Daily News on the Southeast Asian Region

ISEAS Library Selects

5 February 2021 (pm) - 8 February 2021 (am)

Greetings

This alert service contains articles focusing on Southeast Asia and special topics in-line with the research interests of the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute.

Today’s issue includes the following articles attributed to the Institute and its researchers. You can click on their names to go to these articles directly.

No. 12: Dr Lee Hwok-Aun, Senior Fellow

Brunei Darussalam..

Cambodia ...............

Indonesia ................

Laos .........................

Malaysia ..................

Myanmar .................

Philippines ..............

Singapore ................

No. 1-9

No. 10-23

No. 24

No. 25-33

Thailand .................

Timor-Leste.............

Vietnam ..................

ASEAN/SEA ..........

Asia Pacific ............

South China Sea ....

Special Topics ........

No. 34-40

No. 41

No. 42-45

No. 46-50

No. 51-52

No. 53-59

Indonesia

1. Dem chairman alleges conspiracy to oust him

Marchio Irfan Gorbiano

Jakarta Post, 8 February 2021

2. Indonesia aims for double-digit growth in online transactions

Dzulfiqar Fathur Rahman

Jakarta Post, 8 February 2021

3. [COMMENTARY] Initiating an ASEAN mini summit on Myanmar

Kornelius Purba

Jakarta Post, 8 February 2021

4. Why is China being left out of Indonesia’s USD20 billion wealth fund?

South China Morning Post, 8 February 2021

5. Indonesia, Mexico businesses ink cooperation pact

Antara, 7 February 2021

6. Indonesia’s Sinovac rollout sets high stakes for China’s vaccine diplomacy

Jason Hung, Cambridge University

East Asia Forum, 6 February 2021

7. Economic recovery trend to continue in 2021: finance ministry

Antara, 5 February 2021

8. Bagaimana perda yang mengatur agama berperan mengikis hak pelajar minoritas di sekolah [How regional regulations regulating religion play a role in eroding minority students' rights in schools ]

Sari Oktafiana, PhD Researcher, KU Leuven

Conversation, 5 February 2021

9. Tiga kerugian Indonesia bila tidak meningkatkan target penurunan emisi [Three losses for Indonesia if it does not increase its emission reduction target ]

Stanislaus Risadi Apresian, Lecturer in International Relations, Universitas Katolik Parahyangan

Conversation, 4 February 2021

Malaysia

10. Anwar files bid to refer questions over emergency proclamation to Federal Court

Bernama, 8 February 2021

11. Penang Port to tap into Bay of Bengal transshipment market

Bernama, 8 February 2021

12. COMMENT: Nobody asks non-Malay politicians when they will ditch bumi system

Malaysiakini, 8 February 2021

13. Create multiple bodies to manage electoral process, urges Bersih 2.0

Alfian Z.M. Tahir

Malaysian Insight, 8 February 2021

14. Unemployment among KL's urban poor has doubled, says Unicef report

Star, 8 February 2021

15. Workers’ housing to be a condition for project approval in FT

Free Malaysia Today, 7 February 2021

16. Dr Mahathir’s false obsession with majority support

Kenneth Cheng Chee Kin

Malaysian Insight, 7 February 2021

17. MCO 2.0: Malaysia Battling To Stay Alive

Jason Loh

ASEAN Post, 6 February 2021

18. Dakwaan Tun M tidak tepat hubungan BERSATU, UMNO, PAS rapuh - Annuar [Tun M's claims about fragile relationship between Bersatu, Umno and PAS are not accurate ]

Nor Fazlina Abdul Rahim

Berita Harian (Malaysia), 6 February 2021

19. Malaysia, Indonesia agree in principle on reciprocal green lane

Free Malaysia Today, 6 February 2021

20. DAP must woo Malay voters direct for GE15, no more ‘outsourcing’ to others, says strategist

Soo Wern Jun

Malay Mail Online, 6 February 2021

21. Trend of Investments in Batu Kawan Industrial Park

Lee Siu Ming

Penang Institute, 6 February 2021

22. Opposition MPs to govt: Where's our allocation?

Rohaniza Idris

New Straits Times, 5 February 2021

23. 可以解散种族政党吗？[Can ethnic party be dissolved?]

林德宜

Oriental Daily, 5 February 2021

Myanmar

24. Power ministry explore hydropower options as national grid struggles to light up all rural regions

Eleven Myanmar, 4 February 2021

Philippines

25. Duterte gov’t foreign loans for COVID response hit P741B

Chino S. Leyco

Manila Bulletin, 8 February 2021

26. Crucial tax reform

After three years of discussions, a bill reducing corporate income tax rates and revamping a flawed incentives scheme was recently passed by the legislature, and is now just awaiting the signature of the President for it to become law.

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 February 2021

27. Duterte’s chance for a federalist legacy

If the Duterte administration is a genuine advocate of federalism, it should be celebrating a landmark Supreme Court decision that delegates more powers to our towns, cities, and provinces.

Joel Ruiz Butuyan

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 February 2021

28. Duterte creates National Amnesty Commission

Genalyn Kabiling

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 February 2021

29. Philippine China Relations Under Siege?

Anna Malindog-Uy

ASEAN Post, 7 February 2021

30. Malacañang defends Duterte’s preference for former military men in gov’t: They get things done

Genalyn Kabiling

Manila Bulletin, 7 February 2021

31. PH ‘sinking deeper and deeper’ into debt

Ben O. de Vera

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 6 February 2021

32. Failed Sangley airport deal unhinges China’s ambitions?

Miguel R. Camus

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 6 February 2021

33. Deconstructing Abu Sayyaf’s Resilience to Counter-Insurgency Operations

Michael Van Ginkel

Diplomat, 5 February 2021

Thailand

34. PM defends vaccine rollout in podcast

Bangkok Post, 8 February 2021

35. Caught in the crosshairs

Lamonphet Apisitniran, Komsan Tortermvasana & Suchit Leesa-nguansuk

Bangkok Post, 8 February 2021

36. Industrial estates set to expand

Bangkok Post, 8 February 2021

37. Data privacy concerns over Thailand's COVID-19 contact tracing app amid new wave of cases

Pichayada Promchertchoo

Channel News Asia, 8 February 2021

38. Almost 25% of Thais don't want vaccination: poll

Bangkok Post, 7 February 2021

39. Govt goes cool on joining vaccine pact

Bangkok Post, 7 February 2021

40. Faux pas by govt critics

Observers believe opposition may have tripped up by involving monarchy in censure motion and by not picking a more opportune time to file it.

Bangkok Post, 6 February 2021

Vietnam

41. Women parliamentarians play important role in Vietnam’s development: study

Voice of Vietnam, 5 February 2021

ASEAN/Southeast Asia

42. ASEAN Cities Threatened By Climate Change

ASEAN Post, 7 February 2021

43. Advantage China, as democracy slides from view in Southeast Asia

South China Morning Post, 7 February 2021

44. Comparative Analysis of the 2020 Protests in Southeast Asia

Gabriele Natalia Siahaan

Australian Institute for International Affairs (AIIA), 6 February 2021

45. Far right vs Islamists: a vicious circle of extremism in Southeast Asia?

South China Morning Post, 6 February 2021

Asia Pacific

46. Focus on food security

The economic impact of Covid-19 on the world's most populous region is further undermining efforts to improve diets and nutrition of nearly 2 billion people who were already unable to afford healthy diets.

Bangkok Post, 8 February 2021

47. What APEC has to offer in 2021

Dick Grant

Interpreter, 8 February 2021

48. How US plans for first Quad summit with leaders of Japan, Australia and India could be first steps towards ‘mini-Nato’ to counter Chinese influence

South China Morning Post, 7 February 2021

49. Messages from China’s third white paper on foreign aid

Denghua Zhang

Interpreter, 5 February 2021

50. Short of War: How to Keep U.S.-Chinese Confrontation From Ending in Calamity

Kevin Rudd

Foreign Affairs, 5 February 2021

East/South China Sea

51. Locsin laments ‘dribbling’ of South China Sea code in Asean

Southeast Asian nations are “dribbling” the negotiations on the South China Sea code of conduct (COC), Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Monday.

Christia Marie Ramos

Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 February 2021

52. Biden team snubs diplomatic solutions to S China Sea row

Mark Valencia

Asia Times, 4 February 2021

Climate change/Environment

53. Under siege by climate, man-made problems, a sinking Ho Chi Minh City fights to survive

[Link to a 48-minute youtube video]

Channel News Asia, 8 February 2021

54. Jakarta's complex flood problem: Can authorities turn the tide?

[contains a 5-minute video]

Channel News Asia, 8 February 2021

55. Facing green pressure, Indonesia halts deep-sea mining disposal

Straits Times, 5 February 2021

US Foreign Policy

56. Understanding Biden’s First Foreign-Policy Speech

Foreign Policy, 5 February 2021

57. The United States and the Rules-Based Order: Six experts debate America's approach

Lowy Institute, 5 February 2021

US-China

58. US should seize on China’s big weaknesses to curb its global ambitions, Washington strategy report advises

Gedaliah Afterman and Tomer Raanan

South China Morning Post, 6 February 2021

59. Joe Biden calls China the ‘most serious competitor’ to the US, in first foreign policy speech

South China Morning Post, 5 February 2021

An information service brought to you by ISEAS Library

To view the full articles, please click on the hyperlinks. For those that require passwords (usually assigned to a particular PC in the Library) due to subscription restrictions imposed, please visit the Library during its operating hours. If you have not been receiving our Daily News Alert in your inbox, your email system could be treating this alert as spam. You may add "@iseas-edu.ccsend.com" and "@constantcontact.com" to Safe Senders List (white list) through your email platform. More information is available at the Library FAQ webpage.

If you think your friends and colleagues would find this alert useful, please invite them to subscribe.

Disclaimer: Best effort has been made to ensure the external links provided are valid as of the date of collation. We welcome your suggestions to help us improve the quality of this service. Please take a moment to give us your feedback via the online feedback form. If you do not wish to receive our Daily News Alert, please click here to unsubscribe.