These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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ISD detains S'porean Dickson Yeo, who spied for China, for acting as paid agent of foreign state
A Singaporean man who had worked for China's intelligence services since 2016 has been detained for two years under the Internal Security Act (ISA) for being a threat to Singapore. Dickson Yeo, 40, had acted as a paid agent of a foreign state, said the Internal Security Department (ISD) on Tuesday (June 15). He was arrested by the ISD on Dec 30 last year, after he was deported to Singapore from the United States upon completion of a 14-month jail term for spying for China in the US. Yeo was issued an Order of Detention under the ISA on Jan 29. "ISD's investigations established that Yeo had worked for the intelligence apparatus of a foreign state and had carried out various taskings given to him by his foreign handlers in exchange for monetary gains," said the department. "Yeo admitted to being fully aware that his foreign handlers were working for the intelligence apparatus of the foreign state." ISD said that Yeo was tasked to source information and provide reports on issues of interest to his foreign handlers, including information relating to Singapore. He had approached various individuals in Singapore to try and obtain information for the purpose of writing his reports. Yeo had set up a front company in Singapore as a cover for his information-gathering activities, as well as recruitment for his foreign handlers. "He had also tried, but failed, to secure employment in the Singapore Government sector to further his information-gathering activities. Yeo had carried out these activities over a period from 2016 until his arrest in the US in 2019," said ISD. The department said investigations are ongoing and that Yeo's continued detention is necessary to allow the ISD to find out the full extent of his activities. During a trip to Beijing in 2015, Yeo was recruited by Chinese agents who claimed to represent think-tanks. He was studying for a doctorate at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore at that time. – The Straits Times
157 infected in Ocean Blue cluster, involving navy vessel from Perak
The Ocean Blue cluster involving a navy vessel from Perak has contributed another 29 Covid-19 positive cases in the state capital. Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said with the latest results from the Armed Forces, the cluster now has 157 Covid-19 cases. The ship arrived here on June 6 and the index case of the cluster is a 29-year-old symptomatic man who tested positive upon arrival at the naval base near here. Prior to their departure, the Covid-19 tests for the crew were negative. Masidi added Kota Kinabalu topped the list with 89 cases yesterday which also contributed from three existing clusters and other cases, apart from the Ocean Blue cluster. Overall, Sabah has 273 Covid-19 cases with one death in Beaufort. No cases reported from nine districts - Beluran, Tongod, Pitas, Kota Marudu, Ranau, Putatan, Kuala Penyu, Tenom and Tambunan. The only green zone in the state is Beluran. Masidi, who is also state Local Government and Housing minister, added that the government would continue to tighten the Sabah-Labuan borders. Since May 26, Sabah government closes the borders to prevent the spread of the Indian variant of Covid-19 from the island. "This (tighter control at borders) is to prevent smuggling activities from the Labuan Federal Territory. "The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agencies and Marine police will add on their assets to smoothen the operations." – New Straits Times
Prayut won't lay vaccine blame
Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha refused to lay the blame for recent vaccination cancellations for individuals or state agencies when speaking to reporters at parliament on Monday, saying reports had been muddled by too many sources. "I'm not blaming anyone. Others may not have the same understanding of the issue because information is being passed through too many channels," Gen Prayut said while replying to questions about the stop-start nature of the national vaccination programme in some parts of the country over the past few days. The prime minister said he has instructed the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) to reiterate his desire to balance current stocks according to demand and urgency. He also said he wanted to see appointment numbers aligned more closely with the concept of demand so fewer people would have their appointments cancelled or be turned away. "We may have the capacity to administer 100,000 doses in a single day. But where are the vaccines for appointments on other days?" he said. Gen Prayut said he did not expect any more significant hiccups. "If any such problems still exist, [we will] do some fine-tuning," he added. The premier reiterated that supplies are received in batches throughout the month, and the amounts are not uniform. "From now on, the appointments will be organised based on the vaccines that arrive in each batch," he said. His remarks were made after many hospitals in Bangkok, both privately run and state-owned, announced they had suspended appointments this week because they ran out of supplies. One city resident, who declined to be named, said she and her husband arrived at a hospital in Lat Phrao district on Monday afternoon only to be told the schedule had been deferred. Gen Prayut, meanwhile, said those who booked from the provinces via the Mor Prom application will be given priority because they made the appointments well in advance and may have made travel plans. Certain amounts of vaccines being administered at more than 100 vaccination points in Bangkok are outside of the quota allocated to City Hall, the prime minister said. On Monday, the CCSA held a joint conference with Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang and Dr Opas Karnkawinpong, head of the Department of Disease Control (DDC) to explain how the rollout is being managed. Both reiterated the aim was to procure enough vaccines for at least 70% of the population to have received both doses necessary for immunity by the end of the year. Dr Opas said that as of June 13, 6.1 million shots had been administered, adding that 17% of the capital's residents have now had their first doses, and they included many key education personnel, public transport workers and subscribers of the social security fund. He said City Hall is continuing to receive regular supplies of vaccine from the Public Health Ministry. – Bangkok Post
US welcomes Duterte’s decision to hold off VFA termination for 3rd time
The United States Embassy in Manila welcomed President Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to extend for the third time the suspension of the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). “We welcome the Government of the Philippines’ decision to again suspend termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA),” the embassy said in a statement Tuesday. “Our alliance continues to contribute not only to the security of our two nations, but also strengthens the rules-based order that benefits all nations in the Indo-Pacific,” it added. On Monday night, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Duterte decided to once again extend the suspension of the VFA abrogation as the chief executive “studies” the pact and “both sides further address his concerns regarding particular aspects of the agreement.” Locsin did not elaborate which particular provisions of the pact the President has concerns about. Officials from the Philippines and the US began discussions to iron out the two countries’ differences over the VFA last February, a year after Duterte pulled out from the agreement. The process of the VFA termination, however, has been held off in June 2020 and a second time in November 2020. The VFA, which took effect in 1999, provides a mechanism for visiting American soldiers and serves as the foundation for military exercises and humanitarian work. – INQUIRER.net
Hospitals tighten COVID preventive measures after 55 staff test positive after receiving 2 vaccine doses
Hospitals in HCM City are strengthening preventive measures against COVID-19 after 55 employees, mostly in administrative departments, at the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases tested positive for coronavirus. Speaking at an online meeting on Monday, Nguyen Tan Binh, head of the city's Department of Health, said that 55 of 924 employees at the hospital had tested positive. All of these employees had received two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Most of the positive cases are employed in the IT and administrative departments. The hospital's doctors and nurses have all tested negative for coronavirus. Test results show that the viral load of the positive cases was low, possibly because they had already received two doses of the vaccine. The staff who tested positive are healthy and are not in serious condition, and have no symptoms. A contagious-disease expert at the city Children’s Hospital No 1, Truong Huu Khanh, said: “No vaccine can protect 100 per cent against disease. So, vaccines against COVID-19 are the same. Vaccinations will help keep COVID-19 patients from becoming seriously ill or even dying. And they will not be able to spread the germ to others strongly." Professor of Infectious Diseases Tran Tinh Hien at Oxford University has said that the "rate of vaccinated people who have tested positive for coronavirus is 5 per cent to 10 per cent. This is not a failure of the vaccine.” The protection efficiency for people getting vaccinated with the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is 60 per cent after 28 days, according to a survey conducted of 159,930 adults aged more than 70 in the UK from December 2020 to February this year. The primary analysis of Phase III clinical trials from the UK, Brazil and South Africa published as a preprint in The Lancet confirmed that the COVID-19 vaccine from AstraZeneca is safe and effective at preventing COVID-19, with no severe cases and no hospitalisations more than 22 days after the first dose. Results demonstrated vaccine efficacy of 76 per cent after the first dose, with protection maintained to the second dose. With an interval of 12 weeks or more between the two doses, vaccine efficacy increased to 82 per cent. – Viet Nam News
Foreign national arrested for child sex abuse in Siem Reap
A foreigner has been sent to court in Siem Reap province on a charge of child sex abuse and soliciting child prostitution. Siem Reap Provincial Police have announced that the foreigner – named as ‘Xavier Vincent G’ aged 51, a Belgian national living in Sangkat Svay Dangkum, Siem Reap City, was arrested yesterday morning. Colonel Chea Heng, director of the Siem Reap Provincial Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police Office, said that three women living in Chong Kaosou Village, Sangkat Slor Kram, Siem Reap City – who are the mothers of 4 young girls – originally filed the case against the suspect in 2020. The victims allege that the suspect took them to his home and paid the sums ranging from $ 10 to $ 100 – as well as buying them mobile phones – to engage in sexual activity. Under police questioning, the suspect admitted that he knew the four children and had bought them mobile phones, given them money and cakes – as well as going for walks with them but denied any improper activity. – Khmer Times
Karenni religious leaders cry foul as churches come under fire
Less than a month into its campaign to crush Karenni resistance forces in eastern Myanmar, the military has hit at least eight churches in what some are calling deliberate attacks. Church leaders have appealed to the military to end its shelling of places of worship, which they say has greatly increased the hardships of civilians seeking refuge from the fighting. “We told them there are no armed groups hiding in our churches, just people taking shelter,” said a Catholic priest who took part in talks with military officials during the early stages of the conflict. “They know that we’re housing the elderly, children and women. Sometimes I don’t even know what to say about them. This is just a planned, deliberate action,” he added. Local resistance forces, armed with hunting rifles and other simple weapons, began clashing with regime troops late last month. Since then, eight churches have been damaged or destroyed by artillery shells in Kayah State’s Loikaw and Demoso townships and Moebye and Pekhon townships in southern Shan State. According to local residents, junta troops have also set up camp in church compounds, further violating their role as sanctuaries for people in need. Father Celso Ba Shwe, the apostolic administrator of Christ the King Cathedral in Loikaw, said that church officials met with senior military officers several times to discuss their concerns. “We let them know from the beginning. We’ve had a couple of meetings, both with the chief of the interrogation centre in Loikaw and at the Eastern Command,” he said. However, as the situation continued to deteriorate, the church was forced to make a more public appeal. On May 25, a day after an artillery shell killed four people and injured eight at the Sacred Heart Church in Kayan Tharyar, a village near Loikaw, Cardinal Charles Bo, the Archbishop of Yangon, released a statement calling on the junta to refrain from targeting churches. “Let us remember the blood that is spilled is not some enemy’s blood; those who died and those who were wounded are the citizens of this country. They were not armed; they were inside the church to protect their families,” said the cardinal. While the military has denied targeting churches, few who are familiar with the situation on the ground believe that such incidents are accidental. “There’s no way they shot these churches by mistake. For one thing, they’re on big compounds that are very easy to identify by their buildings. And we’ve set up white flags at every church,” said one priest who spoke to Myanmar Now. On the night of May 26, just one day after Cardinal Bo issued his appeal, junta troops opened fire on the St. Joseph Catholic Church in Demoso, destroying walls and windows. Civilians sheltering at the church were forced to relocate after the incident, according to a local priest who asked to remain anonymous. “There were about a thousand people staying there at the time. Most were very old, or women with young children. Some were in bad health, and there were pregnant women as well. They came to the church because they couldn’t run far,” he said. According to a local resistance fighter, the church is now being used by the military as a temporary base. – Myanmar NOW
South Kalimantan BNNP intercepts meth distribution from Malaysia
South Kalimantan's Anti-Narcotics Agency (BNNP) successfully warded off an attempt to distribute 8.2 kilograms of methamphetamine hidden in rice sacks, allegedly smuggled from Malaysia. "The drugs were concealed in sacks containing rice," South Kalimantan's BNNP Head, Brig. Gen. Jackson Lapalonga, stated here on Tuesday. The police arrested a suspect identified by his initials as Alalonga (37) at Ahmad Yani Street KM 5, East Banjarmasin Sub-district, Banjarmasin, on Friday (June 11). The arrest was made after the police received a tip-off on a drug transaction plan in the area, Lapalonga revealed. Based on its initial investigation, the police spotted an individual, who was allegedly part of the drug syndicate. The police confiscated 4,888 grams of methamphetamine placed in five packages from the suspect and retrieved three other packages from the suspect's house in Kelayan Street, Banjarmasin City. Lapalonga noted that AS had allegedly played a key role in the syndicate, but the police believe the syndicate might have a larger "warehouse" for keeping the drug. "By looking at the package of methamphetamine, we suspect (the drug) had been smuggled from Malaysia, via North and East Kalimantan, and was targeted to be distributed in South Kalimantan," he stated. AS came clean on being promised to receive Rp20 million for selling the drug. – AntaraNews.Com