in the case, an Australian advisor to Myanmar’s deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in a military court today to face immigration and official secrets charges. Sean Turnell, a Macquarie University professor, was the first foreign person detained in the aftermath of the February 1 coup that deposed Suu Kyi‘s government and triggered massive …

Clare Rewcastle-Brown, editor of the Sarawak Report, was prosecuted in absentia in Kuala Terengganu, the state capital of Terengganu, for allegedly criminally defaming the Terengganu Sultanah via the contents of a book on the 1MDB scandal. According to some sources, Rewcastle-Brown was not present in court today, and she was also not represented in court either. Rewcastle-Brown was charged with …

Yesterday (September 22), a bus driver and two passengers were transported to the hospital after an SBS Transit bus seemed to have collided with a pillar along Airport Boulevard at Changi Airport, according to witnesses. An accident at 65 Airport Boulevard, between Terminal 3 and Terminal 1, between Terminal 3 and Terminal 1 was reported to the Singapore Civil Defense …

Unlike several of its neighbors, the Philippines supports a new US-UK-Australia military alliance aimed at maintaining the Indo-Pacific balance of power. The AUKUS alliance, which would see Australia get technology to deploy nuclear-powered submarines as part of a deal designed to counter the rise of Chinese dominance, will be known by the acronym. In a statement on Tuesday, Philippines Foreign …

Indonesian security forces killed the head of the terrorist organization East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), authorities announced on Sunday. MIT has links to Islamic State. Ali Kalora was killed on Saturday afternoon in a firefight between military and police forces in a hamlet on Sulawesi island, according to a police statement. Another terrorist, named as Jaka Ramadhan, also known as Ikrima, …

Vice President Leni Robredo said on Sunday that she is fully prepared if she is selected as the opposition’s “unity candidate” for Eleksyon 2022. Robredo previously said that she intends to meet with Manila Mayor Isko Moreno and Senator Manny Pacquiao in order to form a united anti-administration ticket for the 2022 presidential elections. On Sunday’s episode of her weekly …

The Chinese embassy in Australia denounced on Friday the “unfounded allegations” leveled against China by Australia’s defence and foreign ministers and their US counterparts after their annual meeting in Washington. In a statement released after the Australia-US Ministerial Consultations, the two nations voiced worry over China’s “expansive maritime claims in the South China Sea that lack legal foundation” and declared …

Hong Kong’s political elite begin selecting a powerful committee on Sunday that will choose nearly half the legislature. It is also decided that later on a new leader will be selected too under a new patriot system imposed by Beijing. The first poll under that new system, dubbed patriots rule Hong Kong, will take place today as members of the …

Myanmar’s junta will put ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi on trial for corruption, her lawyer said today, adding to a raft of ongoing cases that could see her jailed for decades. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since she and her elected government were deposed by the military in a February coup that sparked a mass uprising and …

Indonesia’s elite counterterrorism squad has arrested a convicted militant and suspected leader of an al-Qaeda-linked group that has been blamed for a string of past bombings in the country, Indonesia police said Monday. Abu Rusdan was seized late Friday in Bekasi near the capital of Jakarta, along with three other suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, police spokesman Ahmad Ramadhan said. …