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.
Stay informed with The ASEAN Post.
620 electric vehicle chargers to be installed at public carparks in the next 12 months
More than 600 electric vehicle (EV) chargers will be installed at some 200 public carparks in HDB estates, industrial estates and the Central Business District over the next 12 months.
The first of these chargers are expected to be installed by the end of this year.
By the third quarter of next year, there will be 210 charging points in the central region, 50 in the north, 100 in the north-east, 120 in the east and 140 in the west.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Land Transport Authority (LTA) said on Friday (Sept 3) that a consortium comprising ComfortDelGro Engineering and Engie South East Asia has been awarded a tender to set up EV charging points in selected carparks in the central, east and west regions.
Another consortium comprising Primech A&P, Charge+, Sunseap Group and Oyika has been awarded a tender to install the charging infrastructure in carparks in the north and north-east regions.
The tenders, which form a pilot tender put out in November last year, are the first steps towards a national target of 40,000 charging points in public carparks by 2030. - Straits Times
'Make vaccination mandatory for all'
Non-governmental organisations have called on the government to make vaccination mandatory for all, especially teachers, students and parents.
In the wake of reports over vaccine hesitancy among students and their parents, the National Parents-Teacher Associations Consultative Council (PIBGN) said this would ensure schools remained safe from Covid-19 infections when schools reopen.
Council president Datuk Mohamad Ali Hassan said those who refused to get vaccinated without valid health reasons should continue with teaching and learning from home (PdPR).
"Vaccination is not mandatory or compulsory in Malaysia, but it is important to look at the issue from the broader point of a community's health and safety, and people's livelihood. We would like to see everybody (including the educational fraternity) get vaccinated.
"We propose a regulation that only those who have completed their vaccination be allowed on school compounds. Those who refuse vaccination, including teachers and students, can continue their lessons via PdPR." - New Straits Times
Plot aims to oust premier
Controversy is flaring up over a "political deal" to unseat Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha after some MPs from smaller parties in the government coalition confirmed the plot exists.
Among small coalition parties approached to join the move to cast no-confidence votes to oust the PM is the New Palangdharma Party.
Party leader Rawi Matchamadon said small parties are a key factor in the current political situation, confirming that a report about key figures in the ruling-Palang
Pracharath Party (PPRP) and the opposition Pheu Thai having struck a deal to vote against Gen Prayut and remove him from power is true.
Currently, there are nine small government coalition parties, each with one MP, Mr Rawi said, adding there are also coalition parties with less than 10 MPs such as the Chartthaipattana and New Economics Parties.
They have about 20 votes combined, he said, adding if the small parties joined the opposition in voting against the PM, they would have about 212 votes, which are enough to unseat Gen Prayut, he said.
If they could remove the PM from power, a new prime minister is unlikely to be chosen from a list of current prime ministerial candidates submitted by parties, meaning an outsider could be elected, he said. - Bangkok Post
NTF ready to procure Covid-19 booster shots: Galvez
The National Task Force Against Covid-19 is preparing to buy additional doses as booster shots as it has negotiated with four manufacturers.
NTF Against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said these shots would be initially allocated for the A1 priority group composed of medical front-liners and healthcare workers.
“We are waiting for the recommendation and evaluation of the NITAG (National Immunization Technical Advisory Group) as well as from the World Health Organization (WHO) on the need for booster shots in the country,” he said Thursday.
Galvez said the WHO has yet to recommend the use of booster shots, while Philippine vaccine experts are assessing the feasibility of administering them.
“But once they give us the cue that boosters are needed, we will process and arrange the procurement,” he said. “We have started the negotiation and we will sign a non-binding term sheet soon just to lock in the supply.”
The national government, he said, has allocated PHP45 billion for the procurement of booster shots. - Philippine News Agency
HCM City vows to keep supporting COVID-affected people
HCM City will launch more relief packages for people whose incomes are affected by COVID-19 and the stringent restrictions to curb it, and make them more accessible,
Vo Van Hoan, deputy chairman of its People’s Committee, has said.
In a live-streamed session with the public on September 1, he said around a million self-employed people and 1.3 million struggling households are each set to receive VNĐ1.5 million (US$65.7) in cash and kind to tide over the crisis.
He said the disbursement has been slow due to the rising number of struggling people signing up for the assistance.
Local authorities have been instructed to quickly dispense the aid, completing it before September 6, he said. - Vietnam News
Phnom Penh Governor: COVID in Phnom Penh has decreased significantly – a ‘good sign’ to return Phnom Penh to normal
Khuong Sreng, Governor of Phnom Penh, said yesterday that, in the last two to three weeks, the COVID-19 situation in Phnom Penh has decreased significantly, which is a good sign to return Phnom Penh to normal – both for the tourism sector and the reopening of schools in accordance with the recommendation of PM Hun Sen.
His Excellency stated that the decrease in COVID-19 infection was due to the vaccination programme and the efforts of the 14 district authorities in cooperation with the three sub-committees.
The Governor continued that we have done a good job of preventing the spread of COVID-19 and, in the past there were many cases of COVID-19 and many deaths, up to 30 per day.
But, so far, it has been reduced to six or two people a day. - Khmer Times
There is still work to be done to ensure the crimes committed against the Rohingya are documented properly
More than four years after Myanmar military soldiers committed mass murder, rape and arson against the Rohingya in Rakhine State, several efforts aimed at achieving the distant-seeming goal of bringing Min Aung Hlaing and other perpetrators to justice are underway.
Cases have been accepted at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), while Rohingya advocates in Argentina are pushing for courts there to accept a third case that specifically names both civilian and military officials implicated in the genocide, including detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Justice is by no means guaranteed for the Rohingya, or others across the country who have been suffering under the military both before and after the February 1 coup.
Regardless of the legal outcomes of these cases, the reality is that the military will continue to enjoy impunity as long as it clings to power.
Even so, the one thing that these cases can do for the Rohingya is to act as truth-seeking exercises, putting down on the official record exactly what happened. But even the courts of The Hague do not have the capacity to comprehensively document what happened in the weeks and months after the killing started on August 25, 2017.
During the bloodbath, some 300 villages across Rakhine were subjected to atrocities. Nearly 24,000 Rohingya civilians were killed in numerous massacres, while 18,000 women and girls were raped, according to a report from the Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA).
The ICC, the ICJ and others will not and cannot do a full truth-seeking investigation covering every affected village. These international legal proceedings will focus on several villages that were heavily affected, inviting a couple of dozen witnesses to the stand.
That means a huge amount will be left out of the proceedings, information that ought to be brought to light for historical, legal, and moral reasons. We must not allow the details about what happened in the majority of Rohingya villages in 2017 to be lost to history. – Myanmar NOW
Indonesia achieves vaccination target set by WHO
Indonesia has achieved the COVID-19 vaccination target set by the World Health Organization (WHO), Foreign Affairs Minister Retno Marsudi has said.
Globally, the WHO has set a vaccination target of 10 percent of each country’s population by the end of September 2021, then 40 percent by the end of 2021, and 70 percent by the middle of 2022.
"Currently, at least 140 countries have vaccinated 10 percent of their citizens, including Indonesia," the minister informed while delivering a virtual speech regarding the arrival of vaccine aid from Australia on Thursday.
In addition, she informed that as of September 1, Indonesia has administered 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to become the world’s seventh largest country in terms of vaccines administered.
“Our vaccination acceleration attempts will continue as we have a huge population. However, the program will not succeed without support from the community," the minister said. - AntaraNews.Com