ASEAN

Malaysia should impose an e-commerce tax against online businesses, given how their growth presently exceeds that of businesses utilising ‘traditional’ models such as physical retail stores, said Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Speaking to reporters after the 34th Asean Summit gala dinner on Sat (22 Jun), Mahathir said that governments have been collecting “less tax” as many brick-and-mortar stores have …

Despite being the fastest growing e-commerce region with over 62% Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) growth over the last 3 years, delivery continues to be a challenge in Southeast Asia, a new survey by Parcel Perform and iPrice Group reveals. The survey was conducted with 80,000 e-commerce consumers across Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia by Parcel Perform, the leading …

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen have agreed to cease revisiting past issues in the spirit of preserving diplomatic relations between the two nations at this year’s Asean Summit, which took place in Bangkok last weekend. The prime ministers’ move took place in the aftermath of the diplomatic rift surrounding Mr Lee’s remarks regarding the …

Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc criticised Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for his comments on Vietnam’s march into Phnom Penh, Cambodia in January 1979 which uprooted the ruthless Khmer Rouge regime. Mr Phuc was reported to have said that PM Lee’s claim was incorrect and had offended both Vietnam and Cambodia. He also was quoted saying that history …

Indonesia’s Constitutional Court has allowed the hearing of opposition former presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s lawsuit against his political opponent President Joko Widodo, who remains keen on challenging the latter’s victory in the archipelagic nation’s Presidential Election held in Apr. The Straits Times reported that the court has decided to schedule a hearing next Tue (18 Jun), a day later than …

Two weeks ago (31 May), Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong sent a condolence letter to Thailand on the passing of former Thai PM General Prem Tinsulanonda. In his condolence message, PM Lee mentioned about Vietnam’s invasion into Cambodia in the late 70s, triggering unhappiness among Asean members Cambodia and Vietnam. “As the President of the Privy Council from 1998 to …

It was reported on TOC that Ministry if Foreign Affairs’ press release about Singapore had never supported the Khmer Rogue contradicted with what Singapore’s founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew wrote in his memoir (‘MFA says Singapore did not support the Khmer Rogue but LKY’s book reveals that it provided US$55 million in aid to the Cambodian resistance movement against …

Cambodian Prime Minister, Mr Hun Sen took to his Facebook page on Friday to remark that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s comment made on 31 May is a reflection of Singapore government’s support of the Khmer Rouge regime and is also an insult to those who liberated Cambodia from genocidal regime. This is the latest in the aftermath from PM’s …

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s recent remarks on Vietnam’s intervention in Cambodia preceding the Khmer Rouge regime’s downfall “suggest an insolence” to over 1.6mil victims of the genocide, said Singaporean international human rights lawyer Ravi Madasamy, more commonly known as M Ravi. In the wake of former Thai PM and President of the Privy Council Prem Tinsulanonda’s passing, Mr Lee …

In his post on Facebook (31 May) expressing his condolences for the passing of the former Thai Prime Minister and President of the Privy Council General Prem Tensulanonda, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote, “His (Gen Prem’s) leadership also benefited the region. His time as PM coincided with the ASEAN members (then five of us) coming together to oppose Vietnam’s …