These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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New S'pore court dedicated to harassment cases to be established on June 1
A new court dedicated to dealing with harassment cases, such as those involving doxxing - the publishing of an individual's private personal information online - and threatening behaviour, will be established here on Tuesday (June 1). The Protection from Harassment Court will hear all criminal and civil harassment claims, said the Ministry of Law and the State Courts in a joint press release on Monday (May 31). But the court may not deal with claims related to other civil or family proceedings that it thinks would be more "justly, expeditiously and economically disposed of in another court". Simplified court processes will be adopted in the new court for certain types of applications - including those for Protection Orders (POs) and orders relating to falsehoods - if the claims meet certain criteria. Hearings will also be conducted by the new court more quickly, so that victims can obtain timely relief. It will aim to conduct hearings for Expedited Protection Orders (EPOs) within 48 to 72 hours of application, or within 24 hours when actual violence or a risk of violence is involved. It will also aim to hear PO applications within four weeks of their submission. Various changes to the Protection from Harassment Act (Poha)in order to enhance protection for harassment victims will also kick in on Tuesday. A victim applying for a PO against his or her harasser need not prove that a provision in the Poha has been contravened, if the offender had already been convicted of any Poha or hurt-related offence against him or her. Judges granting EPOs in egregious cases of hurt or harassment will now be required to consider whether a criminal investigation is warranted and, if so, refer such cases to the police for investigation. POs and EPOs will be extended to protect persons related to the victim, as these individuals may also be harassed by the same perpetrator. Domestic exclusion orders, which restrain the respondent from entering the applicant's residence or parts of the residence, can also be granted as part of a PO. "This will ensure better protection for victims who may reside in the same residence as the harasser," stated the press release on Monday. – The Straits Times
BM market to close after traders test positive for Covid-19
The Bukit Mertajam market here has been ordered to be closed with immediate effect after three positive Covid-19 cases involving traders were reported there. Seberang Prai City Council (MBSP) Mayor Datuk Rozali Mohamud said the closure would be until June 8. "The closure is to enable contract tracing to be carried out as well as sanitisation work at the site," he said today. Rozali said based on information received from the Seberang Prai Tengah district health office, there were three traders who tested positive for Covid-19 as of today. He said officials from the district health office had conducted investigations and checks at the site. "Based on the checks, the district health office is satisfied that the market be ordered close from 2pm today until June 8. "MBSP also urged any traders, identified as close contacts and need to have their swab test taken, to contact the district health office at 04-5397884 for an appointment," he added. He also said any traders who wanted to have swab tests done could do so in any private clinic and inform the city council about the results of their test for record and planning purposes. "All traders must adhere strictly to the closure notice and will not be allowed to trade until June 8 or otherwise informed," he added. Rozali also warned traders, who are asked to have their swab tests done but failed to do so, that the MBSP, the police and the Health Ministry would track them down. He added that the integrated operations team would issue notices before action is taken under provisions of the law. – New Straits Times
Women warned of birth control pill, vaccine risk
Birth control pills run a risk of causing blood clots and women may consider stopping taking the pills before receiving jabs against Covid-19, says Siraya Kitiyodom, an obstetrician-gynaecologist at Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital. In a live-streaming session on the issue, Dr Siraya said women who take contraceptive pills are more at risk of having blood clots than those who do not, because the pills contain hormones that can trigger blood clots. She said there is no evidence as to what effects the Covid-19 vaccine might have on the health of women taking the pills. Regardless, some European countries have warned women on birth control pills to delay receiving vaccinations until the effects wear off, which takes about one month. Dr Siraya said those who are on the pills and have concerns about potential effects may consider stop taking the pills or use other birth control methods to avoid risks. The risks of blood clots due to the Covid-19 vaccine and contraceptive pills are being discussed following the death of 32-year-old Naririn Angthong, a native of Yala, who died about two weeks after receiving a Covid-19 vaccine shot. Naririn died due to blood-clotting in her lungs on May 27 at Hat Yai Hospital, where she was vaccinated on May 14. Health authorities are probing to see if her death was linked to the vaccination. Thiravat Hemachudha, head of the Centre for Emerging Disease Health Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University, wrote on his Facebook page that people should stop taking migraine medications or drugs with similar effects before receiving vaccination. This was despite the minimal risk of suffering side effects after getting a Covid-19 vaccine. He also said women who take contraceptive pills should stop taking them at least 14 days before getting the jab, if possible. – Bangkok Post
‘Let’s make our own map’: Sotto eyeing bill to assert PH’s claims in WPS
The Philippines should make its own map that would counter China’s nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said, adding that he is eyeing a bill that will assert the country’s own claims over contested areas. “I came across an article…saying that why don’t we make our own map? They (China) made their own nine-dash line,” Sotto said in an interview on ABS-CBN News Channel Monday. “Let’s make our own [map]. Let’s insist on our own and then God forbid that they cross the line, the MDT (Mutual Defense Treaty) will kick in. So, I think it’s a matter of really just setting our foot down. As a matter of I’ve toying with the idea of filing a bill [na] linawin doon ang ating mga pag-aari,” he added. “I’m already contemplating on filing a bill that will mark this and will institutionalize [this],” he further said. Manila and Beijing have been locked in a long-standing maritime dispute. In July 2016, the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands ruled in favour of the Philippines and invalidated China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea, including parts of the West Philippine Sea. Beijing, however, refuses to recognize the said ruling. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) has so far lodged 100 diplomatic protests against China since the start of the Duterte administration, the most recent of which is over the “incessant” deployment of Chinese maritime and fishing vessels around Pag-asa Island. Sotto said the Philippines could be “more assertive, and if possible, aggressive” in its stand on the West Philippine Issue. Still, the senator said it would be best to continue pursuing negotiations with China as he backed the advice of former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who warned against taking a confrontational stance on the matter. “We’re not capable of getting into trouble. What we have to do really is again, aside from negotiation, we must be more assertive, and if possible, aggressive in our positions,” Sotto said. “But I do agree with what he’s (Enrile) saying, not now. Perhaps while we’re negotiating then we try to build up our capabilities,” he added. – INQUIRER.net
HCM City to enforce social distancing for two weeks, starting May 31
HCM City will carry out social distancing for two weeks beginning on Monday (May 31) under Government's Directive No.15. Non-essential services will be shut, and so will entertainment, cultural and sports activities in public. Gatherings of more than five people in public will be banned (Directive 15 allows gatherings of up to 10 people in public, but HCM City's authorities went a step further), and events and meetings with more than 20 people in one room will not be permitted. People must keep a 2-metre distance from others in public, and transportation from COVID-19 hit areas must be limited. Meanwhile, the Directive No.16 will be applied to Go Vap District and District 12's Thanh Loc Wards, where several COVID cases have been detected, according to which people at those areas must stay at home unless for justified reasons. Directive No.16 also requires people to keep a distance of at least 2 metres from others. Gatherings of more than two people in public are banned. Production factories must ensure a safe distance between workers and disinfect their working space. Workers must wear masks. The social distancing period will officially start on May 31, the city People’s Committee Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong said during an online meeting on Sunday. Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh approved Phong's decision and instructed the city to speed up tracing of potential infections in the community, especially cases related to the swelling COVID-19 outbreak related to the Revival Ekklesia Mission Christian sect in Go Vap District, detected on May 27. Binh said that factories should continue production and comply with regulations about COVID-19 prevention and control. Phong has also halted the 10th grade entrance examinations until further notice. He instructed students at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy and Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine to help take samples for COVID testing in the community. The city aims to increase the capacity to 50,000 samples per day. More than 280,000 workers and 3,000 experts at industrial parks and export processing zones will be tested. Nguyen Tan Binh, head of the Department of Health, said that the city had recorded 13 incidences per one million people. – Viet Nam News
Health Ministry prepares to go full steam in vaccination drive
The Health Ministry has come in full support of Prime Minister Hun Sen who wants the National Vaccination Strategy Plan against the Covid-19 pandemic to be fully implemented with the Kingdom still recording new cases and deaths. Ministry spokeswoman Or Vandine said that the Ministry will follow what Mr Hun Sen announced on Saturday and will make sure that the vaccination plan is carried to the fullest to achieve herd immunity. She added that they have already vaccinated some 25 percent of the population and will go aggressive on their vaccination campaign to inoculate 80 percent of the population as per the availability of the Covid-19 vaccine doses. “Following Mr Hun Sen’s message on Saturday, I am already preparing the needful to make sure the National Vaccination Strategic Plan is fully implemented,” she told Khmer Times yesterday. For now, she said, the Ministry has identified three more districts in Phnom Penh where they need to vaccinate the people and will do so as soon as possible, upon receiving the doses of vaccine. After they had completed vaccinating the people in Phnom Penh, Vandine said they will start inoculating people in the provinces of Kandal and Preah Sihanouk. On Saturday in a voice message, Mr Hun Sen ordered local officials and provincial governors to stop proposing sector-specific vaccinations in their respective provinces as Cambodia needs to vaccinate all its citizens in order of priority from capital to province. “We cannot vaccinate here a little bit, that place a little bit, otherwise we will not get benefit from this vaccination issue,” he said, adding that to achieve herd immunity, the government will inoculate those in Phnom Penh and then move to Kandal province and other provinces where worker concentration is high. Mr Hun Sen said he will discuss with Vandine to give priority to other provinces after Phnom Penh and Kandal according to the process of the Cambodian vaccination plan. “We will have enough vaccines for the next phase with more than 4.5 million doses arriving in June and beyond,” he said. He added that the plan to vaccinate 10 million people could be completed by the end of 2021 or early 2022. – Khmer Times
Controversial former ABSDF leader shot dead in Sagaing Region
A former leader of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) who was allegedly involved in the torture and murder of suspected regime spies nearly three decades ago has been killed in an apparent assassination. Than Chaung, who was serving as deputy commander-in-chief of the Shanni Nationalities Army (SNA) at the time of his death, was shot three times at close range on Thursday and died the next morning, according to a spokesperson for the group. The shooting occurred at one of the group’s camps in Sagaing Region, said SNA spokesperson Col Hsur Sai Tun, who dismissed speculation that the assailant was a soldier under Than Chaung’s command. “The gunman was someone who had recently joined us. He hadn’t even become a private. We can’t say much about him yet, as we still need to investigate his background,” he told Myanmar Now. He added that the gunman was now dead. The motive behind the attack was unknown. Than Chaung, who was also known as Sao Khun Kyaw or Myint Soe, was in charge of military affairs at the Kachin-based northern branch of the ABSDF in the years after it was formed in the wake of the 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The 56-year-old former student leader was infamous for his alleged involvement in the torture and extrajudicial killings of suspected regime spies at the ABSDF’s Pajau camp in Kachin State’s Waingmaw Township between August 1991 and May 1992. The camp was the base of the ABSDF (North), with a force of more than 300 troops in territory controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA). Of a total of 106 people who were accused of acting as spies for the military junta at the time, 35 were executed or tortured to death. Survivors of the massacre later identified Than Chaung as one of the leaders mainly responsible for what happened at the Pajau camp. In 1994, Than Chaung and his followers joined the Shan State Progressive Party/Shan State Army (SSPP/SSA) after the KIA signed a ceasefire with the military government and members of the student army were forced to leave the Kachin territory. In 1998, he resigned from the SSPP/SSA to join the Restoration Council of Shan State/Shan State Army (RCSS/SSA). He was a commanding officer of the RCSS’s Brigade 241. He was arrested by the military junta in 2006 while serving in the RCSS and sentenced to 68 years in prison on 11 different charges. In April 2018, he was released from the Tharyarwaddy Prison after receiving a presidential pardon under the National League for Democracy government. After his release, he became deputy commander-in-chief of the SNA. His death on Thursday came a day before the current regime began publishing a series about the killings in Pajau in The Mirror, a state-run Burmese-language newspaper. The series, titled “Pajau Hell Camp, or the History of Those Murdered without Anyone Knowing While Going Underground in the Jungle for a Belief,” appears at a time when a growing number of youth protesters are turning to armed resistance against the junta that seized power on February 1. – Myanmar NOW
Indonesia to add 41,000 megawatts of electrical power in one decade
The government is planning to build power plants with a capacity of up to 41 thousand megawatts in the next 10 years, according to a draft of state electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN)'s electricity procurement plan (RUPTL) for the 2021-2030 period. The government assured that the planned development of power plants will prioritize new and renewable energy-based power plants, Director General of Electricity at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry Rida Mulyana said in a statement quoted in Jakarta on Saturday. "We have targeted to get an addition of nearly 41 thousand megawatts in the next 10 years including 2021," he said. In 2021, the government has targeted an addition of 8,915 megawatts comprising 4,688 megawatts from mine-mouth power plants and 3,467 megawatts from gas-fired power plants, he said. Meanwhile, 22 megawatts will come from diesel power plants and 737 megawatts from new and renewable energy-based power plants. Rida said the power plants with a capacity of 34,520 megawatts have been discussed with PLN, while power plants with a capacity of 6,439 megawatts are still being discussed. In drafting the RUPTL for the next decade, the government will still give priority to the development of fossil fuel power plants over new and renewable energy-based power plants, with a 52 percent-48 percent ratio. Based on the regulation, the RUPTL is drawn up every 10 years and will be subject to a change if based on the result of evaluation it needs revision. The change may also happen due to discretion from the energy and mineral resources minister or governor in accordance with their authority. – AntaraNews.Com