These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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Former UOB V-P accused of multiple offences including misappropriating more than $5m
The former vice-president of United Overseas Bank (UOB) has been hauled to a district court after he allegedly misappropriated cash totalling more than $5.3 million while he was holding the position. Ling Shek Lun, now 65, is accused of misappropriating a total of nearly £2.9million (S$5.4 million) and US$14,010 (S$18,600) on multiple occasions between 2004 and 2014. Court documents do not disclose the exact source of the monies. The Singaporean is also accused of transferring more than £1.8million of the benefits of his alleged criminal conduct to one Yong Ai Khim, whose details were not revealed in court documents. Ling, who was charged in court on Feb 10, currently faces two cheating charges, 11 counts of criminal breach of trust, 28 counts of forgery for the purpose of cheating, 54 counts of forgery and 47 counts of dealing the benefits of his alleged criminal activities. He is said to have committed these offences between 2003 and 2015. Between 2005 and 2015, Ling allegedly made false documents, including multiple fixed deposit account statements, to cheat a man identified as Kevin William Braddick. He is accused of duping Mr Braddick into believing that his funds were deposited into a "special nominee account" with UOB. As a result, Ling is said to have intentionally induced Mr Braddick to hand over more funds. The total amount involved were not disclosed in court documents. Separately, Ling is also accused of creating false documents between 2008 and 2015. These include multiple fixed deposit account statements, purportedly issued by the bank. His bail has been set at $150,000 and his pre-trial conference will be held on March 11. Responding to queries from The Straits Times, UOB said it has dismissed Ling and lodged a police report against him. The bank's spokesman added: "At UOB, we have zero tolerance for any behaviour that violates our code of conduct predicated by a groupwide culture committed to acting with honour in all that we do. "The UOB code of conduct lays down the principles of personal and professional conduct and requires all employees to uphold the highest standards." If convicted of criminal breach of trust, Ling can be jailed for up to 15 years and fined for each charge. For each count of forgery for the purpose of cheating, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined. – The Straits Times
PM launches MyDigital, Malaysia's digital economy blueprint
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today has launched MyDigital – the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint – that will chart the growth trajectory of the country's digital economy development. Muhyiddin said the blueprint comprises action plans which adopted a whole-of-nation approach to complement the 12th Malaysia Plan (12MP) and the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030. "The MyDigital initiative aims to empower every Malaysian, from Perlis to Sabah, to improve their lives in all aspects. "It includes ideas and plans to improve digital literacy, creates high-income employment opportunities, makes banking and finance business easier and more organised, provides virtual educational access to children in the country and brings medical facilities to remote towns. "It also serves as a digital transformation direction plan that is able to drive the business sector to compete on the global arena by enhancing expediency and efficiency of their operations," said Muhyiddin at the virtual launching ceremony of the blueprint. The digital economy is expected to contribute 22.6 percent to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) by the year 2025. This is the target set by the country following the launching of MyDigital – the Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint – by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during a virtual ceremony today. Muhyiddin said the plan also aimed to create and provide 500,000 job opportunities in the digital economy. "The government also encourages 875,000 micro, small and medium enterprises to accept the use of e-commerce. "In addition, these initiatives under the auspices of MyDigital also serve as catalysts for 5,000 start-up companies to begin their operations in the next five years. "These initiatives will be the starting point to attract new investments worth RM70 billion in the digital sector, from within and outside the country," he said in his speech at the virtual launching ceremony. The government, he said, was also targeting for the level of productivity of the economic sector to increase by 30 percent higher than what that has been achieved today, by 2030. "For the public sector, all agencies will provide cashless transaction facilities as the main option by next year," he said. – New Straits Times
Thousands of cops on standby
More than 12,000 crowd control officers will be deployed to handle anti-government demonstrations planned outside parliament on Friday and other important places in Bangkok this weekend. A Facebook page named "Mob Fest" on Thursday also posted a message urging supporters to rally outside parliament at 5pm on Friday. "We will watch a live broadcast of the no-confidence debate on a big screen," the page declared. "We will yell at the government and debate on 10 urgent issues proposed by the people. Over the past seven years since Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha seized power, he has taken the people on a roller-coaster ride with a host of promises and it has all come crashing down." Parliament will vote on the opposition's no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Prayut and nine of his cabinet ministers on Saturday. The Facebook page of the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration, which is part of the anti-government Ratsadorn (People's) Movement, announced on Thursday the group would hold a rally on Saturday, with the time and location to be announced on Friday. "There are two days to go before the deadline. People who champion democracy are requested to prepare for it," the group said. Arnon Nampa, a co-leader of the Ratsadorn Group, took to Facebook to urge demonstrators to avoid using violence when confronting authorities. He is being detained at Bangkok Remand Prison on a range of charges, including lese majeste. "Using violence in retaliation to the state which provoked violence will not bring victory," he posted. Pol Maj Gen Piya Tawichai, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB), said on Thursday that 12 companies of 1,800 crowd control officers would be sent to handle protesters over the weekend. Police expect the protesters to gather at Democracy Monument and outside parliament at the Kiak Kai intersection. A police source said deputy national police chief Pol Gen Damrongsak Kittiprapas had also mobilised 69 companies of 10,350 officers from the nine provincial police regions to support the MPB's crowd control operation. Wanwichit Boonprong, a political science lecturer at Rangsit University, predicted the anti-government movement would not be as active as before, but that confrontations between protesters and security officers could still turn violent. The movement did not have new issues to engage public attention, Mr Wanwichit said, but the delay in the charter amendment process and economic problems could be thorny issues for the government. – Bangkok Post
IATF OKs proposed nationwide MGCQ by March, Duterte to decide next week
The Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) has agreed to place the whole country under the less restrictive modified general community quarantine (MGCQ) but President Rodrigo Duterte has yet to decide on the matter on Monday next week, Malacañang said Friday. “Nagkasundo na ‘yung IATF na nagrekomenda sa ating Presidente na magkaroon na ng MGCQ sa buong Pilipinas at ang mga alkalde sa Metro Manila,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a morning TV show over PTV-4. (IATF and Metro Manila mayors have already agreed on the proposal to shift the country to MGCQ.) “So inaasahan naman natin dahil mayroon nang ganitong kasunduan sa panig ng IATF at Metro Manila mayors ay baka naman po sumang-ayon na ang Presidente,” he added. (With this concurrence, we are expecting that the President will also approve of the proposal.) Roque said he may announce the President’s decision on the transition MGCQ before the end of February. “Magkakaroon po ng desisyon ang ating Presidente nitong Lunes, bagamat ito ay ianunsyo ko bago matapos ang buwan ng Pebrero.” (The President will have a decision next Monday, and I may announce it before the end of February.) Roque made the announcement following the news that Metro Manila mayors would recommend the transition to MGCQ by March. The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) earlier proposed to place the country under MGCQ by March. Malacañang earlier expressed support for the proposal to shift the country to MGCQ by March, emphasizing the need to address hunger and poverty problems. – INQUIRER.net
Returnees to HCM City must submit health declaration forms: health department
The HCM City Department of Health has told people who have returned to the city from other provinces and cities in the past 14 days to complete health declarations amid the unpredictable COVID-19 situation across the country. Employees are expected to complete health declarations at their workplace if they travelled to other provinces and cities in the past two weeks. People returning from localities considered hotspots as announced by the HCM City Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must notify local authorities and health units for guidance on COVID-19 surveillance and testing. Returnees from other provinces and cities can complete health declarations on the Ministry of Health’s website tokhaiyte.vn. District authorities and the newly established Thủ Đức City, including the COVID-19 community taskforce, will supervise the health declaration activities. As of Wednesday, the city’s CDC began screening people returning from hotspots, who will be put in centralised quarantine for 14 days and tested for COVID-19 four times. According to the CDC, the city is continuing to conduct extensive screening in the community, especially at public transport areas, to assess the risk of disease. At Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, 10-20 per cent of arrivals will be randomly sampled for testing. At Saigon Railway Station, 100 samples of passengers will be tested a day. At the bus station in District 12 and the old and new Miền Đồng (Eastern) bus stations, 100 passengers will be tested a day. The CDC will adjust the number of samples needed for testing at different public transport locations, depending on the COVID-19 situation. According to the CDC, tens of thousands of passengers are returning from provinces and cities nationwide after the holiday, posing a higher risk of infection. The first case detected at the airport was identified as ‘patient 1979’ on February 5. The city had recorded 36 COVID-19 cases as of February 17, including 10 cargo loading staff at Tân Sơn Nhất airport and 26 cases who are family members of the loading staff. “The infection chain at Tân Sơn Nhất hotspot has basically been contained,” according to the CDC. The CDC attributed the containment to the strategy of rapid testing after the sources of infection had been zoned. “This was the decisive factor that helped control the infection chain at the airport hotspot,” it said. From February 11 to 14, a total of 9,480 samples (of which 2,939 from medical workers) were collected for testing at wholesale markets, traditional markets, bus stations, motels and areas around industrial zones, all of which tested negative for the virus. The outbreak has basically been under control in most localities, other than the northern province of Hải Dương, the country’s main COVID-19 epicentre, said Deputy Prime Minister Vũ Đức Đam at a recent meeting with officials. Social distancing measures began in the entire Hải Dương Province on Tuesday as the epicentre has reported more than 500 locally transmitted cases since the outbreak began in late January. – Viet Nam News
16,612 inoculated in first eight days of Cambodia’s inoculation programme as plans to move to provinces gains momentum
After a slow start, Cambodia’s inoculation programme against COVID-19 is slowly but surely gaining momentum with a total of 16,612 people vaccinated in the first eight days. This means the numbers vaccinated has just crossed the 2.7 percent margin, compared to the total of 600,000 vaccines received on 7 February 2021. The inoculation programme started on 10 February 2021. Up to last night, figures released by the Ministry of Health revealed that a total of 3,803 civilians and 12,809 military/security personnel have been inoculated against COVID-19. In addition, Ministry spokeswoman Or Vandine said that 90 health staff from the provinces were given training for two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, at the Preah Kosomak Hospital and the National Center for Maternal and Child Health in Phnom Penh. “Now we are preparing doctors and medical staff to be able to administer vaccine doses in provinces near the borders,” she said. Stating the obvious, Vandine said the reason why the Ministry of Health is focusing on the provinces is because COVID-19 cases have been detected among the large numbers of migrant workers returning from Thailand. As of Tuesday, 16 February, 2021, more than 35,000 Cambodian workers have returned to Cambodia from Thailand. Of these numbers, 89 migrant workers cluster have been tested positive for COVID-19 and quarantine centres in Oddar Meanchey, Battambang, Poipet are bursting at its seams. – Khmer Times
Amended law throws Myanmar back into media dark age
On Monday, exactly two weeks after seizing power, Myanmar’s new ruling junta introduced changes to the Electronic Transactions Law that represent a great leap back to the days before the country started opening up to the outside world a decade ago. The Electronic Transactions Law was first enacted in 2004 by the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the regime headed by former dictator Senior General Than Shwe. The law emerged in response to the regime’s needs at a time when most information technologies were still very new to Myanmar. Except for the heavy punishments it imposed, it was not so different from laws drafted for similar purposes in other developing countries, according to IT experts. Then, 10 years later and under very different political circumstances, parliament revised the law to make it more compatible with the needs of the eCommerce industry and the explosion of IT-related activities that are now a part of everyday life. With this week’s amendments, however, the regime has reversed this trend towards greater openness in order to address a more pressing concern – its desire to rein in growing protests against the return to military rule. But while the changes to the Electronic Transactions Law are clearly aimed at the current situation, their impact will likely be deep and far-reaching. “We are now heading back into a dark age,” said Zayar Hlaing, the editor of Mawkun magazine. He said that the newly amended law has many provisions that lack clear definitions, which he believes will inevitably result in journalists falling afoul of the law as they try to do their jobs. Section 38c of the law, for instance, makes it a crime punishable by up to three years in prison to spread “fake news or disinformation” online with the intent to “defame, divide an association, alarm the public, or destroy public trust – all of which are open to very broad interpretation. “If they are not happy with the way a journalist reports on a certain subject – or indeed, even if it is an ordinary person who posts something that they don’t like on social media – they can arrest him right away by accusing him of causing alarm or defaming somebody,” said Zayar Hlaing, who is also one of five members of the Myanmar Press Council (MPC) who resigned on Wednesday in protest over the amendments. Even before the amendments were introduced, the newly installed regime put the media on notice that its already very limited freedoms were not to be taken for granted. The first sign of trouble came on February 2, the day after the coup, when a number of freelance journalists in Pathein, the capital of Ayeyarwady region, were summoned by police and warned about their activities. Nearly two weeks later, when soldiers fired on protesters in Myitkyina on February 15, they also rounded up five journalists who witnessed the incident. They were released the next day, but the message was clear: members of the press are also in the army’s sights. Although journalists in Myanmar already faced restrictions that could easily land them in prison, the latest changes are making the country’s media terrain even more treacherous to navigate. – Myanmar NOW
BI buys Rp40.77 trillion in government bonds to help finance budget
Bank Indonesia (BI) bought sovereign debt papers (SBN) worth Rp40.77 trillion in the primary market on Tuesday (February 16, 2021) to help finance the 2021 state budget. "BI continued its purchase of SBNs from the primary market to finance the 2021 state budget," BI Governor Perry Warjiyo said in an online press conference in Jakarta on Thursday. SBNs worth Rp18.16 trillion were purchased through the main auction mechanism and Rp22.61 trillion through the Greenshoe Option (GSO) mechanism, he informed. He said the SBN purchase was in line with the joint decree of the Finance Minister and the BI governor dated April 16, 2020, which has been extended until December 31, 2021. The SBN purchase through the direct mechanism was based on the joint decree of the finance minister and the BI governor dated July 7, 2020, which is only valid for financing the 2020 state budget. Throughout 2020, BI purchased SBNs worth Rp473.42 trillion in the primary market to help finance the 2020 state budget. Warjiyo further said the banking and money market liquidity has remained loose because BI has raised liquidity, or quantitative easing (QE), since 2020. Since last year, BI has disbursed Rp750.36 trillion in quantitative easing measures, accounting for 4.86 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP). The figure comprises Rp726.57 trillion disbursed in 2020 and Rp23.81 trillion on February 16, 2021. The loose liquidity in January, 2021 has raised the ratio of liquidity instruments to third-party funds to reach 31.64 percent and led to high third-party fund growth of 10.57 percent. – AntaraNews.Com