These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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Covid-19 testing to be offered to more than 45,000 stallholders, cleaners and food delivery riders
Covid-19 testing will be offered to more than 45,000 stallholders and their assistants, cleaners and food delivery personnel from now till the end of the year as part of efforts to contain cryptic cases in the community. The one-off test will be conducted for individuals working at 110 hawker centres and markets and more than 1,120 coffee shops, as well as food delivery personnel working in those places. Testing is voluntary, but the workers are strongly encouraged to get tested to protect themselves and their loved ones, said the National Environment Agency (NEA), Singapore Food Agency (SFA), and Enterprise Singapore (ESG) on Thursday (Oct 15). Starting on Thursday, more than 2,200 stallholders, stall assistants and cleaners working at 11 hawker centres and markets, and 82 coffee shops in Ang Mo Kio GRC, Kebun Baru and Yio Chu Kang, as well as food delivery riders working in those areas, will be tested. The tests will be conducted till Friday at screening centres set up near the hawker centres and markets. On Friday, there will be five screening centres set up in the Ang Mo Kio area, including Ang Mo Kio Central Stage and the void deck of Blk 214 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3. The screening centres will run from 10am to 4pm. Officers from NEA and SFA, and grassroots leaders, as well as hawkers' and merchants' associations have started to reach out to the target groups in those areas since Oct 10. ESG has also informed food delivery companies about the testing exercise. This wider roll-out of testing follows a pilot swab-testing initiative conducted at some hawker centres, markets and coffee shops in Marine Parade last month. More than 750 stallholders, stall assistants, cleaners and delivery riders took the test, and nobody tested positive. – The Straits Times
Experts: Sabah's healthcare system at risk of collapse within weeks
Experts have warned that Sabah's healthcare system is at risk of being stretched to its limit in the next few weeks if the number Covid-19 cases continue to soar in the state. They said the authorities needed to marshal all available resources towards stemming community transmission, which may hold the answer to averting a healthcare crisis in the state. Epidemiologist Professor Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud said the key to stopping the pandemic from overwhelming Sabah's healthcare facilities was to curb widespread community transmission. "Using massive numbers (at least 100,000 to 200,000) of rapid test kit antigen, massive numbers of contact tracers and activating all quarantine facilities will be necessary (to curb the virus)," he told the New Straits Times. He said medical reinforcements deployed from the peninsula to Sabah had fallen short of the intensive care units' demands. "The number of critical cases is rising rapidly in Sabah and may overwhelm ICUs. Although more ventilators have been sent to Sabah, every ICU bed requires four nurses and equipment. As such, sending more ventilators is not enough." He said Sarawak was too far away for Covid-19 patients to be easily relocated in the event Sabah's healthcare system became stretched. He said the Rt (reproduction number of the virus at a given time) could not be used as the sole indicator to determine whether a healthcare system was strained. – New Straits Times
Cops seek motorcade pair
The Criminal Court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for two political activists suspected of intending to harm Her Majesty the Queen's liberty during a rally on Wednesday. According to Section 110 of the Penal Code, if found guilty, the pair could be jailed for 16 years to life. The imprisonment would be more severe compared with Section 112, or the lèse majesté law, which carries a term of up to 15 years if found guilty. The warrants identified the two as Ekkachai Hongkangwan and Bunkueanun Paothon, political activists present at the rally. The court granted the warrants following a request by Dusit police over an incident about 5.30pm on Wednesday on Phitsanulok Road. On that day, the royal motorcade of Her Majesty the Queen passed along the road, which was cordoned off by security officers to stop protesters. However, many protesters got through, and many were seen flashing the three-finger salute as her motorcade passed. Her Majesty, representing His Majesty the King, was accompanied by His Royal Highness Prince Dipangkorn Rasmijoti. She was to offer robes to monks as part of a kathin ceremony at Wat Arun Ratchawararam and Wat Ratcha Orasaram. The rally ended at Government House Thursday morning, but it re-emerged Thursday afternoon, and about 15,000 protesters descended upon the Ratchaprasong intersection in Bangkok. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha declared a state of emergency after the motorcade incident. It took effect at 4am Thursday. Protesters at Government House were dispersed by police, and they arrested five protest leaders, including Parit Chiwarak, Panusaya Sithijirawattanakul and Nutchanon Pairoj. Meanwhile, protest leaders Arnon Nampa and Prasit Khrutharoj were arrested in Bangkok and sent to Chiang Mai, where the provincial court issued arrest warrants for them. Mr Arnon, Mr Prasit and three other arrested activists were denied bail. A total of 23 protesters have been arrested. Protest leaders among them are facing charges of violating the emergency decree and organising illegal demonstrations. – Bangkok Post
LBH Pers condemns minister for calling jobs law criticisms 'hoaxes'
The Legal Aid Institute for the Press (LBH Pers) has expressed dismay over Communication and Technology Minister Johnny G. Plate’s insistence that the stream of criticism and protests against the Job Creation Law was driven by nothing but misinformation and hoaxes. LBH Pers director Ade Wahyudi said the minister’s tonally authoritarian statement showed a regression in the country’s democracy. “[…] We have entered an era in which the truth only belongs to the government,” Ade said on Thursday as quoted by tempo.co. “It’s not characteristic of a democratic nation.” He argued that it was the government and the lawmakers themselves that perpetuated disinformation by denying public access to the final version of the law in the first place. Johnny previously made the controversial statement during a live interview with television journalist Najwa Shihab alongside National Association of University Student Executive Bodies (BEM-SI) coordinator Remy Hastian on Wednesday. According to Johnny, the ministry has recorded at least 547 reports of misinformation regarding the Job Creation Law and the protests against it. Furthermore, the ministry had also classified thousands of online conversations surrounding the two topics as either misinformation or hoaxes, he said. Remy conveyed his disagreement, shifting the blame onto the government and lawmakers for their failure to make the final draft legislation available for public scrutiny. – The Jakarta Post
Duterte: DPWH corruption grave; Villar cites reforms
The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is ridden with corruption, and no construction work begins without money changing hands, President Duterte said on Wednesday. He did not provide details of the irregular transactions, but he said the problem was serious. “Projects, project engineers, all of that, the road right-of-way, the corruption there is grave. No construction begins without a transaction,” Duterte said in a televised address to the nation. He said he did not know who were involved, but there were a lot of them. “There are so many officials lined up in the bureaucratic maze so I don’t know which of them are involved, even those for the medicines and all,” he said. Duterte called the attention of Congress to the corruption in the DPWH. Senators have questioned the lump sums in the DPWH budget, as well as its massive funding for local projects compared with national infrastructure programs. There have also been allegations that government infrastructure projects have become a source of kickbacks or commissions that contractors pay to the project proponents. But Public Works Secretary Mark Villar enjoys Duterte’s “full trust and confidence,” according to presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. “Despite the corruption in the DPWH, Secretary Villar delivered. It helps that Secretary Villar’s family has more money than the DPWH,” Roque said at a press briefing. – INQUIRER.net
PM urges HCM City to aim high, become smart city, int’l financial hub in SE Asia
Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has urged HCM City to devise a long-term plan to turn the city into a smart city over the next five years and an international financial hub in Southeast Asia in the future. Speaking at the 11th HCM City Party Congress for 2020-25 term that opened on Thursday, Phúc said: “The five-year Party congress is an important political and historical event as it opens up a new vision for a new development period.” He added that HCM City should aim to become a major centre for education-training, science-technology, and culture, and maintain its role as the economic locomotive for the country’s southern key economic zone. Phúc spoke highly of the targets, tasks and solutions mapped out by HCM City over the next five years, especially the smart city project. “The city must continue to optimise all opportunities and potential to address the challenges to become a national economic driver.” The PM also praised the city for speeding up the progress of the first metro line (Bến Thành – Suối Tiên) that is expected to be tested by the end of this year so that it can become operational by the end of 2021. HCM City has also taken the lead in productivity nationwide. Its per capita gross regional domestic product (GRDP) has reached US$6,600, 2.4 times higher than the national average, with improvements made in social welfare, job generation and poverty reduction, according to the PM. – Viet Nam News
Cambodians commemorate the 8th year anniversary of King-Father’s passing
Cambodian people across the country this morning commemorated the eighth-year anniversary of His Majesty the King-Father Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk (Preah Borom Ratanak Kaudh)’s passing away. High-ranking delegations of the Senate, National Assembly and government as well as other institutions took turn to lay wreaths at the late King-Father’s Memorial Statue, located in a public park, east of the Monument of Independence in Phnom Penh. Meanwhile, government ministries and institutions, and municipal and provincial authorities also held ceremonies to pray for the soul of Preah Borom Ratanak Kaudh. In a message posted on his official Facebook post this morning, Prime Minister Hun Sen expressed his sincere gratitude to His Majesty the late King-Father, stressing that the Cambodian people will never forget his royal sacrifice for the supreme interest of the nation, and wished his soul rest in peace. His Majesty the King-Father Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk passed away on Oct. 15, 2012 at 01:20 am (time in Phnom Penh) in Beijing, China at the age of 90 from natural causes. October 15 is set to be a national holiday in Cambodia to commemorate the late King-Father’s sacrifice for the nation. Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk was born on Oct. 31, 1922. He was the only son of HRH Prince Norodom Suramarit and HRH Princess Sisowath Kossomak Nearirath Serey Vatthana. Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk became the King of the Kingdom of Cambodia in April 1941. He led Cambodia for the full independence from France in 1953. – Khmer Times