ASEAN News

Behind a ban on what would have been an annual march by a key human rights organisation, with some 6,000 police officers scheduled to be deployed on (Oct 1), which is China’s National Day, authorities in the city are planning for possible clashes at the beginning of the long weekend. Local media outlets HK01 and Sing Tao reported that given …

Indonesian trade unions threatened to stage a national strike next month after a committee in Parliament decided to move forward with planned labor reforms in the contentious” Job Creation “bill of President Joko Widodo. Global investors are closely monitoring the Bill to see that its terms have not been weakened in parliamentary debates, as the largest economy in South-East Asia …

The North Korea expressed sorrow that a South Korean man had been shot dead to avoid the spread of coronavirus, the national security advisor of the South said, in the midst of increasing public and political indignation. The apology emerged in a letter to South Korean President Moon Jae from the United Front Department of the North, which manages cross-border …

Modelled after a character in the classic anime series Mobile Suit Gundam, a six-storey-high robot made the first killer moves this week to capture the hearts of Gundam fans. The giant robot, standing tall at 18 m and weighing 24 tons, could be seen in an online video posted on Monday (Sept 21) taking two steps forward, standing up and …

Hong Kong court rejected on procedural grounds a challenge by pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong to his disqualification from last year’s district election in the city. Opposition leaders and activists were closely watching Wong ‘s struggle as they pushed through traditional politics and demonstrations to push for greater democracy in the Chinese-ruled region. Wong, 23, was the only candidate to be …

Indonesia reported an extraordinary regular spike in the Covid-19 death toll with 160 deaths, raising the total count to 9,837.  The Central Java province recorded the largest number of deaths with 42, followed by Jakarta with 30, East Java with 25, Banten with 16 and West Java with 11, the initial epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic. On the same day, …

China ramped up its rhetoric about Taiwan, labeling any support for its independence as “doomed to fail,” and threatened retribution against US diplomatic visits to the island.  After the conclusion of a civil war in 1949, Taiwan has been administered independently from China, but Beijing considers the island part of its territories pending reunification. The island is Washington’s flashpoint, pledging …

Gravedigger Junaedi Bin Hakim toils in a Jakarta cemetery until almost midnight almost every day, arranging plots for fellow Indonesians in the midst of a renewed increase in coronavirus burials. They honestly shared that they are worried and terrified but this is part of their job and obligations said 43-year-old Junaedi, who regularly left work at 4 pm before the …

A Swiss photographer went to trial in Hong Kong on charges of public disorder, with prosecutors accusing him of allowing an assault on a Chinese mainlander during last year’s protests against democracy. Marc Progin, a long-time resident of Hong Kong, pleaded not guilty to “assisting and encouraging public disorder,” an accusation that could see him imprisoned for up to one …

Hong Kong had previously complained about the American move, which takes effect on Nov 9, 2020. The government of Hong Kong has officially complained about the decision by the Trump administration to mark goods from the city as “Made in China” rather than “Made in Hong Kong,” as the United States and China continue to spar on fronts ranging from …