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.
S'pore's daily Covid-19 numbers should not blur the bigger picture and cause unintended pain
The Covid-19 numbers released every day by the Ministry of Health (MOH) are quite troubling.
In all, more than 1,000 people are in hospital on account of Covid-19 and more than 200 among them are seriously or critically ill.
The number of daily Covid-19 cases reported in September has crossed more than 1,000 with regularity. Five people died on Tuesday (Sept 28) and eight on Wednesday, and 56 have died over the past two months, taking Singapore's total number of fatalities since the first death in March 2020 to 93 as at Wednesday.
It is all very well to talk about moving towards accepting the disease as endemic and knowing that deaths will occur. It is different when the number of those falling sick and dying is thrown at us.
But the way I see it, these daily figures are not helping Singapore transit towards becoming a Covid-19-resilient nation. They do not paint the full picture but can still dampen spirits; and basing our responses on an incomplete picture can do more harm than good.
Since Aug 1 this year, a total of 56 people have died from Covid-19 - roughly one a day. This is just a fraction of the 60 people who on average die every day in Singapore.
Influenza alone kills two people a day, or about 60 a month. Flu patients can die from an overwhelming immune response, from a secondary infection in the lungs, or from multi-organ failure. But no one is panicking about these avoidable deaths - simply because we do not hear about them day in and day out.
That is why the multi-ministry task force on Covid-19 should consider issuing weekly bulletins instead of daily ones to update the nation on the current situation.
Transiting to living with Covid-19 might be easier if people are not being bombarded - and frightened - by numbers every night. - Straits Times
MACC going heavy on enforcement
Fighting corruption is not the sole responsibility of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) but there is an overdependence on the commission.
MACC Chief Commissioner Datuk Seri Azam Baki said this overdependence is prominent in the most basic functions including report writing, where parties whose officers had been booked for offences were always waiting for the official report from MACC.
"They are always waiting for our report even though all these entities have their own integrity units which should be working on their own parallel reports. These reports which list their own investigations' findings and recommendations are crucial to fix the problem, systems or procedures so there are no other officers taking advantage of the lack of vigilance again."
During a special interview with the New Straits Times to mark the commission's 54th anniversary themed 'Semarakkan Integriti, Rasuah Diperangi', Azam said MACC's busts were not a show of prowess or to impose hefty penalties on individuals who stepped out of line, but were reminders to plug loopholes within the system of public administration.
He drew on insidious project cartels where tenders awarded always appeared to be above board with all conditions and procedures fulfilled. - New Straits Times
Flood risk for Chao Phraya
City Hall has warned communities along the Chao Phraya River to brace for flooding from Friday until Tuesday while nine provinces in the Central Plains Region have also been alerted after the Pasak Jolasid Dam sped up water discharges.
Bangkok governor Aswin Kwanmuang said the Meteorological Department has forecast that a monsoon trough would move across the lower Central Region and the upper South, causing heavy rain.
As a result, rain-triggered run-offs from the Chao Phraya River Basin will flow into the Chao Phraya Dam in Chai Nat, Pol Gen Aswin said.
Water is expected to flow into the dam at a rate of 3,200 cubic metres per second, he said, adding the Royal Irrigation Department has been asked to manage the water and divert it into irrigation canals.
This will help reduce the water volume to 2,700 cubic metres per second, the governor said.
He also said more run-off is flowing into the Pasak Jolasid Dam in Lop Buri so dam officials had to speed up water discharges at a rate of 900-1,200 cubic metres per second, resulting in water passing through the gauging station in Ayutthaya's Bang Sai district at a rate of 3,000-3,200 cubic metres per second.
As a result, water levels downstream of the Pasak Jolasid Dam will increase to between 1.20-2.40 metres and water levels downstream of the Rama VI Dam in Ayutthaya's Tha Ruea district will surge to between 2.30-2.89 metres from today until Tuesday, Pol Gen Aswin said. - Bangkok Post
Pacquiao files COC for president; names Atienza as running mate
Senator Manny Pacquiao was the first aspirant to file a certificate of candidacy (COC) for president at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tents in Pasay City on Friday.
The senator also named his running mate -- former Manila mayor and Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza.
Accompanied by his wife Jinkee, Pacquiao filed his COC with the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on the first day of the one-week filing period.
He is represented by an alliance composed of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), Probinsya Muna Development Initiative (Promdi), and the People's Champ Movement (PCM).
Pacquiao said an alliance was sought since there is still a problem with PDP-Laban.
“We have an alliance PDP-Laban, Promdi and PCM...since there is still a problem with the party, we opted to use Promdi,” he said in a briefing after filing his COC. - Philippine News Agency
Migrant workers crowd HCM City's gateways in attempt to leave, even as city relaxes lockdown
Thousands of migrant workers with motorbikes loaded with personal belongings attempted to leave HCM City Thursday night as the southern city starts to ease stringent COVID-19 lockdown that has lasted for more than three months.
After many hours stuck at the COVID-19 checkpoints at the city's border with Long An Province at least until the early hours of Friday, many – including children – had to resort to raincoats, cardboard boxes, and hammocks to spend the night on the pavements, while their parents filled out the information as local law enforcement tried to keep order and safe distancing at jam packed gateway streets, while struggling to provide food and water to those in need.
The information will then be forwarded to their localities of origin to either organise travel or arrange for quarantine facilities in order to prevent infections spreading from the biggest COVID-19 hotspot in the country at the moment. - Vietnam News
Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration issues statement on allegations that 437 staff at casino are infected with COVID and are denied treatment
Preah Sihanouk Provincial Administration has issued a rebuttal against claims in the Khmer language press and social media that a widespread COVID outbreak in Sihanoukville Casino has left over 400 staff infected and blocked from treatment by the owners of the casino – who, it is also claimed, have forcefully confined staff in the casino since March 2020.
The allegations first surfaced in a social media post by ‘Vann Makara’ – since removed – who claims to be an an employee of an online game casino called ” The Century” located in Sangkat 4, Sihanoukville.
In the social media post, the employee shared images and a live video which she claimed supported her allegations.
Amongst the many claims in the post was that one of her co-workers had died due to COVID-19 on the morning of September 30, 2021, and that all 437 other employees of the casino are infected. - Khmer Times
Kyat continues freefall as Myanmar faces full-blown currency crisis
The Myanmar kyat plummeted even further on Thursday as the country sank into a full-blown currency crisis triggered by the economic fallout from the military coup earlier this year.
The price of a US dollar on the unofficial market reached a high of around 3,000 kyat, currency sellers said, while faith in Myanmar’s currency collapsed and demand for safe stores of wealth rocketed.
Shortly before the military’s February 1 power grab, a dollar was worth around 1,400 kyat.
“The value of the Myanmar kyat has gone past the point of inflation and is very close to the point of hyperinflation,” one business owner said. “Because the root cause of this is the political situation, there is no way to control it.”
The crisis is driving up the cost of vital commodities like fuel and food. The price of gold has also spiked as savers, unwilling to trust banks or to hold kyat in cash, look to protect their wealth from the crisis. - Myanmar NOW
Ministry encourages Indonesian MSMEs to join digital ecosystem
Deputy of Entrepreneurship at the Ministry of Cooperatives and SMEs Siti Azizah has encouraged micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) to join the digital ecosystem to help recover Indonesia's economy.
The MSMEs played a crucial role in the National Economic Recovery (PEN) program, she told a press conference held virtually and live in Solo, Central Java, on Thursday.
Azizah highlighted that some 99 percent of businesses are MSMEs that absorb 97 percent of Indonesia's total workforce and contribute 61 percent of the nation's GDP.
"From this data, we can see how important the MSMEs are for PEN. This can be achieved through synergy and collaboration with all parties -- the central government, regional administrations, ministries or institutions, and, of course, private parties," she elaborated. - AntaraNews.Com