These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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1 in 5 S'pore employers to ramp up hiring in new year, survey shows
Job seekers can look forward to better hiring prospects in the new year, with a survey revealing one in five Singapore employers expects to increase recruitment. Around 20 per cent are likely to hire more staff in the first three months of 2021 than in the current quarter, said the employment outlook survey released on Tuesday (Dec 8) by recruitment agency ManpowerGroup. Meanwhile, 66 per cent said they anticipate no change to their headcounts, while 4 per cent said they expect a decrease in their total employment. Overall, the net employment outlook is a 15 per cent increase - a 17 percentage point rise from the last quarter, and the strongest outlook recorded for Singapore in six years by the quarterly survey. Compared to the six other Asia-Pacific countries and territories where the same survey was conducted, Singapore recorded the second strongest net employment outlook after Taiwan (23 per cent). Hong Kong had the poorest outlook (minus 2 per cent), while China, Japan and India recorded positive net employment outlooks of between five and 10 per cent. The net employment outlook is calculated by subtracting the percentage of employers who expect to see a decrease in employment from the percentage of employers who anticipate an increase in total employment. Singapore's strong recovery in employment outlook reflects employers' growing confidence now that it has the pandemic under control, said Ms Linda Teo, country manager of ManpowerGroup Singapore. "However, the return to pre-pandemic hiring levels will be gradual as employers continue to keep their plans fluid in anticipation of new developments to the Covid-19 crisis. "At the same time, employers are recalibrating their workforce strategy in view of tightening restrictions on work pass applications as well as the increased digitalisation of work." Hiring outlook was positive in all seven sectors surveyed, but strongest in mining and construction, the services sector as well as transportation and utilities. Ms Teo said this reflects the changes in consumer behaviour as a result of Covid-19, where more people are shopping online and companies have expanded to e-commerce. – The Straits Times
New Perak MB to be announced today?
THE question of who will be Perak's 14th Menteri Besar (chief minister) may very well be answered today. The Perak political scene has been thrown into turmoil following the ouster of Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu as the Menteri Besar last Friday after he failed to muster enough support during a vote of confidence at the state legislative assembly. However, despite questions over the composition of the new state government and how it will accommodate personalities from UMNO, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia and the opposition, it appears that a decision on who will be the next Menteri Besar may have already been made. Insiders told the New Straits Times that the processes are already in place for the announcement of the new Menteri Besar as well as the swearing-in ceremony, which could possibly take place as early as today. While several names have been bandied about as possible candidates, insiders suggest that Perak UMNO chief Datuk Saarani Mohamad has emerged as the front-runner for the coveted post. Rungkup assemblyman Datuk Shahrul Zaman Yahya, touted to also be a candidate for the position, yesterday conceded that Perak UMNO and Barisan Nasional members had reached a consensus and agreed to nominate Saarani for the post. "UMNO and BN have agreed to nominate Saarani as Perak Menteri Besar," he said in a post, urging everyone to let Sultan of Perak Sultan Nazrin Muizzuddin Shah have the final say on the matter. Shahrul, in his post, appeared to have alluded to defeat in the bid to become Menteri Besar, saying that Muslims must always believe in qada' and qadar (fate and destiny). "Everything has been written. A position is a responsibility. We need to go back to basics. We are here to serve the rakyat in any capacity we can," he wrote. – New Straits Times
PM allays 2nd wave concerns
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha tried to allay fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections, saying the Thais who sneaked back across the border from Myanmar's Tachileik town were not super-spreaders. The prime minister also warned that those who entered the country illegally via natural passages to avoid mandatory quarantine will face legal action. Speaking via the government's Thai Khu Fah podcast broadcast on Monday, Gen Prayut gave assurances that the Covid-19 situation in Thailand remained under control despite some infected Thais sneaking back across the border from Myanmar. "It is not a second wave of infections or super-spreaders. It is individual infections. We have asked the neighbouring country to screen and prevent them from entering via natural passages along the border," the prime minister said. He said he instructed authorities to build barricades along the border and step up border patrols around the clock to stop illegal crossings by people who may bring the disease with them. The Interior Ministry has also been told to set up additional checkpoints to watch for those who might manage to sneak back, while local residents have also been urged to keep an eye out for strangers or outsiders who enter their villages and alert authorities, the prime minister said. "Those who sneak back will face legal punishment because they are irresponsible towards others and society as a whole," Gen Prayut said. "I told security agencies to use aerial photography or drones to survey any new natural crossings that might be used by illegal border crossers so additional barricades and patrols can be deployed there," Gen Prayut said. – Bangkok Post
Observers call for independent investigation into killing of six FPI members in alleged clash with police
Divergent accounts between the police and the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) over the deaths of six of the group’s members in a purported altercation in the early hours of Monday have sparked questions from observers, calling for transparency into the incident. The calls came following an alleged clash between members of the police and sympathizers of FPI leader Rizieq Shihab on a section of the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road, which resulted in the deaths of six men. Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Fadil Imran said his office had deployed six personnel at midnight to tail a vehicle thought to have belonged to Rizieq supporters, following a tip-off regarding a plan allegedly concocted by FPI members to disrupt the questioning of the controversial cleric by the police, scheduled to take place at the Jakarta Police headquarters at 10 a.m. Rizieq was summoned by the Jakarta Police regarding the alleged public health protocol violations at his mass gatherings last month. However, he claimed the driver of the vehicle had noticed that they were being followed, which prompted them to obstruct the police car. The alleged Rizieq sympathizers then proceeded to attack the police officers deployed to the scene using firearms and sharp weapons, Fadil continued. “The officers, whose safety was threatened, responded by taking tough and measured action [against the purported attackers],” he said during a televised press conference. He added that six of the 10 alleged attackers were shot dead as a result of the conflict. The others managed to flee the scene. Fadil went on to say that none of the officers present at the scene were injured. Only the police car used to tail Rizieq’s alleged supporters was damaged as a result of the clash, he added. “We call on Rizieq and his supporters to refrain from disrupting the investigation process, because doing so constitutes a felony,” he said, adding that the police would not hesitate to take strict action against threats directed at the police. – The Jakarta Post
Senators alarmed gov’t helpless to counter cyberthreats
Senators on Monday raised “grave concern” over the government’s lack of measures to counter the cybersecurity threats confronting the country, especially with the prospective entry of a telecommunications company that is partly owned by China. Sen. Grace Poe, chair of the Senate committee on public services, expressed dismay at the admission of officials from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), as well as the National Security Council (NSC), that the Philippines still did not have sufficient mechanisms in place to combat the raging cybersecurity warfare. “This really is the problem. We’re talking about the franchise of Dito Telecommunications, and one of the issues being brought forth – and I think fairly – is how do we protect ourselves, knowing that a certain percentage of ownership is owned by a foreign national,” Poe said. “How can the government assure us that they have given a fair assessment of our safety, of our sovereignty, if we don’t even have a proper cybersecurity group that does the assessment?” she added during the online hearing on the franchise applications of Dito Telecom and Instant Data Inc. The senator was reacting sharply to statements from the DICT and the NSC headed by Secretary Hermogenes Esperon Jr. that supposedly indicated that no government entity was handling cybersecurity concerns. “I know, Secretary Esperon, you’re drafting this and that, but when it comes to the actual mechanism in place, should we have a threat, there’s really no plan,” Poe said. “So how can we say that we are safe when we do not have a mechanism to determine that we are safe or not?” she said. Esperon clarified that the cybersecurity group of the Armed Forces of the Philippines was performing the function of assessing the prevailing threats of cyberattacks. “That’s why we need to fund the DICT so that they could have an operations centre for lawful intercept,” he said. Sen. Risa Hontiveros aired her concern over the presence of “state-sponsored” hacking in foreign countries, mainly China-based groups that are carrying out attacks on behalf of the Chinese government. – INQUIRER.net
People's Army honoured for completing tasks
Party General Secretary and State President Nguyễn Phú Trọng on Monday praised the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of National Defence for their achievements in 2020 despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and complex regional and global developments. Trọng, also Secretary of the Central Military Commission, and other high-ranking officials of the Party and the State attended the national political-military conference on Monday. On the occasion, the People's Army of Việt Nam was honoured with the first-class National Defence Medal. Sen. Lieut. Gen. Phan Văn Giang, Chief of the General Staff of the Việt Nam People’s Army and Deputy Defence Minister, said the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of Defence had ordered all forces to make efforts to overcome challenges to complete their tasks. The military forces have taken a pioneering role in pandemic prevention and natural disaster prevention and control work. More than 16,000 soldiers, self-defence force and militia and thousands of local vehicles and forces were mobilised to evacuate flood-hit people in the central region and islands. More than 1,600 patrol teams were on duty at land and sea borders to manage immigration. The military forces have also been involved in conducting research missions and making COVID-19 quick test kits. It shows that in any circumstance, soldiers and officials “do not mind difficulties and always stay close to the people,” he said. In 2020, the Central Military Commission and the Ministry of Defence made consultations and organised external defence activities in the year Việt Nam held the ASEAN Chairmanship and was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. He said bilateral and multilateral defence co-operation this year had made breakthroughs. The ministry had participated in UN peacekeeping, making a contribution to maintaining peace and stability for national development. – Viet Nam News
Cambodia’s COVID-19 vaccine updates: Front liners, teachers, armed forces to be given priority
Prime Minister Hun Sen has given recommendations on the first group to receive the vaccinations against the COVID-19 pandemic in the first phase of one million doses. In a voice clip Monday Night, Mr Hun Sen said medical staff is the high-risk group to get the COVID-19 vaccine first, followed by teachers, armed forces, prison officers, justice officers (forestry, fisheries, and environmental officers), etc. Students at both public and private universities and at vocational schools, construction workers and other workers could be the targets in the next phase in which two to three million doses will be purchased. The Inter-ministerial Committee to Combat COVID-19 will discuss the issue today via Videoconference. This evening, the Premier announced to set aside some budget to buy 1 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines for the first stage to provide for the high-risk and risk groups free of charge. But one million doses can be used only with 500,000 people (a person needs two doses) while the population of Cambodia is about 16 million, both children and adults, therefore around 10 million people need vaccines. According to the Premier, Cambodia is building a warehouse to store vaccines at the low temperature of up to -80 degrees Celsius. As of Monday evening, the national tally of COVID-19 rose to 349, of which 33 are connected to the Nov. 28 Community Event. Among them, 306 have successfully recovered with no fatal case. – Khmer Times