These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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Biometric verification for travellers departing Changi to be rolled out this year
Travellers flying out of Changi Airport will no longer have to present their passports or boarding passes when clearing immigration, after an initiative to use biometrics for verification is rolled out later this year.
Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean on Tuesday (May 17) said: "We are working on an initiative where departing passengers at Changi need only present their biometrics for verification at the various departure touchpoints, without having to present any physical identity or travel documents."
This will not only enhance user experience but also contribute to the new precautions needed for safe and healthy flying post-pandemic, he said during a closed-door dialogue at the Changi Aviation Summit. The Straits Times understands that the initiative will be rolled out progressively this year.
A transcript of Mr Teo's speech was published on the Prime Minister's Office's website on Wednesday.
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) had previously said that in future, Singapore residents leaving or arriving at Changi will be able to clear immigration without needing to present their passports. Instead, their identities will be verified using iris and facial biometrics as they walk through clearance gates. – Straits Times
PM: RM200 approved as monthly aid for paddy farmers waiting for harvests
The government has agreed to provide a RM200 aid to paddy farmers while waiting for their harvests.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, in announcing this, said the aid would be given for three months per paddy season, for a total of six months or RM1,200.
"Rubber tappers receive the Monsoon Season Aid for three months in November, December and January.
"I was surprised to learn that paddy farmers do not receive anything. We will include this (aid for paddy farmers) in the 2023 Budget, which will be tabled in October this year," he said during the launch of the National Farmers Organisation (Nafas) 48th annual general meeting here, tonight. He said the government would always be fair to rubber tappers, fishermen and paddy farmers, proving that this was a government of the people.
"They have contributed so much, and the government appreciates their struggles."
The prime minister, in his speech, also urged Nafas to master the entire value chain in the poultry industry, to help the government in controlling the poultry market.
He said the government would spend about RM700 million in subsidies, to ensure no rise in chicken prices. – New Straits Times
Bars push reopening
Operators of night entertainment venues will reiterate their demand for the reopening of their businesses on Thursday, as the Public Health Ministry proposes to designate certain provinces as "green zones" where nightlife activities can resume.
Khathawut Thongthai, president of the Association of Entertainment Professionals, said operators of night entertainment venues and related businesses will meet Gen Supoj Malaniyom, chief of the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration's (CCSA's) operations centre, on Thursday to discuss the reopening of their businesses.
He said while operators appreciated relief measures and financial aid granted to them by the state throughout the pandemic, such assistance was temporary and not sustainable.
"With daily Covid-19 infections having declined and the national vaccination campaign extended to cover all age groups, it is now time to ease curbs on nightspots and allow the industry to get back on its feet," said Mr Khathawut. Previously, operators of such premises had urged the government to allow them to reopen their businesses in "blue-zone" provinces promoted for tourism from June 1, in response to the decision to scrap the Test & Go entry scheme on May 1.
Alcoholic drinks can be served in restaurants that meet Safety and Health Administration (SHA) Plus or Covid-Free Setting standards until midnight across the country.
The government is likely to allow night entertainment venues in the "green zones" to resume business, and the plan is expected to be forwarded to the CCSA for consideration on Friday. – Bangkok Post
Duterte names 2 new CA justices
President Rodrigo Duterte has named two new Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals (CA), Malacañang confirmed Thursday.
Acting presidential spokesperson and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte has appointed John Lee Zurbito and Eleuterio Larisma Bathan as the two new justices of the CA.
“The Palace congratulates Mr. John Zurbito Lee and Mr. Eleuterio Larisma Bathan on their appointment as Associate Justices of the Court of Appeals,” Andanar said in a press statement.
“We wish both Associate Justices all the best, and we are confident that they would dispense justice with fairness, impartiality and integrity,” he added.
Lee will replace Associate Justice Dorothy Gonzaga who resigned in November 2021.
Bathan will take over the post of Associate Justice Japar Dimaampo, who was appointed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. – Philippine News Agency
Improved gender equality vital to recovery of garment, footwear industries
Further empowering women will help improve Viet Nam's garment and footwear sectors after the COVID-19 crisis, evidence from the ILO’s flagship programme has shown.
'Better Work Viet Nam' worked with the Viet Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and was supported by the Australian Government and other donors, to organise a national conference on women’s empowerment during the COVID-19 recovery in Ha Noi on Wednesday, towards a more resilient garment and footwear sectors.
Better Work Viet Nam is a unique partnership between the ILO and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, with the ultimate goal of improving working conditions and boosting the competitiveness of these key export industries of Viet Nam.
Facing the COVID-19 crisis, the programme gave gender a greater priority in recognition of the disproportional impacts of the crisis on women’s health, care duties and discrimination.
According to an ILO study released in 2021, the COVID-19 pandemic did not only exacerbate existing gender inequalities – such as the double burden for women of working almost the same hours as men while spending more than twice as much time on housework – but also created new ones, which included a gender gap in the unemployment rate.
Better Work Viet Nam closely worked with its member factories to reduce risks of gender discrimination and develop guidelines, with emphasis on gender dimensions to support factories in handling suspensions, retrenchment and occupational safety and health during the pandemic.
In collaboration with IFC, during the first waves of COVID-19 in 2020, Better Work Viet Nam launched the GEAR (Gender Equality and Returns) project to help factories improve line-level productivity by equipping female operators with the skills needed to effectively perform as line leader. – Vietnam News
Time to leave: GDI expects overstaying foreigners to head back home
With border re-openings after nearly two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the General Department of Immigration (GDI) plans to address the issue of foreigners who had been stranded in the Kingdom and whose visas had long expired. During this period the government on humanitarian grounds had automatically allowed them to stay on without legal action.
The GDI now expects foreigners whose countries have reopened their borders to leave Cambodia quickly. Those who do not do so will be rounded up and detained before deportation. According to the GDI, an estimated 400 foreigners have been stranded in the Kingdom over the past two years due to the pandemic.
The Director General of the General Department of Immigration of the Ministry of Interior, General Kirth Chantharith said yesterday that the GDI on Tuesday held a meeting to deal with the issue of foreigners who persist in overstaying despite being able to return to their home countries.
He said the GDI will start cracking down, detain and deport them after they are sent to court.
General Keo Vannthan, spokesman of the Interior Ministry’s General Department of Immigration said yesterday that the GDI was paying nearly $7.5 per day to feed each of the nearly 400 foreigners who were stranded and who had run out of funds. Gen Vannthan added that until now, some foreigners have stayed for between two and five months and others for up to a year, which makes it impossible for the GDI to keep supporting them.
“We will ask for more money from the Ministry of Economy and Finance to solve the problem of food and other supplies for them,” Gen Vannthan said. – Khmer Times
Home of Myanmar opposition government’s defence secretary targeted in bomb attack
The Mandalay home of Naing Htoo Aung, the secretary of defence for the National Unity Government (NUG), was bombed in a targeted attack by a group of unidentified armed men on Tuesday night, according to local sources.
The alleged perpetrators were men in plainclothes, who were also seen by eyewitnesses torching a goldsmith’s workshop behind the house, located in Natogyi Township.
After the explosion, the house caught on fire and burned down, the eyewitnesses said. Another home nearby also reportedly caught fire in the blaze.
It was reportedly the second attempt by arsonists to destroy the 36-year-old defence secretary’s house, which has not been occupied by Naing Htoo Aung or his family members since they went into hiding following the February 2021 military coup.
“It’s been a while since his relatives left. Before, several people lived there,” a local man told Myanmar Now.
A local woman said that hours before the arson attack, some 20 gunmen in civilian clothing arrived in the neighbourhood from Myingyan, to the west.
She explained that she heard gunshots and shouting in the area but remained out of sight.
She speculated that the men were members of the military-backed Pyu Saw Htee militia, which have been involved in the repression of anti-coup resistance particularly in central and upper Myanmar. – Myanmar NOW
Pandemic-to-endemic transition under way in Indonesia: Health Minister
Indonesia is currently in the process of transitioning from the COVID-19 pandemic to the endemic phase, Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has said.
"The transition to endemic is being done gradually, not in one go," he said in Tanjungpinang, Riau Islands, on Wednesday.
The efforts made by the government to achieve this include the relaxation of the health protocols, which were previously very strict. COVID-19 tests are also no longer required, and people can opt to not wear masks outdoors, he noted.
This policy will indirectly encourage people to follow the health protocols of their own volition, he said.
"All infectious diseases which have turned to endemic, one of the characteristics is that each person already understands what the disease is, maintains adherence to the health protocols, and (ways) to address it if they have been exposed," he disclosed.
Sadikin said that despite the relaxation of the mask rule while outdoors, people are being asked to adjust to the situation: if they are in a crowded environment or see friends around them with symptoms such as fever, coughing, and sneezing, they must wear masks to avoid the risk of COVID-19 transmission. – AntaraNews.Com