These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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PM Lee and Ho Ching to receive royal honours from Johor Sultan
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will receive Johor's highest state honour from Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, while his wife, Madam Ho Ching, will receive a state award, at an investiture ceremony in Johor on Friday (May 6).
PM Lee and Madam Ho will visit the state to attend the ceremony, which will be held at the Istana Besar in Johor Bahru, said the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) in a statement on Thursday.
PM Lee will be conferred the title of Dato' Sri Paduka Mahkota Johor, or SPMJ for short, which means Grand Commander of the Order of the Crown of Johor, First Class. The order of chivalry is the oldest order given by any state of Malaysia, and was instituted in 1886 based on the English Order of St Michael and St George.
According to information provided by Johor Royal Court Council president Abdul Rahim Ramli, then Johor Sultan Abu Bakar had commissioned the order to honour and appreciate the services and contributions of his loyal officers, as well as to reciprocate the conferment of honour and privileges accorded to him by the royal courts of Europe.
The order consists of the Sovereign and three designated classes of membership - Grand Commander, Commander and Companion - and is traditionally given to "Malays professing the religion of Islam and subjects of the ruler and who have exhibited loyalty, virtues, and talents and have rendered invaluable service to the Sultan and state". – Straits Times
Agong, Turkish president share happiness over strong bilateral ties
Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today expressed happiness over the strong bilateral relations enjoyed between Malaysia and Turkey in various fields including economy and trade.
According to a post on Istana Negara's official Facebook page, these sentiments were shared during a 20-minute telephone conversation at 5pm yesterday.
His Majesty had also agreed to go on a State visit to the Republic of Turkey in the third quarter of this year, the Facebook post read. Al-Sultan Abdullah and Erdogan also took the opportunity to exchange Aidilfitri greetings during the conversation. His Majesty, on behalf of the Raja Permaisuri Agong, also conveyed well wishes to Erdogan's wife and First Lady Emine Erdogan, the Facebook post read.
Al-Sultan Abdullah also congratulated Erdogan after the iconic Hagia Sophia in Istanbul held its first Tarawih prayers in 88 years beginning April 1, describing it as a historic moment for Muslims in Turkey and around the world.
Earlier, His Majesty also received a personal call from the Sultan of Brunei Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, during which Aidilfitri greetings were also exchanged. – New Straits Times
Youth dept chief tied to sex trafficking ring
Police have charged a deputy director-general of the Department of Children and Youth (DCY) for interfering in the investigation into a child prostitution ring in Surat Thani.
The move came after law enforcement agents raided a total of 18 locations which have been linked to the trafficking of minors for prostitution – which included a shelter for children – on Wednesday.
Since then, the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and non-governmental organisations have been working with the police to find 18 other suspects. All 18 suspects are wanted for child sex-related charges, including colluding to operate a child sex trafficking ring and luring minors into prostitution, among others.
These offences are punishable with up to 20 years in jail and a fine of up to 2 million baht.
Pol Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn, assistant chief of the national police, told a press briefing that the investigation pointed towards the Surat Thani Shelter for Children and Families.
The findings implicated a number of officials, including a deputy director-general of the DCY, the chairman of a local savings cooperative, a deputy chairman of Phunphin district's tambon administrative organisation's council, as well as soldiers, teachers and doctors in the area. – Bangkok Post
Marcos, Duterte urge Filipinos to protect their votes
Presidential candidate former senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. and his running mate Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte on Thursday night urged Filipinos to protect their votes in Monday's elections.
During the UniTeam's Mindanao Miting de Avance rally in Tagum City, Davao del Norte, Marcos said voters should remain vigilant and protect their votes during the entire voting and canvassing process.
"We already won! Just closely monitor the votes on Monday without sleeping a wink. Ask all your friends for lots of coffee so that you wouldn't fall asleep because we all know that once we fall asleep, a lot of unfortunate things could happen," Marcos said.
Marcos also asked the voters to support the UniTeam ticket to ensure unity among Filipinos.
"As the campaign unfolded, the unity among Filipinos started to grow and unified the entire Philippines. You didn't wait for the elections, nor the election results, but Filipinos are leading the movement of unity that we started, we are fighting for, and we are calling for as this would be good for the country," he said.
In her own speech, Duterte thanked the crowd for making them feel that an election victory is imminent.
"If we say TAGUMpay, we already won. Everyone wins," Duterte said.
According to OCTA Research's final presidential and vice-presidential survey results before the May 9 polls, Marcos garnered a 58-percent voter preference while Duterte had 56 percent. – Philippine News Agency
Domestic health declaration for COVID-19 prevention and control no longer required across Viet Nam
The Vietnamese health ministry has on Thursday sent a document to municipal/provincial people’s committees on the temporary suspension of domestic heath declaration requirements, which have been in place since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The self-filled declaration form contains basic personal information, travel history over the past 14 days, potential exposure to people with suspected COVID-19 symptoms and COVID-19 vaccination status.
The temporary abolishment of this requirement is the latest move in Viet Nam’s attempt to live with the virus.
According to the health ministry, COVID-19 has been put well under control across the country, with caseload and fatalities down significantly – the average number of deaths reported daily has stayed below 10 for several weeks now, while 96 per cent of the population aged 12 and older have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with the inoculation of children aged five to 11 underway.
It is noted that the current COVID-19 vaccines are still effective against known strains of coronavirus.
The Ministry of Health requested local administrations to suspend the application of domestic health declarations – required for domestic travel, entry to public places such as restaurants, etc. – from April 30, 2022.
This is based on the current situation, Viet Nam’s response capacity to COVID-19 and the Government’s Resolution No.38/NQ-CP dated March 17, 2022 promulgating the programme on COVID-19 prevention and control with the strategy of "ensuring safe, flexible adaptation and effective control of the COVID-19 epidemic; prevention and control measures implemented according to risk mitigation methods; and maintaining the balance between the COVID-19 prevention and control measures with the measures aimed at socio-economic recovery”. – Vietnam News
$1,000 in cash demand: Airlines acted on request from Immigration
Some airlines, including Thai Airways and Singapore Airlines, who insisted on seeing $1,000 in cash from Indian travellers to Cambodia, acted on the basis of a ‘verbal request’ from Immigration authorities in Cambodia, highly placed sources told Khmer Times.
“The airlines have limited role in the requirement of ensuring $1,000 in cash from Indian travellers to Cambodia. They are acting on behalf of an informal verbal request from the Immigration authorities in Cambodia,” the source said.
He also said that the requirement to ensure $1,000 in cash covers passengers from 20 nations, including India.
“As per the request from the Immigration, passengers from 20 nations will have to show the airline staff that they have $1,000 in cash for getting boarding passes to Cambodia,” the source added. One of the reasons cited for the cash insistence is on the basis that ATMs at Phnom Penh International Airport could not dispense the $1,000 on some occasions.
Passengers, who fall in the 20 nationalities category, are deported at the carrier airline’s cost if they fail to clear immigration in Cambodia upon arrival. Meanwhile, the Indian Embassy has taken up the matter with the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A top Indian Embassy official told Khmer Times, “We have sent a Diplomatic Note to the Ministry of Interior (immigration falls under them) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs seeking clarity on the issue.” – Khmer Times
Myanmar junta removes police chief
Lt-Gen Than Hlaing was removed from his position this week as chief of the junta’s police force and deputy minister of home affairs – replaced by a lower ranking general, Myanmar Now has learned.
The military council carried out the internal shuffle on Monday, sending 57-year-old Than Hlaing – who has been blacklisted by the EU and US – back to his previous army duties as an officer. Maj-Gen Zin Min Htet, the military’s Joint Adjutant General since 2019, will be taking over his post.
In his senior role within the junta – which he was appointed to one day after the February 1, 2021 coup – Than Hlaing also oversaw the armed forces’ efforts to crush local defence forces in the resistance strongholds of Magway and Sagaing regions. He had previously served as the head of the military’s Eastern Central Regional Command in Shan State and the Northwestern Regional Command in Sagaing.
Brig-Gen Phyo Thant, the junta-appointed head of the Northwestern Regional Command tasked with fighting guerrilla forces in the area, was also removed from his position in January. – Myanmar NOW
Patient suspected of dying of acute hepatitis unvaccinated: Ministry
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, Siti Nadia Tarmizi, remarked that a child suspected of having died of acute hepatitis had not received the COVID-19 and hepatitis vaccines.
Earlier, the Ministry of Health increased vigilance against a mysterious form of acute hepatitis on account of the deaths of three children undergoing treatment for suspected acute hepatitis at the Dr Ciptomangunkusuma Hospital, Jakarta.
"What we know is the patients were already in an advanced stage when they arrived at the hospital, thereby giving little time to the hospital to save them," Tarmizi noted during a virtual press conference on Thursday. Tarmizi revealed that one of the three patients, aged two years, had not received the COVID-19 and hepatitis A-E vaccines. The other patient, aged eight years, had received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while the other one, aged 11 years, had received two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The three patients had tested negative for COVID-19 based on the hospital's examination, she stated.
The Ministry of Health, along with the Jakarta Provincial Health Office, had conducted contact investigation to determine the risk factors in the patients.
"From the available data, one patient had had another disease before being diagnosed with suspected acute hepatitis," she noted. The spokesperson remarked that so far, the Ministry of Health had not classified the incidents as cases of severe acute hepatitis, as there is still an advanced phase of investigation in the form of laboratory tests, especially the examination of Adenovirus and Hepatitis E, which takes 10-14 days.
According to Tarmizi, there was no family history of congenital hepatitis disease found in the three patients.
The main symptoms experienced by the patients were severe nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, she remarked. – AntaraNews.Com