These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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158 people under investigation over illegal horse betting in S'pore
A total of 158 people here, aged between 36 and 83, are under investigation for their alleged involvement in illegal horse betting and non-compliance with safe distancing measures. Between April 24 and June 6, officers from the Criminal Investigation Department and the seven police land divisions clamped down on illegal horse betting activities at multiple locations including Telok Blangah Crescent, Bukit Merah View, Serangoon Central, Bedok, Bukit Batok, Woodlands, Marsiling, and Yishun. Housing Board officers also helped in the island-wide operation through enforcement against safe distancing breaches, said the police in a statement on Tuesday (June 8). During the operations, cash amounting to more than $76,000, several mobile phones and documents believed to be betting records were seized. The 147 men and 11 women are purportedly illegal bookmakers who accepted illegal horse racing bets, runners assisting the bookmakers and the gamblers who placed these bets. Under the Betting Act, anyone who bets with a bookmaker can be fined up to $5,000, jailed for not more than six months, or both. Those found guilty of bookmaking will be fined between $20,000 and $200,000, as well as imprisoned for a term not exceeding five years. Meanwhile, people who breach safe distancing measures may be fined between $300 and $1,000. In more serious cases, offenders can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for not more than six months, or both. The police said they take a serious view against all forms of illegal betting activities and will continue to take tough enforcement action against them. The public is advised to steer clear of all forms of illegal gambling activities and take the prevailing safe distancing measures seriously, they added. – The Straits Times
'300,000 jabs daily to reach herd immunity'
Malaysia needs to vaccinate between 300,000 and 500,000 people a day to achieve herd immunity by year end. Epidemiologist Professor Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud of Universiti Malaya said there was a need to boost vaccination as the number of sporadic cases had increased and the growing suspicion that the infectious period for Covid-19 had reached 21 days. "Having a half-baked lockdown with lots of movement and contact between people means sporadic cases will continue to spread. This measure is temporary, and the cases will rise again after a two- or three-month lockdown. A more permanent solution is to push vaccination as hard and as quickly as possible to stop the virus' transmission by achieving herd immunity." He said the target should be revised to between 300,000 and 500,000 jabs a day. He added that the government's goal of administering 150,000 jabs a day this month and increasing it to 200,000 the following month was not enough. "The target should be 300,000 jabs per day to vaccinate 25 million people by year end. "This is because two jabs per person, which means 50 million jabs, need to be administered. "That will take us roughly six months of continuous vaccination at 300,000 jabs per day," the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry's Independent Covid-19 Vaccination Advisory Committee head told the New Straits Times yesterday. Dr Awang Bulgiba said this must be done at once before new variants took root in the community. Otherwise, herd immunity would be harder to achieve. "If more people have even partial immunity against Covid-19, then the probability of virus transmission and its presence in the community will be reduced." Once the 80 per cent target was reached, he said, children could undergo vaccination and this would lead to herd immunity, barring any new variant. "We may start to see a sustained reduction in the sporadic infections once 50 per cent of the population is vaccinated, as that would greatly reduce transmission." He said that at this point, mass testing was too exhaustive and could not cover the population fast enough. He said negative results without immediate vaccination was futile as sporadic transmissions made up 60 to 80 per cent of the cases now. Dr Awang Bulgiba, who is also the ministry's Covid-19 Epidemiological Analysis and Strategies Task Force chairman said that efforts by Sarawak and the Federal Territories to register and visit the community to vaccinate people were timely. – New Straits Times
Chiang Mai seeks Aug 1 reopening
Officials in Chiang Mai have been hard at work learning from Phuket's "Tourism Sandbox" model so the northern province can also reopen to fully vaccinated tourists. Phuket is preparing to open its doors to vaccinated visitors on July 1 and tourism-dependent Chiang Mai wants to follow suit a month later. The Sandbox model requires foreign tourists to remain on the island for 14 days, increased from seven, before they can move on to other destinations. Both provinces have suffered greatly since the Covid-19 pandemic arrived. A wide range of businesses – airlines, hotels, tour guides and restaurants – are struggling to stay afloat in the absence of tourism revenue and the government hopes the Sandbox programme will be a shot in the arm for the ailing sector. Narong Tananuwat, deputy chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce's economic development committee in the North, said Chiang Mai could ill afford to allow its fortunes to slide further. The province is an enormous drawcard for foreign tourists and how it performs has a significant bearing on the national economy. In 2019, Chiang Mai raked in 100 billion baht in tourism revenue but that was slashed by the pandemic to 43-billion-baht last year, when passengers at Chiang Mai airport tumbled from 11.3 million to 6.2 million. The pandemic forced the closure of more than 60% of Chiang Mai's tourism-related businesses. The situation is particularly dire for those which rely heavily on foreign tourists; of the 80,000 hotel rooms available in the province, only 3% are still being made available. Mr Narong said the third wave of the pandemic, which has been by far the most devastating so far, has spurred the province to devise stimulus plans to salvage its tourism industry. However, he said that for the plans to work a high number of local people must first be vaccinated and he lamented the slow rollout of the vaccine programme to date. Mr Narong said stakeholders in Chiang Mai agreed the province should push for its own version of the Sandbox model to be launched on Aug 1 in four districts – Mae Rim, Mae Taeng, Doi Tao and Muang – ahead of the entire province being reopened to fully vaccinated tourists on Oct 15. The Tourism Authority of Thailand will submit Chiang Mai's reopening proposal for the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration's (CCSA) approval. – Bangkok Post
Duterte warns of ‘possible’ murder, imprudence raps vs COVID-positive persons who shunned protocols
President Rodrigo Duterte said it is “possible” to file murder charges against individuals who are fully aware that they are COVID-positive, yet still wandered around and gravely infected another person. In a taped meeting aired Monday, Duterte’s chief legal counsel Salvador Panelo floated the idea of filing murder charges against these individuals, to which the President agreed. “Kung alam niya po, pumunta siya sa isang lugar, alam niyang may sakit siya ng coronavirus at nakahawa siya at namatay, ay ‘yan po ay talagang sadyang pagpatay ‘yan. Papasok po ‘yan sa murder sapagkat intentional,” Panelo said. (If the person knows he has coronavirus yet he still went out and managed to infect another individual which led to their death, that’s intentional killing. It is within the ambit of murder because it’s intentional.) Duterte, in response, said reckless imprudence would still be the best complaint against these persons though he agreed that a murder case is “possible.” “Iyong sabi mo murder, although medyo mala yo masyado sa isip ng tao ‘yan, but it is possible. If he knows that he is sick with COVID-19 and he goes about nonchalant, papasyal-pasyal ka lang diyan, you are maybe, if it is intentional, malayo ‘yan pero it could be murder, sabi nga ni Sal,” Duterte said. (What you said about murder, this is far from what the people think, but it is possible. If he knows that he is sick with COVID-19 and he goes about nonchalant, going around here and there, if it is intentional, that’s far but it could be murder as what Sal said.) “At kung hindi, iyang reckless imprudence would really mas swak doon sa sitwasyon na ‘yon,” he added. (But if now, reckless imprudence would be the most fit for the situation.) Previously, Duterte said he was looking for a suitable law to jail quarantine violators. He also warned of jail time for persons who join mass gatherings. – INQUIRER.net
Domestic vaccine development and production are top priorities: PM
The Government will do its best to support the development and production of a COVID-19 vaccine, said Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in a meeting on Monday with scientists and business leaders in Ha Noi. After initial success in stopping the virus from spreading widely, Viet Nam's top priority now is to secure enough doses of vaccine for 75 million people this year, as well as additional doses for the coming years, said the PM, adding that vaccination is the only sustainable solution to deal with the coronavirus. Deputy PM and head of the National Committee on COVID-19 Prevention Vu Duc Dam, Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long and Minister of Science and Technology Huynh Thanh Dạt also attended the meeting. Given the limited supply of vaccines globally, Viet Nam must start looking for ways to acquire the technology and produce COVID-19 vaccines within the country. According to the Ministry of Health, domestic COVID-19 vaccine candidates made by Nanocovax and COVIVAC have entered the clinical trial phase. Domestic production capacity is said to be able to supply the country with 30 to 40 million doses a year, which could be increased with further investment in infrastructure. There have also been talks between Vietnamese firms and international pharmaceutical groups to secure technology to boost production capacity to up to 300 million doses a year. The PM stressed the importance of securing the vaccines, saying businesses must not view vaccines as a matter of profit and loss but as the country's highest priority. He ordered heads of Government offices to quickly identify issues related to legal frameworks, cut red tape and come up with solutions to speed up the procurement and development of vaccines. The Government will offer incentive programmes for scientists and firms in the development of vaccines. The Ministry of Science and Technology was asked to quickly establish a framework to protect key intellectual properties in vaccine development while the Ministry of Finance was tasked with coming up with a reasonable price proposal for when the vaccines were made available. – Viet Nam News
Full steam ahead: Gov’t on track to vaccinate about 10 million by year’s end
In its drive to bring about herd immunity in the Kingdom, the government is on track to vaccinate about 80 percent of the adult population by the end of this year. In comparison, several countries in the region are still struggling to achieve this. The government is pushing hard to inoculate around 10 million people, aged 18 years and above, through its strategy to obtain vaccines, said Ministry of Economy and Finance’s Secretary of State, Vongsey Vissoth. He said the government’s strategic plan for the vaccination rollout was taking off as scheduled with the Kingdom expected to secure adequate vaccines by the third quarter of this year. “As Prime Minister Hun Sen said if there is no change, we expect to receive 4.5 million doses of vaccine this month. We are now working hard to secure a supply of three million doses for July and another three million doses for August,” he told Khmer Times. He said the number of vaccines that Cambodia will receive would enable the Kingdom to reach full vaccination of over 80 percent of the adult population. “Once we have sufficient stock like this, we can speed up our vaccination rollout programme to reach the herd immunity in a faster manner so that our country could come back to normalcy or new normal of life quickly,” said Vissoth. He said they were also working to acquire more vaccines to achieve the target of inoculating up to 10 million people by end of this year. “We think it will be a bit easier for us to acquire the gap of around four million doses of vaccines for the fourth quarter for there will be more supply by then and we have more time to get the best option,” he added. In addition to vaccines, Vissoth said precautionary measures such as the 3Do’s and 3 Don’ts and overhauling the health care system, the breakthrough of rapid test devices and Covid-curing medicines would help Cambodia and the world successfully overcome the pandemic or live a normal life with Covid around as the new normal. Vissoth also stressed that with the Kingdom combating the Covid-19 pandemic, it was not choosy from where it gets the Covid-19 vaccines as it works with everyone as the government’s priority is to safeguard its citizens and to achieve the herd immunity to return to normalcy. – Khmer Times
Judge limits length of Suu Kyi trial to 180 days
The ongoing trial against state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi must be completed within 180 days, a judge in Naypyitaw declared on Monday. Zabuthiri Township judge Maung Maung Lwin made the remark during Suu Kyi’s second in-person hearing since she and members of her cabinet were first charged on February 16. Suu Kyi, who is 75, faces a total of six charges – five in Naypyitaw and one in Yangon – and a prison sentence of up to 26 years. She has been in military custody since her government was ousted from power in a coup on February 1. The timeline announced on Monday applies to the cases being tried in Naypyitaw and means that the court there will have to issue its verdicts before the middle of August. Monday’s hearing was held at an “exclusive court” specially designed for the trials of Suu Kyi and two other detained cabinet members – president Win Myint and Myo Aung, the chair of the Naypyitaw Council. Starting next week, hearings will take place every Monday and Tuesday, with the court completing its questioning of the plaintiff by June 28, the judge said at the hearing. Suu Kyi has been accused of incitement and violating the Official Secrets Act and the Telecommunications Law. She has also been charged with illegally importing walkie-talkies and faces two charges of breaching Covid-19 protocols during last year’s election campaign. Hearings for the incitement case will take place every Monday together with Win Myint and Myo Aung, who are being tried for the same offence, according to lawyer Khin Maung Zaw, the head of her defence team. Suu Kyi learned for the first time on Monday that the Supreme Court in Naypyitaw had taken over the case filed against her under the Official Secrets Act, her lawyer said. That case, which also applies to three of her cabinet ministers and her economic advisor Sean Turnell, was originally filed at the Yangon Eastern District Court in late March. The Supreme Court announced on May 31 that the next hearing in the case would be held on June 23. It also stated that the defendants would be representing themselves. However, her lawyer said that these decisions were made without Suu Kyi’s consent. “She said she didn’t know about the changes. She also didn’t say she would represent herself. She wants her lawyers to represent her in all of her cases,” Khin Maung Zaw told Myanmar Now. Before the hour-long hearing, Suu Kyi met with her defence team for about 30 minutes, according to her lawyer. During the meeting, he said, Suu Kyi asked for help in finding a way to meet expenses that she has incurred during her detention. Suu Kyi has been detained at an undisclosed location together with eight other individuals and her pet dog Taichido, according to her defence team. “She’s spending her own money, without anyone’s support, month by month. So, she asked us to see how we can help with this,” said Khin Maung Zaw. “The family living with her is running out of money. The military council has said they would provide her with the medicine she needs biweekly, but she doesn’t want that,” said Min Min Soe, another lawyer on her legal team. The lawyers said they need to negotiate with the junta to provide an emergency budget for the detained state counsellor and those living with her. Otherwise, they said, Suu Kyi seemed to be faring fairly well under the circumstances. “She’s generally healthy,” said Khin Maung Zaw. – Myanmar NOW
RI raises issues affecting regional stability at ASEAN-China meeting
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi raised several issues involving regional peace and stability at the Special ASEAN-China Foreign Ministers Meeting in Chongqing, China on Monday. Speaking to the press after the meeting, which marked 30 years of ASEAN-China partnership, she said she raised three issues in the context of peace and stability in the region. "The first thing concerns Myanmar. I reiterated that the safety and welfare of the Myanmar people and the recovery of democracy must become our main priority," she said at the press conference originating from Jakarta. Referring to the five-point consensus reached at the ASEAN Leaders Meeting in Jakarta on April 24 this year, she said: "China's support for ASEAN to follow up on the five-point consensus will be highly appreciated because it will contribute to the effort to find a peaceful solution to the existing crisis.” She also highlighted the Indo-Pacific issue, saying the growing geopolitical dynamics necessitates all sides to keep the region stable, peaceful, and prosperous. She underscored the importance of encouraging dialog rather than rivalry to build strategic trust and concrete, mutually beneficial cooperation, in line with the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific. – AntaraNews.Com