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.
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Singapore private home prices rise by faster 0.8% in Q3 amid recession
Private home prices in Singapore rose 0.8 per cent in the third quarter from the previous three months, defying a Covid-19 recession, according to final data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Friday (Oct 23). The 0.8 per cent gain in the third quarter of 2020 was unchanged from URA's flash estimate released on Oct 1. After a 1 per cent drop in the first quarter of 2020, the first quarterly decline in a year, prices began trending upwards again with a 0.3 per cent rise in the second quarter. With the third-quarter increase, private home prices have edged up 0.1 per cent in the first nine months of this year. The third-quarter price increase was driven by landed homes and a burst of buying in the city fringes and suburbs after the two-month circuit breaker ended on June 1, said Ms Christine Sun, OrangeTee & Tie's head of research and consultancy. "Many long-term investors and wealthy buyers are on the prowl for properties as many are repositioning their wealth from riskier assets," Ms Sun said. According to URA's final data, the total number of residential transactions, excluding executive condominiums (ECs), spiked by 164.5 per cent from 2,664 units in the second quarter to 7,047 units in the third quarter, she noted. Developers sold 3,517 units (excluding ECs), up 105 per cent from the 1,713 units taken up in the second quarter. They launched 3,791 units (excluding ECs), compared with 1,852 units in the previous quarter. – The Straits Times
Data sharing between governments crucial to beat Covid-19
The Malaysian Health Coalition (MHC) is calling for better data-sharing at all levels of government to decisively defeat the Covid-19 pandemic. MHC was commenting on the Health Ministry's decision to stop raw data sharing with state governments due to concerns of conflicting interpretations and uncoordinated conclusions during data analysis. "During the first two waves of the pandemic, the rate of infection remained relatively low due to close intra-governmental collaboration and data sharing. "We urge the government to resume this close cooperation that will help protect the people. "Responsible data analysis and reporting prevent misinformation, panic, chaos and harm," it said in a statement today. While MHC acknowledged that some information must be kept confidential to protect the privacy of Covid-19 patients, it urged the government to share other non-personally identifiable data. "While demographic information may be useful for understanding the virus spread and broader public health research in the country, all personal data from contact tracing must remain confidential under the Medical Act 1971 and Personal Data Protection Act 2010. "However, non-personally identifiable data can and should be shared. "With data-sharing, we can build more community trust that is necessary to beat the virus," it said. – New Straits Times
PPRP MPs to hold royalist activities
The ruling Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) will ask its MPs to organise activities in their constituencies to show loyalty to the monarchy. The resolution was reached after PPRP held an extraordinary meeting of its party MPs on Thursday. Ms Pailin Thiensuwan, PPRT MP for Samut Prakan and party deputy spokeswoman, said the party reaffirmed its positions at the meeting. It vows to support constitutional monarchy; improve people's well-being; and backing moves to amend the constitution through parliamentary channels so long as the changes are not made to chapters 1 and 2 (on general provisions and the King) of the charter. All party MPs and members will also continue to support Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha so he could keep working for all people. They will also give him moral support so he could get through the ongoing crisis. Sanhapot Suksrimuang, a Nakhon Si Thammarat MP and deputy spokesman, said the meeting resolved to have all party members and MPs hold activities in their constituencies to show loyalty to the institution. They could do so by organising activities with people wearing yellow shirts in their areas like those earlier organised in Chon Buri and Narathiwat provinces, said Mr Sannapong. The activities will demonstrate there are many people who love and are ready to protect the palace, he said. He ruled out clashes between different groups because yellow-clad people were mostly adults who had experiences in previous demonstrations. If a confrontation should occur, it will surely be caused by provocateurs, said Mr Sanhapot. – Bangkok Post
Indonesia's lab problems persist, testing rate remains below 1%
Indonesia’s low testing rate has persisted seven months into the COVID-19 pandemic, as laboratories throughout the archipelago face problems ranging from limited testing kits to delays in reported results. According to Oct. 16 data compiled by Oxford University’s Our World in Data, Indonesia had tested 0.12 people per 1,000 daily on a 7-day average. The figure was lower than the Philippines’ 0.3 per 1,000 and India’s 0.79 per 1,000. The latest World Health Organization situation report on Indonesia highlighted the need for the country to increase its lab capacity to ensure all suspected cases were tested. WHO data showed a widening gap between suspected cases and the number of people tested. The country's COVID-19 positivity rate is also hovering in the teens. Lab managers and doctors from eight regions in Indonesia told The Jakarta Post that government procurement of reagents, the chemicals used to detect the presence of the coronavirus in samples, had improved. But they said there was more to testing than reagents. Testing kit procurement, adjustment “Sometimes we run out of consumables [...] such as methanol, which can’t be transported by plane because it is flammable, and filter [pipette] tips," said Hessyani Raranta, who is in charge of Dr. Kandou General Hospital’s laboratory in Manado, North Sulawesi, last week. "They aren’t sold in Manado. We have to look for them ourselves and transport them by sea – or by land from Makassar." Ichsan, the infectious diseases lab manager at Syiah Kuala University in Aceh, said that beyond the difficulty of collecting the funds to purchase consumables and transporting them to the province, the goods had become scarce and could take up to two months to arrive at the lab. – The Jakarta Post
2 policemen blamed for Caloocan jailbreak
Two police officers are set to be charged for negligence after 15 detainees at the Caloocan City’s temporary custodial facility escaped early on Thursday. In an interview with reporters, Caloocan police chief Col. Dario Menor said: “We will file evasion through negligence. After we file the criminal charge, we will follow it up with an administrative case.” Fifteen detainees at the Custodial Facility Unit Extension near Caloocan City Hall escaped from the holding area through a hole that they made on the cell wall. Two of them were immediately captured. According to the Northern Police District, five escapees had already been captured by authorities by 9 p.m., while the manhunt for the remaining 10 continues. The escapees are facing different charges, from theft, robbery and extortion, alarm and scandal, unjust vexation to possession of illegal drugs. Menor said that the persons under police custody on Monday started chipping away a portion of the cell wall to create a hole big enough for them to escape. The detainees used concrete nails to carve the hole. Fifteen of 32 detainees inside the facility - which was designated as an isolation facility for those who will be transferred to the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) – joined the jailbreak. “The detainees who escaped were skinny and they managed to squeeze out of the small hole,” Menor told the Inquirer in an interview. – INQUIRER.net
ASEAN Smart Cities forum kicks off in Hà Nội
The ASEAN Smart Cities Network High-Level Forum 2020 kicked off in Hà Nội yesterday with the aim of promoting the sharing of initiatives, experiences and co-operation between Vietnamese cities and their urban counterparts throughout ASEAN. The forum, themed “Smart cities towards community identity and sustainable development for a cohesive and responsive ASEAN”, attracted the participation of more than 500 delegates from relevant ministries, along with domestic and international businesses. A series of seminars are also being held during the forum, with a primary focus on smart urban planning, digital infrastructure for smart cities, smart services within cities as part of the digital transformation process, and smart transportation. Participants also shared their experiences in smart city building and development, smart urban area models and technology solutions for smart city development. Speaking at the event, Nguyễn Văn Bình, secretary of the Party Central Committee and chairman of the Central Economic Commission, said urbanisation and digitalisation were taking place at a rapid pace around the world, with 70 per cent of the world’s population expected to be living and working in cities by 2050. “The question is how can we, at the same time, take advantage of the urbanisation and the digitalisation process for socio-economic development and limit this process’s negative impacts on the environment and ease the burden on technical and social infrastructure?”, Bình said. Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân PHúc said that the forum would be an important chance for parties to exchange in depth about their experiences in the process of smart city development in their own countries. – Viet Nam News
PM will ‘take action’ against former opposition members and supporters who protest outside Chinese Embassy today
Prime Minister Hun Sen has warned he will take action if former opposition members hold a protest outside the Chinese Embassy today following a call by former CNRP co-founder Sam Rainsy for Cambodians to demonstrate at Chinese embassies in several countries over allegations that Cambodia may be hosting Chinese military assets and personnel. Mr Hun Sen’s warning also comes as today is the 29th anniversary of the Paris Peace Agreement. His remarks were made while he visited thousands of flood victims in Banteay Meanchey province on Wednesday. Mr Hun Sen said the government knows of the former opposition leaders’ plans to gather outside Chinese embassies and has asked those involved to cancel their plans. He said that if former opposition party supporters want to gather today: “I would like to warn those who want to demonstrate in front of the Chinese Embassy in Phnom Penh to be careful. There is flooding, do not come and disturb,” he said. “There are people who are ready to come to Phnom Penh, as they recruit people from the provinces to demonstrate,” Mr Hun Sen said, adding that these people are under government observation and the situation is under control, urging them not to protest or hand out petitions today. Mr Hun Sen said he was one of the signatories of the Paris Peace Agreement. He questioned former opposition leaders’ involvement in the agreement. “You want to protest? Do you know this agreement clearly? I am the one who negotiated for the Paris Peace Agreement,” he said. “Are you stupid to demonstrate inside and outside the country?”– Khmer Times