ASEAN

An Indonesian teenager pulled off a stunning upset Monday by defeating two-time surfing world champion Gabriel Medina in Bali. Granted a wildcard spot to compete in the World Surf League (WSL) event at Keramas beach on Bali’s east coast, 19-year-old Rio Waida quickly proved why he is considered Indonesia’s next big hope on the international stage. Waida scored a low …

by Kiki Siregar An Indonesian church on Monday remembered the victims of suicide bombings carried out by an Islamic State-inspired family, one year on from the attacks that highlighted the extremist group’s global reach. On May 13 last year, a family of six — including two girls aged nine and 12 — blew themselves up at the Santa Maria Catholic …

One year on from being the people’s choice, Malaysia’s Pakatan Harapan administration has introduced a new economic model which advocates shared prosperity with the aim of providing a ‘decent standard of living for all Malaysians’ by 2030 across economic class, race and geographic location. In a special address on the first anniversary of ‘Malaysia Baharu’ which commemorates the country’s first …

Indonesia’s economy grew slower than expected in the first quarter, official data showed Monday, as exports contracted for the first time since 2016 owing to softer demand for key commodities. Southeast Asia’s biggest economy expanded 5.07 per cent in January-March, nearly flat from a year earlier and missing market estimates of 5.18 per cent. An uptick in government and household …

Families of victims in the Indonesia Lion Air crash hit out at Boeing Monday over its admission that engineers had identified a safety system glitch well before the fatal accident, in the latest knock to the plane maker’s reputation. Boeing said Sunday engineers had found the safety alert issue on its 737 MAX aircraft in 2017, a year before the …

An Indonesian volcano erupted Tuesday, sending a massive column of ash and smoke 2,000 metres (6,500 feet) into the air, coating local villages in debris. Mount Sinabung on Sumatra island — which has been rumbling since 2010 and saw a deadly eruption in 2016 — spewed the thick plume after activity picked up recent days. Disaster agency officials said the …

by Hla-Hla HTAY and Richard SARGENT Two Reuters journalists jailed for their reporting on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar walked out of prison on Tuesday, freed in a presidential amnesty after a vigorous global campaign for their release. Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo were mobbed by media as they stepped out of Yangon’s notorious Insein prison after spending more …

From cleaning up relatives’ graves and sharing food with the poor to holding colourful torch-lit street parades, millions of Indonesians are getting ready to welcome the holy month of Ramadan in the world’s populous Muslim-majority country. Ramadan begins on Monday, with devotees fasting from dawn to dusk until Eid celebrations marking the end of the holy month. In the conservative …

A pilot for Indonesia’s Lion Air who beat a hotel clerk because he was unhappy with how his uniform was ironed has been grounded, the airline said Friday. CCTV footage posted to Facebook and since viewed over one million times shows the unhappy pilot walk behind the reception desk, where he appears to complain about his shirt before striking the …

Indonesia began sinking dozens of impounded foreign boats Saturday to deter illegal fishing in its waters, a week after a naval vessel clashed with a Vietnamese coastguard near the South China Sea. Up to 51 foreign boats — including from Vietnam, Malaysia and China — will be scuttled at several different locations over the next two weeks, officials said. Over …