These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
Get up to speed with what’s happening in the fastest growing region in the world.
We don't want to repeat mistake, says Salahuddin
The food sector involves a complex network that translates into a multibillion-dollar trade globally. Apart from expanding markets for Malaysian products and tapping into new growth areas, the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry strived to first and foremost ensure that people had enough food. To do so, its minister, Datuk Salahuddin Ayub, said, various initiatives had been launched, including a five-year plan to improve livestock population in Malaysia. – New Straits Times
Many youths 'drawn into prostitution, unsafe jobs'
About 3.1 million children and youth are being left out of the country's education system and are being drawn into major social problems including prostitution, according to the Equitable Education Fund (EEF).
Other than prostitution, the other two major problems facing youngsters are them becoming cheap labourers in dangerous working environments and being lured into the illicit drug trade circle, said Prof Sompong Jitradub, an adviser to the EEF's board and director of Research Centre for Children and Youth Development at Chulalongkorn University. – Bangkok Post
Pre-school to be free for some children as NTUC First Campus ramps up support for low-income families
More children from lower-income backgrounds will have access to financial and social help, with pre-school even made free for some of them, as Singapore's second largest pre-school operator ramps up support for disadvantaged families.
NTUC First Campus will be raising the monthly household income ceiling for its child support schemes from S$3,500 to S$4,500 from January 2020. – The Straits Times
Jokowi's reformist credentials in question
With the passing of a law revision that would weaken the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and the imminent passing of a draconian revision to the Criminal Code, concerns have been raised over whether President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's leadership is moving toward a resurgence of the New Order regime.
Yet amid mounting fears of democratic backsliding, a controversial letter allegedly from Trisakti University detailing plans to award Jokowi with the title Putera Reformasi (Son of the Reform) circulated on social media over the weekend, putting Jokowi's reformist credentials under further public scrutiny. – The Jakarta Post
Funds for health cut by P10 billion
Funds for health services in the P4.1-trillion national budget for 2020 that the House of Representatives approved on Friday were slashed by about P10 billion, even as the country is facing a polio epidemic as well as dengue and measles outbreaks that have claimed the lives of more than a thousand people, mostly children.
The P88-billion budget of the Department of Health (DOH) in the 2020 spending bill decreased by P10.6 billion from its 2019 level of P98.6 billion, said Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin. – Philippine Daily Inquirer