These are the top stories making the front pages of major newspapers from across Southeast Asia today.
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$45m in tertiary tuition fee subsidies given to over 11,000 students in 2021: Mendaki
More than 11,000 students in the Malay/Muslim community received tertiary tuition fee subsidies totalling $45 million from Yayasan Mendaki last year, equalling the record sum given out in 2020, when over 10,000 students got a boost.
They are among the more than 73,000 who benefited from Mendaki programmes and services, an increase of 4 per cent over the number who received help in 2020.
"That's very good, considering that we were facing a pandemic and we had a lot of (safe management measures) in place," said Mr Zaqy Mohamad, deputy chairman of Mendaki's board of directors. "We thought with heightened safe management measures... (we'd be) limited in terms of (our) outreach."
Mr Zaqy, who is also Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Defence, was speaking at a media conference on Saturday (June 18) after Mendaki's annual general meeting, and provided updates on the self-help group's impact last year.
Responding to a question, Mr Zaqy said the money disbursed for subsidies could have remained the same despite the higher number of beneficiaries because the group adopted a tiered system to determine the respective sums to be distributed.
Eligible Malay students pursuing their first diploma or degree at local government tertiary institutions qualified for a 50 per cent, 75 per cent or full subsidy of their tuition fee, depending on their household income per capita. – Straits Times
Khairy: Zero Covid-19 deaths for the first time since December 18, 2020
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin took to Twitter last night announcing that for the first time since Dec 18, 2020, Malaysia reported zero deaths due to Covid-19 yesterday.
"Our ongoing transition to endemicity has been calibrated and data-driven. Let us pray it continues paying off, " the minister tweeted.
The virus has claimed 35,732 lives since it first gripped the country two years ago.
However, since April 22, the death count has scaled down to single-digit. The highest number of fatalities since then (April 22) were nine deaths, reported on April 28.
No brought-in-dead cases have been reported since June 15.
On average, eight fatalities occurred for every one million people in the country since the country began its transition to endemicity two months ago.
Meanwhile, Malaysia reported 1,690 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, indicating a decrease from the 2,127 new infections logged on Saturday.
According to the CovidNow portal, only 10 of the new cases were imported.
Since March 2020, Malaysia's cumulative caseload stood at 4,540,612 and the recovery tally at 4,478,936.
The number of active cases has also dropped to 25,944 after 2,108 patients recovered from Covid-19 on Sunday.
According to the portal, 24,906 patients are currently undergoing home quarantine, while 15 others have been placed at Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centres (PKRC).
Some 1,000 Covid-19 patients are being treated at hospitals, including 414 new patients who were admitted on Sunday.
At present, 23 patients are undergoing treatment at Intensive Care Units (ICU), including 15 of them on ventilator support. – New Straits Times
Pheu Thai plan to censure Labour Minister 'lawful'
The main opposition Pheu Thai Party has defended naming Labour Minister Suchart Chomklin on a list of cabinet ministers targeted for a no-confidence vote.
Mr Suchart recently accused the party of submitting a no-confidence motion without the consent of MPs. He said that originally, his name was not among a list of cabinet ministers targeted for the censure debate. His name was added at the last minute without the knowledge of opposition MPs who supported the motion, he said, arguing the motion was therefore illegal.
Pheu Thai secretary-general Prasert Chantararuangtong yesterday said the MPs signed the motion before the censure targets were named. He insisted the move was legal, noting the names on the target list can be updated before the final version is submitted to Parliament President Chuan Leekpai.
Currently, the opposition lists 10 names of targeted cabinet members.
Those named include Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit, Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon, Interior Minister Anupong Paojinda, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob
The others are Digital Economy and Society Minister Chaiwut Thanakamanusorn, Social Development and Human Security Minister Chuti Krairiksh, Mr Suchart, Deputy Finance Minister Santi Promphat and Deputy Interior Minister Niphon Bunyamanee.
The prime target of the no-confidence motion is Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
Mr Prasert said 13–14 ministers were shortlisted as likely targets in the beginning. However, an opposition meeting later decided there were too many targets and the names were reduced to 10, he said.
The meeting resolved to go ahead and grill Mr Suchart, he said. – Bangkok Post
Solon wants next admin to put up oil reserve facility
A lawmaker on Monday proposed to the incoming administration of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to consider putting up a national strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) as local fuel prices may inch closer to reaching the level of PHP100 per liter.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund Villafuerte said one way to stabilize the retail cost of petroleum products and shield consumers and motorists from the debilitating effects of sky-high oil prices is to put up a state-run storage facility that would enable the government to bring in additional inventory that could help soften future price surges.
Villafuerte noted that this has been a long-conceived plan of the government that "crawled at a snail's pace" at the Department of Energy (DOE).
“I hope the BBM administration will take a long look at the SPR plan, which has unfortunately been stuck in the planning stage at the DOE for over two years now,” said Villafuerte. “Our DOE officials have for years been talking the talk about a national SPR, but they have yet to walk the talk on this planned reserve for petroleum products."
He said the only assurance came from Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, who said that the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has been tapped to do a feasibility study on it.
Following the latest two price adjustments, the cost of gasoline has already gone up to about PHP95 per liter and that of diesel to some PHP84 per liter.
This week, the pump prices of fuel are expected to rise anew by another PHP2.40 to PHP2.70 per liter of diesel and by 30 to 60 centavos per liter of gasoline.
Villafuerte said this SPR plan should be put in motion in preparation for future conflicts, supply hitches or any other geopolitical developments or catastrophes that could drive fuel prices to later go up north anew beyond the reach of ordinary Filipinos.
DOE Undersecretary Gerardo Erguiza Jr., meanwhile, said the agency will ask the 19th Congress to prioritize the review of the oil deregulation law in a bid to ease petroleum prices.
Erguiza said the DOE wants to regain its authority to intervene when there is a dramatic increase in oil prices for a longer period.
“We wrote to the Congress to give priority to revisit and review the oil deregulation law so that the government will have the power to do something in this kind of situation,” Erguiza said. – Philippine News Agency
PM issues action plan on Mekong Delta development
The Mekong Delta region is expected to develop agricultural centres in association with specialised farming zones and urban areas.
The plans were laid out in Politburo Resolution No. 13 on developing the region until 2030.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on Saturday signed a Resolution to issue the Government action plan on Resolution No. 13, which covers the socio-economic development and maintenance of security and national defence of the Mekong Delta region until 2030.
The agricultural centres will include one in Can Tho City associated with the development of logistics services in Hau Giang Province; centres in Hau Giang and Dong Thap provinces in connection with fresh water aquatic products, fruit and rice; centres in Kien Giang, Ca Mau and Soc Trang in connection with seafood production in coastal areas; and centres in Tien Giang and Ben Tre associated with fruit and crops.
Economic restructuring for the region is to be promoted, in association with shifting the growth model and applying science and technology, innovation and the development of a green and circular economy in line with biodiversity, culture and people of the region.
The resolution also targets to build Can Tho City into a developed centre of the Mekong Delta region and My Tho, Tan An, Long Xuyen, Rach Gia, Ca Mau va Soc Trang into specialised complexes.
It will also develop Phu Quoc in Kien Giang Province into a centre of high-quality ecological tourism and service and of national and international sea and island tourism with linkages to major economic centres in the region and the world.
The resolution will focus investment on developing the An Giang border economic zone, issue incentives to develop Dong Thap border economic zone into an economic complex of industry, trade, services, tourism, urban areas and agro-forestry and fisheries and a centre for economic exchange between countries in the sub-Mekong region. – Vietnam News
Cambodia’s GDP to grow at 5% in 2022, but inflation threat looms large
Cambodia’s economy is expected to grow at around five percent this year as against three percent last year, but the inflationary pressures being witnessed across the world can cut into the purchasing power of the country’s households as well, said the Financial Stability Report 2021, released by the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) recently.
The growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2022 will be mainly supported by exports of agricultural products, transport, telecommunications and improved investment flows and remittances from overseas workers,
In terms of trade and investment, the Kingdom is expected to benefit from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, bilateral free trade agreements and the introduction of new investment law, it said. The report also stressed the uncertain conditions created by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, and interest rate hikes in developed countries as threats to the country’s economy.
Though Cambodia has only limited macroeconomic linkages to the Russia-Ukraine region, the prolonging and escalating war can cause severe damage to the world economy, especially the European Union which is one of Cambodia’s main export destinations.
“The crisis has weighed on the global and regional economic recovery through the rise in international commodity prices, putting upward pressure on the currently high inflation in many countries. As Cambodia imports several food items and oil from abroad, inflation may be much higher than the previous year which would put pressure on households’ purchasing power,” the report said. – Khmer Times
More than 30 youth arrested amid increased junta surveillance in Yangon
The military has intensified efforts to locate and capture participants in anti-junta flash demonstrations in Yangon, arresting more than 30 young adults on Monday and Tuesday alone, according to a source close to the city’s student activists.
Leo, the on-ground officer for the General Strike Committee, told Myanmar Now that the youth were detained from townships including Kyimindaing, Sanchaung, Tamwe and Yankin.
“Over 30 – almost 40 – youth were captured. They forced people who had connections with the victims to guide them to the victims at gunpoint,” he said.
A member of the Yangon Revolution Force (YRF) said that two of the people arrested had hung banners on Strand Rd in Kyimindaing on Monday morning condemning the military-led education system and encouraging people to commit to the anti-dictatorship movement.
“One of them was captured first and the military found out about the other one’s whereabouts from the first one,” the YRF member said. “Although we knew that the first one had been taken, the second one couldn’t get away as it was already 1am when he was captured.”
A member of a youth strike committee from Kyimindaing who had gone into hiding at the time of reporting confirmed that several youth from the township were arrested on Monday.
Soldiers and police officers were searching apartments and blocking roads in order to search vehicles and increasing their patrol in an effort to apprehend protesters, according to a recent statement by the online community the Yangon scout group, which warns members of the public of junta surveillance. – Myanmar NOW
Minister calls on youth to grab opportunities, compete globally
The Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, has called on the youth to be more creative in catching opportunities to compete at the national and global levels amid the challenge of digitalization.
"After graduating there are several choices for graduates, whether to become professionals, entrepreneurs, educators, writers, or whatever is the best choice. For graduates, this is a challenge to be more creative and smarter in observing opportunities," he said before 1,784 graduates of the National University at the Jakarta Convention Center on Sunday.
Graduates must stay connected to universities, because perpetually learning would assist in facing the everchanging dynamics, therefore helping alumni in pursuing careers, he said.
Likewise, universities would be greatly helped by alumni who successfully provide feedback on their knowledge to the campus. An exchange like this would enable university to have extensive information and possess knowledge of the changes that occur.
This was a challenge for everyone, particularly the government, he said. "The government only needs to provide facilities and the government prepares financing facilities, including People's Business Credit and other facilities."
He expected for students who want to become entrepreneurs, including in the digital sector, to take advantage of the trainings offered by the government because Indonesia is the largest digital market in ASEAN.
Regarding digital transformation, which was one of the themes raised in the G20 presidency, Indonesia had done many things ahead of other countries.
"In terms of infrastructure, we are ready with 5G, we are ready with inter-island fiber optics, we have satellites, and now we are talking with Space X (through) Telkom about low earth orbit satellite, which is a new technology to connect islands in Indonesia," he detailed. – AntaraNews.Com